Cisco IOS Security vs ShieldX comparison

The compared Cisco and Fortinet solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #24 in Firewalls , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 0.3% mindshare in the category. Fortinet is ranked #13 in MS , and holds a 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Cisco IOS Security and ShieldX compete in the network security category. ShieldX often emerges as the preferred choice for its advanced capabilities despite a higher price point.

Features: Cisco IOS Security is valued for its comprehensive set of security features, including firewall capabilities, VPN support, and intrusion prevention. ShieldX is praised for its scalability, cloud-native design, and granular micro-segmentation.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that Cisco IOS Security could benefit from a more intuitive configuration, better integration with third-party tools, and a more user-friendly interface. ShieldX users recommend improvements in technical support response times, more detailed documentation, and enhanced user training resources.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco IOS Security generally receives positive feedback for its reliable deployment process but has a steep learning curve. ShieldX is frequently highlighted for its quick and straightforward cloud deployment, although its customer support is often rated lower than Cisco's.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco IOS Security is often viewed as more cost-effective initially due to lower setup costs, offering a good ROI. ShieldX, though more expensive, is considered worth the investment due to its extensive feature set and modern approach, offering a higher ROI despite higher upfront costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco IOS Security vs. ShieldX Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security vs. ShieldX

December 2024

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco IOS Security	0.3%
Fortinet FortiGate	20.4%
OPNsense	11.0%
Other	68.3%

Firewalls

Microsegmentation Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ShieldX	0.5%
Illumio	29.4%
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation	26.7%
Other	43.400000000000006%

Microsegmentation Software

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Binoob John

Partner/Owner and Director of Human Resources at Up arrow Systems

Rrobust network security and device authentication with advanced access control features

This solution should be implemented for most enterprise-level customers. It ensures that users accessing the corporate network or wireless network with their own devices are authenticated and authorized. As a network administrator, I can track who is accessing the network, what devices they are…

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MichaelProcyshyn

IT Director at park holidays uk

Proactively monitors, blocks, and reports what it has blocked; and self-updates meaning there is zero maintenance

The most valuable feature is the automatic scaling. With its microservices, it scales both up and down, depending on traffic and throughput. The traffic through our website depends on holiday bookings. It's very quiet in November through January, and then our traffic picks up quite rapidly and, at our peak, we will take in excess of a million pounds of business a day through our website. The UI was also one of the huge selling points. My web development manager was blown away with the detail and the granularity that you can get out of the UI. It is a very strong and informative UI, with the amount of data it provides. Uptime on the system has been 648 days and we do very little to it because it self-updates and alerts. It does everything that we need it to do, so the administration side of it is zero. One of the beauties about ShieldX is that it's such a good "fire-and-forget" product.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentation and assessing their support is necessary."

"Its stability is the most valuable."

"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The overall features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are good."

"The web controls are what I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate. We have extensive controls over areas where we could block external-facing IPs, external URLs. We can do geo-fencing with the firewalls, which is a good feature."

"The ability to set up remote systems is the most valuable feature."

"The setup is easy."

"I would advise others considering or evaluating the Fortinet FortiGate to buy it."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable feature is the scalability. The nice thing with the bigger vendors is that they're very good at scale."

"Cisco is head-and-shoulders above all of the competition when it comes to technical support."

"We use Cisco IOS Security mostly for routers to route off the firewall. It's a next-generation device."

"It covers everything we need it to without looking to secondary solutions."

"Cisco Technical Assistance Center works on a follow-the-sun concept and gives real 24x7 customer support, which is a great advantage when you have a service contract with them."

"Cisco IOS Security is very robust and works very well."

"Technical support for this solution is very good."

"Previously, anyone in the organization would see any data point in the wall. They could just go and connect their machine with that data point and could access the network. But now, even if someone came and tried that, they will not be given access."

More Cisco IOS Security pros

"ShieldX has been designed from the very beginning to work well in cloud environments. It understands autoscaling, automation, and auto-configuration. These are the things which are important in today's operating environment."

"The Adaptive Intention Engine is fantastic. It allows us to develop security policies using the language of our internal customers. It's machine-learning applied to security workflows. That allows us to much more easily construct the policies that will protect those workflows."

"The most valuable feature is the automatic scaling. With its microservices, it scales both up and down, depending on traffic and throughput."

"...It takes the exact same policies that you would apply to your on-premise environment and enables you to simply apply them to the cloud. It becomes one policy for both on-prem and for the cloud."

"It has helped us tighten our security posture. Now, staff can only access things that they should be accessing."

"The UI was also one of the huge selling points. My web development manager was blown away with the detail and the granularity that you can get out of the UI. It is a very strong and informative UI, with the amount of data it provides."

"We were able to see what devices are talking to each other, giving us more visibility."

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's SSL offloading features need improvement."

"The UI/UX experience can be a little better."

"We understand that FortiGate cannot be standalone without others, such as FortiManager, so for small businesses, if FortiGate can provide something similar to FortiManager, it will be better."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."

"The software is a bit expensive to renew."

"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."

"It is somewhat expensive compared to other solutions such as Sophos."

"Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The user interface needs to be improved."

"The configuration and reporting interfaces need a lot of improvement. It needs to be more accessible forsolide without a strong technical background. If you had a simplified dashboard, the lower-level techs could manage the solution and provide services. Cisco IOS Security requires someone who is highly trained to operate it."

