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Question about AnyConnect licensing for ASA 5506X

baskervi
Level 1
Level 1

I'm not sure what to do here. I purchased a Cisco 5506X firewall for a customer as an upgrade for a 5505, and the 5505 was relocated to another office. They hired a few extra salesman, and now they are stepping on each other when they VPN in to the 5506X. I thought no problem - I had purchased AnyConnect licenses for the 5505 for less than $50, but then I get a sticker shock for $703 for the Plus perpetual license, p/n AC-PLS-P-25-S,(I was told I had to purchase a minimum of 25) or $670 for a 5 year Apex license, p/n L-AC-APX-5Y-S1. I only need 5 licenses, and I know my customer is going to be really irritated if I tell him he has to fork over $700 for some additional AnyConnect licenses when the firewall itself was under $500. Can anyone out there confirm there is no way to purchase AnyConnect licenses for less? The costs are outrageous. Thanks

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

ansarjavaid54
Level 1
Level 1

Hi baskervi. Hopefully you would be fine. I attached a picture which will show you option that you can go with anyconnect, it comes in bundle and minimum quantity that you would have to buy is 25.

View solution in original post

nspasov
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Licensing changed with AnyConnect 4.x and what you are seeing is correct. You have the option for term based licenses and perpetual. However, as you saw, the cost for the perpetual Plus licenses is much higher compared to the Essential licenses that were offered with the older licensing model. 

One of the nice things with AnyConnect 4 is that they are not tied to the individual head-end unit/device (ASA or Router). Once you get the license you can install it on multiple devices without needing to purchase it again. 

Also, 25 is in fact the minimal amount of licenses that you can purchase. However, once you install that license the ASA will actually enable the max supported AnyConnect sessions. So it is basically on the honor system. 

Lastly, if you only need Plus based licenses then I would suggest you look at the term based instead of the perpetual. I just checked the pricing and the cost is:

- $150 for 25 devices for one year

- $360 for 25 devices for three years

Those prices are Cisco list prices, thus the price will be much lower once your standard Cisco discounts apply. The part number for the term based one is L-AC-PLS-LIC=

I hope this helps!

Thank you for rating helpful posts!

View solution in original post

5 Replies 5

ansarjavaid54
Level 1
Level 1

Hi baskervi. Hopefully you would be fine. I attached a picture which will show you option that you can go with anyconnect, it comes in bundle and minimum quantity that you would have to buy is 25.

Thanks for the responses, Neno and ansarjavaid54. The problem is that this company only has less than 20 employees. This simply isn't cost effective. I guess the solution I'll have to go with with L2TP over IPSec on the Windows server. I doubt anyone at Cisco is reading this, but I'll no longer be using the 5506's for my smaller clients.

I hear your pains here. It is a tough sell especially for smaller customers and even a harder sell when most other vendors include the basic VPN functionality with the cost of the Firewall. Now, AnyConnect is more than just a VPN client so I understand why Cisco wants to charge more but I also agree with you that basic VPN functionality should be included for free when you purchase the Firewall. 

Thank you for rating helpful posts!

In situations like these, a Cisco Meraki MX64/MX65 could be a better option. You still have licensing, but it uses the native operating-system VPN-clients.

nspasov
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Licensing changed with AnyConnect 4.x and what you are seeing is correct. You have the option for term based licenses and perpetual. However, as you saw, the cost for the perpetual Plus licenses is much higher compared to the Essential licenses that were offered with the older licensing model. 

One of the nice things with AnyConnect 4 is that they are not tied to the individual head-end unit/device (ASA or Router). Once you get the license you can install it on multiple devices without needing to purchase it again. 

Also, 25 is in fact the minimal amount of licenses that you can purchase. However, once you install that license the ASA will actually enable the max supported AnyConnect sessions. So it is basically on the honor system. 

Lastly, if you only need Plus based licenses then I would suggest you look at the term based instead of the perpetual. I just checked the pricing and the cost is:

- $150 for 25 devices for one year

- $360 for 25 devices for three years

Those prices are Cisco list prices, thus the price will be much lower once your standard Cisco discounts apply. The part number for the term based one is L-AC-PLS-LIC=

I hope this helps!

Thank you for rating helpful posts!

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