Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Smoothwall UTM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Secure Firewall
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Secure Firewall delivers comprehensive threat protection for modern, distributed networks. Built to support hybrid workforces and multicloud environments, it enables Zero Trust access, application visibility, and secure remote connectivity. With integration across the Cisco Secure portfolio, including SecureX and Talos threat intelligence, the firewall powers organizations to detect and stop more sophisticated threats. Centralized management simplifies policy enforcement, orchestration,…N/A
Smoothwall UTM
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Smoothwall UTM is a firewall security suite for educational environments. It includes the standard firewall services, as well as load balancing, and has hardware and software deployment options.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Considered Both Products
Cisco Secure Firewall
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
on par with other firewalls vendors I've used over the years
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
It has great features, and compared to competitors, the cost of deployment is manageable too.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
While Cisco Secure Firewall is pricey, it delivers and does not compromise on capabilities. It is the best for network protection. Worthy every dollar.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco is more secure than FortiGate.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
The administraion interface of the Cisco secure firewall is a lot more easy to learn than the Palo Alto solution. Also, the dashboard panels offers by Cisco seems a lot more useful and details than the Palo Alto solution.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Having worked in the Fortinet and Sonicwall space, I have found that the Cisco Secure Firewall platform is the easiest to work with. The platform is easily customizable and overall very clean. Cisco has kept the platform feeling fresh with regular updates.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
We use it because it's the best firewall on the market now. And are the best protection and hardware.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco has a more seamless integration with its firewall management center compared to palo alto's panorama which tends to become out of sync with their firewalls. This can cause config differences, duplicate rules, or just the inability to deploy polices due to inconsistencies. …
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Well FWs are branch security things and major things so really not much similar device at Cisco portfolio.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Nexus Series Switches
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
They are peer competitors, with Palo Alto offering some advantages over the Cisco products in the way of licensing simplicity and costs. The Palo Alto also supports the abilty to do "to the box" filtering and policy enforcement where Cisco requires special rules that are …
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series and VMware SD-WAN
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
I personally didn't evaluate any other products. We were already working with Cisco, so just keep upgrading.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
I've used Ubiquiti products, SonicWall products, the various older Cisco and Meraki. Cisco is definitely more of an enterprise level and overall it has probably better overall options and integrations and functionality and we've continued to choose to use it because it works …
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
We utilize these two products together to provide enhanced user experience and security.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Secure Firewall works better with the Cisco ecosystem when we can utilize it and feels beefy enough when we utilize it in the data center. The Fortinet we have found are great, small cost boxes for remote offices with a better UI then Cisco Secure Firewalls. The feature …
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Secure Firewall outperforms and the feature set are much better.
Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
I'm still evaluating new data center build out with Palo Alto, Cisco Secure Firewall or other.
Smoothwall UTM
Chose Smoothwall UTM
Smoothwall is a system that is cheaper than just a free license due to being a Linux distribution. Simplewall is a bit more for robust equipment or large networks.
Features
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
7.9
Ratings
9% below category average
Smoothwall UTM
9.3
Ratings
7% above category average
Identification Technologies8.10 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Visualization Tools7.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Content Inspection8.20 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Firewall Management Console8.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.20 Ratings9.00 Ratings
VPN7.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
High Availability8.50 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Stateful Inspection7.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Proxy Server6.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.9 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 10.0 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Secure FirewallSmoothwall UTM
Likelihood to Recommend
The software offers advanced firewall solutions from Web threats management to behavioural analytics and comprehensive application security. Cisco Secure firewall software is incredibly easy to deploy and implement. Customer support services providers are concise and very responsive. Integration and customization of the software are exceptional. The product boasts impressive capabilities, enabling it to stop threats and manage all security flaws in real time.
Read full review
After a year of using the Smoothwall UTM Firewall solution, we can say that it is a secure solution, it offers a graphical interface for configuration and access with easy understanding and usability, the security features and blocking of url and applications work very well and also protects against malware and ransomware. For small and even intermediate scenarios I recommend it, but not for very large scenarios. Licenses can be renewed and are priced very well compared to competitors.
Read full review
Pros
  • It's good at segregating networks and ensuring that you only give the access that you need to give. Especially with medical devices, you want to only give the access that they need and keep them in their own separate areas so that they can't just communicate with the rest of the network. It's also good at the border for keeping attackers out of the network.
Read full review
  • easy to manage by its web platform that allows quick access to system functions
  • allows the administration of the company's network by creating IP navigation permissions to prevent access to unprotected pages
  • this system can be installed on computers with very few resources and even with old equipment just by adapting an additional network card. This is helpful for companies that are starting and do not have much capital to invest but need to protect their systems
Read full review
Cons
  • I have one argument, failover scenario. It's not quite easy. Failover scenario of firewalls. It's sometimes not quite easy to know the issue. But if we open a tech case, a technical case to Cisco, Cisco will help us, it's a little bit con, but we are happy with this product.
Read full review
  • Rare problems have been noticed when there are many connections at the same time.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It works really well. We can do most anything we want or need to with it, and you don’t have to have a doctorate or multiple certs to necessarily figure it out. The thing that would probably have to happen to make us switch would be if we just got priced out - Cisco’s more powerful and higher bandwidth models cost a pretty penny.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
The platform is powerful and feature-rich, especially when paired with tools like Firepower Management Center (FMC) and SecureX. The policy structure is logical, and the visibility into traffic flows, threat activity, and rule hits is quite strong once you're familiar with the interface
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
As for the availability, in general we did not experience any issues with it, neither in situations where there's only one physical device implemented nor when there's and High Availability pair. Failover works like a charm, no complaints here, it works as it should and so far it has been highly reliable.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
no slowing down, vpn is working fast
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Our experience with Cisco TAC support for Cisco Secure Firewall has been very good. The support engineers are knowledgeable about the product and have many tools available to them to work "under the hood" of the firewalls or management center. When we've had equipment failures, the RMA process has been simple and straightforward.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
very good
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
was a good training but questions was answered not so good. Training was "Fundamentals of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention (SFWIPF)".
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Our initial implementation was aided by Cisco's professional services and was excellent. The engineer was very knowledgeable and helped us work through issues while building out our new internet security edge Part of this involved tools to migrate the firewall configuration from old to new.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco Secure Firewall works better with the Cisco ecosystem when we can utilize it and feels beefy enough when we utilize it in the data center. The Fortinet we have found are great, small cost boxes for remote offices with a better UI then Cisco Secure Firewalls. The feature set included with the firewalls feels similar from a security point of view.
Read full review
Smoothwall is a system that is cheaper than just a free license due to being a Linux distribution. Simplewall is a bit more for robust equipment or large networks.
Read full review
Scalability
you can choose up to 50 devices i think thats enough for our organization
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Cisco Secure Firewall gives details on the possible intrusions attempts that are occurring on the network, which gives stakeholders confidence that the network is being protected.
  • Cisco's reputation as a longstanding network leader provides the trust that is needed in keeping networks secure.
  • The wide variety of tools and features that Cisco Secure Firewall provides allows business owners to plan for changes that can occur in the network as Cisco is able to adapt to the different needs.
Read full review
  • Internal network security and intruder protection for a cost-effective solution.
  • The solution contributed and greatly reduced malware attacks and ddos ​​attacks.
  • Reports allowed more accurate analysis.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Cisco Secure Firewall Screenshots

Screenshot of Cisco Secure 1200 Series Firewall FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 1200 Stack FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 Series