

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
At Amazon, we knew exactly how much it would cost if a fulfillment center was down for an hour.
The AI features further contribute by expediting threat detection and incident response, ensuring tangible returns through operational savings.
It is one of those tools that needs to work right out of the box, and thankfully, it does; it is reliable, and the setup time was quick and straightforward.
The network attacks reduced by approximately 60% after using that, even without customizing the custom configuration yet.
For a very little investment, I was able to increase the security of my network.
Cisco TAC is very competent.
With our established point of contact within Cisco, our experience has greatly improved; we no longer log all issues through technical cases, as we can go directly to our account managers or customer service team, which expedites resolution.
I would rate the technical support ten out of ten. Hands down.
Compared to some open-source projects with weak support, OPNsense stands out for having both a strong community and commercial backing options.
I mainly rely on community support since the solution is open source.
If you say you do not have one, it is finished. This is where the monopoly starts.
We turn the traffic to the Cisco Secure Access cloud, and we can manage and apply the policies that are necessary, making it very easy to scale the solution.
Cisco has a great benefit in that you can integrate with other solutions in an easy way because it has a lot of protocols to integrate with others and sophisticated steps that we can apply for integration.
Performance has remained consistent, usage has increased, and we have not experienced scalability-related limitations.
I use Zenarmor, pinning it to one core for packet inspection, and the CPU performance seems very good.
OPNsense's scalability is excellent; I just need to resize my hardware and upgrade the server, and voilà, I am good to go.
In theory, OPNsense can handle small home networks and even large enterprise environments if deployed on sufficiently powerful hardware or virtualized on a clustered system.
Cisco is renowned for their reliability, and their products perform well under high data usage.
The service consistently provides secure connectivity for remote users, contractors, and hybrid environments with minimal disruption.
I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten.
For home and small network use, OPNsense is also reliable, providing enterprise-grade security at no cost.
The only challenge faced was its inadequacy to manage large voice traffic effectively, even with dedicated hardware.
At the latest code level, I haven't experienced any crashes.
Modernization is needed, specifically in the enhancement of security features and functionality.
It was challenging to learn because it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
The granular access issue is coming from the product limitation at the moment, as it does not offer us the option to tell it that a particular role can only manage websites, allowed sites, and blocked sites.
Enhancing its performance for significant amounts of data traffic would make it closer to a perfect solution.
It would be beneficial if they could create some videos on how to set it up themselves.
The documentation should be clearer because I faced some difficulties navigating many options.
The solution is cheaper than premium options such as Palo Alto, existing Cisco licenses facilitate replacing previous solutions with Cisco Secure Access smoothly and affordably.
It is good because you want to push Cisco Secure Access, and regarding the price, it is very much below other products.
Improvement on the pricing will help in expanding the market for Cisco Secure Access and then it can be affordable to much more number of companies than what it is right now.
I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products.
OPNsense is free, the licensing and setup was easy.
It eliminates the hassle of switching on VPNs and provides a direct connection to resources via Cisco Secure Access.
They are sending the traffic encrypted and categorizing the traffic based on the type, whether web traffic or internet traffic, and doing the security mechanism that is needed for the traffic type.
Using ZTNA in Cisco Secure Access has positively affected my transition and my clients' transition to Zero Trust and least privilege principles, reinforcing the security posture.
The most valuable features include the basic firewall functionality and the GeoIP location services.
I can have a Wi-Fi VLAN and feel secure that the server network or the VM network that I have on a different VLAN are isolated, and they cannot talk to one another, which adds a great level of security.
It offers enterprise-grade features such as intrusion detection and prevention system, VPN support, traffic shaping, and web filtering, all without license cost.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| OPNsense | 7.9% |
| Cisco Secure Access | 0.4% |
| Other | 91.7% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 29 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 13 |
| Large Enterprise | 36 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 32 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 8 |
Cisco Secure Access is a comprehensive Security Service Edge (SSE) solution (a key component of a SASE solution) that addresses the complexities of securing a hybrid enterprise. Cloud-delivered and grounded in zero trust, it delivers a unique blend of user simplicity and IT efficiency for frictionless, secure access to all applications—SaaS (with gen AI), private apps, and the internet—regardless of user location or device. Secure Access protects users, data, and devices against relentless, sophisticated, and constantly evolving threats including AI-driven attacks and identity breaches.
Provides all core SSE components (ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and FWaaS) plus extended capabilities.
Includes VPN-as-a-Service (VPNaaS), data loss prevention (DLP), AI Assistant, visibility/control/guardrails for generative AI use, digital experience monitoring (DEM), reserved IP, remote browser isolation (RBI), DNS-layer security, flexible security enforcement (in cloud or on-premises), policy verification, and more.
Protects users as they seamlessly access resources and apps with no extra steps needed, regardless of protocol, port, or level of customization
Simplifies IT operations through a single client, single dashboard, single license, and unified policies.
Lowers risk with least privilege, granular controls backed with unmatched threat intelligence of Cisco Talos.
Eases interoperability with other products from Cisco and third-party vendors with common administrative controls, data structures, and policy management.
Robust integrations
Integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence to protect against the startling increase in identity-based attacks.
Integrates with many SAML Identity Providers (IDPs) such as AD, Azure AD, Okta, Ping, etc.
Integrates with Cisco offerings including SD-WAN, Splunk, XDR, Thousand Eyes, third party technologies such as Menlo RBI, Chrome Enterprise Browser, and AppOmni for SSPM.
OPNsense is an adaptable open-source firewall and routing platform appreciated for its flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly interface. It is equipped with robust security features and offers excellent reporting and visibility, essential for small businesses and home setups.
OPNsense stands out for its modular design, allowing cost-effective customization. This system supports VPNs and various firewall capabilities, making it suitable for securing networks from malicious traffic. Its frequent updates and extensive documentation, combined with a supportive online community, enhance user experience. However, there is room for improvement in integration with virtual servers and Azure. Scalability and hardware updates are important for large-scale environments, and users desire more reliable VPN solutions and enhanced threat intelligence tools.
What are OPNsense's most important features?OPNsense is implemented in industries requiring VPN and firewall functions, supporting site-to-site connections, protecting servers, and managing commercial network traffic. Companies apply it for security, UTM, SD-WAN, content filtering, intrusion detection, and prevention, utilizing its open-source nature and effectiveness as a next-generation firewall.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.