FortiGate vs Cisco Firepower: firewall comparison
·3 min read·463 words
FortiGate vs Cisco Firepower: choosing an NGFW in 2026
For a company seeking an NGFW firewall in 2026, the choice often comes down to FortiGate or Cisco Secure Firewall (Firepower). Palo Alto is more premium and expensive, while FortiGate and Firepower are the mainstream challengers. Their market positioning differs: Fortinet focuses on price-to-performance through ASICs, while Cisco emphasizes its integrated ecosystem, including SecureX, Talos, and Snort 3.
Performance comparison (Threat Protection throughput)
- FortiGate 60F (€700): 700 Mbps Threat | Firepower 1010 (€1,500): 650 Mbps Threat. Comparable performance, with Fortinet costing 53% less.
- FortiGate 100F (€2,800): 1 Gbps | Firepower 1120 (€3,500): 1.1 Gbps. Comparable performance, with Fortinet costing 20% less.
- FortiGate 200F (€5,500): 3 Gbps | Firepower 2110 (€8,000): 1 Gbps. Fortinet provides 200% more throughput at a 31% lower price.
- FortiGate 600F (€16,000): 5.6 Gbps | Firepower 3110 (€15,000): 3.5 Gbps. Fortinet provides 60% more throughput at a 7% higher price.
- FortiGate 1800F (€45,000): 15 Gbps | Firepower 4115 (€32,000): 12 Gbps. Fortinet provides 25% more throughput at a 40% higher price.
Licensing and TCO
- Fortinet UTP: approximately 40-50% of the hardware price per year (IPS, AV, App Control, Web Filter, Anti-spam).
- Cisco Firepower: Threat + URL + Malware require 3 separate licenses, totaling approximately 70% of the hardware price per year.
- Additional Cisco FMC appliance: €15,000+ for multi-firewall management.
- 5-year TCO for an HA cluster serving 500 users: FortiGate 200F approximately €35K | Firepower 2110 + FMC approximately €64K. Fortinet costs 45% less.
Management
- FortiOS: a unified interface with the same GUI from the 60F (SMB) to the 7000E (service provider). Short learning curve.
- Cisco: 3 interfaces—FMC for enterprise, embedded FDM for SMBs, and cloud-based CDO. This adds significant complexity.
- FortiManager: mature multi-site management with ADOMs and templates.
- Cisco CDO: a modern cloud-managed platform that does not support every FTD feature.
Advanced security
- Fortinet FortiGuard: IPS, AV, Web Filter, and Sandbox through FortiSandbox cloud or appliance. Strong overall capabilities.
- Cisco: Snort 3 IPS, an open-source benchmark with an extensive signature database, and premium Talos threat intelligence.
- Cisco has the advantage in threat intelligence research, with Talos recognized across the industry.
- Fortinet has the advantage in sandbox performance through hardware acceleration.
SD-WAN
- Fortinet: SD-WAN is integrated into FortiOS, with NO additional license required.
- Cisco: Viptela is separate on Catalyst 8000, with a Network Advantage license costing approximately €400/site/year.
- For a 50-site, multi-branch project, Fortinet saves €100,000 over 5 years compared with Cisco SD-WAN.
Verdict
- SMBs and mid-market companies: FortiGate is the clear choice, with 45% lower 5-year TCO and equal or better performance.
- 100% Cisco environment (Catalyst, Nexus, ASR): choose Firepower for ecosystem consistency + SecureX.
- Multi-site SD-WAN: FortiGate is the clear choice—SD-WAN is included.
- SOC using custom Snort rules: Firepower, with native Snort 3 compatibility.
- Strict CapEx budget: always choose FortiGate.