PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Cisco Secure Firewall 4225
Cisco Secure Firewall 4225
★ 3.4 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 80 Gbps (Cisco product page; some reseller listings show 90 Gbps or 95 Gbps stateful)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 80 Gbps (FW+AVC+IPS, 1024B; Cisco product page lists IPS at 80 Gbps)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 80 Gbps (Cisco product page); Decryption throughput 30 Gbps
  • Max Sessions: 90 Million concurrent firewall connections (ASA table; older datasheet revision lists 80 Million)
  • New Sessions/sec: 1.7 Million (ASA stateful firewall)
  • Interfaces: 2 x NetMod bays for expansion modules; reseller listing shows 8 x SFP+ on-chassis
  • Form Factor: 1RU rack-mount, dual power supply, 80 Plus Platinum

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Strong 80 Gbps threat prevention and IPsec VPN throughput in a 1RU chassis; Two NetMod bays allow interface expansion without replacing the appliance; Available as ASA or Threat Defense (NGFW) software images, so the same hardware can serve different deployment needs; Supports high concurrent session counts (up to 90 million) and 1.7 million new connections per second for busy data center or campus edge use; Cisco Firepower Management Center and Cisco Defense Orchestrator give centralized management and policy control
  • ✘ Cons: High upfront cost, with reseller prices typically from about $145K to over $200K before subscriptions; Threat Defense features require ongoing subscription licensing, which adds recurring cost; Published throughput and session figures differ across Cisco datasheet versions and resellers, so specs must be verified against the current datasheet before purchase; Overkill for small and mid-sized businesses that need far less throughput; Requires NetMod modules and separate optics, which add to total cost of ownership
  • Est. Price: $145,679 - $213,663

Compare Against

Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber
★ 5.0 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; 5 Gbps IDS/IPS-secured routing throughput is the only headline figure (reviewer and retailer listings)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 5 Gbps IDS/IPS
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published
  • Max Sessions: Not published; 500+ simultaneous users and 4,000-entry MAC address table
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published
  • Interfaces: 2x 10G SFP+; 1x 10GbE RJ45 (10G/2.5G/1G); 4x 2.5GbE RJ45 (2.5G/1G/100M/10M); 2 of the 6 WAN-capable ports are default WAN (1x 10G SFP+ and 1x 10GbE RJ45), with the other ports selectable as WAN
  • Form Factor: Compact desktop; 212.8 x 127.6 x 30 mm; 675 g without SSD
  • CPU / RAM: Quad-core ARM Cortex-A73 at 2.2 GHz / 3 GB RAM
  • Storage: Optional NVMe SSD up to 2 TB (NVR storage)
  • PoE Budget: 30W total from one PoE+ port (port 4)
  • Max Power Consumption: 29.4W excluding PoE output

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Lowest-cost Ubiquiti gateway with 5 Gbps IDS/IPS, rated above the UDM-SE's 3.5 Gbps at a lower launch price ($279 MSRP vs. $499); Multi-gig flexibility with 10GBASE-T, dual SFP+ and four 2.5GbE ports; Compact desktop design with optional NVMe storage for UniFi Protect/NVR use; Supports site-to-site VPN plus OpenVPN, WireGuard and L2TP server functions, with integrated PoE+ for one device; Managed through the UniFi Network controller with 500+ simultaneous user capacity
  • ✘ Cons: No official routing, IPsec or WireGuard throughput figures published by Ubiquiti; community WireGuard numbers (around 400-500 Mbps) are unverified; Only one PoE+ output port (30W total) versus eight PoE ports on the UDM-SE; Lower device and user capacity and less storage expansion than the UDM-SE; No published IPsec tunnel or concurrent session limits; Reseller prices now often run above the launch MSRP (about $320-$346 USD at US resellers)
  • Est. Price: $279 - $346

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