Firewall Software Pricing Guide for 2025
Cybersecurity is a crucial domain of consideration for any organization, regardless of its size, today. To keep an enterprise protected from cyber threats, firewalls are a necessity, and firewall software pricing is a significant facet. It isn’t only about safeguarding organizational data from cybercrimes but also about keeping the budget under control while choosing the right firewall. If you are wondering how to do that, then TrustRadius is here to help you.
While there are hundreds of companies offering firewalls, this article dives into how to choose the right one for your working environment. We will discuss the cost of firewalls, pricing models, plans, and factors, as well as provide detailed information about the brands offering the best firewalls on the market.
How much does a firewall cost?
The firewall software pricing depends on its usage. It can be used for hardware, software, or cloud, and the pricing for the same would vary depending on its use. Further, the pricing also significantly varies between a next-gen firewall and a traditional firewall. A next-gen firewall that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional firewalls are expensive as it offers more complex and advanced features.
Firewall for Hardware:
Hardware firewalls offer protection against network traffic. These are mainly used to detect inbound and outbound network traffic, securing data and other valuable information of a business. A firewall software for hardware price may start at $69 or $70 per device for entry-level devices or small-sized firms and can go up to $3500 per device for large enterprises.
“I utilize my Palo Alto Next-Gen firewall to protect a school district comprising approximately 6,500 students and over 1,000 staff members. I can see that we are constantly attacked from almost every angle. Still, I never have to stress, because I can also see that in nearly every situation, Palo Alto is stopping the threats before they ever reach my network.”
Read Branden’s full review here.
Firewall for Software:
Software firewalls provide protection for desktops, laptops, or servers. These are used to safeguard the organization from malicious threats like viruses, and the cost is comparatively lower than hardware firewalls. The price range varies between $29 – $100 per device, depending on the business requirements.
“We are using Zscaler Internet Access to help secure our users internet data exposure and enforce compliance to company policy. WE have had issues with staff accessing insecure sites under the pretence of trying to do work however this was not the case.”
Read Samuel’s full review here.
Firewall for Cloud:
Cloud-based firewalls are used to secure the use of cloud-based applications. It identifies malicious web traffic or cyber-attacks, etc., and protects organizations from such threats. The firewall software for cloud price can be $0.018 per GB of data processed or $0.395 per hour, depending on the business size and requirements.
“Our next-gen Barracuda CloudGen Firewall F380 has been a key part of the company’s protection and security. It was acquired about 2 years ago from a reseller, and since then, it has been our network edge defense. The appliance is complete and, in addition to a firewall, it has other advanced protection features such as URL filtering, application control, VPN, and anti-malware. We use a topology with 2 appliances in active-standby, the first one is the main one, and the second one is for redundancy. With our scenario, the network is always very safe from attacks and vulnerabilities.”
Read this Verified User’s full review here.
Understanding firewall pricing models
The firewall software pricing models are based on an organization’s requirements. Here are a few pricing models:
- One-time Purchase: This model is termed perpetual licenses, offering a one-time payment for using the software for a lifetime. This includes limited updates, annual support (optional), and maintenance costs depending on the brand’s offers.
- Monthly or Annual Subscription: This model is termed subscription-based licensing, offering a monthly or annual subscription. This keeps the software updated with the latest features and includes timely support, along with threat protection as and when required.
- Usage-Based Purchase: This model is also termed metered pricing. For this model, the payment is made on the basis of actual usage, including the data used, hours actively used, or the number of users. This model is suitable for cloud infrastructure, and the cost might fluctuate with heavy traffic or seasonal requirements.
- Advanced Feature Bundles: This model offers the usage of advanced features like AI analytics, threat emulation, or other advanced inspection to keep the organization protected from any kind of malicious attack.
- Outsourced Firewall Management Services: This model is basically outsourced firewall management services that come as a package, including hardware, software, and timely support. This might be expensive compared to other models, but it is still suitable for small IT teams.
- User or Device Based: This model cost is based on the number of users who use the software, or the number of devices used by the firewall software.
