# Cisco Secure Firewall: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 50 judge labels across 1 category by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-firewall

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Next-generation firewalls](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/index.md) | 0% | 14 | 28% | 50 |

## What the models said for it

- "Cisco Secure Firewall is the go-to choice for Cisco-centric organizations" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Firewalls)
- "Great if you're already a Cisco shop; strong integrated ecosystem | Historically mixed reviews on management complexity" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, Firewalls)
- "Cisco has improved significantly with its Cisco Secure Firewall (3100 / 4200 series) running modern FTD code" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Firewalls)
- "Shortlist Vendors: Start with 3–4 (e.g., Palo Alto Prisma, Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco Secure Firewall)." (Grok 4.20, Firewalls)

## And against it

- "Avoid high-end like Palo Alto or full Cisco Secure Firewall unless scaled down" (Grok 4.20, Firewalls)
- "have a team deeply rooted in traditional routing concepts (Cisco FTD friction)" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, Firewalls)
- "Avoid Cisco Firepower/FTD unless you have a specific compliance reason." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, Firewalls)
- "Often ranks lower in pure security efficacy or vision compared to the top three in Gartner/Forrester (more of a "challenger" or mid-tier Leader)" (Grok 4.20, Firewalls)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Cisco Secure Firewall, from 105 of the 129 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- fortinet.com: 62
- checkpoint.com: 60
- paloaltonetworks.com: 35
- techtarget.com: 21
- reddit.com: 20
- cisco.com: 19 (its own site)
- cybersecuritynews.com: 19
- softwarereviews.com: 19
- comparitech.com: 18
- linkedin.com: 17

### Pages cited

- https://fortinet.com/products/next-generation-firewall: 27
- https://checkpoint.com/comparison/top-4-ngfw-compared: 26
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-next-generation-firewall: 18
- https://softwarereviews.com/awards/data-quadrant-awards-2024-next-generation-firewall: 18
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/next-gen-firewalls: 17
- https://techtarget.com/news/Comparison-of-5-top-next-generation-firewall-vendors/836282: 17
- https://checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/tools-vendors/top-enterprise-firewalls-solutions-in-2026: 16
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-network-firewalls: 16

## In its own words

What Cisco Secure Firewall's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.


## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.