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AWS Firewall Manager vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Firewall Manager
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of AWS Firewall Manager is 3.9%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 3.1%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
AWS Firewall Manager3.9%
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center3.1%
Other93.0%
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venda E - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Option Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Centralized security policies have streamlined audits and ensure consistent protection by default
One area for improvement is the reporting and customization option. The compliance reports are helpful, but having more granular insights or export options would make it even easier to use during audits. Also, support for more third-party integration could improve flexibility. Another improvement I need to see is a smoother setup experience. Some of the initial configuration steps, especially around the organization and permissions, can feel complex. A more guided setup or clear UI explanation would make it easier for teams to adopt quickly. One more improvement would be better alerting options. Right now, we mostly rely on AWS Security Hub or CloudWatch for detailed alerts. Having more built-in, real-time notification directly from AWS Firewall Manager would make it easier to monitor policy violations without extra setup.
SurajYadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Consultant at NTT DATA
Centralized firewall control has improved visibility and policy management but needs faster UI performance
The best features of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center are the centralized management and strong security visibility. The most useful feature for me is centralized policy management, where I can create and enforce access control policies across multiple firewalls from a single console. It saves a lot of time and ensures consistency. Another key feature is IPS visibility. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center provides detailed intrusion events and signatures, which help in quickly identifying and responding to threats. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center has had a positive impact mainly by improving centralized control and visibility across our firewall environment. Earlier, managing multiple firewalls individually was time-consuming and inconsistent. With Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, we can manage policies from a single console, which has improved efficiency and reduced configuration errors. It has also enhanced our security posture with better visibility into traffic and IPS events. We are able to detect and respond to threats more quickly, which helps in reducing risk and improving overall incident response time.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"AWS Firewall Manager isn't a separate solution when you create the virtual private cloud (VPC), so you can control the traffic through that security group."
"It is helpful for our compliance, as the compliance manager manages compliance with leading industry standards such as FedRAMP, which my company complies with, GDPR laws, and ISO 27001."
"After implementing AWS Firewall Manager, we reduced our manual security configuration effort by around sixty to seventy percent as the policies are now centralized, managed, and automatically enforced."
"Once this solution is set up, we hardly have to touch it."
"Also, the strength of the community is invaluable."
"The most valuable feature is scaling, which allows you to deploy one configuration and scan and deploy it across the network. The automated policy application feature also streamlines security operations."
"The product is highly reliable."
"My advice for anybody who is considering the AWS Firewall Manager is that it is pretty simple to set up and easy to use."
"The solution is useful and powerful."
"The tool helps with internet access protection."
"With Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, we can manage policies from a single console, which has improved efficiency, reduced configuration errors, and enhanced our security posture with better visibility into traffic and IPS events so we are able to detect and respond to threats more quickly, reducing risk and improving overall incident response time."
"The platform's most valuable feature has been its centralized management capability, which allows us to monitor and control multiple devices from one location."
"The support is good, they are always good."
"The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations."
"We have not had any complaints about the stability of the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center."
"Malware detection, URL filtering, and antivirus are the most beneficial features for our security management. The platform has three main components: filters, hardware, and antivirus. We use the standard approach for automation and integration. The person in charge of management follows the rules and policies of the equipment and handles operations. However, we haven't set up any notifications, so it's mostly manual."
 

Cons

"The areas of improvement are definitely platform resiliency, as we have seen outages on the AWS backbone, and whenever there is an outage on the AWS backbone, it impacts all the services hosted on that region, so we expect regional resiliency."
"Enabling and configuring the logging is not that straightforward."
"AWS Firewall Manager could be improved with more granular policy customization for better visibility through enhanced dashboards and reporting."
"AWS Firewall Manager should be open to manage other third-party appliances as well."
"For AWS WAF, we have seen cases where it allowed suspicious HTTPS headers even if they carried malicious payloads."
"They could consider organizing and enhancing documentation in a more structured and chronological manner"
"One area for improvement is the reporting and customization option."
"The product could benefit from improvements in the user interface and integration capabilities."
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center could improve by being less expensive."
"Cisco Firepower has been effective in solving various problems, but it could be improved by making it simpler and more user-friendly like Fortinet."
"The tool is a little bit pricey. I was not involved much with finance, but it appeared to be really expensive."
"The user management and protection in-network access should be improved upon."
"Licensing has been a challenge with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and personally, I would consider switching to another solution."
"Due to the lack of enough tutorials available online, I face problems with Cisco."
"The first version had a lot of bugs, but the recent versions have sorted them out."
"The solution could improve the number of ports available and load balancing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is on a pay-as-you-go basis and we are billed monthly."
"It is a cost-efficient product."
"From what I've heard from my colleagues, it appears that the pricing is competitive, which influenced our decision to choose this option."
"It is rather expensive."
"The solution is not expensive."
"The product pricing is reasonable and falls in the mid-range."
"I use the free version of the product."
"The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."
"One of the advantages of Cisco is its range of flexible licensing options."
"My license offers all the protection, like malware protection, VPN protection, IDS, IPS, and endpoint protection."
"As for pricing, the tool is expensive for us. I'd rate it eight out of ten on a scale where ten is the most expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
University
6%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Firewall Manager?
The pricing is reasonable and follows a pay-as-you-go model, which makes it cost-effective for scaling the environment. There is no significant setup cost since the native AWS services and licensin...
What needs improvement with AWS Firewall Manager?
AWS Firewall Manager could be improved with more granular policy customization for better visibility through enhanced dashboards and reporting. Simplifying the initial setup and providing clearer d...
What is your primary use case for AWS Firewall Manager?
My primary use case for AWS Firewall Manager is to centrally manage and enforce security policies across the multiple AWS accounts and resources within our organization. It helps to streamline the ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
My experience with pricing and licensing for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is that it is generally on the higher side compared to some alternatives. The initial setup cost can be signific...
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
One area where Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center can be improved is the user interface. At times, it can feel complex, especially for new users, and navigation between different sections coul...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center serves as my primary tool for centralized firewall policy management and monitoring security events across multiple devices. On a daily basis, I use it to ma...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.