Firewalls are the first line of defense for most networks. This comparison guide examines the leading enterprise firewall products across key dimensions to help you make an informed decision.
Product Segments
The firewall market is segmented by organization size and use case. Small business UTM appliances, mid-market firewall/VPN appliances, and enterprise-grade next-generation firewalls all serve different needs at different price points.
Feature Comparison
- Stateful packet inspection
- Application-layer filtering
- Deep packet inspection
- Integrated IPS
- VPN capabilities (IPSec, SSL)
- High availability and clustering
- Management console quality
- Logging and SIEM integration
- Throughput and performance
Top Vendors
Major vendors include Cisco, Check Point, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, SonicWall, and Watchguard. Enterprise buyers should also evaluate newer next-generation firewall vendors that are challenging the incumbents.