Compare products

Put two or three cybersecurity products side by side and see how they differ on deployment, pricing, features, integrations and compliance.

Cisco Secure IPSFortiGatePalo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention3 of 3 products

You can compare up to 3 products. Remove one to add another.

Side-by-side comparison of Cisco Secure IPS, FortiGate, Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention
Product	Cisco Secure IPS by Cisco View product	FortiGate by Fortinet View product	Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention by Palo Alto Networks View product
Overview
What it is	Cisco Secure IPS delivers snort 3 inspection engine for network intrusion prevention. Explore its Network Security capabilities, deployment choices and top competitors.	FortiGate helps teams with network firewalling. Explore features like firewall, IPS and application control, cloud deployment and the closest Firewall competitors.	Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention: single-pass scanning and DNS security integration. Built for inline exploit prevention. Compare Network Security alternatives.
Product type	Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS)	Next-generation firewall and secure networking platform	Inline Deep Learning Intrusion Prevention (IPS)
Best for	Cross-industry, Enterprise, Financial Services, Healthcare, Public Sector, Defense	Enterprise, SMB, Financial services, Healthcare, Government, Education, Manufacturing, Retail, Technology, Service providers	Cross-industry, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Critical Infrastructure
Pricing
Pricing model	Contact Vendor	Contact Vendor	Contact Vendor
Free trial	Free trial: no	Free trial: no	Free trial: no
Deployment
Deployment options	CloudOn-Premise	Cloud	Cloud
Deployment details	Hardware appliance; Virtual appliance; Cloud; Physical appliance module; Virtual NGIPSv on ESXi/KVM; Public cloud virtual instances	Physical appliance, virtual machine, cloud marketplace and FortiGate-as-a-Service; Physical appliance, virtual machine, cloud marketplace and FortiGate-as-a-Service	Cloud-delivered subscription on NGFW / Prisma Access; Cloud-delivered security service on physical, virtual, or cloud firewalls
Data residency	On-premises / Cloud region dependent	Depends on deployment, service region, cloud architecture and customer configuration; verify the applicable Fortinet service/region	In-line traffic processing; cloud intelligence respects regional privacy regulations
Key features
What it offers	Snort 3 inspection engine Real-time exploit blocking Talos dynamic rule updates Automated virtual patching Protocol anomaly detection SSL/TLS decryption inspection Contextual risk scoring Network intrusion prevention	Firewall IPS Application control Antivirus SSL inspection VPN SD-WAN Web filtering	Inline deep learning detection Zero-day exploit blocking Command-and-control interruption DNS security integration Automated signature generation Single-pass scanning Protocol anomaly detection Inline exploit prevention
Platform & access
API access	API access: yes	API access: yes	API access: yes
Single sign-on (SSO)	SSO: yes	SSO: yes	SSO: yes
Role-based access (RBAC)	RBAC: yes	RBAC: yes	RBAC: yes
Multi-tenant	Multi-tenant: yes	Multi-tenant: yes	Multi-tenant: yes
Mobile app	Mobile app: no	Mobile app: no	Mobile app: no
Supported platforms	Hardware chassisVMware ESXiKVMAWSAzure	Hardware applianceVMware ESXiMicrosoft Hyper-VKVMNutanix AHVAWSMicrosoft AzureGoogle Cloud+2 more	Hardware NGFWsVM-SeriesCN-SeriesPrisma Access
Compliance	Common Criteria, FIPS 140-2, PCI DSS compliance support	Supports security controls used in common regulated environmentsexact certifications depend on product, model, release and deployment	Common Criteria, FIPS 140-2, ISO 27001
Integrations & coverage
Integrations	Cisco Secure Firewall Management CenterCisco Security Cloud ControlCisco ISECisco XDRSplunkQRadar	FortiManagerFortiAnalyzerFortiClientFortiAuthenticatorFortiNACFortiSandboxFortiGuardFortiSwitch+1 more	PAN-OS Next-Gen FirewallsPrisma AccessWildFireAdvanced URL FilteringStrata Cloud Manager
Industries	Cross-industryEnterpriseFinancial ServicesHealthcarePublic SectorDefense	EnterpriseSMBFinancial servicesHealthcareGovernmentEducation+4 more	Cross-industryFinancial ServicesHealthcareGovernmentCritical Infrastructure
Regions	Global	GlobalAvailability varies by product, deployment and service region	Global
Vendor
Company	Cisco	Fortinet	Palo Alto Networks
Headquarters	San Jose, California, USA	Sunnyvale, California, USA	Santa Clara, California, USA
Company size	80,000+	10,000+	15,000+
Founded	1984	2000	2005

Cisco Secure IPS

by Cisco

View product

FortiGate

by Fortinet

View product

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

by Palo Alto Networks

View product

Overview

What it is

Cisco Secure IPS

Cisco Secure IPS delivers snort 3 inspection engine for network intrusion prevention. Explore its Network Security capabilities, deployment choices and top competitors.

