Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks WildFire comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Nov 23, 2022

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Network Wildfire based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Some Cisco Secure Firewall users say that the configuration is complex because it consists of too many steps for inexperienced users. For users with experience with Cisco, the initial setup is straightforward and takes between 20 to 25 minutes. Palo Alto users say installation and configuration is challenging.

  • Features: Some valuable features mentioned by Cisco Secure users include the URL filtering, its visibility, the traffic inspection, and the Firepower engine. Other valuable features include a VPN and ACL features. Users would like to see an increase in encryption and improvement of the management console.

    Palo Alto Wildfire users say the most valuable features are the VPN and the adaptability of the solution to new threats. Other valuable features include URL and DNS filtering, threat protection, antivirus, and the complete integration with other Palo Alto products. Users would like to see better scalability.
  • Pricing: Cisco users say that the solution is expensive since it has an annual cost and a support cost. Palo Alto users also consider the solution to be expensive, especially for smaller organizations.
  • Service and Support: Cisco users are generally happy with the level of support because it is offered 24/7. Reviews of Palo Alto Wildfire support are mixed: for some users the technical support is strong, but others have difficulty getting a timely response, depending on their region.

Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, with all other factors being more or less equal, Cisco Secure Firewall comes in a bit ahead of Palo Alto simply because of their stronger support.



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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 most important feature is the intensive way you can troubleshoot Cisco Firepower Firewalls. You can go to the bit level to see why traffic is not handled in the correct way, and the majority of the time it's a networking issue and not a firewall issue. You can solve any problem without Cisco TAC help, because you can go very deeply under the hood to find out how traffic is flowing and whether it is not flowing as expected. That is something I have never seen with other brands.""Cisco tech is always good and helpful. I would rate them as 10 out of 10.""ASA integrates with FirePOWER, IPS functionality, malware filtering, etc. This functionality wasn't there in the past. With its cloud architecture, Cisco can filter traffic at the engine layer. Evasive encryptions can be entered into the application, like BitTorrent or Skype. This wasn't possible to control through a traditional firewall.""The security features are the most valuable. My customers find the security products very useful because nowadays there are many threats from the internet and other malicious users. The security products really help.""The most valuable feature is the anti-malware protection. It protects the endpoints on my network.""The features that are most valuable within the firewall are the IPS as well as the Unified Communications. We also really like the dynamic grouping.""We feel that we can trust the security, and our assets and business are well protected. We need to have trust in it, but we also see that it works. We have a security company that has tested that it works."

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"WildFire's application encryption is useful.""The most valuable features are all of the security features in terms of protection and SSL and VPN.""It gives a more accurate assessment of a virus in terms of whether it's truly a virus, malware, or a false positive. We have some legacy software that could pop up as being something that is malware. WildFire goes through and inspects it, and then it comes back and lets us know if it's a false positive. Usually, when it finds out that it's not a virus, it lets us know that it's benign, and it can exclude it from that scan, which means I don't even have to worry about that one popping up anymore.""I give the initial setup an eight out of ten.""The solution has plenty of features.""The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks WildFire is its ability to adapt to environments and its robustness.""The scalability is acceptable.""We have found that Palo Alto Networks WildFire is scalable. We currently have six thousand users for the product."

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Cons
"On the VPN side, Firepower could be better. It needs more monitoring on VPNs. Right now, it's not that good. You can set up a VPN in Firepower, but you can't monitor it.""It would be nice if you didn't have to configure using a command-line interface. It's a bit technical that way.""The management of the firewalls could be improved because there are a lot of bugs.""I have a lot of difficulties with the solution's Firewall Management Center (FMC) and the GUI. Neither is responsive enough and should be improved.""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.""The usability of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense is an issue. The product is still under development, and the user interface is very difficult to deal with.""The stability could be better because we have a lot of issues with the stability of Cisco Firepower.""While this applies to all vendors, pricing can be always lower. In my opinion, Cisco is the most expensive. The pricing can be reduced."

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"The solution can improve its traffic management.""The cost of the solution is excessively high.""High availability features are lacking.""The technical support response needs improvement.""There are some formats that the solution cannot support .""In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release of Palo Alto Networks WildFire, each release is based on malware that has been identified. The key problem is an average of six months from the time malware is written to the time it's discovered and a signature is created for it. The only advice that I can give is for them to shorten that timeframe. I don't know how they would do it, but if they shorten that, for example, cut it in half, they'll make themselves more famous.""The only problem with this solution is the cost. It's expensive.""The cost of this solution could still be improved, in particular, giving product discounts for charitable causes."

