We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate and WatchGuard XTM [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate, Fortinet, OPNsense and others in Firewalls."The feature I like most is the SD-WAN. It allows you to manage more than one ISP at the same time. And there is a high-availability mode, so if one of your ISPs is down, you still have a backup."
"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."
"Fortinet offers the latest versions to cater to the needs of enterprises."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."
"The CLI and GUI do a good job of putting a lot at your fingertips."
"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."
"We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
"After installing the product, we achieved awareness of our data protection needs and email misuse."
"There is a site-to-site VPN configuration between others people."
"It configures in all-in-one place."
"Reputation Enabled Defense indicates that some websites are so infested that it's not even worth visiting them, and therefore saving the bandwidth of going through the detection process."
"It is stable and does not require you to reboot all the time."
"WatchGuard XTM is fairly basic. We use it as the perimeter firewall. The main point is to protect from attack software and hacking."
"Application Control is fantastic with over 2,500 applications and the granularity that we can either allow people to view but not be able to log on to Facebook; or view it and log onto it if they're in the marketing department, but not play Facebook games. There are all sorts of different options like that. So it's highly granular."
"Monitoring of network activity is included in the box."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"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 should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve to be on par with its competitors, such as Palo Alto and Sophos. They are the market leaders. Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve its capabilities. However, we are happy with Fortinet FortiGate."
"The support structure needs to be improved because every time we contact them, there is a delay in the response."
"Technical support could be better. You don't always get the level of help you need right away."
"The solution lacks sufficient filtering."
"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."
"The setting policies need improvement. It needs an easier way to do static NAT and check on what policy is being used for that specific traffic."
"The initial setup is neither simple nor complex. If you know the base in networking and how the firewall works, you will be able to figure it out."
"Sometimes we have had issues with stability of the product."
"WatchGuard doesn't have a product that allows them to get into the data center. And that's just because there is no hardware to do the job. The software could do it, but there's no hardware that allows that to happen at the moment. So it doesn't scale as well as some other products, that's for sure."
"One huge issue with WatchGuard XTM is that I'm not getting reports in a readable format. Readable means, I don't want Excel online. We repeat auditing when we trigger the report or setup calendar. That functionality is what we are looking for from WatchGuard XTM here."
"I would like them to improve the product's overall protections. This would be good for all product users."
"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."
"Syslog (Dimension) is focused on presentation, but needs more focus on utility like SonicWall syslog (GMS/Analyzer)."
Earn 20 points
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while WatchGuard XTM [EOL] doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be ranked in Firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while WatchGuard XTM [EOL] is rated 8.0. 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 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] writes "The multi-layer security of the products are the primary reason we use these appliances, however, the gateway wireless functionality for managing access points leaves much to be desired". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and Check Point NGFW, whereas WatchGuard XTM [EOL] is most compared with .
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Technically, watchguard can't scale in terms of performance and features protection for network, endpoint and cloud like FortiGate.
FortiGate has chipset that can support software turn on in the form of fabric technology.
Lastly, FortiGate has API which allow integration with 3rd parties technology to share policy, context and intelligence.
Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall with assured performance since it has ASSIC based purpose build processors. Also it has very reputed signature base worldwide. WatchGuard is good for SMBs where performance is not a major factor at perimeter security.
I have worked with only 2 FortiGate routers, remember them as having Sonicwall similar traits for management. Ok, but not that intuitive, so you had to learn and remember the management rules.
The WG units are more familiar to me, as I have setup dozens of these units in various models. I know the management Watchguard System Manager software more completely, so I understand it better, and remember it more.
The management is still just as exact as the Fortigate, but more intuitive in my understanding.
WG can be managed using a browser interface, but the WSM software is still more complete, in my opinion.
Fortinet fortiGate have large products portfolio as compare to watchGuard.
The difference is the poor performance that Fortigate has when it has all its services in use. Compare which customers have fortinet and which watchguards and see why the institutions in greatest need of security have watchguards.
UTMs option in fortiGate in better. High-performance network security solutions, users, and data from continually evolving threats.
Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall with assured performance since it has
ASSIC based purpose build processors. Also, it has a very reputed signature
base worldwide. WatchGuard is good for SMBs where performance is not a
major factor at perimeter security. So I suggest better choose Fortinet for
your requirement.
Fortinet are portable – cheap and easy to use