FortiGate

FortiGate helps teams with network firewalling. Explore features like firewall, IPS and application control, cloud deployment and the closest Firewall competitors.

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention: single-pass scanning and DNS security integration. Built for inline exploit prevention. Compare Network Security alternatives.

Product type

Cisco Secure IPS

Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention System (NGIPS)

FortiGate

Next-generation firewall and secure networking platform

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Inline Deep Learning Intrusion Prevention (IPS)

Best for

Cisco Secure IPS

Cross-industry, Enterprise, Financial Services, Healthcare, Public Sector, Defense

FortiGate

Enterprise, SMB, Financial services, Healthcare, Government, Education, Manufacturing, Retail, Technology, Service providers

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Cross-industry, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Critical Infrastructure

Pricing

Pricing model

Cisco Secure IPS

Contact Vendor

FortiGate

Contact Vendor

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Contact Vendor

Free trial

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Deployment

Deployment options

Cisco Secure IPS

CloudOn-Premise

FortiGate

Cloud

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Cloud

Deployment details

Cisco Secure IPS

Hardware appliance; Virtual appliance; Cloud; Physical appliance module; Virtual NGIPSv on ESXi/KVM; Public cloud virtual instances

FortiGate

Physical appliance, virtual machine, cloud marketplace and FortiGate-as-a-Service; Physical appliance, virtual machine, cloud marketplace and FortiGate-as-a-Service

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Cloud-delivered subscription on NGFW / Prisma Access; Cloud-delivered security service on physical, virtual, or cloud firewalls

Data residency

Cisco Secure IPS

On-premises / Cloud region dependent

FortiGate

Depends on deployment, service region, cloud architecture and customer configuration; verify the applicable Fortinet service/region

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

In-line traffic processing; cloud intelligence respects regional privacy regulations

Key features

What it offers

Cisco Secure IPS

Snort 3 inspection engine
Real-time exploit blocking
Talos dynamic rule updates
Automated virtual patching
Protocol anomaly detection
SSL/TLS decryption inspection
Contextual risk scoring
Network intrusion prevention

FortiGate

Firewall
IPS
Application control
Antivirus
SSL inspection
VPN
SD-WAN
Web filtering

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Inline deep learning detection
Zero-day exploit blocking
Command-and-control interruption
DNS security integration
Automated signature generation
Single-pass scanning
Protocol anomaly detection
Inline exploit prevention

Platform & access

API access

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Single sign-on (SSO)

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Role-based access (RBAC)

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Multi-tenant

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Mobile app

Cisco Secure IPS

FortiGate

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Supported platforms

Cisco Secure IPS

Hardware chassisVMware ESXiKVMAWSAzure

FortiGate

Hardware applianceVMware ESXiMicrosoft Hyper-VKVMNutanix AHVAWSMicrosoft AzureGoogle Cloud+2 more

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Hardware NGFWsVM-SeriesCN-SeriesPrisma Access

Compliance

Cisco Secure IPS

Common Criteria, FIPS 140-2, PCI DSS compliance support

FortiGate

Supports security controls used in common regulated environmentsexact certifications depend on product, model, release and deployment

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Common Criteria, FIPS 140-2, ISO 27001

Integrations & coverage

Integrations

Cisco Secure IPS

Cisco Secure Firewall Management CenterCisco Security Cloud ControlCisco ISECisco XDRSplunkQRadar

FortiGate

FortiManagerFortiAnalyzerFortiClientFortiAuthenticatorFortiNACFortiSandboxFortiGuardFortiSwitch+1 more

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

PAN-OS Next-Gen FirewallsPrisma AccessWildFireAdvanced URL FilteringStrata Cloud Manager

Industries

Cisco Secure IPS

Cross-industryEnterpriseFinancial ServicesHealthcarePublic SectorDefense

FortiGate

EnterpriseSMBFinancial servicesHealthcareGovernmentEducation+4 more

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Cross-industryFinancial ServicesHealthcareGovernmentCritical Infrastructure

Regions

Cisco Secure IPS

Global

FortiGate

GlobalAvailability varies by product, deployment and service region

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Global

Vendor

Company

Cisco Secure IPS

Cisco

FortiGate

Fortinet

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Palo Alto Networks

Headquarters

Cisco Secure IPS

San Jose, California, USA

FortiGate

Sunnyvale, California, USA

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

Santa Clara, California, USA

Company size

Cisco Secure IPS

80,000+

FortiGate

10,000+

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

15,000+

Founded

Cisco Secure IPS

1984

FortiGate

2000

Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention

2005