We performed a comparison between pfSense and Fortinet Fortigate based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, it seems that pfSense is the more favorable solution because it is open source and also offers great features.
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing. It can provide central management and VPNA. Additionally, it has enhanced our security environment."
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"The performance is good."
"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."
"It is effective. We have not had any problems."
"The concurrent users are perfect for us."
"The performance and functionality are good."
"I had some outages in the network and we provide services for our company. We sell mobile credits. The terminal gets access to our own server inside the network and if one internet fails, then the other one is still up and we have a back-up link on the devices."
"Improved service performance and availability through redundancy."
"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."
"I'm the expert when it comes to Linux systems, however, with the pfSense, due to the web interface, the rest of the staff can actually make changes to it as required without me worrying about whether they've opened up ports incorrectly or not. The ease of use for non-expert staff is very good."
"Creation of certificates and the facility to administer services are valuable features."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"One of the problems I was having was with user mapping, and it is an issue for which I have escalated tickets with Fortinet support."
"There are mainly two areas of improvement in Fortinet FortiGate— the licensing cost and the timing of upgrading licenses for boxes."
"The ease of use could be improved."
"The cloud management and automation capability could be improved."
"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."
"It would be good if they had fewer updates."
"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."
"It is not centrally managed, where you log into the website and can see all your services there. We would like to be able to see is all the configurations from a central interface on all our pfSenses."
"The stability could be improved."
"User interface is a little clumsy."
"Also, simplifying the rules for the GeoIP. Making it simpler to understand would be an improvement."
"My only observation is about the quality of the IPSec logs, which are difficult to interpret and are poor in filters."
"The VPN feature of the solution could improve by adding better functionality and providing easier configure ability."
"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."
"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 67 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 15 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "Feature-rich, well documented, and there is good support available online". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Check Point NGFW and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, Cisco Secure Firewall and KerioControl. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. Netgate pfSense report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
Both are very good products, but some features that Sophos mentioned as new, FortiGate has been handling. If you are going to grow with several appliances I recommend Sophos, since the administration can be done from the cloud. With Fortinet, you have to pay a licensing fee. In terms of costs and all the options, they are very similar. Another detail to review is the support, at the beginning with Fortigate, I had enough details, but it is really improving significantly with respect to Sophos.
My comment is based on experience and I do not lean toward any of the brands. To reiterate, they are good types of equipment.