2023-01-03T06:35:00Z
Jitender Joshi - PeerSpot reviewer
AVP : Technology Solutions Group at Pramerica
  • 1
  • 58

What are the benefits of Fortinet FortiGate 400E versus Cisco ASA 5525?

Hi peers, 

I am an AVP at a large insurance company.

I am currently researching firewalls. What are the benefits of Fortinet FortiGate 400E versus Cisco ASA 5525? Which product do you prefer and why?

Thank you for your help.

1
PeerSpot user
1 Answer
NM
Technology Services Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
2023-01-20T11:09:30Z
Jan 20, 2023

Purely from datasheet numbers, the Fortinet 400E unit has much higher performance in most dimensions than the 5525-X appliance, but you'd need to have some specific use cases and metrics in mind to know if that applies to you. If the key metric is a bang for the buck, Fortinet usually wins until vendors start applying extra discounts to level the playing field.


Also, the 400E has been superseded by the 400F, using newer ASIC to effectively double most performance metrics, I suggest you have a look at the data sheets for that versus the current Cisco unit.


As an engineer, I find the Fortinet units much more interoperable, whereas Cisco tends to encourage the adoption of their Cisco-proprietary solutions, as part of a single-vendor fabric. Also, for more junior admins, Cisco is a CLI-first solution and always has been, with ASDM feeling bolted on afterward, whereas Fortinet has a pretty good GUI in recent years, and only requires CLI for more esoteric features.


The Cisco solution is always going to be a better fit if you want to know which solution your Cisco-trained engineers and admins need to best complement your Cisco routers, Cisco switches, Cisco WLC, and Cisco ISE. If you want throughput or port count for segregation, or a security-focused vendor with a more open feature set, Fortinet might be a better choice in my opinion.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Fortinet FortiGate and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
687,947 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Product comparison that may be of interest to you
Related Questions
WX
Software Engineer at Neusoft
Mar 24, 2023
Hi, I am a software engineer for a large IT services and consulting company.  Is the SD-WAN feature in FortiGate suitable for small business applications? Thank you for your help!
reviewer2123919 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer at Digital Network Solution (DNS)
Mar 20, 2023
Hello community,  I am a Network and Security Engineer at a small tech consulting company. I am about to import the backup configuration file of my hardware-based FortiGate firewall onto my VM-based FortiGate firewall.  Can you please assist me with the procedure? Thank you for your help.
Product Comparisons
Download Free Report
Download our FREE report comparing Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet FortiGate based on reviews, features, and more! Updated: March 2023.
DOWNLOAD NOW
687,947 professionals have used our research since 2012.