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Cisco Security Cloud Control vs FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

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 Security Cloud Control
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FortiGate Cloud-Native Fire...
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Security Cloud Control is 1.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vivek Balaji - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful guides, excellent support, integration could improve
Cisco Defense Orchestrator has useful guides for the steps that need to follow by users Cisco Defense Orchestrator can improve by providing more support for third-party security components. I have been using Cisco Defense Orchestrator for approximately eight months. The Cisco Defense…
MuhammadJahangir - PeerSpot reviewer
Provided us with a good experience, making it the best firewall for our needs
We are using two Fortinet firewalls. One is as an office firewall for all users behind it, configured with remote VPN for users working from home. The other firewall is for production use, with our applications behind it, ensuring PCI DSS compliance. It is deployed in AWS Cloud FortiGate has…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was straightforward. We spun up the VM onsite. We generated the key that it needed to talk to the Cloud Orchestrator. After that, as I started adding devices, it was relatively quick and easy."
"The most valuable feature is the automation, as it reduces user intervention and allows us to focus on other tasks."
"For this product, they are very uncharacteristically interested in resolving whatever issue the customer reports. They're really attentive, and they address whatever we bring up as quickly as they can. That's been a very positive aspect of the product."
"When we're looking to the policies, it identifies the shadow rules. It notifies us about anything that will supersede other rules."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator has useful guides for the steps that need to follow by users."
"I like the upgrade feature. That is pretty valuable to me because I have dual ASAs and when I go through CDO it does it for me pretty well. It's all done in the back-end and I don't really have to be involved. I just initiate, pick the image, and I pick when I want it done and it just does it, whether I have a single ASA or have a dual ASA."
"The most valuable feature is the Intrusion prevention."
"The ability to do operations on multiple firewalls at once is valuable because it saves time and mental effort. The solution's ability to make bulk changes makes it very convenient to manage things at once on multiple targets."
"ATP ( Advanced Threat Protection) next-generation firewall is the most valuable feature."
"The tool's documentation and online resources availability have been valuable."
"The ability to launch third-party software is one of the best features because of the variety of software available. For me, it's one of the best ones."
"I have configured some SD-WAN features, and it's worked pretty well. It manages pretty well, connecting all links to the firewall. It can lower balance and traffic management."
"FortiGate has provided us with a good experience, making it the best firewall for our needs."
"The platform has good stability."
"Threat detection and prevention features are the most effective aspects of FortiGate CNF."
"The solution can scale well."
 

Cons

"Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall."
"I'd like CDO to be the one-stop-shop where we could do all the configurations easily. It would be nice, for ASA upgrades, if we could do them from a central repository and not have to reach out to Cisco. That would be a definite plus."
"They need to work on the user interface. It needs to be improved to make it more user-friendly."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator can improve by providing more support for third-party security components."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall. Currently, to use it effectively, one must be specific with the rule set that needs to be set up."
"They can centralize all products and provide a correlation about an incident and the response. They can also provide an on-premises solution. Currently, Cisco Defense Orchestrator is just for cloud deployments, not for on-premises deployments. Customers have to manage it on the cloud. We are based in Vietnam, and most of the customers here prefer to have on-premises deployments. Customers, especially from banking and government sectors, do not prefer to do anything on the cloud. Some of the small enterprises use the cloud."
"I've found dozens of bugs over the year we've been using it. The more I use it for different things, the more problems I find... Most of the problems have to do with the user interface. A lot of thought and work has gone into the back-end component to make the product do what it's intended to do, but the way it is presented for use hasn't gotten nearly as much thought to make it smart and bug-free."
"It would be a better product if it incorporated device control for third-party products easily."
"The solution needs to improve on box clustering and IPS configuration."
"There is room for improvement in terms of support."
"The customization of FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) could be improved, particularly in terms of configurations to better adjust to specific needs."
"For scalability, if the hardware isn't fit or working, the box needs changing."
"The prices for FortiGate are way too high and are perceived as overpriced."
"There are some bugs that need to be fixed, and they can take some time to resolve."
"The prices for FortiGate are way too high and are perceived as overpriced."
"They should offer more affordable renewal options or flexible plans for license upgrades."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is about a $100 per year for an ASA 5506 firewall, and from there it keeps going up if you have a bigger box. For example, the 5516 is $200 to $300 per year."
"If you compare to what is available on the market, they are in the same range with respect to pricing."
"It's around £500 per unit for a three-year license."
"It is covered under the CIsco Enterprise License Agreement (ELA). So, it is licensed and ours."
"I work with a lot of clients, and the price or value of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator can vary from one client to another. If you have a lot of Cisco solutions, the price of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator is justified. Whereas if you have some security components from other vendors, such as Check Point or Palo Alto. This solution would be a pretty expensive proposition considering that they don't integrate with them well."
"After our free trial was done we got a subscription for three years and it was under $3,000 or so. It's part of the EA we already paid for, so I don't know what it would be if it was a la carte."
"The pricing is competitive."
"The tool's licensing costs are cheap and yearly."
"FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall is not an expensive solution."
"It is an expensive platform."
"FortiGate's price is really good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
48%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
3%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall. Currently, to use it effectively, one must be specific with the rule set that needs to be set up. Additionally, I suggest impro...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Our primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator is the automation of playbooks. We primarily use it for this purpose to streamline processes.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Those who want to use Cisco Defense Orchestrator should build their own use case and see if it fits their environment. The most significant benefit for us is the response time because it automates ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF)?
The pricing is a bit expensive, primarily due to licensing fees. Extra expenses include upgradations beyond licensing.
What needs improvement with FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF)?
The customization of FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) could be improved, particularly in terms of configurations to better adjust to specific needs.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Defense Orchestrator, CDO
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Insurance Company of British Columbia, Shawmut
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Security Cloud Control vs. FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.