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Cisco Security Cloud Control vs FireMon Security Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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 Security Cloud Control
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
FireMon Security Manager
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Security Cloud Control is 3.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FireMon Security Manager is 15.3%, down from 17.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FireMon Security Manager15.3%
Cisco Security Cloud Control3.9%
Other80.8%
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

FS
Security Engineer at Metrobank
Automation reduces intervention and speeds up threat prevention
Our primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator is the automation of playbooks. We primarily use it for this purpose to streamline processes The most valuable feature is the automation, as it reduces user intervention and allows us to focus on other tasks. Since the system is automated,…
SurajYadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Consultant at NTT DATA
Centralized policy governance has reduced audit effort and continuously improves risk visibility
I wish to see deeper and more customizable reporting and dashboards, as while the standard reports are useful for audits, operational teams sometimes need real-time, flexible views without exporting data. Tighter integrations with ticketing and change management tools would also enhance the workflow from request to implementation. FireMon Security Manager is excellent for policy governance and risk reduction, but better real-time dashboards and stronger workflow integrations would make it even more powerful for daily operations. There are one or two areas where FireMon Security Manager could be improved to make it even stronger. While FireMon Security Manager overall delivers solid governance and risk insight, it would benefit from more flexible dashboards and deeper integrations to reduce manual steps and improve visibility without relying on external tools. I rate FireMon Security Manager an 8 out of 10. It is a strong tool for firewall policy management, risk analysis, and compliance, clearly improving our audit process and policy governance. The reason I do not give it a 9 out of 10 is mainly because the dashboard could be more flexible and integration with the firewalls could be smoother. FireMon Security Manager is a reliable and high-value platform for managing and governing firewall policies, especially in a multi-vendor environment, though a few areas can still be improved.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you have a lot of Cisco solutions, the price of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator is justified."
"The most valuable feature is that you can push one policy or one rule out to several devices at a time."
"There are a lot of templates that are already built-in. They give you quick-to-create and quick-to-apply policies that are typically a little more complicated for people."
"Before CDO, we had to spend hours and hours to update ten devices, but now, with one simple click, we select the devices, set them to update on a given day, save different configurations, and it's pretty simple and a great feature for us."
"We are using this solution for filtering and blocking some websites, as a firewall, and as the main tool for network segmentation and intrusion prevention, blocking malware and malicious activity."
"The main return on investment is time, and the first time a firewall went down the savings probably exceeded what CDO costs."
"We use a lot of image upgrades. We take some 20 devices and then we update everything at once, including the policies. We apply policies for groups. For certain groups, like anti-viruses, we send out policies and apply them to every single device. It's really easy and simple."
"We have quite a few Active Stone by pairs. If they fail over... I'll see that there's a change on it and I'll have a look. The only change on it is that now this one is the standby, it took over the active role. I can go into that firewall and find out what happened... and troubleshoot based on that. That's pretty cool too."
"From what I've seen of the product, it's fairly robust."
"Overall, our monitoring and compliance are on much higher levels, and the visibility we have into our firewall rules is much better now than it was prior to having FireMon."
"Overall, I would rate this solution a nine out of ten."
"My advice to others looking into using FireMon Security Manager is that any mid-sized organization with a hybrid environment, especially those with multi-vendor firewalls, should consider this solution as a game changer, as it helps in compliance readiness, policy analysis, or policy cleanup, so I highly recommend considering this solution as one of the best options."
"FireMon’s technical support is capable and responsive."
"Compared to other applications, it is user-friendly. The appearance of the menus and titles is clear and they are easy to follow. Of course, it requires some experience through using it, to go through everything, but it is not very difficult. It is an easy application to use."
"Its user-friendly interface allows for easy viewing and searching of network policies, including proxies, all on one console."
"The most valuable features are the security assessments and the ability to identify unused rules or objects."
 

