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 next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"The most important feature, normally for small business customers, is link load balancing."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"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."
"Its administrative panel is very intuitive and simple. It is simpler than the other solutions that we had. As an administrator, we are always looking for the easiest solution to manage network policies. We are able to filter everything on our network and also use the VPN feature, which is important these days when people are working remotely during COVID."
"Fortinet FortiGate has many valuable features, such as IDS, and intrusion detection. It has security features that are in part with the technologies that are available in the market."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"The initial setup was straightforward, therefore I wanted to continue using the product."
"pfSense helped us during COVID-19 because we used OpenVPN to connect from home."
"Centralized administration with multiple services, which allows for execution in several important functionalities of information security."
"For everyday tasks, we just get alerts. It's anything that's suspicious, including from our Netgate. So, it's part of how we maintain cybersecurity in our school. This is working alongside our endpoint security solution."
"I especially like the VPN part. It works like a charm."
"Open source and support are valuable. I have community support."
"This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution."
"The GUI is easy to understand."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."
"The Wi-Fi controller needs a lot of improvement."
"Its filtering is sometimes too precise or strict. We sometimes have to bypass and authorize some of the sites, but they get blocked. We know that they are trusted sites, but they are blocked, and we don't know why."
"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"The solution could have licensing fees reduced in the future."
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"I would like to see a more intuitive dashboard."
"The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."
"The main problem with pfSense is that it lacks adequate ransomware protection."
"More documentation would be great, especially on new features because sometimes, when new features come out, you don't get to understand them right off the bat. You have to really spend a lot of time understanding them. So, more documentation would be awesome."
"The Netgate forums and community don’t provide extensive discussions and topics related to every pfSense service."
"The product must provide integration with other solutions."
"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."
"They could improve their commercial stance and be more agile when it comes to the commercial pricing of enterprise deals."
"Netgate pfSense needs to improve the configuration for a VPN."
"I would like to see SD1 integration into the software. That would be fantastic."
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.
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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.