We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Stormshield Network Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."
"It's very easy to set up, it's very easy to make policies and, for an organization, that means you don't need IT expert in firewalls. You just need to have somebody who knows a little bit of IT, and that's it. With other products, you need someone with a "Masters" degree in firewalls."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls."
"Customers are more inclined towards FortiGate because of application control, web filtering, and anti-spam features. The support from the FortiGate team is good, and price-wise, it is affordable."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."
"This solution has solid UTM features combined with a nice GUI."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
"The initial setup is easy."
"Its features rival many of the high cost solutions out there."
"The built-in open VPN and the VPN Client Export are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"The documentation is very good."
"I mostly like all of it. Whatever we use is valuable."
"Open source and support are valuable. I have community support."
"The "OpenVPN Client Export" package is really helpful in exporting the VPN client software on most popular devices: iOS/Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, and a handful of SIP handsets."
"A very stable product that lasts over time, easy to understand, and administer."
"The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."
"A very robust product."
"I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"Ease of use is the best feature of the product."
"This solution is quick and easy to configure."
"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."
"I like how you can configure the rules. There is the task for the rules and a task for the network configuration. It also provides SMD filtering, and it can be integrated with the active directory for the users, their mission, and the VPN configuration. We are here in Sudan, and Stormshield didn't work in Sudan for more than a decade. Stormshield is a very strong firewall and very easy to configure and maintain. I am just working with the firewall solution, and we don't have any other solutions like endpoint solutions or something like that."
"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."
"FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack."
"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."
"A lack of integration between our data centers."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"They've become quite expensive."
"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."
"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"I believe improving integration with various antivirus vendors could be beneficial."
"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."
"There are several levels of firewall configuration such as beginner, advanced, and expert configurations. At each level, it becomes more complex and more tricky to set up the firewall. For example, if you want to install the firewall on your computer system, it would be a lot easier if it just tells you that this is the internet NIC and this is the Wi-Fi NIC."
"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."
"We would like to see ready-made profiles to cover most users' needs."
"The technical support needs to be improved."
"Netgate pfSense needs to improve the configuration for a VPN."
"The solution requires a lot of administration."
"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."
"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."
"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."
"The SD card could be more secure."
"The product must improve its pricing."
"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."
"This is not a next-generation firewall."
"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Stormshield Network Security is ranked 9th in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 16 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Stormshield Network Security is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Stormshield Network Security writes "Handles monitoring, collection, analysis, and reporting of data in our HQ and branches". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Stormshield Network Security is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, WatchGuard Firebox and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security report.
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