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Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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 Secure Firewall Manag...
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 1.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is 7.4%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Yonas Abebe - PeerSpot reviewer
Great dashboard with extensive visibility and good support
I expect more integration with AI. I expect Cisco to be easier for users in India, especially for junior users. For a junior one, it may somehow be complex, especially when configuring something. I remember version 6.4 had an integration with Eddie, allowing me to define a policy according to my users, however, the latest version, lacks this integration. The logging of FMC should be improved as it does not offer real-time solutions like DazaSodo.
Waleed Aboda - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized monitoring enhances control while seeking greater flexibility and rapid response
I am still working for Lotus. We work with Palo Alto three series, Panorama, and Firewall Banu, specifically Firewall three series and five series I find this solution valuable for full monitoring, centralized control for reporting, and centralized management. These features are instrumental in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool helps with internet access protection."
"Scalability is not an issue as long as you are able to buy additional licenses. Ten percent of our customers use Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and we have large accounts with 50% of their end users behind this firewall."
"The most valuable features are the Virtual Private Network and the Electronic Control Lists."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the UTM."
"The policy management capabilities streamline security tasks by facilitating policy configuration. This ensures the impactful implementation of security policies during product installation, enhancing overall security measures."
"The overall product rating is eight out of ten."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The product's user interface is very easy to use and convenient."
"From a configuration point of view, when we are implementing it for large organizations where the customer owns a hundred firewalls, it's just easy to manage them all at one central location."
"Palo Alto Networks Panorama has a lot of features."
"The solution offers good logging features."
"The application ID or App-ID feature is a good feature for us. We are also using IPS and content inspection features. The firewall can inspect the packages that are passing through my network."
"I like its flexibility."
"In Panorama, installing the policy, and pushing the policy, it's quite seamless."
"It's helpful that the solution allows us to control all the firewalls from one device."
"Panorama is very easy, easy to administrate, and easy to control."
 

Cons

"The product could be improved by simplifying its user interface and reducing complexity."
"Due to the lack of enough tutorials available online, I face problems with Cisco."
"The first version had a lot of bugs, but the recent versions have sorted them out."
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center could improve by being less expensive."
"Cisco firewalls use old ESR or a Linux system, and there are problems with encryption. When we switch on encryption, the throughput goes down."
"I would go with a rating of three out of ten for the stability issues."
"The solution could improve the number of ports available and load balancing."
"The initial setup is a bit complex."
"An area for improvement would be the connectivity, which sometimes means logs can be slow to display."
"There is room for improvement in the graphical user interface (GUI), which is becoming outdated, especially the NAT section."
"Aside from pricing, I don't have any issues with Panorama."
"Palo Alto needs to improve deployment by making it easier to deploy an agent to a desktop."
"We have experienced a few bugs which the team at Palo Alto don't have solutions for."
"As the cybersecurity threats have become more aggressive these days, Palo Alto Networks Panorama can still be improved, particularly on the security side, for example, more network management, and penetration test. Improving the security feature for internal endpoints is needed in the solution."
"There could be more integrations with third parties."
"Lacking in speed and reliability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It could be considered relatively cheaper when compared to some other vendors in the market."
"One of the advantages of Cisco is its range of flexible licensing options."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"The solution is not expensive."
"The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."
"I rate Secure Firewall Management Center eight out of 10 for pricing."
"My license offers all the protection, like malware protection, VPN protection, IDS, IPS, and endpoint protection."
"As for pricing, the tool is expensive for us. I'd rate it eight out of ten on a scale where ten is the most expensive."
"Palo Alto is costly compared to Fortinet and Sophos."
"The pricing is considered a little bit expensive, but depending on the client, it's worth it."
"You only pay for the license and there are no additional costs."
"The pricing model is reasonable for this class of solutions."
"Its licensing is yearly and multi-yearly. It is not expensive."
"Everyone, I suppose, would like the price to be improved. Price is always a good thing to change."
"The price of the licenses could be lower. Still, because we have Panorama with 25 firewalls, Palo Alto gives us a good discount."
"The licensing is not cheap. There are always hidden costs. You have support costs, or maybe you need to buy more optics on how the solution fits into the rest of your environment. It is possible some of the rest of your environment will need to change too."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
22%
Computer Software Company
20%
Engineering Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations.
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
I expect more integration with AI. I expect Cisco to be easier for users in India, especially for junior users. For a junior one, it may somehow be complex, especially when configuring something. I...
What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
The most valuable aspect of Palo Alto Networks Panorama for me is the centralized management of multiple firewalls.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
Palo Alto Networks Panorama is expensive but provides good value for money. For the higher end, the cost is justified. However, for the lower end, a reduction in cost could improve competitiveness.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
From the reporting side, naming the reports properly so that they can be easily identified would be an improvement. Other than that, it works well. There was a bug causing us to not get the latest ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.