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APF Software Firewall vs. Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    APF Software Firewall

    N/AN/AAdvanced Policy Firewall (APF) is a free and open-source iptables(netfilter) based firewall system designed around the Internet 's deployed servers and the unique needs of custom deployed Linux installations. The configuration of APF is designed to be informative and present the user with an easy to follow process, from top to bottom of the configuration file.

    $0

    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the core OS for the ASA suite. It provides firewall functionality, as well as integration with context-specific Cisco security modules. It is scaled for enterprise-level traffic and connections.N/A
    Pricing
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Considered Both Products
    Open Source
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    87%
    Would buy again
    39 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    41 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    40 Answers
    Features
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of APF Software Firewall and Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Feature
    APF Software Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    7.8
    49 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Identification Technologies00 Ratings6.532 Ratings
    Visualization Tools00 Ratings6.530 Ratings
    Content Inspection00 Ratings8.032 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls00 Ratings9.045 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings7.547 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console00 Ratings7.547 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging00 Ratings5.948 Ratings
    VPN00 Ratings9.048 Ratings
    High Availability00 Ratings9.047 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection00 Ratings9.046 Ratings
    Proxy Server00 Ratings8.031 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
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    SonicWall NSA Series
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco Meraki MX
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Likelihood to Recommend
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (87 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.1
    (4 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (8 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.5
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    APF Software FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Cisco ASA's are great for internal network connected access between a firewall and the central management server. And, for complex networks where high security requirements with overly strict compliance are necessary. For networks with limited connectivity to the core or for poor network connectivity these are not the best solution. There are other more stand-alone firewall's that do this better. These firewall's are a little more complex to set up to start with so significant knowledge of these devices is required to set them up and ensure they are best practice installed.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • ASA is our VPN concentrator. The client and server are very stable and very easy to use
    • ASA also offers Intrusion Prevention, to an extent. This is also very useful for an improved security posture for a small company
    • ASA allowed us to scale very quickly. We could onboard clients, partners, and consultants and give them a great onboarding experience as well
    • Administrative costs with ASA are low. It's very easy to administer.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • The ASDM software is at times a nightmare to install because of different java versions[.]
    • [The firewall] could do with a power button, just to be able to do a hard reboot when needed[.]
    • It would be nice to manage the firewall via the web on port 443[.]
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    To be honest there has been now great products out in the market compared to Cisco ASA. I beleieve Cisco has to do a lot of improvement in this area. The other defeiniete factors is the cost when it comes to renewals which is always a premium on Cisco products
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I generally have not noticed the outages, however since it's a machine it can malfunction, we need to implement the firewall infrastructure in such a way that it is highly available with device failure, region failure etc. Else any solution will be having the issues if they are not build with resiliency.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The support is usually very good and gets back to you very quickly. However I had some instances of when two engineers will give me wildly different answers to what I thought was a simple question. Overall however I do rate the support highly and they are generally always very good.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It was quite a good one, how ever requires an expertise to deploy hence the SMB segment would be finding it difficult to implement this product. The one good reason is that there are lot of ASA certified engineers in compared to the other certified engineers. Hence this resembles positively on the deployment as you have quite a lot of experienced engineer on your deployment
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    We were using [pfSense] before in our environment but we regularly facing difficulties over it due to software bugs & downtime. After implementing Cisco ASA, it resolved our availability issue & provides us a reliable solution with the best security features & easy to understand GUI.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    • Most network engineers have worked with ASA, so there is no need for re-training when adding or turning over staff
    • Current configs from older devices plug in easily, and are operational on larger devices if an upgrade is required
    • Many support options available
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots