Network Firewall Price: Comparing Security Costs

Hardware for a firewall for a small business can run anywhere from $700-$1,000. Businesses that have anywhere from 15 to 100 users can expect to pay between $1,500 and $4,000 for firewall hardware. Some other factors that determine the price of a hardware firewall, include:

• The make, model, and characteristics, including performance, capacity, and redundancy
• The cost of any ongoing security, services, or support subscriptions
• The configuration, monitoring, integration, and ongoing maintenance of the firewall

Choosing network firewalls, whether a low cost firewall or standard cost, should include a detailed assessment of your needs, starting with the size of your business.

See how Fortinet competes across all categories, including specification of network firewalls, prices, and use cases.

Sizing your network firewall includes determining how many people (users) will need to use it, how much you expect your organization to grow (or shrink) in the next 24 months, and the balance you anticipate between on-premises and remote workers.

Key questions include:

• Where will the firewall sit in my network topology?
• How will it be administered, and by whom?
• How much traffic will it need to process?
• How many interfaces will it need to segment traffic?
• What forms of traffic inspection do I need to perform?
• How will I best satisfy the needs of my remote users?

Remote work was an already-active trend greatly catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s important that the same rules and policies you enforce inside your corporate network can be applied to connections to corporate resources occurring outside, from homes and hospitals, to schools and coffee shops.

Firewalls come in essentially three different form factors. Software firewalls are commonly used on individual computers or corporate devices requiring only basic network security. Hardware firewalls are appliances that typically sit near network edges so they can easily evaluate what’s coming in from the Internet or leaving from your network. They can be delivered in physical or virtual form factors. There is also firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), which essentially eliminates the need for a physical or virtual appliance and delivers integrated firewall capabilities similar to how other software-as-a-service offerings work. Businesses with many remote locations may prefer a managed FWaaS solution for the flexibility cloud-delivered services offer.

Beyond the basics, which include VPN for remote access options, when doing a network firewall comparison be sure to consider the following features:

• Website and spam filtering
• Antivirus scanning
• SSL/encrypted traffic inspection
• Wireless access point control
• IPS
• Sandboxing

It’s important to remember that feature-by-feature discussions may not be the most effective way to consider firewall price or total TCO. Feature adoption will vary based on your organization’s needs, users, and budget. You don’t want to undersize your firewall needs and risk over-spending on upgrades, slow your network performance, degrade your user experience, or, worst of all, incur the costs associated with a successful cyber breach because your firewall selection was the wrong choice.

Another helpful way to assess network firewall needs is by use case. Network firewalls with next-generation firewall capabilities are often employed for use cases such as reducing complexity, delivering encrypted cloud access, and deploying intent-based segmentation—some or all of which likely will apply to your organization.

When considering a the price of hardware firewall, it should also include the cost to operate and maintain it. Total cost of ownership (TCO) for a network firewall, whether physical, virtual, or cloud-delivered, includes these considerations:

• Acquisition costs
• Deployment costs
• Management costs
• Annual support and/or services provided by the vendor or an authorized partner
• Installation, integration, and ongoing upkeep

If there’s one area where many organizations underestimate TCO, it’s in management. The industry has a shortage of skilled and experienced security professionals, and all organizations have to weigh the benefits of manual and human-delivered management against the savings and flexibility provided by automation. Either way, businesses should consider the time and resources required to properly deploy and maintain network firewalls. Total TCO can be greatly affected by miscalculating this factor.

It’s also worth noting that several reputable third-party testing services use TCO ratings to help business users determine network firewall prices. NSS Labs, for example, uses a rating that calculates dollar cost per protected Mbps. In the most recent NSS Labs NGFW Comparative TCO Report, Fortinet’s TCO per protected Mbps was the lowest at $2, compared with nine other NGFW vendors, some with TCO as high as $57 per protected Mbps.