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Cisco Firepower 4100 Series vs. F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Firepower 4100 Series

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/AThe Cisco Firepower 4100 Series’ 1-rack-unit size is presented by the vendodr as ideal at the Internet edge and in high-performance environments. They further state that it shows what’s happening on your network, detects attacks earlier so you can act faster, and reduces management complexity.N/A

    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AF5 Networks offers the F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager, a firewall software combining a number of features including DDoS, DNS security, and other protections.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Editions & Modules
    Firepower 4100
    50,000-250,000
    per appliance
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    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 Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    F5
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    80%
    Would buy again
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Firepower 4100 Series and F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Feature
    Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
    8.6
    4 Ratings
    0% below category average
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    8.6
    2 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Identification Technologies8.04 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Visualization Tools8.04 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.03 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.04 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP10.03 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.04 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging8.04 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    VPN10.04 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    High Availability10.04 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection10.04 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Proxy Server5.52 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.5 out of 10
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    Score8.5 out of 10
    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 Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.3
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Firepower 4100 SeriesF5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    When we are asked by local partners which security equipment we use we always recommend our Cisco security products. The Firepower firewall is no exception and we can easily recommend this to others who need a fast, secure, and well built system that integrates well with all your existing hardware and software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    We were able to eliminate a firewall from our network architecture by integrating the module into our existing F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM). This allowed us to save on tech refresh costs, since the F5 was able to handle the module without much additional strain on the device. However, if a firewall had features that the AFM lacked, then using that firewall in tandem with an F5 would be preferable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Packet filtering
    • Great vpn client
    • Integrates correctly with other vendors
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    • Load balancing using pools
    • SSL offloading
    • iRules for threat handling
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Too much time to deploy changes
    • When there are a lot of entries in the ldap mapping the device runs slow
    • You can not make config changes via CLI, only via GUI
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    • If unsure, can be overly cautious.
    • There are few changes the end user can make.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    It not easy to understand the different features it offers. Sometimes you need to spend a couple of minutes to implement a change or even open a ticket with cisco tac to figure it out. Once support is on the phone with you they know how to resolve problems. But it's not an intuitive tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    F5
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    F5 Advanced Firewall Manager has been a solid, strong solution to both keep our systems safe and being seamless for our end users. Most of the time, the end-user is not impacted and does not even know F5 Advanced Firewall Manager is running which is exactly what we are looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    As I mentioned before, the Fortigates have better failover. I think the Cisco interface is easier to use that that of the FortiGate. My only criticism would be that with multiple CLIs, it can get a bit confusing when you are trying to configure something or troubleshoot from the CLI.
    Read full review
    F5
    Both F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager] and Radware require training as they are not easy to use. But Radware uses some configuration that needs deep learning and proper labs. From an admin's perspective, Configuration and management for F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager are] less. Also, the cost of implementing F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager] is lesser than that of Radware Alteon.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Very stable and does not cause major interruption.
    • Supports most of the business requirements.
    • Enhance security, risk and compliance.
    Read full review
    F5
    • When we had to decide on whether to buy different hardware our team were all in support of renewal for F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager]
    • F5 [BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager] requires proper training on tools and clear concepts of packets, headers, and content to create WAF policies
    • Overall, we are satisfied by the ROI provided by our F5 AFM and GTMs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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