We performed a comparison between FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) and Netgate pfSense 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."It's super reliable. I don't think I've ever had a reliability issue with it."
"The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful."
"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and there are several operating systems that can include the hardware capacities. In the newer releases, the resources were more useful because they were included in the operating system."
"The payment function for applications is good."
"The web filtering feature and the intrusion protection system are the most valuable. It is a resilient appliance. I never had an issue with it in terms of any security breaches."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection."
"The product offers very good security."
"The solution's application control is very powerful."
"Routing and reporting are two areas where the product has an added advantage compared to any other product."
"The GUI configuration is its most valuable feature"
"The solution has helped our organization secure our network and connect remote sites."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall can be described as the most complete solution."
"FortiGate is a rapidly growing vendor with a wide range of ready-to-use products. Their delivery time is remarkably quick, usually between two to four weeks."
"The scalability is very good."
"The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"The intrusion detection feature is the most valuable. It is an open-source firewall, so there is a lot of material on it. I also find the open VPN capability very nice. It is pretty customizable. The clustering and the high availability are the two biggest things to be able to get out of a firewall."
"The features I have found best are ease of use, GUI, and performance."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"It is effective. We have not had any problems."
"One of the advantages of pfSense is that it is very easy to work with. It is a very good open-source solution, and it works really well. pfSense provides a complete package. For some features, it could be the first solution in the world. It is a very good alternative in the market for a firewall solution. You don't need to go to Cisco or other brands with expensive firewalls. pfSense also allows us to offer some support services."
"The documentation is very good."
"I can manage it easily by myself."
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."
"FortiOS is not simple."
"There are some license issues. Not every feature must have a separate license. There must be some of kind synergy between the license so we don't have to pay for every individual license that we would like to have."
"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."
"The UTM filtering needs improvement."
"We would like to see better pricing."
"Its load balancing feature could be easy to configure."
"The product keeps hanging."
"Being a great product, some changes in the pricing would make it a great choice for even more organizations."
"Technical support is not helpful."
"The pricing of the solution is expensive, so it could be cheaper."
"The solution must improve the support provided for customers around the globe, considering the time differences in different places."
"Its technical support could be better."
"The solution needs to improve its support."
"Needs services on additional features, such as managing inventory and generating reports."
"The router monitoring needs improvement when compared with Sonicwall."
"When I checked other packages, it seems they use different tools that are installed on the PSS for functionality. They rely on third-party tools, unlike Fortinet, for example, which has its own tools. In comparison, we also use third-party tools on pfSense. For example, we had a situation where we needed a tool to identify authorized users, and when I searched for a solution, I found a third-party tool. However, using such tools may come with additional costs."
"I would like to see SD1 integration into the software. That would be fantastic."
"Web interface could be enhanced and more user friendly."
"It is not centrally managed, where you log into the website and can see all your services there. We would like to be able to see is all the configurations from a central interface on all our pfSenses."
"Other solutions provide more scope for growth. For instance, we can have only 10 to 20 employees on VPN, but other solutions can support more users. We also have more capabilities to increase the performance of the solution."
"In terms of areas of improvement, the interface seemed like it had a lot. The GUI interface that I had gotten into was rather elaborate. I don't know if they could zero in on some markets and potentially for small, medium businesses specifically, give them a stripped-down version of the GUI for pfSense."
More FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Pricing and Cost Advice →
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is ranked 14th in Firewalls with 37 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is rated 8.4, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) writes "Easy to set up but needs better pricing and more helpful support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is most compared with OPNsense, Tailscale, Twingate, Fortinet FortiGate-VM and Google Cloud Platform Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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