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Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama 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

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 1.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is 7.9%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Yonas Abebe - PeerSpot reviewer
Great dashboard with extensive visibility and good support
I expect more integration with AI. I expect Cisco to be easier for users in India, especially for junior users. For a junior one, it may somehow be complex, especially when configuring something. I remember version 6.4 had an integration with Eddie, allowing me to define a policy according to my users, however, the latest version, lacks this integration. The logging of FMC should be improved as it does not offer real-time solutions like DazaSodo.
Waleed Aboda - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized monitoring enhances control while seeking greater flexibility and rapid response
I am still working for Lotus. We work with Palo Alto three series, Panorama, and Firewall Banu, specifically Firewall three series and five series I find this solution valuable for full monitoring, centralized control for reporting, and centralized management. These features are instrumental in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My clients have never contacted me with any issues, so I believe the solution is stable."
"I like the dashboard since it gives me a lot of information."
"The solution is quite scalable."
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is scalable."
"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 solution is useful and powerful."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The solution has a great UI and a policy deployment mechanism, and all the configuration is easily manageable for the firewalls."
"The most valuable feature is the Threat Intelligence."
"The main value of Palo Alto Networks Panorama lies in its ability to centralize management, similar to FortiManager."
"From a configuration point of view, when we are implementing it for large organizations where the customer owns a hundred firewalls, it's just easy to manage them all at one central location."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Panorama provides management functionalities."
"Firewalls: The application ID capabilities have been very useful for things like Active Directory, and not having to identify every port that Microsoft has decided to use."
"One of the key advantages of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is its unified platform that is quite similar to the firewall interface, making it easier for tech consultants to manage."
"We are attracted to Palo Alto because it is stable."
 

Cons

"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center could improve by being less expensive."
"The tool is a little bit pricey. I was not involved much with finance, but it appeared to be really expensive."
"It takes five to seven minutes to push one policy."
"The product's setup could be easier."
"The initial setup is a bit complex."
"The IOS and the deploy option could be improved."
"The solution should improve the user interface."
"It's not very user-friendly and can be somewhat disorganized."
"They can improve its cloud integration."
"The central firewall management could be better."
"Panorama needs to work on its configuration issues."
"We found a vulnerability where when we have a low flow, like 2.7K, it is not getting fired by the threat prevention. That's something important to improve on. They should have a proxy or some solution to solve the issue. We also found some issues around decrypting the flow. When we have more flow than expected to decrypt, the performance goes down."
"It is not a cheap product."
"I would like to see remote VPN, like the Cisco client."
"It communicates with remote devices, and sometimes, there is a little bit of delay during its communication with remote devices. There should be real-time communication or updates from the manager to devices."
"It would be beneficial to improve the capabilities of Panorama to handle logs more efficiently, potentially reducing the need for additional local collectors. Adding more predefined dashboards as features would enhance the monitoring and reporting capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is expensive. We do not have to pay more than the standard licensing fees."
"The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."
"I use the free version of the product."
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center has the best price on the market."
"One of the advantages of Cisco is its range of flexible licensing options."
"The solution is not expensive."
"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."
"It is rather expensive."
"The pricing model is reasonable for this class of solutions."
"The price of Palo Alto Networks Panorama could be lower."
"Its cost is quite high."
"Licensing fees are paid yearly."
"There is a license needed to use Palo Alto Networks Panorama. The cost is not that important, what is important is meeting all the requirements and security features."
"The price of Panorama is expensive."
"The price of Palo Alto Networks Panorama should be reduced. We pay for the solution annually."
"If I were to rate the pricing of Palo on a scale of one to five, with one being really high and five being a good, reasonable price, I would rate Palo as a three."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
20%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Engineering Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations.
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
I expect more integration with AI. I expect Cisco to be easier for users in India, especially for junior users. For a junior one, it may somehow be complex, especially when configuring something. I...
What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
The most valuable aspect of Palo Alto Networks Panorama for me is the centralized management of multiple firewalls.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
The solution requires more flexibility and quicker response times. High-speed replies are crucial. Additionally, the AI module should be on-premises, not in the cloud. It should support more flexib...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.