PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
★ 4.9 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti in the sources reviewed
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 2.3 Gbps IDS/IPS per Ubiquiti spec page (older listings show 1.5 Gbps)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; third-party reviews report about 800-1,000 Mbps for WireGuard and 300-400 Mbps for OpenVPN
  • Max Sessions: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • Interfaces: 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN, 4x GbE RJ45 LAN (one LAN port can be reconfigured as a second WAN for multi-WAN)
  • Form Factor: Compact desktop; UCG-Max-NS variant includes 512GB NVMe storage

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Low entry price at $199 MSRP; Compact desktop form factor; Five-port layout with multi-WAN support via a reconfigurable LAN port; Runs UniFi OS with integrated IDS/IPS, site-to-site and remote VPN options (IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN, L2TP); Manages 30+ UniFi devices and 300+ clients per Ubiquiti listing
  • ✘ Cons: Routing and IPS throughput (2.3 Gbps) is modest for multi-gigabit WANs with inspection enabled; Published throughput figures conflict across sources (1.5 vs 2.3 Gbps IPS, varying VPN numbers); Only one 2.5GbE port, with the remaining ports at 1GbE; Vendor does not publish IPsec tunnel, session, or new-connection limits; Some resellers list prices well above MSRP (one US listing at $394.79)
  • Est. Price: $199 - $279

Compare Against

Cisco Secure Firewall 220
Cisco Secure Firewall 220
★ 3.3 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 2 Gbps (ASA software, stateful inspection, HTTP 1024B; 1500B UDP per footnote)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 1.5 Gbps (FTD software, FW + AVC + IPS, 1024B; AVC + IPS also 1.5 Gbps)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 1.5 Gbps (ASA, 450B UDP L2L); 1.2 Gbps (FTD, 1024B TCP with fastpath)
  • Max Sessions: 100K concurrent firewall connections (ASA); 30K concurrent sessions with AVC (FTD)
  • New Sessions/sec: 80K new connections per second (ASA); 6K new connections per second with AVC (FTD)
  • Interfaces: 4x 1000BASE-T (RJ-45) + 1x 1G SFP fixed data ports, plus 1x 1000BASE-T management port; no network modules; max 5 data ports
  • Form Factor: Compact fanless desktop unit, 1 RU rack-mountable with accessory, wall-mount option; 1.15 in x 9.2 in x 7.8 in, 2.6 lb

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Fanless, silent operation (0 dBA) suited to branch offices and small desks; Compact footprint with rack and wall-mount options; Low power draw (12.7 W typical, 19 W max) on a single external 30W AC supply; Supports both ASA and Threat Defense (FTD) software images via separate SKUs (CSF220-ASA-K9, CSF220-TD-K9); Active/Standby high availability and up to 5 VRF instances on FTD; Built-in 4x 1GbE copper plus 1G SFP for flexible uplinks; Broad price point for a Cisco-branded next-generation firewall; MTBF rated at 700,000 hours
  • ✘ Cons: Throughput is limited to about 1.5 Gbps with threat prevention enabled, so it does not suit multi-gigabit WAN links; Only 1G interfaces, with no 10G SFP+ option listed on the official datasheet; No clustering or multi-instance support, which limits scale-out; No redundant power supply; Maximum 50 VPN peers and 30K concurrent sessions with AVC on FTD are modest for larger sites; Software image is fixed per SKU (ASA or FTD), so switching platforms requires a different appliance; Official datasheet does not publish a USD list price, so pricing depends on reseller quotes
  • Est. Price: $839 - $1,136

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