We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate and OPNsense based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Fortinet FortiGate is highly regarded for its all-inclusive package, intuitive interface, strong security features, expandability, and centralized administration. OPNsense is appreciated for its scalability, user-friendly nature, adaptability, reliability, and availability of a free version.
Fortinet FortiGate could be enhanced in areas such as SSL VPN capabilities, multi-factor authentication, filtering accuracy, support system, reporting capabilities, antivirus and IPS functionality, delivery reliability, logging information, security features, scalability, navigation, container security, and WAF functionality. OPNsense could improve its interface, bandwidth management, protection across multiple internet providers, high availability, logging, management of different groups, integration, reporting, SSL inspection, and learning curve.
Service and Support: Fortinet FortiGate and OPNsense products have varied reviews. Certain customers have expressed satisfaction with Fortinet, while some have criticized the support provided by OPNsense.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Fortinet FortiGate is generally straightforward and can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days or even up to two months. OPNsense's initial setup is described as easy and not too difficult, typically taking a few hours for installation and configuration. However, certain environments like Azure may require additional setup and adaptation, which can extend the implementation process.
Pricing: Fortinet FortiGate offers different packages and pricing options for setup, which are considered reasonable and competitive. However, the renewal prices might be higher. OPNsense is an open-source solution with affordable pricing, mainly determined by hardware expenses. Although a paid version is available, the free version is widely utilized.
ROI: Fortinet FortiGate is a worthwhile investment that delivers positive outcomes by reducing costs in data communications. It offers efficient protection against threats and allows for centralized management. OPNsense has experienced notable progress, achieving a return on investment in under three months and eliminating the need for recurring fees.
Comparison Results: Fortinet FortiGate is highly recommended by users due to its extensive package solution, user-friendly interface, stable performance, strong security capabilities, and ease of use. It offers additional features such as SSL VPN, load balancing, and multi-tenancy. Fortinet FortiGate also excels in customer service and support, with users appreciating their quick response times and helpful assistance.
"We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."
"The solution can scale well."
"Good performance, stability, and virtual domain ability."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."
"The security features that they have are quite good. On top of that, their licensing model is quite nice where they don't charge you anything for the SD-WAN functionality for the firewall."
"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."
"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."
"The initial implementation process is simple."
"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."
"OPNsense could improve by making the configuration more web-based rather than shell or command-line-based."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"It's open source."
"OPNsense is easy to scale when running on the hardware."
"It has firewall and VPN capabilities, which are very valuable features."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"Its price could be better."
"Web security solutions can be improved."
"I would like to see a more intuitive dashboard."
"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."
"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."
"The logging details need to be improved."
"Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
"An area for improvement in OPNsense is the hardware, which needs to be updated more frequently. DNS blocking is another good feature I want to be added to the solution. pfSense has a peer-blocking feature that I also want to see in OPNsense."
"OPNsense showed me some problems when using it in different environments. The problem is integration with a virtual server."
"The user interface could be improved, and the DNS section should be more intuitive."
"Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine."
"In terms of improvement, the performance could be enhanced."
"The only thing that I would like to see improved is the Insight or the NetFlow analysis part. It would be good to have the possibility to dig down on the Insight platform. Right now, we can easily do only a few analyses. If this page becomes more powerful, it surely will be a well-adopted platform."
"You will need additional training before you can actually start to use it."
"We did not like the fact that you have to configure everything with the graphic user interface. We have used other firewalls, such as FortiGate, that you can configure via code. OPNsense is not easy to integrate. When you are deploying via GitHub or another source repository, this is not possible. That's one thing we didn't like much."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while OPNsense is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. OPNsense report.
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