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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Secure Firewall

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ACisco 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

    Zscaler Internet Access

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AZscaler Internet Access™ (ZIA) is a secure web gateway (SWG), delivering cloud native cyberthreat protection and zero trust access to the internet and SaaS apps.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Zscaler
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Would buy again
    171 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    147 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    170 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    126 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    136 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Zscaler Internet Access
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    7.9
    79 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Zscaler Internet Access
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies8.168 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.072 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.371 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.876 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP8.865 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console8.374 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging7.275 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN7.665 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability8.571 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection7.870 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server6.741 Ratings00 Ratings
    Identity Management
    Comparison of Identity Management features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Zscaler Internet Access
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Zscaler Internet Access
    5.0
    2 Ratings
    56% below category average
    Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
    Endpoint Security
    Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Zscaler Internet Access
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Zscaler Internet Access
    10.0
    2 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Threat Intelligence
    Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Zscaler Internet Access
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Zscaler Internet Access
    9.5
    5 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Network Analytics00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Threat Recognition00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Threat Analysis00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings9.15 Ratings
    Zero Trust Security
    Comparison of Zero Trust Security features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Zscaler Internet Access
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Zscaler Internet Access
    9.7
    5 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Continuous Verification00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Secure Web Gateways00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Network Flow Control00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Network Traffic Analysis00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Segmentation Leveraging00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
    Admin Access Control00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Network Data Encryption00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
    Network Topology Mapping00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (84 ratings)
    8.7
    (22 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.5
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.6
    (35 ratings)
    8.1
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    It's best suited for a distributed remote workforce, securing internet access for users from anywhere. Suitable for highly regulated industries, such as banking and Healthcare. Not a good fit for an organisation where most of its legacy is in an on-premises environment. Bandwidth-intensive industries like media/entertainment firms.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    • Single Pane of Glass Management - Everything is very easy to access and monitor the entire environment from an internet security perspective.
    • Install Flexibility - We can and do install Zscaler Internet Access on both our client devices as well as our SD-WAN appliances and servers. This allows us to control internet security even on devices without an agent in our networks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • I wish that the deployment of the updates to the sensors from the FMC was faster.
    • Cisco ASA firewall did a great job of authentication and authorization on the local firewall. FTD does not authorize users well in terms that an AAA must be setup to provide the granular tools that the ASA did.
    • Cisco's method of licensing the firewall can be improved. The FMC and the FTD are licensed through the Cisco software manager and there are instances where the devices are licensed but the firewall still displays and error due to licensing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    • The logs feel kind of lack luster
    • When issues are arising with SSL Inspection, logs show everything working despite end user experience
    • Could use some kind of global find functionality or something that would allow you to search the entire configuration for matching URLs and the like
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    While Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) delivers critical value in cloud security and RBI compliance, I rate renewal likelihood 7/10 due to evolving needs versus platform limitations. Below is my rationale:
    Key Gaps:
    1. Advanced Threat Costs:
    ZIA’s add-ons (e.g., Advanced DLP, Sandboxing) incur 35%+ cost premiums – straining budgets as transaction volumes (UPI/iMobile) grow 50% YoY.
    2. API Banking Scalability:
    ZIA’s API rate limits throttle real-time policy sync during UPI peaks (10K+ TPS), forcing workarounds for finacle integrations.
    3. RBI Future-Proofing:
    Limited native support for upcoming digital rupee (CBDC) security rules requires custom development, increasing compliance overhead.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    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
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    The application is easy to install and configure on all Windows devices. To troubleshoot any internet issue, we can easily collect all the relevant logs from Zscaler and check the exact issue. The only problem is with the uninstall, as a dedicated crew needs to provide the password.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cisco
    no slowing down, vpn is working fast
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    There are often performance issues reported
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Firewall support is professional just like any other technology Cisco sells. From answering simple questions to bringing out outages affecting a large population of our workforce, Cisco support is always courteous, professional, and communicates with our team to keep our request on their radar. Some of the brightest people I've met are from Cisco support both in IQ and EQ which shows the talent Cisco is able to onboard to their team.
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    Zscaler's ZIA support is quick and knowledgable. They respond within 1-2 hours of you submitting your ticket. They are very thorough and are typically ready to jump on a live troubleshooting session. Our ZIA platform and how we use is it unique so at times tickets can be open for weeks but we alway get quality support compared to other unrelated product support in our enterprise
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    very good
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Cisco
    was a good training but questions was answered not so good. Training was "Fundamentals of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention (SFWIPF)".
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    Zscaler Intenet Access outperformed the competition due to its lightning-fast policy delivery and cross-compatibility. It is easy to track employee usage and block unnecessary websites, reducing company internet usage. Zscalar installed on every system increases cloud-based software bandwidth, decreasing user turnaround time and increasing efficiency.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Cisco
    you can choose up to 50 devices i think thats enough for our organization
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zscaler
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Positive impact. Cisco is a big player in IT environment. It is future stuff, everything, what you learn today, maybe something can be tomorrow. And yes, it's quite important to learn the new stuff every day. And yes, that's it. Yes, I'm happy with Cisco.
    Incentivized
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    Zscaler
    • Has allowed us to remove other products that were suboptimal
    • Saved us money overall by stacking it with other Zscaler products
    • Created a more secure work environment for our users through intelligent internet policies that are not needlessly restrictive while still maintaining security best practices
    Incentivized
    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

    Zscaler Internet Access Screenshots

    Screenshot of an overview of Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), a cloud native security service edge (SSE) solution that builds on a decade of secure web gateway leadership. Offered as a scalable SaaS platform through Zscaler's security cloud, it replaces legacy network security solutions, preventing advanced attacks and data loss with a comprehensive zero trust approach. ZIA is integrated into the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ to provide superior defense-in-depth, secure connectivity, end user experience, and administrative visibility and control.