"An area for improvement in Cisco IOS Security is the performance because it's not as stable sometimes. There's also some latency in the solution, which could be improved. Cisco IOS Security integrates with other solutions, but you'll encounter many errors after integration, so this is another area for improvement. I'd like to see enhanced performance and a simplified setup in the next version of Cisco IOS Security."

"Cisco very slowly introduces and implements the products, unlike other brands."

"We faced significant challenges related to licensing issues, particularly when licenses expire."

"Cisco IOS Security could improve its security features. There are competitors that have some additional security features, such as Fortinet FortiGate. Additionally, there should be better synchronization with Cisco IOS Security and other vendors, and improved AI features would be beneficial."

"In the security portfolio from Cisco, the issue is marketing. Cisco is still seen primarily as an enterprise network player rather than being acknowledged as a security vendor."

"I would like upgrading iOS to be a bit easier."

More Cisco IOS Security cons

"They need to be consistent in performance and capabilities over time, given the fact that this is new and I want to see where this goes in the next year or so. As the vendor continues to evolve and add future functionality, we want to make sure that we are still keeping up with the integrations, etc. Time will be the key factor here. The proper support for some of the latest technologies, Docker containers, etc. They need to keep up with threat landscape, so we will see how the security get layered. This is what we are going to be keeping an eye on."

"There should be a bit more customer care, with regular review meetings on it or regular reports. It would be nice to have a quarterly or biannual review of what ShieldX has blocked."

"I would like better reports and in-depth reporting."

"We are having some issues with their LDAP and integrating it with the Active Directory. We can't seem to set it up."

"With any kind of tool like ShieldX, where you're in the cloud instead of a traditional firewall, you're using CPU resources in those environments to provide the protection. So there's a cost associated with CPU resources. I'm pressing upon them to make the product much more efficient and use less CPUs to do the same thing."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license to use this solution. The prices have been increasing over the years."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."

"Pricing is lower than Cisco."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is the lowest in the market."

"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."

"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."

"Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."

"The solution is cheap."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution should be cheaper, and the license is purchase annually."

"The solution's pricing is very good."

"You can get a better price if you commit to a longer-term license. Three years, five years, or even seven or ten years will be cheaper than a three-month or one-year term."

"The licenses for this solution are expensive."

"We can purchase its licenses as per specific business requirements."

"I rate Cisco IOS Security's pricing a ten out of ten."

"The pricing is average and includes all features with support."

"The pricing is okay. It is competitive. It costs more when you need get more features."

More Cisco IOS Security pricing and cost advice

"For other security professions who are looking for something which is low in cost that does microsegmentation, they should look at ShieldX. It might not be the big name out there, but it does everything that you are looking for in microsegmentation at a very low price."

"For a three-year deal we paid £55,000 plus tax... But, and this is a big "but," this was over two years ago. ShieldX had only just hit the market. We were the first company in Europe to buy ShieldX."

"ShieldX ensures that we can have the separation needed for our environment to avoid drastically increasing the cost on the licensing side. From this perspective, it's been very positive and helpful."

"Security policies are now applied as applications are going up. Because it's automated, we don't have the three to four week delay. The insertion of applications in the cloud for us dropped from an average of three to four weeks to a couple of days."

"ShieldX also enables us to migrate to cloud environments faster. That is an important part of it for sure because it takes the exact same policies that we would apply to our on-premise environment and enables us to simply apply them to the cloud. It becomes one policy for both on-prem and for the cloud."

"We are actually expecting our costs to drop in the coming year, but it is just a matter of the licensing expiring. That is going to happen in the next six months or so. Then, we will start to see a decrease in overall spend."

"We are very happy with the pricing and licensing. It's about getting a site-wide license. One of the challenges that we've had with our previous vendor had been the cost of licensing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

27%

Government

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	18

No data available

Questions from the Community

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When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What do you like most about Cisco IOS Security?

Cisco IOS Security is a mature product with extensive capabilities, serving as the base for the defense layer. It off...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS Security?

Pricing can be reduced. I rate the current price for the product a four out of ten.

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What needs improvement with Cisco IOS Security?

While I do not have specific recommendations for improvement, pricing can be reduced.

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 12% of the time

OPNsense vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 7% of the time

ExtraHop Reveal(x) vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco IOS Security Competitors

Illumio vs ShieldX

Compared 100% of the time

More ShieldX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security

October 2025

Download Cisco IOS Security product report

Buyer's Guide

ShieldX

September 2025

Download ShieldX product report

Also Known As

No data available

IOS Security

APEIRO, ShieldX APEIRO

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Cisco IOS Software delivers a sophisticated set of security capabilities for a comprehensive, layered security approach throughout your network infrastructure. Cisco IOS security technologies help to defend critical business processes against attack and disruption, protect privacy, and support policy and regulatory compliance controls.

Cisco

The ShieldX Elastic Security Platform dynamically scales to deliver comprehensive and consistent controls to protect data centers, cloud infrastructure, applications and data no matter where they are or where they go to make the cloud more secure than on-premise deployments. Our frictionless approach leverages agentless technology as well as the ShieldX Adaptive Intention Engine which autonomously translates and enforces intention into a set of comprehensive controls - microsegmentation, firewall, IPS and more - making security the easiest thing you do in the cloud.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Arup Group, Brunel University London, City of Biel, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, K&L Gates , New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Offshore Northern Seas, Transplace

Iowa State University

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security vs. ShieldX

December 2024

Free Report: Cisco IOS Security vs. ShieldX

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