PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Cisco Secure Firewall 4245
Cisco Secure Firewall 4245
★ 3.3 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 140 Gbps (FW+AVC, 1024B, per Cisco 4200 datasheet); 180 Gbps (ASA stateful inspection, 1500B UDP)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 140 Gbps (FW+AVC+IPS, 1024B, 50% TLS 1.2 traffic)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 140 Gbps (per Cisco 4200 series listing)
  • Max Sessions: 60 million concurrent (with AVC, per Cisco datasheet)
  • New Sessions/sec: 800,000 (unverified; one listing cites 1.7M)
  • Interfaces: 8 x 10GbE SFP+ on-chassis; 2 NetMod bays supporting up to 8 x 25GbE SFP28 (netmod-dependent)
  • Form Factor: 1U rackmount

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Very high throughput for a 1U appliance (140 Gbps threat prevention and IPsec VPN, per Cisco datasheet); 60 million concurrent sessions with AVC for large data center and campus edge deployments; Modular NetMod bays allow 25GbE SFP28 connectivity; Supports Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) or ASA software images; Multi-instance support for consolidating workloads; Strong integration with Cisco Firepower Management Center and Cisco security ecosystem
  • ✘ Cons: Very high acquisition cost compared with mid-range NGFWs; Throughput and session figures vary across Cisco and reseller sources, so validation against the current datasheet is needed; Max VPN peer count and new connections per second are not confirmed by an authoritative Cisco source; Full 25GbE capacity requires purchasing separate NetMod modules; Licensing (threat, malware, URL) is a significant recurring cost on top of hardware
  • Est. Price: $222,425 - $326,223

Compare Against

Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max
Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max
★ 4.9 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 2.5 Gbps (routing, IDS/IPS off)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 1.5 Gbps (IDS/IPS on)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; WireGuard/Site-Magic VPN up to 500 Mbps (third-party review, untested method)
  • Max Sessions: Not published
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published
  • Interfaces: 5x 2.5GbE RJ45 (1 WAN + 4 LAN, one LAN port can be remapped to a second WAN)
  • Form Factor: Compact desktop, 142 x 127 x 30 mm, USB-C 5V/5A power (max 16.1 W)

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: 2.5GbE WAN and LAN ports on a compact, low-power chassis (max 16.1 W); 512GB built-in NVMe storage on the standard SKU for local UniFi data; Integrated UniFi controller with IDS/IPS and no license or subscription fees; Supports 300+ clients and 30+ UniFi devices; Multi-WAN capable through the remappable LAN port
  • ✘ Cons: Only 1.5 Gbps with IDS/IPS enabled, well below the 2.5 Gbps routing figure; IPsec VPN throughput, session counts and new sessions per second are not published; No PoE output and no built-in Wi-Fi access point; No LAG/LACP support; 500 Mbps VPN throughput is limiting for high-volume site-to-site tunnels
  • Est. Price: $240 - $279

Popular Comparisons

Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 vs Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 vs Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG)