We performed a comparison between Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] and Netgate pfSense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate, Fortinet, OPNsense and others in Firewalls."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."
"The pricing is excellent. It's much less expensive than Cisco."
"The most important features with FortiGate are the web filter and application controls. We can control our internet usage and use the web filter for application purposes."
"From the firewall perspective, the rules and policies are very sufficient and easy to use."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"It provides visibility and drives organizational security."
"The filtering was very good."
"The most outstanding feature is being able to centralize each of the functions in a single device."
"The solution is very robust."
"The databases and its signatures are its most important features."
"We can create a domain to separate and segregate some functions, some services."
"It safeguards against cyber attacks."
"Firewalls help us a lot in controlling traffic on our network and preventing unauthorized access."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"The ability to perform packet captures on the command line and via the GUI is useful for diagnosing problems."
"The most valuable features are the VPN and the capture photo."
"The gain in performance and security from configuring the VPN connections was significant."
"pfSense helped us during COVID-19 because we used OpenVPN to connect from home."
"Content protection, content inspection, and the application level firewall."
"It is a very good solution for enterprises that need a VPN for their employees. It is the best way to provide a remote work facility to employees at a very low cost. Other solutions that I have had in the past were very expensive. Enterprises don't always have that kind of money to invest."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"I would like to see better pricing in the next release, as well as a simplification of the installation."
"The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."
"While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up."
"They've become quite expensive."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"The renewal price and the availability could be improved."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate can improve the integration with Active Directory. Additionally, I would like to have a Cloud Controller, such as they do in the Cisco Meraki solution."
"What has been the issue of firewalls is they ask me for policies and content filtering application control and all these features that are now part of Harmony."
"The solution could be improved if there was a better way to report. The reporting functionality is not really good. Even though it's not the major function. Maybe adding a way to make a custom report."
"The interface needs improvement."
"Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management."
"The solution should be more user-friendly."
"Specifically on the user experience, sometimes the set up of things, such as the VPN SSL, takes a lot of time to load and a lot of time to get up and running on every session."
"I am not able to see a demo."
"Technical support was very bad because the supplier who sold it to us, wasn't very supportive, and he wouldn't giving us direct links to the OEM."
"We have not had any problems with it, and we also do not have a need for any new features. If anything, its reporting can be better. Sophos has better reporting than pfSense. Sophos has more detailed information. pfSense is not as detailed. It is summarized."
"This solution is good for small businesses but it is not as stable as other competitors such as Fortinet."
"The interface is not very shiny and attractive."
"Also, simplifying the rules for the GeoIP. Making it simpler to understand would be an improvement."
"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."
"The integration of pfSense with EPS and EDS could be better. Also, it should be easier to get reports on how many users are connecting simultaneously and how sections connect in real-time."
"The main problem with pfSense is that it lacks adequate ransomware protection."
"Network monitoring and device inventory could use some improvements. I'm using SpiceWorks for this because it never really worked in pfSense."
Earn 20 points
Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be ranked in Firewalls with 19 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] is rated 8.2, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] writes "Great firewalls, VPN, and Intrusion prevention capabilities". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] is most compared with , whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, KerioControl and Cisco Secure Firewall.
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