Firewall software pricing plans at a glance
|
Company |
Free Plan |
Entry-Level Plan |
Mid-Level Plan |
High-Level Plan |
|
30 days free trial options for VM Series |
$ 1.50 per hour |
$ 1.50 per hour + add-ons as required |
$ 1.50 per hour + add-ons as required |
|
|
30 days free trial options |
$595 on premise |
$1,995 on premise |
$19,995 on premise |
|
|
30 days free trial for FortiGate CNF |
$250 for home office |
$4,000 for hardware firewall |
$300,000 for large enterprise appliances |
|
|
NA |
$179 on premise |
$999 on premise |
$2,649 on premise |
|
|
Free demo firewall |
$329.60 on premise |
$1085.50 on premise |
$2868.34 on premise |
|
|
Free trial available |
$0.395 per GB processed for cloud |
$1.25 per GB processed for cloud |
$1.75 per GB processed for cloud |
Firewall pricing: Factors to consider
The factors impacting the firewall software pricing are defined below:
|
Factors to Consider |
Impact on Firewall Software Pricing |
|
Features and Functions |
Price varies if advanced features or functions like threat prevention, VPN support, centralized management, and deep packet inspection are included. |
|
Type of Firewall |
Price varies as per the type of firewall purchased. Hardware firewall costs are higher compared to software and cloud firewalls. |
|
Brands |
Premium brand firewalls are expensive for the brand value, reliability, extensible support, and advanced features. |
|
Performance and Capacity |
Firewalls with higher capacity and the ability to control and protect from huge traffic volumes turn out to be expensive. |
|
License and Subscription |
The firewall price also depends on the licensing or subscription models. The cost varies if the firewall is used for different devices, different users, or the hours actively used. |
|
Installation and Support |
Sometimes installation, configuration, timely updates, and scheduled maintenance can make a cost difference for a firewall. |
Firewall software cost for small businesses
Firewall cost for small businesses generally ranges from $200 to $20000, depending on the business requirements. Hardware firewalls for small businesses are generally expensive compared to software or cloud firewalls. The firewall price for a small business also varies depending on the usage, the number of functions or features offered by the software, pricing models offered by different brands, and the investment budget of the business.
Key firewall pricing considerations for small businesses include:
- Scalability: The firewall price for a small business depends on usage. The cost often scales depending on the number of users or devices included in the firewall program. It can be charged as per the bandwidth requirements.
- Subscription: The firewall pricing also depends on the subscription taken. The costs vary if the subscription has been taken on a monthly basis, a yearly basis, or as a package for three years or more.
- Features: The cost fluctuates with the number of features included in a firewall purchase. If advanced features are included, then the cost can go high. For hardware firewalls, the extra cost for setup and maintenance is also included.
Firewall pricing for small businesses
We have chosen the top three firewalls for small businesses based on user feedback. We considered factors like affordability, basic functionality, ease of use, and scalability when selecting these products.
- pfSense: pfSense is a firewall and load management product that offers combined firewall, VPN, and router functionality. It can be used on cloud (AWS or Azure), or on-premises with a Netgate appliance. The entry-level plan starts with $179 per appliance.
- Cisco Meraki MX: Cisco Meraki MX firewall offers a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. The software is managed through the cloud and provides site-to-site VPN and network monitoring. The basic plan starts with $595 per appliance.
- FortiGate: FortiNet FortiGate firewall offers next-gen firewall capabilities as per the requirements of small businesses. The start price is $250 per appliance.
What TrustRadius reviewers have to say about small business firewalls
“I have been using pfSense of over 15 years and have been extremely happy with it. I have use CISCO routers, Fortigate, SonicWAll, Ubiquiti UniFi and others, and the pfSense CE edition has more features and is is much easier to use while providing EXCELLENT protection. I have 18 pfSense CE versions running now on virtual or my on SuperMicro hardware at my hone and my servers at the WOW colocation facility in Tampa, FL and recommend it to all of my clients. I have upgraded many of them to pfSense Pluss which is $129 and fully supported by the Netgate team. (support hours additional $) It has more reliable updates and code than the CE edition. I HIGHLY recommend it.”
Ready Jerry’s full review here.
“We implement Cisco Meraki MX devices both in our own IT practice and in our client’s businesses. Cisco Meraki MX devices are the standard firewall that we recommend for making sure that all of our client networks are protected and that our team can easily manage remotely for our clients.”
Read Shayne’s full review here.
Cost of firewall for mid-sized businesses
Firewall cost for mid-sized businesses generally ranges from $700 per year to $30000 per year, depending on the business requirements. Standalone firewall software, Next-Gen Firewall (NGFW), Cloud-Based Firewall (FWaaS), and Managed Firewall Services are the primary areas of consideration in a mid-sized business environment.
Key firewall pricing considerations for medium-sized businesses include:
- Bandwidth: The firewall price is based on the size of the business. The cost often scales depending on the network size and how the usage is distributed among various teams in the business. It can be charged as per the bandwidth requirements.
- Subscription: Most of the mid-sized businesses require premium features, and the cost thus depends on the subscriptions selected for the premium features.
- Premium Features: A mid-sized business often requires premium features and high-end functionalities to keep the organization protected from malicious attacks. The price thus varies on the basis of the features included in the firewall.
Firewall pricing for mid-sized businesses
We have chosen the top three firewalls for mid-sized businesses based on user feedback. We considered factors like affordability, basic functionality, ease of use, and scalability when selecting these products.
- Cisco Secure Firewall: Cisco Secure Firewall offers SecureX and Talos threat intelligence, Application and identity-based access control, Support for encrypted traffic visibility and SSL decryption, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) enforcement, etc. The price varies between $2,000 – $15,000 as per requirement.
