PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Cisco Secure Firewall 4225
Cisco Secure Firewall 4225
★ 3.2 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 95 Gbps
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 80 Gbps
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 80 Gbps
  • Max Sessions: 30 Million
  • New Sessions/sec: 1.7 Million
  • Interfaces: 8 x 1/10G SFP+ fixed; 2 x Expansion Slots (up to 400G)
  • Form Factor: 1RU

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Industry-leading performance with high throughput even during TLS decryption; Encrypted Visibility Engine (EVE) for threat identification without full decryption; Deep integration with Cisco Talos and the broader security ecosystem
  • ✘ Cons: Management complexity through the Firepower Management Center (FMC); High list price and complex, expensive licensing models; Software stability concerns and notably long firmware upgrade times
  • Est. Price: $200,000 - $230,000

Compare Against

Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Beast
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Beast
★ 5.0 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 25 Gbps
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 25 Gbps
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 2.28 Gbps
  • Max Sessions: 1,000,000+
  • New Sessions/sec: 71,000+
  • Interfaces: (2) 25G SFP28, (2) 10G SFP+, (8) 10GbE RJ45, (2) 1GbE RJ45
  • Form Factor: 1U Rackmount

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: 25 Gbps IDS/IPS line rate performance; Dual 25G SFP28 uplinks for high-speed core connectivity; Integrated NVR with dual 3.5" HDD bays for UniFi Protect; Massive capacity supporting 7,500+ clients and 750+ UniFi devices.
  • ✘ Cons: Premium price point compared to standard UniFi consoles; No PoE support on the 10GbE RJ45 ports; High power consumption and heat dissipation requirements (342 BTU/hr).
  • Est. Price: $1,499 - $1,599

Popular Comparisons

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