Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 (1220CX) vs Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG): Specs & Price Comparison

Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 (1220CX)

★ 3.2 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 15 Gbps (ASA stateful inspection, 1500B UDP); 12 Gbps (ASA multiprotocol)
Threat Prevention Throughput: 9.0 Gbps (FW + AVC + IPS, 1024B packets); 9.0 Gbps (NGIPS); 1.5 Gbps (TLS decryption)
IPsec VPN Throughput: 10 Gbps (Threat Defense, 1024B TCP w/ Fastpath); 12 Gbps (ASA, 450B UDP L2L)
Max Sessions: 300K concurrent sessions (with AVC); 300K concurrent firewall connections (ASA)
New Sessions/sec: 50K connections/sec (with AVC, Threat Defense); 250K connections/sec (ASA)
Interfaces: 2x 10GbE SFP+ (1/10 Gbps); 8x 1000BASE-T (RJ-45); 1x management 1000BASE-T; console (USB Type-C and RJ-45); 1x USB 3.0 Type A
Form Factor: Desktop/compact appliance (not rack units); optional rack or wall mount kits (CSF1200C-RACK-MNT=, CSF1200C-WALL-MNT=)
Max VPN Peers: 300
Max Virtual Routers (VRF): 10 (Threat Defense only)
Storage: Integrated 480GB SSD
Power: Single external AC supply, 100-240V AC, 50-60 Hz, 40W max (confirm for 1220CX), no PoE
Cooling: Integrated blower, side exhaust
Weight: 3.09 lb (1.40 kg)
Operating Temperature: 32 to 104u00b0F (0 to 40u00b0C)

✔ Pros: Compact desktop form factor suits branch offices and small sites; 15 Gbps stateful firewall throughput and 300K concurrent sessions for its class; 2x 10GbE SFP+ uplinks plus 8x 1GbE copper ports; runs either ASA or Threat Defense software, so migration paths exist for existing ASA estates; supports up to 300 VPN peers and 10 VRFs (Threat Defense); integrated 480GB SSD and optional rack or wall mounting
✘ Cons: Threat prevention throughput drops to 9 Gbps with IPS enabled, well below the 15 Gbps headline firewall figure; TLS decryption is only 1.5 Gbps, a significant limit for encrypted-traffic inspection; only two 10GbE ports, so it is not suited to high-speed aggregation; no PoE; performance figures are lab-measured and vary with features enabled and traffic mix; requires separate Cisco subscription licensing for threat features; retail pricing is widely dispersed across retailers and the official Cisco list price could not be confirmed
Est. Price: $3,299 - $4,562

Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG)

★ 4.9 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 23.5 Gbps (routing, iPerf3, DHCP WAN)
Threat Prevention Throughput: 12.5 Gbps (IDS/IPS)
IPsec VPN Throughput: 580 Mbps (site-to-site, single tunnel)
Max Sessions: 1,000,000 concurrent
New Sessions/sec: 71,000 (listed under general capacity; not specific to VPN or IPsec)
Interfaces: 2x 2.5GbE RJ45, 2x 25G SFP28, 2x 10G SFP+ (some listings show 2x RJ45 + 4x SFP28; verify against the Ubiquiti datasheet)
Form Factor: 1U rack-mount, dual hot-swappable PSUs
SSL/TLS Inspection Concurrent Sessions: 10,000 (5,000 recommended under heavy traffic)
CPU / Memory: 18-core ARM v8.2 @ 2 GHz, 16 GB DDR4
UniFi Capacity: 500+ UniFi devices, 5,000+ clients

✔ Pros: 25G SFP28 and 10G SFP+ uplinks at a gateway price point; 23.5 Gbps routing throughput; 1 million concurrent sessions; 18-core ARM CPU with 16 GB RAM; hot-swappable redundant PSUs; supports 500+ UniFi devices and 5,000+ clients; manages through UniFi Network controller with a single pane of glass
✘ Cons: IPsec VPN throughput of 580 Mbps is low for a gateway at this price; IDS/IPS throughput of 12.5 Gbps halves routing performance when threat inspection is enabled; SSL/TLS inspection is limited to about 10,000 concurrent sessions; port configuration differs across listings and should be verified; frequently out of stock at major US retailers, with a $170 memory surcharge at some resellers; no built-in Wi-Fi, so it depends on separate UniFi APs and switches; reviewers cite a steeper learning curve than consumer-grade routers
Est. Price: $1,999 - $2,892

PACKETPERF