We performed a comparison between OPNsense and WatchGuard Firebox 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."This is a quality product with ok support, and it is better than the competition we've tried."
"It is a safe product."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
"Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"FortiGate has a very strong unified threat management system."
"Virtual Domains (VDOMs) are a feature that we found valuable."
"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."
"The feature I find most valuable, is that the program helped me to realize all the requested functionality that was needed."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"The graphic user interface is very good and it is user-friendly which makes the product easy-to-use."
"OPNsense is easy to scale when running on the hardware."
"What I like best about OPNsense is that, as a firewall, it's pretty good. I'm quite impressed with it. I had an excellent experience with OPNsense, which helped me achieve the targets I wanted."
"What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control."
"We have found pretty much all the features of the solution to be valuable."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"I like the High Availability features of the newest ones I'm using because they allow a firewall to fail and still be up and running."
"The solution has a useful traffic monitor."
"The most valuable feature is the GUI, especially the real-time bandwidth usage report. Also, its integration with WiFi access points is nice."
"It's pretty simple to use. It's pretty simple to understand, and there's plenty of documentation. It does a pretty good job of what it is meant to do."
"HostWatch makes it so I can see, in real-time, activity in the event that there is something weird happening on the network. This simplifies my job."
"It protects me against malicious websites, as well as malicious downloads, as a perimeter anti-virus. I've also seen it blocking a lot of pings and different probes."
"It has everything we need in terms of functionality."
"The solution simplifies my business. Normally, for administration, we are using NetApp System Manager on Window since it's easy to create new policies. In a short amount of time, you can create new policies based on new requirements. For example, in the last few months, many requirements changed due to the coronavirus, adding the use of new services, like Office 365, and eLearning tools, like Zoom."
"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"The support is the main thing that needs to be improved."
"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."
"I think that the infrastructure for the VPN could be improved. The way that it is bundled also made it difficult to use and sell as it is too expensive."
"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."
"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."
"We have an issue with hotel guest vouchers."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"The user interface could be improved, and the DNS section should be more intuitive."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
"I would like to see better SD-WAN performance."
"The logging could improve in OPNsense."
"Cloud-based central administration of all devices from one point would be nice"
"The UI and web view aren't nice."
"Its documentation could be improved. Sometimes, you need to search a bit longer to find what you are looking for."
"Some of the configuration options are somewhat confusing."
"The only downside is that it is missing an API, that you can use to easily collect information from it."
"The solution's pricing could be improved."
"The way Secure Sign-On authentication is happening needs to be improved. When the Secure Sign-On portal is turned on, anybody who comes into the campus, whether he or she is a staff member or a guest, has to go past the initial portal. One of the shortcomings is the username. It shouldn't allow permutations or combinations with upper or lower cases. For example, when there is a username abc, it shouldn't allow ABC or Abc. It should not allow the same username, but currently, two separate people can go in. Therefore, its authentication or validation should be improved, and the case sensitiveness should be picked up. If I have restricted someone to two devices, they shouldn't be able to use different combinations of the same username and get into the third or fourth device. It shouldn't allow different combinations of alphabets to be used to log in."
"I haven’t dug deeply into the reporting features yet or if they are working well. However, I have generated several reports and there was too much unnecessary information, in comparison with the reporting features in the Sophos firewall. Sophos' reporting is more readable and easier to configure."
OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 79 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
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