More Palo Alto Networks WildFire Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "It is expensive. There is a cost for everything. There is per year license cost and support cost. There is also a cost for any training, any application, and any resource. Things are very costly to do with Cisco. Other brands are cheaper. They are also more flexible in terms of training, subscription, and licensing. They give lots and lots of years free. They provide more than Cisco."
  • "When we bought it, it was really expensive. I'm not aware of the current pricing. We had problems with licensing. After our IPS subscription ended, we couldn't renew it because Cisco was moving to the next-generation firewall platform. So, they didn't provide us with the new license."
  • "Its price is moderate. It is not too expensive."
  • "I like its licensing because you buy the license once, and it is yours. We don't have to go for a subscription. So, I liked how they licensed Cisco ASA. Our clients are also very satisfied with its licensing model."
  • More Cisco Secure Firewall Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It depends on the features. Additional features cost additional money as well."
  • "The solution is overpriced."
  • "The price of the Palo Alto Networks WildFire license is expensive. When it came time to renew the solution the price doubled."
  • "WildFire is a little bit pricey. Sometimes it's difficult to sell it to customers at the current price."
  • "The physical appliance is around €3,000 or €4,000, and then, you have the licensing for a year for around €3,000."
  • "Palo Alto Networks WildFire is an expensive product."
  • "Palo Alto Networks WildFire is quite expensive, and this is what puts people off."
  • "The solution is a bit expensive. You pay for security."
  • More Palo Alto Networks WildFire 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: The Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one considers that fact, it is all the more impressive that the setup is a fairly… more »
    Top Answer:FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like the most about it is that it has an attractive web dashboard with very easy… more »
    Top Answer:When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advanced malware and zero-day exploits with real-time intelligence. The sandbox feature… more »
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 50 in Firewalls
    Views
    92,028
    Comparisons
    56,036
    Reviews
    102
    Average Words per Review
    759
    Rating
    8.3
    Views
    23,980
    Comparisons
    17,635
    Reviews
    19
    Average Words per Review
    333
    Rating
    8.1
    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

    Cisco Secure Firewall, including Firepower, is a powerful perimeter security solution used for network security, data center protection, advanced malware protection, and site-to-site VPNs. Its most valuable features include NGIPS, application visibility and control, VLAN implementations, intrusion prevention, threat defense, and NAT. 

    The solution has helped organizations discover their environment, improve security, implement dynamic policies, reduce operational costs, and protect against threats from outside and within the data center. Overall, Cisco Secure Firewall is a valuable tool for securing organizations and providing visibility into threats.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a highly effective cloud-based advanced threat protection (ATP) solution that organizations in a wide variety of fields trust to help them keep safe from digital threats. It is designed to enable businesses to confront even the most evasive threats and resolve them. It combines many techniques to maximize the level of threat protection available to users.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy WildFire include:

    Proactive real-time threat prevention. Organizations that utilize WildFire can take a proactive approach to their network security. Wildfire’s security scanning software is supported by powerful automation that enables it to run 180 times faster than other similar solutions. It also leverages machine learning to spot and address two times more malware monthly than its competitors. Users can solve issues as they arise, which prevents them from suffering severe harm.

    A holistic approach to security. WildFire leverages many of the security features and characteristics that can be found in some of the most effective security solutions in a way that provides users with a powerful protective blanket. It combines such things as machine learning, dynamic and static analysis, and a custom-built analysis environment, and enables users to cover many different potential avenues of attack. In this way, organizations can easily detect and prevent even the most sophisticated threats from harming them.

    Reduce overhead costs. Using WildFire cuts the expenses that a business incurs. Its architecture is based in the cloud and, as a result, users do not have to purchase hardware to run it. Additionally, those users do not have to pay anything more than a product subscription fee. They can scale it up as they wish and incur no additional costs.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Features

    Some of the many features WildFire offers include:

    Third-party integrations. WildFire gives users access to integrations that can enable them to combine Wildfire’s security suite with outside tools. If an organization thinks that they are missing something, they can easily use Wildfire’s third-party integrations to bolster their capabilities. These integrations can connect to many different types of tools, like security information or event management systems.

    URL filtering. Organizations can use a URL filtering feature to safeguard themselves against known threats. When this feature is active, it will scan for traffic coming from specific URLs that are known to be malicious. This keeps them one step ahead of those threats that they know about.

    Deep analytics. Wildfire comes with the ability to provide users with a detailed analysis of any threat that it finds across all of their network environments. It gives users insight into everything from their natures to the actions that they have performed.

    Reviews from Real Users

    WildFire is a solution that stands out when compared to its primary competitors. Two major advantages that it offers are the high speeds at which it can analyze network traffic for threats and the accuracy with which it can pick out genuine threats from false positives.

    Ahmad Z., the principal consultant at Securelytics, writes, “The analysis is very fast. The intermittent is a millisecond and has a speedy response time.”

    Christopher B., the senior systems administrator at a government agency, says, “It gives a more accurate assessment of a virus in terms of whether it's truly a virus, malware, or a false positive. We have some legacy software that could pop up as being something that is malware. WildFire goes through and inspects it, and then it comes back and lets us know if it's a false positive. Usually, when it finds out that it's not a virus, it lets us know that it's benign, and it can exclude it from that scan, which means I don't even have to worry about that one popping up anymore.”

    Offer
    Learn more about Cisco Secure Firewall
    Learn more about Palo Alto Networks WildFire
    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.
    Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Educational Organization11%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Government14%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Computer Software Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise61%
    Buyer's Guide
    Firewalls
    June 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Netgate and others in Firewalls. Updated: June 2023.
    710,326 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 115 reviews while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 2nd in ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) with 23 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is rated 8.0. 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 WildFire writes "Intuitive, stable, and scalable zero-day threat prevention solution with a machine learning feature". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, Meraki MX, pfSense, Juniper SRX Series Firewall and Sophos XG, whereas Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Fortinet FortiGate, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Fortinet FortiSandbox and Zscaler Internet Access.

    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.