Cons

"They should make it more of a one-stop shop for everything. It should have more features to manage FirePOWER appliances."
"If I make a change locally to the firewall, CDO gives an alarm or an error message and says there's a change in compliance: "The firewall has this configuration but the last time it was compiled it had that configuration." That view of new changes versus the old could be better... I had to log in manually, locally on the firewall, to check which version, which configuration was actually running. I couldn't see it in CDO."
"If I had to say anything negative it's the price point."
"It would be a better product if it incorporated device control for third-party products easily."
"They need to work on the user interface. It needs to be improved to make it more user-friendly."
"It hasn't really improved our organization. It has been more like a PoC which was spun up and played with for a little while, and we haven't gotten back to it."
"There could be some slight improvements to navigation. In some of the navigation you've got to go back to be able to get into where you need to be once you've made a change. If I make a change, I've then got to go back to submit and send the change."
"The dashboard needs to be more customizable to provide better reporting for our network."
"Yes, after an upgrade to version 8 from version 7, we experienced several issues with the Data Collector component."
"I can mention a ton of areas with room for improvement, but from a high-level standpoint, I just don't think version 8 was ready for prime time yet."
"When it comes to identifying risk in our environment and prioritizing fixes, it is really about the different priorities within the organization. FireMon is not so smart that it can tell what's important to us. It's up to us to figure that out."
"We almost lost our database at one point. It would be nice to be able to back up the backup configuration to a network share or some other function."
"While I like the reporting, I think that has the biggest room for improvement."
"The reporting needs some improvement to ensure that we are provided with consistent data accross each firewall device on the network."
"When it comes to real-time compliance management, something that is missing is alerting on certain, predefined controls. It would be good to have a predefined set of controls which, if not complied with in a newly set up rule, would create an alert for us. That is something that is missing, out-of-the-box."
"Some of the core functionality in our environment doesn't seem to work. We will get buggy code releases. They need to work on their Q&A of every code release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you compare to what is available on the market, they are in the same range with respect to pricing."
"It is about a $100 per year for an ASA 5506 firewall, and from there it keeps going up if you have a bigger box. For example, the 5516 is $200 to $300 per year."
"I work with a lot of clients, and the price or value of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator can vary from one client to another. If you have a lot of Cisco solutions, the price of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator is justified. Whereas if you have some security components from other vendors, such as Check Point or Palo Alto. This solution would be a pretty expensive proposition considering that they don't integrate with them well."
"It's around £500 per unit for a three-year license."
"It is covered under the CIsco Enterprise License Agreement (ELA). So, it is licensed and ours."
"After our free trial was done we got a subscription for three years and it was under $3,000 or so. It's part of the EA we already paid for, so I don't know what it would be if it was a la carte."
"The pricing is very good, very straightforward. It also came in cheaper than AlgoSec and Tufin."
"FireMon is cheaper than AlgoSec."
"Relative to what it offers, the price is fair."
"Pricing is reasonable."
"Its pricing is good. Compared to others, it is not so expensive."
"Regarding additional costs, if you want things like Policy Optimizer, extra features, that's extra."
"It's a good value. From a licensing standpoint... it's very simple to understand, and gives us a good bang for the buck."
"This is an expensive solution. The cost of three modules for three years was approximately one million."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall. Currently, to use it effectively, one must be specific with the rule set that needs to be set up. Additionally, I suggest impro...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Our primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator is the automation of playbooks. We primarily use it for this purpose to streamline processes.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Those who want to use Cisco Defense Orchestrator should build their own use case and see if it fits their environment. The most significant benefit for us is the response time because it automates ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FireMon?
My experience with pricing and licensing for FireMon Security Manager was generally positive, but on the higher side. The cost is typically subscription-based and depends on the number of devices o...
What needs improvement with FireMon?
The UI of FireMon Security Manager can be improved, and while existing features are working as expected based on the feedback, I believe the TAC or OEM support can be improved as well.
What is your primary use case for FireMon?
The main case of FireMon Security Manager is firewall policy management and compliance. For an example, an application team requested access from a vendor network to an internal server. Before appr...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Defense Orchestrator, CDO
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Insurance Company of British Columbia, Shawmut
Convey, MGM Resorts International, Southwest Airlines, Alkami, Costco, Aetna, IBM, Verizon, Wells Fargo
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Security Cloud Control vs. FireMon Security Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.