We performed a comparison between Huawei NGFW and Netgate pfSense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It is easy to use. We chose this product for the possibility to have virtual domains (VDOMs). We are building another company in the group, and we would like to split the firewalling rules and policies between these two companies. Each company would be able to manage its own policies and security rules, which is an advantage of Fortinet FortiGate. We can define VDOMs, and every company can manage its own VDOM as if it has its own physical firewall, but in fact, we would be using the same physical appliance because we are also using the same internet lines. So, it allows us to reuse the existing resources without the disadvantage of having to compromise on policies and security. Each company can choose its own way of working."
"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
"We've found the solution to be pretty stable."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"
"The notable features that I have found most valuable are that it includes the antivirus, and also IPS, and even SD-WAN."
"Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."
"I am impressed with the product's antivirus features, strong encryption, policy implementation and easier installation."
"We have found the initial setup to be straightforward."
"The solution's implementation is pretty easy."
"The solution's performance is good with IPSec."
"The security is good. It's as effective as anything else on the market."
"The UI is quite good."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"The setup is quite easy."
"pfSense is a nice product, and I find that there's a lot of information out there. There are some good tutorials on YouTube and other websites with helpful information."
"We like the fact that the product is open-source. It's free to use. There are no costs associated with it."
"The built-in open VPN and the VPN Client Export are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"I have found pfSense to be stable."
"I like the connectivity to the open VPN. It's very smooth."
"The interface is straightforward and easy to use."
"The tools' most valuable feature is load balancing."
"The solution is very robust."
"A couple of things I've seen that need improvement, especially in terms of a hard coding. The driver-level active moment really is out-of-the-box and we have to have contact the customer support and sometimes it is difficult to resolve."
"The way everything is set up could be easier. Currently, people need a lot of experience and knowledge to administer it and to link it to devices."
"As far as wanting more scalability or things in the network diagram, it's going to cost you."
"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on."
"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"The documentation needs to be improved. When they retire old models, they also retire the documentation. However, if you are still using an older model, you still need access to that documentation. And yet, they go ahead and removed it. It's gone. You are therefore stuck with a device with no documentation and technical support that isn't very helpful as they also remove support assistance as well."
"I would like to see an antivirus solution included with the product."
"One issue we've encountered with Huawei NGFW is that after using a firewall for two or three years, we need to replace it. The new firewalls often have more features and better memory or throughput. However, sometimes, they lack some features that the old ones had."
"The tool does not have web functionality. It needs to also have high end firewalls."
"Huawei NGFW should have better reporting and a dashboard for the visibility of traffic."
"The solution is scalable but it is difficult because you need to purchase new systems, it is not just one click."
"With the Huawei firewall, none of the features comes at the top. We found out later that customer support is really not good. For this firewall, because of our customers' routine, for example, every six months they'll do a penetration test to find weaknesses. So whenever they came up with VAPT reports, they are looking to Huawei for help. I think that's basically because it's a different culture. Chinese culture and our culture is different. They have always tried to help find some excuses or say some other things that cannot help you solve the problem immediately."
"It requires more attention to provide a better alternative for open source to small government or educational institutions with reduced budgets in terms of technology."
"In an upcoming release, the reporting could be more user-friendly. For example, the reporting in graphs and charts for the host can be cumbersome."
"I have been using WireGuard VPN because it is a lot faster and more secure than an open VPN. However, in the latest version of pfSense, they have removed this feature, which is one of the main features that I need. They should include this feature."
"The GUI. There are TONS of plugins for pfSense, as such, if a user wants to add quite a bit of functionality, the GUI will feel a little congested."
"There is more demand for UTMs than a simple firewall. pfSense should support real-time features for handling the latest viruses and threats. It should support real-time checks and real-time status of threats. Some other vendors, such as Fortinet, already offer this type of capability. Such capability will be good for bringing pfSense at the same level as other solutions."
"It needs to be more secure."
"User interface is a little clumsy."
"This product needs improvements with respect to reporting and auditing."
Huawei NGFW is ranked 31st in Firewalls with 20 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Huawei NGFW is rated 7.2, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Huawei NGFW writes "A scalable and easy-to-setup product that can be used to configure different policies for specific users". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". Huawei NGFW is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Fortinet FortiOS and Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Huawei NGFW vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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