Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks K2-Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Report (Updated: March 2023).
688,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Feature-wise, we mostly use IPS because it is a security requirement to protect against attacks from outside and inside. This is where IPS helps us out a bunch.""The deep packet inspection is useful, but the most useful feature is application awareness. You can filter on the app rather than on a static TCP port.""It brings us the ability to work from anywhere and has allowed us to work remotely without having to incur a lot of other costs. If we didn't have this type of solution, since we have so many on-prem services that are required, we would have likely lost money and been unable to deliver. We have a video services team who helped build the content for our sporting events. When you are watching a Leaf game and those swipes come by as well as the clips and things, those are all generated in-house. Without the ability to access our on-premise resources, we would have been dead in the water. So, the return on that is pretty impressive.""I like that it is easy to change the settings.""I think that the firewall feature is the most valuable to me as it is one of the oldest features for this solution. We also appreciate how stable the VPN is.""There are some hiccups here and there, but compared to the technical support from other vendors, I have had the best experience with Cisco's technical support. I would rate them at nine out of ten.""Collaboration with other Cisco products such as ISE and others is the most valuable feature.""Cisco Secure Firewall is a scalable solution."

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"I have found that Palo Alto Networks K2-Series has the best security. They are more user-friendly, older firewalls used to have to be configured using the command-line interface, but in this solution, it can be done in the GUI.""The scalability of the product is quite high.""As long as the solution is kept updated, it's pretty stable.""The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the configuration, it is very clear.""I have found the threat profile feature valuable.""The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is its management abilities. Additionally, the updates are very good.""K2-Series' best features include its scalability, which is the best on the market.""The most valuable features are the intuitive user interface, ease of use, and reporting."

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Cons
"Its user interface is good, but it could be better. Currently, you have to know what to do before you can manage a device. If you don't know what to do, you can mess things up. There are some devices that are easier, such as FortiGate. The user interface of FortiGate is more intuitive. It is very easy to log in and configure things.""Sometimes my customers say that Cisco Firewalls are a bit more difficult compared to Fortigate or Palo Alto. There is complexity in the configuration and the GUI could be improved.""While this applies to all vendors, pricing can be always lower. In my opinion, Cisco is the most expensive. The pricing can be reduced.""One of the few things that are brought up is that for the overall management, it would be great to have a cloud instance of that. And not only just a cloud instance, but one of the areas that we've looked at is using an HA type of cloud. To have the ability to have a device file within a cloud. If we had an issue with one, the other one would pick up automatically.""A feature that would allow me to load balance among multiple ISPs, especially since we have deployed it as a perimeter firewall, would be a great addition.""There are some limitations with SSL. Regarding the security assessment for the ISO 27000 standard, there are certain features that Cisco needs to scale up. Not all products support it, so you need to be slightly careful, especially on the site track.""I would like it if there was a centralized way to manage policies, then sticking with the network functions on the actual devices. That is probably the thing that frustrates me the most. I want a way that you can manage multiple policies at several different locations, all at one site. You then don't have to worry about the connectivity piece, in case you are troubleshooting because connectivity is down.""We use the FTD management platform for the boxes. The GUI that manages multiple Firepower boxes could be improved so that the user experience is better."

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"They could improve by providing more features in the solution.""It would be really helpful to have dashboards that provide information on IOC blockings such as where and how many. It will also be good to know how many hashing files have been reported. It would also be nice to have easy access to this information. Otherwise, it's a painful, manual task.""We had some issues with upgrading in the past. They could make the process easier.""The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive.""The scalability of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is good. It is good for larger environments over smaller ones.""The product should get frequent updates allowing us to add new signatures.""Palo Alto releases a lot of bug fixes for their firewalls, which means it's necessary to do frequent upgrades. They should work on decreasing their bugs so that upgrades aren't needed so often.""Palo Alto has many other products. It would be nice for these products to be centralized under one tool"

