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Cisco Meraki MX vs IPFire comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Meraki MX
Ranking in Firewalls
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (6th)
IPFire
Ranking in Firewalls
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 3.5%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IPFire is 1.0%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Meraki MX3.5%
IPFire1.0%
Other95.5%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

SG
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
Cloud-based solution simplifies network management with excellent support
There have been no issues with stability after deployment. There have been no complaints. For stability, I would suggest that Cisco Meraki MX is the most stable device from the security processor. Regarding content filtering features, we are using content filtering and malware access, along with all security features in Cisco Meraki MX9500. We have received good feedback from customers because since installing Cisco Meraki MX9500, we have not received any complaints. There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits. It is compatible with all different OEMs, and for VPN, site-to-site VPN has been configured with other firewalls as well. We are getting very good responses from customers as there have been no complaints where we have deployed Cisco Meraki MX9500.
AE
Chief Technology Officer at Agileware Limited
Firewall deployment has secured mission-critical public apps and simplifies Linux-based management
The best features IPFire offers include its very intuitive nature because, even though it has a Linux back-end, in terms of configuration, it has a very rich GUI interface. The GUI and configuration features of IPFire have made my work easier and more efficient because their positioning and the sequence with which I follow is easy. In terms of all the processes, what you need to do at first and the next thing that you need to do is clear. The GUI is well arranged in sequential order, so you can follow that from whatever you want to do until you get the target objective. IPFire includes features with a very robust and rich community that is very much valid in terms of content. IPFire has positively impacted my organization by giving us some mileage. At least, a lot of organizations now know that we have a solution that can deliver the same value.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's most valuable feature is the Meraki dashboard, which is a single pane of glass."
"Site to Site VPN: The device can establish a VPN connection to multiple sites in a mesh environment in seconds, and without complex VPN knowledge."
"The internet traffic shaping functionality has been very valuable."
"Ease of management is the best thing about the solution."
"These particular firewalls are a very good solution for a company that doesn't have an IT employee working directly on IT."
"It has a helpful feature for database troubleshooting issues."
"The cloud management system is really valuable."
"Since it has an integrated dashboard for all the products, customers can get complete network analytics regarding what the user is doing, monitoring, and observing."
"Regarding IPFire's AI capabilities, I think they are quite focused; in all the deployments I have done, I have not had any incidents or breaches."
"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."
"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."
 

Cons

"The product is quite complex to set up."
"Data is the only path, so optimization is essential."
"Management can be improved in Meraki MX."
"When it comes to cost, that's a pain point."
"Meraki is a good solution, but it's not the best solution out there."
"The product could improve most by improving the client VPN."
"More detail is needed for configuration of the VPN."
"They're very complacent and I find the rule set to be a little arcane."
"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."
"The graphical interface could be much better."
"I would rate IPFire 8 out of 10 because I do not think there is any solution anywhere in the world that is 100 percent efficient."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price depends on use cases."
"Like any Cisco product, the license is really expensive for small business clients. It needs to be cheaper. If you look it up, you might go, "That doesn't make any sense.""
"The pricing could always be improved — especially with the shape the economy is in at the moment."
"The product’s price is reasonable."
"It can always improve pricewise regarding throughput."
"I rate the tool's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"The product is a little expensive."
"The tool's prices are okay compared to the traditional solutions. We find Meraki MX platform to be cheaper compared to the regular tools, like SD-Access."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
21%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise19
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn re...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports network security and firewall options. We researched both Meraki and ASA. We liked t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that we went through a third party who negotiated all the prices with Cisco for us.
What needs improvement with IPFire?
The graphical interface could be much better.
What is your primary use case for IPFire?
I use IPFire ( /products/ipfire-reviews ) to protect my home.
What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?
Sometimes configuring IPFire is challenging. Overall, I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.
 

Also Known As

MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hyatt, ONS
1. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki MX vs. IPFire and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.