Cisco Secure Firewall 3140 vs Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG): Specs & Price Comparison

Cisco Secure Firewall 3140

★ 3.3 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 45 Gbps (FW + AVC, 1024B packets, Cisco datasheet)
Threat Prevention Throughput: 45 Gbps (FW + AVC + IPS, 1024B packets, Cisco datasheet)
IPsec VPN Throughput: 22.4 Gbps (1024B TCP with fastpath); projected 39.4 Gbps with VPN offload on FTD 7.2
Max Sessions: 10 million concurrent (with AVC)
New Sessions/sec: 300,000 (with AVC, Cisco datasheet; some resellers cite 1.1 million)
Interfaces: 8 x 1/10/25G SFP Ethernet, 8 x 10M/100M/1G RJ-45 Ethernet, 1 x 1/10G SFP management, 1 x RJ-45 console, 1 x USB 3.0; 4 x 40G network module options; up to 24 total Ethernet ports
Form Factor: 1RU rack-mount (1.75 x 17 x 20 in), dual 400W AC PSUs standard with 1+1 redundancy

✔ Pros: Strong 45 Gbps firewall and threat prevention throughput in a 1RU chassis; 8 x 25G SFP ports for high-speed uplinks and server connectivity; 10 million concurrent sessions suits large enterprise and data-center edges; Clustering support of up to 8 chassis for scale-out and high availability; Dual redundant power supplies (1+1) improve uptime; Runs either FTD (Threat Defense) or ASA software, with a 20,000 VPN peer capacity; VPN offload on FTD 7.2 projects roughly 39.4 Gbps IPsec throughput
✘ Cons: High acquisition cost; reseller prices range widely, roughly $40k to $115k+ before subscriptions; Threat prevention and IPS licenses are sold separately and add significant recurring cost; Throughput figures use 1024B test packets and ideal conditions, so real-world results with mixed traffic and full inspection will be lower; The 1.1M vs 300K new-connections-per-second figures conflict across sources, so sizing requires verification; Software-dependent feature set (FTD vs ASA SKUs have different part numbers and capabilities); No PoE or built-in Wi-Fi, so it cannot serve as a switch or access point; 1RU form factor with 25 lb weight and 400W PSUs needs rack space and adequate power and cooling
Est. Price: $40,451 - $115,575

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

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