We performed a comparison between WatchGuard Firebox and Zscaler Internet Access 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."There is an easy process for configuring it, and it is straightforward to implement the device from scratch."
"The interface is very good."
"Anti-Spam web content filterinG."
"We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
"It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."
"Fortigate's most valuable feature is that it doesn't need a push policy when writing rules."
"I think that the UTM features are the most value, as it truly protects my infrastructure."
"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"Simple to move settings between WatchGuard boxes."
"Firebox operates effectively in the background, blocking potential threats without a need for constant monitoring."
"[A] valuable feature would be the branch office. We have five offices throughout the United States, and it coordinates the connections of those offices."
"If there is any conflict, the reporting feature will kick out all types of information, which is great."
"The most valuable feature of WatchGuard Firebox is its ease of use."
"Policy VPN, site-to-site VPN, traffic monitoring, anti-spam filters, and all other advanced features are valuable."
"Regarding the reporting, I was in the Dimension server earlier today. It's very powerful. I like it. And the management features are easy to use. I like the fact that I can open up the System Manager client or I can just do it through the web if I'm making a quick change."
"The throughput is great. It's perfect. We have no issues whatsoever. The management features are very powerful..."
"The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is SWG traffic."
"There is no lag in service when accessing the internet."
"Zscaler Internet Access's best feature is the granular policy controls."
"We enjoy all of the proxy capabilities and the capability to integrate into the SIEM/SOC solution."
"The scanning feature is impressive, because they do not introduce a big latency to the traffic."
"The URL filtering has been the most valuable feature."
"The policies are very intuitive and easy to configure, with very little possibility of messing things up."
"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."
"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."
"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"There are SD-WAN network monitoring, SD-WAN features, Industrial Databases, Internet of Things, Detection, etc., however, we do have not licenses for those features. We thought that if you bought a product, you should have all of the features it offers. Why should you need to make so many extra purchases to enable features? They should have one price for the entire offering."
"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data."
"If they could make the traffic monitoring easier that would be great. I don't use it that frequently, but I would like to see some improvements in the ease of use of that component, so it makes more sense. I know it's a technical component so there's going to be some difficulty trying to make that easier."
"There's always room for improvement, especially if the threats are getting more sophisticated and the IT department cannot sufficiently meet this kind of sophistication with their own knowledge and experience. Knowing that this solution can get up to the level of addressing a lot of these threats is something that everybody wishes for. If we look at the dark web and the lawful web, they are two opposites, and if these two good and bad collide in the world of the internet, you want the best possible product—especially if you cannot get to that point of knowledge. I am just an individual and end user, with limited knowledge of usage. That's why I say there's always room for improvement, from their side and also from mine, because by knowing exactly what they can achieve and the knowledge that they can get on an everyday basis, and the portion that is understandable to me, it's an improvement for them as well."
"The pricing could be improved. It is definitely one of the more expensive products."
"We bought Firebox four or five years ago, and with the first version I had to reboot it every two or three months for no apparent reason. We upgraded last year to the M370 and it's been running, but it is rebooting from time to time. I don't know why."
"Sometimes I would like to copy a rule set from one box to another box in a direct way. This is a feature that is not present at the moment in WatchGuard."
"We were able to take from an older configuration, build a new one quickly, and get it up and running, which didn't take long, but there was some pain around it."
"I would like to have a little more control over access points and the ability to see the bandwidth that is passing through a specific access point. We are not able to see that. We can see what traffic is passing through the Firebox itself, but we can't identify if it is coming from a particular access point or not."
"It would be wonderful if the WatchGuard team develops nice products for threat intelligence."
"When you have appliances, SSL inspection is always a headache due to poor performance and/or lack of ciphers implemented. "
"We'd like for them to include some sort of antivirus tool."
"They should enhance the audit reporting feature."
"There are a few features that are not compatible with the Azure cloud."
"One thing that they could improve is the ability to import rules from other platforms."
"In terms of user experience, it could be better."
"An improvement would be if they could provide an out-of-the-box experience, like 20 to 30 features all ready to go. In comparison, LogRhythm offers out-of-the-box features. With Zscaler Internet Access, there is firewall IPS, multiple security services, filtering, DLP, and CASB browser isolation. These are things that all users are going to be using. However, when an administrator or architect would start building this, I would definitely need to engage professional services to help clients do it."
"What could be improved in Zscaler Internet Access is its price. It could be cheaper."
WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 79 reviews while Zscaler Internet Access is ranked 2nd in Secure Web Gateways (SWG) with 46 reviews. WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.4, while Zscaler Internet Access is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zscaler Internet Access writes "Provides integrated CASB and file sandboxing but could be less expensive ". WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX, whereas Zscaler Internet Access is most compared with Cisco Umbrella, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Netskope , Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks and Appgate SDP. See our WatchGuard Firebox vs. Zscaler Internet Access report.
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