- SonicWall TZ: SonicWall TZ offers entry to mid-tier NGFW to mid-sized companies. It provides a Unified Threat Management solution, in addition to native decryption and deep-packet inspection capabilities. The price starts from $329.60 on promise.
- Sophos UTM: Sophos UTM offers core firewall features along with sandboxing and AI threat detection for advanced network security. It can be customized as well. The price starts from $0.35 per hour and goes up to $0.417 per hour.
What TrustRadius reviewers have to say about mid-size business firewall cost
“They provide the network firewall for our 50 locations across the East Coast. We are able to remotely able to manage them. We can program all filters and necessary firewall rules depending on the needs of our locations.”
Read Ashley’s full review here.
“Cisco Secure Firewall is game changer for our organisation for resolving the problems related to the security compliance and network credibility. It blocks the threats realtime by using its own features i.e threat intelligence integration. It has inbuilt advanced malware protection that tracks and protect from spreading the malware. We can enable user based access for better security and saves from illegal access of the systems. It provides data loss prevention as well as segmentation and load balancing for better performance.”
Read Lovleen’s full review here.
High-Level firewall pricing for enterprise businesses
High-level firewall cost for enterprise businesses is indefinite in nature due to the high-level maintenance and extreme usage. It can start from $50,000 and can go more than $200,000, depending on the enterprise access and network level.
Key firewall pricing considerations for enterprise businesses include:
- Relentless service: All enterprise-level services require relentless firewall pricing considerations. Most enterprises require higher Gbps, and thus the cost rises accordingly.
- Support: A premium or advanced-level plan with predictive threat detection, with constant protection to safeguard organizational data, is the main target for any enterprise-level firewall. Thus, the price is high.
- Redundancy: Enterprises mainly deploy multiple units and thus the cost for the firewall varies according to the needs of the enterprise.
Firewall pricing for enterprise businesses
We have chosen the top three firewalls for enterprise businesses based on user feedback. We considered factors like automation, redundancy, and relentless support for a big organization.
- FortiGate: FortiNet FortiGate firewall offers next-gen firewall capabilities with integration with IaaS cloud platforms and public cloud environments. Its functions include intrusion prevention, anti-malware, web filtering, etc. For enterprise-level level the cost goes up to $300,000 per appliance.
- Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls – PA Series: Palo Alto Networks’ Next-Generation Firewalls are mainly integrated with other Palo Alto security products. PA-7500 ML-Powered Next-Gen Firewall (NGFW) offers high-performance security environments to large enterprises. The price starts from $1.50 per hour and can go up depending on the requirements.
- Cisco Firepower 4100 Series: The Cisco Firepower 4100 Series’ 1-rack-unit size is perfect for Internet edge and high-performance environments. The price starts from $50,000.
What TrustRadius reviewers have to say about enterprise firewall costs
“We use Cisco Firepower 4100 Series as the perimetral device for outside connections to the internal network, such as VPN for remote access, VPN L2L, NAT translation for published services and to have full control of who can access the network and what they can do. In general, the Cisco Firepower 4100 Series works well, great performance, support a high volume of traffic, configuration, users, the device is powerful and once you have something configured you can be sure that it will rarely fail.”
Read José’s full review here.
“Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls – PA Series [is the] Bugatti of this industry. We have Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls – PA Series deployed at network edge for outbound /inbound security protection like IPS/IDS, Vuln protection, DDoS protection….and outbound URL filtering and threat protection.”
Read this Verified User’s full review here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a firewall?
A firewall is an application program that safeguards a huge set of individual and organizational data and information from virus attacks, malicious attacks, and cyber-attacks. It plays the role of a virtual protector for a computer or a network by inspecting, detecting, and controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic. It blocks unwanted or unauthorized malicious data or illegitimate network traffic and helps organizational growth from cyber theft or virus occurrence.
Can I get a firewall for free?
It is not difficult to find a free firewall, but those can only offer some basic features like scanning the device and detecting any threats available in the device. The advanced features and security capabilities would be very limited or nil. However, it is advisable to invest in a firewall to protect devices and data. That would minimize the risks and other fraudulent activities, as it is nowadays common with the large-scale use of the internet.
What is the price range for basic firewall software?
A basic firewall price range may vary widely. It is expected to be a few hundred dollars for a basic firewall (software) to a few thousand dollars for a basic firewall (hardware). A software firewall is comparatively less expensive than a hardware firewall. Also, the firewall cost is for entry-level small businesses and home users offering basic protection against common virtual or device threats. These firewalls offer basic features like packet filtering, NAT, scanning, and stateful inspection.
The bottom line on firewall pricing
Opting for the right firewall for your organization requires consideration of all the various pricing packages and models available from various brands. There are a good number of firewall brands in the market, but to buy the suitable one for your working environment, you can consider your major requirements like features, functions, pricing models, etc., along with your budget, before investment.
To continue your research, explore the firewall software category on TrustRadius. You can compare products, read verified reviews, and see which solutions best fit your needs. You may also find value in related categories, including:
