Fortinet FortiGate and Netgate pfSense are firewall solutions. FortiGate is a commercial product with a focus on advanced security features and ease of use, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes. pfSense, on the other hand, is an open-source firewall known for its flexibility, customization, and cost-effectiveness, popular among tech-savvy users and small to medium businesses.
What are the valuable features of FortiGate and pfSense?
Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate has mixed reviews regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing. FortiGate offers positive ROI with cost savings, reduced communication costs, and enhanced security. pfSense provides valuable ROI with flexibility, scalability, and improved network solutions. pfSense is open source. The pfSense Community Edition (CE) is a free. However, Netgate developed pfSense is a commercial version of pfSense called pfSense Plus. pfSense Plus includes additional features and support, but the core functionality is the same as the Community Edition. ROI comes from cost savings and granular control.
Room for Improvement: FortiGate users would appreciate better monitoring and advanced reporting. pfSense reviewers suggest improvements to the user interface for a more streamlined experience, also advanced reporting, better documentation, and troubleshooting tools.
Deployment and customer support: FortiGate users commented for a straightforward setup process with clear documentation and readily available support. pfSense installation is considered user-friendly, but advanced configurations can be challenging. The open-source community provides extensive documentation and online resources.
The summary above is based on 296 interviews we conducted recently with Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable."
"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."
"Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."
"We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box."
"Good anti-malware and web filtering features."
"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
"One of the valuable features is a standardized OS."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic."
"Stability has been excellent. We have experienced no issues; it never fails."
"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."
"The solution is fairly scalable when it comes to integrating with other applications and data sets."
"The features I have found best are ease of use, GUI, and performance."
"It is a better firewall than others and it has better features."
"We've found the stability to be very good overall."
"Content protection, content inspection, and the application level firewall."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."
"The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing."
"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."
"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."
"The support team for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be more customer friendly."
"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."
"The support system could be improved."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"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."
"It could use a little bit of improvement in the reporting."
"I would like to see SD1 integration into the software. That would be fantastic."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"The main problem with pfSense is that it lacks adequate ransomware protection."
"The product could offer more integrated plugins."
"The configuration of the solution is a bit difficult."
"Ultimately, we'd like something stronger, and something that can handle threats better in real-time."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. 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 Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". 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, KerioControl and Cisco Secure Firewall. 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.