NexusSec.Most firewall decisions start with an appliance quote. A better question comes first: do you want to own and run a firewall yourself, or pay for one to be run for you every month? This guide compares the two on cost, effort and risk.
What you pay for when you own a firewall
- The appliance. A one-time purchase, sized for your users, sites and the features you switch on. Turning on TLS inspection or adding a high-availability pair can move you into a bigger, more expensive model.
- Security subscriptions. Threat protection, web filtering and similar features are licensed separately and renewed every year or every few years, for as long as you own the appliance.
- Support or an AMC. Vendor support for replacements and firmware, and often an annual maintenance contract with a partner for changes and troubleshooting.
- Someone's time. Rule changes, firmware updates, checking logs and periodic policy reviews have to be done by someone, in-house or paid per job.
- Replacement. When the appliance reaches end of support, you buy again.
The recurring costs come back year after year, which is why comparing first-year prices is misleading. Renewals are also where quotes most often go wrong: a renewal is frequently a reorder of what was bought three years ago at today's prices, including features nobody uses. See before you sign the firewall renewal.
What firewall-as-a-service covers
With firewall-as-a-service, you pay a monthly fee and the provider runs the firewall for you. Our firewall-as-a-service is a monthly agreement in which we own the appliance lifecycle: sizing, deployment, rule changes, firmware and periodic policy review, on Sophos, Fortinet or WatchGuard. It is built for businesses that need enterprise firewalling without hiring a firewall engineer.
What changes for you is mostly commercial: one predictable monthly cost instead of a purchase followed by renewals, and rule changes and updates handled as part of the service instead of waiting for someone in-house to find the time.
Side by side
| Buy and run it | Firewall-as-a-service | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Upfront purchase, then yearly renewals | One monthly fee |
| Rule changes | Your team, or a partner per request or under an AMC | Handled by the provider as part of the service |
| Firmware and policy reviews | Your responsibility | Included |
| Sizing as you grow | Easy to miss at renewal time | Part of the lifecycle the provider manages |
| Best when | You have firewall skills in-house and prefer to own assets | You have no firewall engineer, change often, or want a predictable cost |
When buying makes sense
- Someone on your team can manage firewall rules, updates and logs properly, and has the time to do it.
- Your network is stable, with few changes in a year.
- You prefer to own assets and have the capital budget for the purchase.
When subscribing makes sense
- Nobody in-house has firewall skills, or the person who did has left. See when the person who knew the network leaves.
- You open sites, onboard partners or change who can access what often.
- You would rather have security as a predictable monthly cost than a large purchase every few years.
- Customers or auditors ask for evidence of regular policy reviews and patching.
Questions to ask before you sign either
- How are rule changes requested, and how quickly are they made?
- Who updates the firmware, and how soon after a security fix is released? Attackers move quickly on firewall and VPN flaws, as the Ivanti and Cisco cases in October 2026 showed.
- What exactly is included, and what is billed extra?
- What happens at the end of the term: who keeps the configuration, and what happens to the appliance?
- How can the price change at renewal?
- What reports will you receive, and how often?
A word on the accounts
A purchase and a monthly service are treated differently in your accounts and budgets, as capital or operating spending. Which suits you better depends on your business, so ask your CA how each would be treated for you.
For firewall projects, we quote a fixed price in writing before anything starts, with the appliance and the work shown as two separate numbers, so you can compare the two models on real figures.
