Compare products
Put two or three cybersecurity products side by side and see how they differ on deployment, pricing, features, integrations and compliance.
| Product | Cisco Secure Firewall by Cisco View product | pfSense Plus by Netgate View product |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Cisco Secure Firewall from Cisco focuses on perimeter threat defense. Key capabilities: URL filtering. Compare it with the leading Firewall alternatives. | See what pfSense Plus offers: commercial firewall and automated cloud backup. It is built for SD-WAN, supports cloud deployment and competes with other Firewall tools. |
| Product type | Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) & Threat Defense | Commercial Firewall & Secure Gateway |
| Best for | Cross-industry, Government, Financial Services, Healthcare, Energy, Manufacturing, Retail | SMBs, Mid-Market, Branch Sites, Distributed Enterprise, Retail |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Contact Vendor | Contact Vendor |
| Free trial | Free trial: no | Free trial: yes |
| Deployment | ||
| Deployment options | CloudOn-Premise | CloudOn-Premise |
| Deployment details | Hardware appliance; Virtual appliance; Cloud-native; Hardware appliances (Firewall 1000/3100/4200 series); Virtual FTDv (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI); Containerized CNF | Software; Virtual Machine; Cloud; Netgate hardware; AWS; Azure; Virtual |
| Data residency | On-premises data retention / Cloud control region-specific hosting | On-premises; AWS Regions; Azure Regions |
| Key features | ||
| What it offers |
|
|
| Platform & access | ||
| API access | API access: yes | API access: yes |
| Single sign-on (SSO) | SSO: yes | SSO: yes |
| Role-based access (RBAC) | RBAC: yes | RBAC: yes |
| Multi-tenant | Multi-tenant: yes | Multi-tenant: yes |
| Mobile app | Mobile app: no | Mobile app: no |
| Supported platforms | On-premises hardwareAWSMicrosoft AzureGoogle CloudVMware ESXiKVM | Netgate AppliancesVMware ESXiAWSAzureHyper-V |
| Compliance | FIPS 140-2/3, Common Criteria (NDcPP), USGv6, SOC 2, ISO 27001 | SOC 2ISO 27001PCI-DSSHIPAA |
| Integrations & coverage | ||
| Integrations | Cisco Security Cloud ControlCisco ISECisco Secure WorkloadCisco XDRCisco TalosSplunkMicrosoft Sentinel | Netgate cloudActive DirectoryRADIUS |
| Industries | Cross-industryGovernmentFinancial ServicesHealthcareEnergyManufacturing+1 more | SMBsMid-MarketBranch SitesDistributed EnterpriseRetail |
| Regions | Global | Global |
| Vendor | ||
| Company | Cisco | Netgate |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California, USA | Austin, Texas, USA |
| Company size | 80,000+ | 201-500 |
| Founded | 1984 | 2000 |
Overview
What it is
Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Secure Firewall from Cisco focuses on perimeter threat defense. Key capabilities: URL filtering. Compare it with the leading Firewall alternatives.pfSense Plus
See what pfSense Plus offers: commercial firewall and automated cloud backup. It is built for SD-WAN, supports cloud deployment and competes with other Firewall tools.Product type
Cisco Secure Firewall
Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) & Threat DefensepfSense Plus
Commercial Firewall & Secure GatewayBest for
Cisco Secure Firewall
Cross-industry, Government, Financial Services, Healthcare, Energy, Manufacturing, RetailpfSense Plus
SMBs, Mid-Market, Branch Sites, Distributed Enterprise, RetailPricing
Pricing model
Cisco Secure Firewall
Contact VendorpfSense Plus
Contact VendorFree trial
Cisco Secure Firewall
Free trial: nopfSense Plus
Free trial: yesDeployment
Deployment options
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Deployment details
Cisco Secure Firewall
Hardware appliance; Virtual appliance; Cloud-native; Hardware appliances (Firewall 1000/3100/4200 series); Virtual FTDv (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI); Containerized CNFpfSense Plus
Software; Virtual Machine; Cloud; Netgate hardware; AWS; Azure; VirtualData residency
Cisco Secure Firewall
On-premises data retention / Cloud control region-specific hostingpfSense Plus
On-premises; AWS Regions; Azure RegionsKey features
What it offers
Cisco Secure Firewall
- Snort 3 deep packet inspection
- Application visibility and control
- Hardware-accelerated crypto
- Encrypted traffic analytics
- Advanced malware defense
- URL filtering
- Dynamic network segmentation
- Perimeter threat defense
pfSense Plus
- Commercial firewall
- Automated cloud backup
- Multi-gigabit routing
- Zero-touch provisioning
- VPN
- Firewall / NGFW
- Network Security
- SD-WAN
Platform & access
API access
Cisco Secure Firewall
API access: yespfSense Plus
API access: yesSingle sign-on (SSO)
Cisco Secure Firewall
SSO: yespfSense Plus
SSO: yesRole-based access (RBAC)
Cisco Secure Firewall
RBAC: yespfSense Plus
RBAC: yesMulti-tenant
Cisco Secure Firewall
Multi-tenant: yespfSense Plus
Multi-tenant: yesMobile app
Cisco Secure Firewall
Mobile app: nopfSense Plus
Mobile app: noSupported platforms
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Compliance
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Integrations & coverage
Integrations
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Industries
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Regions
Cisco Secure Firewall
pfSense Plus
Vendor
Company
Cisco Secure Firewall
CiscopfSense Plus
NetgateHeadquarters
Cisco Secure Firewall
San Jose, California, USApfSense Plus
Austin, Texas, USACompany size
Cisco Secure Firewall
80,000+pfSense Plus
201-500Founded
Cisco Secure Firewall
1984pfSense Plus
2000