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "I like the Smart Licensing, because it is more dynamic and easier to keep track of where you are at. If we have a high availability firewall pair and they are deployed in active/standby rather than active/active, I would expect that we would only pay for one set of licenses because you are using only one firewall at any one time. The other is there just for resiliency. The licensing, from a Firepower perspective, still requires you to have two licenses, even if the firewalls are in active/standby, which means that you pay for the two licenses, even though you might only be using one firewall any one time. This is probably not the best way to do it and doesn't represent the best value for money. This could be looked at to see if it could be done in a fairer way."
  • "We are happy with its price. Licensing is on a yearly basis for technical support. There is one license for technical support. There is another license for IP Version 2 VPN and IPS."
  • "I am happy with the product in general, including the pricing."
  • "Their pricing is very aggressive and good. Even a small company can afford it. I am happy with its pricing. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
  • "This solution is expensive and other solutions, such as FortiGate, are cheaper."
  • "Its pricing is good and competitive. There is a maintenance cost. It includes SecureX that makes it cost-effective as compared to the other solutions where you have to pay for XDR and SOAR capabilities."
  • "When we are fighting against other competitors for customers, whether it is a small or big business, we feel very comfortable with the price that Firepower has today."
  • "Pricing is the same as other competitors. It is comparable. The licensing has gotten better. It has been easier with Smart Licensing."
  • More Cisco Secure Firewall Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of the solution is expensive."
  • "When comparing Palo Alto Networks K2-Series with other solutions it is on the higher end of the price scale."
  • "This product is designed for large companies. The price would not be suitable for a small or medium size company."
  • "Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is an expensive solution, the price could be reduced. They are more expensive than some of their competitors."
  • "The overall price of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be reduced."
  • "We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series."
  • "If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."
  • More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use… more »
    Top Answer:One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. Fortinet Fortigate is very stable, reliable, and consistent. We like that we can manage the… more »
    Top Answer:It is easy to integrate Cisco ASA with other Cisco products and also other NAC solutions. When you understand the Cisco ecosystem, it is very simple to handle. This solution has traffic inspection and… more »
    Top Answer:In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering… more »
    Top Answer:The scalability of the product is quite high.
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 48 in Firewalls
    Views
    95,387
    Comparisons
    61,734
    Reviews
    90
    Average Words per Review
    858
    Rating
    8.2
    17th
    out of 48 in Firewalls
    Views
    954
    Comparisons
    238
    Reviews
    12
    Average Words per Review
    382
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Cisco ASA Firewall, Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Cisco ASA, Adaptive Security Appliance, ASA, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall
    Learn More
    Overview

    The Cisco Secure Firewall portfolio delivers greater protections for your network against an increasingly evolving and complex set of threats. With Cisco, you’re investing in a foundation for security that is both agile and integrated- leading to the strongest security posture available today and tomorrow.

      From your data center, branch offices, cloud environments, and everywhere in between, you can leverage the power of Cisco to turn your existing network infrastructure into an extension of your firewall solution, resulting in world class security controls everywhere you need them.

      Investing in a Secure Firewall appliance today gives you robust protections against even the most sophisticated threats without compromising performance when inspecting encrypted traffic. Further, integrations with other Cisco and 3rd party solutions provides you with a broad and deep portfolio of security products, all working together to correlate previously disconnected events, eliminate noise, and stop threats faster.

      Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.

      Offer
      Learn more about Cisco Secure Firewall
      Learn more about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series
      Sample Customers
      There are more than one million Adaptive Security Appliances deployed globally. Top customers include First American Financial Corp., Genzyme, Frankfurt Airport, Hansgrohe SE, Rio Olympics, The French Laundry, Rackspace, and City of Tomorrow.
      State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME
      Top Industries
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm15%
      Comms Service Provider13%
      Computer Software Company11%
      Manufacturing Company7%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company19%
      Comms Service Provider15%
      Government8%
      Educational Organization6%
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm31%
      Comms Service Provider31%
      Computer Software Company15%
      Transportation Company8%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company27%
      Comms Service Provider9%
      Government7%
      Real Estate/Law Firm5%
      Company Size
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business35%
      Midsize Enterprise23%
      Large Enterprise41%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business28%
      Midsize Enterprise19%
      Large Enterprise53%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business44%
      Midsize Enterprise16%
      Large Enterprise40%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business25%
      Midsize Enterprise21%
      Large Enterprise54%
      Buyer's Guide
      Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series
      March 2023
      Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
      688,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.

      Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 111 reviews while Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is ranked 17th in Firewalls with 13 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "The ability to implement dynamic policies for dynamic environments is important, given the fluidity in the world of security". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series writes "Stable with great deep inspection functionality and good scalability". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks WildFire, pfSense and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is most compared with Juniper SRX Series Firewall. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series report.

      See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

      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.