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."Consolidated our network environment at all locations, but mainly at our datacenter."
"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"
"The virtual firewall feature is the most valuable. We have around 1,500 firewalls. We did not buy individual hardware, and the virtual firewalls made sense because we don't have to keep on buying the hardware. FortiGate is easier to use as compared to Checkpoint devices. It is user friendly and has a good UI. You don't need much expertise to work on this firewall. You don't need to worry much about DCLA, commands, and things like that."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"It's user-friendly and easy to operate."
"Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network."
"The security fabric is excellent."
"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."
"There is a site-to-site VPN configuration between others people."
"I like the hostwatch because I can see what traffic uses the most bandwidth and I can block that site."
"WatchGuard XTM is fairly basic. We use it as the perimeter firewall. The main point is to protect from attack software and hacking."
"They have a reporting system which can store data over a very long period of time. Not many other firewall vendors provide a reporting system, but if they do, like Fortinet does, then you've got buy that as an additional product and that can be more than twice as expensive as the initial investment in the firewall. And without reporting over a long-term period, you're just about wasting your time."
"We have used technical support for WatchGuard many times and overall, we are satisfied with it. They are always listening and there is a good reaction time to our findings. When there are issues, they really try to resolve them."
"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."
"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."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."
"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."
"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Syslog (Dimension) is focused on presentation, but needs more focus on utility like SonicWall syslog (GMS/Analyzer)."
"Sometimes we have had issues with stability of the product."
"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."
"I would like them to improve the product's overall protections. This would be good for all product users."
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