The 5 Best Enterprise-Scale Firewalls for Business

With AI taking over various domains of global business, data breaches have significantly taken a toll over the last year. The rise in breaches indicates a growing gap between cyberattacks and the enterprise’s ability to defend against them.

The key first step in protecting your enterprise is to deploy a firewall that can filter large volumes of traffic without sacrificing network performance and speed. According to reviewers on TrustRadius, the best firewalls for enterprises are Cisco Secure Firewall, Cisco Meraki MX, Zscaler Internet Access, Fortinet FortiGate, and Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation – PA Series.

5 Top Firewalls for Enterprises

This list is curated from the Best Firewall Software categories on TrustRadius. This list is generated based on the intersection of buyer interest, trScore, and the percentage of products’ ratings and reviews that are from enterprise users. They are listed below in order of the volume of enterprise-level ratings and reviews each product has earned.

Cisco Secure Firewall

Best for Cisco users who prioritize low maintenance 

Cisco Secure Firewall delivers advanced threat defense across modern, distributed networks. Supporting hybrid work and multicloud architectures, it enables Zero Trust access, granular application visibility, and secure remote connections. Integrated with the Cisco Secure ecosystem—including SecureX orchestration and Talos intelligence—the firewall enhances detection and mitigation of sophisticated attacks. Unified management simplifies policy control, orchestration, and automated response, ensuring consistent protection across hardware, virtual, and cloud environments.

PROS

Reviewers frequently note that the Cisco Secure firewall is best for intrusion prevention, threat protection, and AI-equipped. It offers advanced threat defense, centralized control, and better visibility, protecting cloud, on-premises, and remote-work networks.

CONS

Reviewers also noted that managing the UI is a bit complex for new users. API integration is also challenging for a new user. Sometimes changing policies takes time on large networks or environments. The licensing cost or structure is a little bit confusing, and the encrypted traffic control management needs improvement.

Cisco Meraki MX

Best for remote connectivity and management

In addition to the core firewall offering, Cisco’s Meraki line of firewalls specializes in serving remote locations and offices. With this group in mind, it highlights capabilities like VPN connectivity, remote management, and SD-WAN capabilities. 

PROS

The Meraki line is praised by users for being very easy to configure on the front end, which is particularly important if you have to configure your network and firewall across multiple locations. Meraki also delivers well on its target remote audience, with users frequently highlighting how easy remote administration is on the platform. 

CONS

Cisco’s Meraki struggles to handle certain use cases and environments. For instance, users have identified that licensing processes could be simplified to reduce confusion and improve clarity. Uplink ports sometimes require additional time before becoming fully operational, and cloud connectivity for the security appliance can be delayed, impacting responsiveness. The Meraki dashboard experience can also be enhanced by improving speed and responsiveness.

Zscaler Internet Access

Another Strong Choice for Remote Teams

This tool is intended to offer next-gen cybersecurity in a cloud-native firewall alternative for remote and distributed teams. Zscaler intends to offer high-performance security solutions, no matter the connection location, and offer specialization that other providers do not. 

PROS

Network security monitoring and DNS protection are routinely raised by its users. They find bandwidth and content control to be intuitive, with real-time optimization keeping speeds high. 

CONS

With all the pros that Zscaler has, a few cons come with its system.  Internet Access performance speed could be improved. A unified portal for policy management would enhance usability. The cost/licensing and SSL inspection are complex with latency/performance hiccups.

Fortinet FortiGate

Best bang for your buck

Fortinet’s FortiGate firewall has gained prominence among enterprises and midsize businesses as a Next-Generation Firewall, with added features like intrusion prevention and web filtering in addition to the core network firewall. 

This is software that offers protection from malware, ransomware,  and so much more through SSL inspection and automated threat protection services. The intrusion detection services are well-suited to data center operations and cloud-based architecture.

PROS

Fortinet appeals to a wider variety of companies, including smaller-scale enterprises, because it is less expensive compared to its close competitors. In particular, Fortinet and Palo Alto are frequently compared, and Fortinet commonly wins on price point. Regarding the product itself, users note that FortiGate’s graphical user interface (GUI) is particularly user-friendly, lowering the technical barrier to entry for users. 

CONS

According to enterprise users, the Fortinet VPN client is available only on selected Fortinet firewalls. Also, changing the registration email id is a difficult process to complete easily and quickly. The license cost is high, and it is sometimes difficult to find a feature from web portal. 

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation PA Series

Best for enterprises that spare no expense

Palo Alto Networks’ Next-Generation PA Series firewalls specialize in multilayer firewall protection. While on the pricier end, this product line offers a wide range of additional features that justify the cost for enterprises that need the extra capabilities. 

PROS

The added features that Palo Alto offers are a common selling point for enterprise users. In particular, the appliance’s ability to filter, log, and gain visibility into network traffic helps it stand out from its competitors. 

CONS

Palo Alto’s added sophistication also brings added complexity. Users report that the current setup process can feel overly complicated given the breadth of options and abstractions. They also want to have easy access to canned reports, which would improve usability and efficiency, and help administrators to remove or hide unused setup options to simplify workflows and reduce clutter.

NGFW Buying Criteria for Enterprises

As the firewall market approaches feature parity, less quantifiable characteristics like customer support, implementation assistance, and ease of management will become stronger differentiators, even for enterprise-level IT teams.

One factor that can help you differentiate between products is the mode of deployment. Firewalls can be implemented on physical appliances (usually at the router), on virtual machines, or in the cloud. The first two options will likely be preferable if your network is primarily single-location, while the cloud poses some benefits to multi-location management. 

The level of continued support you expect to receive from the vendor will also be a differentiating factor. Investigate the frequency of security updates and bug fixes for the products you’re considering. will indicate how much support you can expect from the vendor to keep your firewall policies and network up-to-date and secure. 

For better insights into the qualitative aspects of firewall software, check out reviews from other enterprise users. Filtering by enterprise reviewers will help you determine how effectively a vendor or product can support your scale of operation and network. Check out our complete list of enterprise-specific firewall software to see this feature in action. The insights you gain can help guarantee that your new firewall software is ready to provide the security and efficiency that your enterprise needs to succeed.