We performed a comparison between pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Both products received high marks from reviewers, but WatchGuard ultimately won out in this comparison. According to reviews, WatchGuard appears to be a more secure solution.
"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"The most valuable features are the enterprise modeling and the simple interface."
"The IPS is good. It protect my network from attackers."
"Easy to use support and licensing portal as well as activation process."
"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."
"The performance is good."
"The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products."
"The features that prevent internet connections, the filtering are the most valuable because we did not have any internet protection before."
"Sophos Intercept X is scalable. Currently, we have almost 30 people using it in our company."
"It is a stable solution. It is also easy to install and can be deployed and maintained by one team member."
"The initial setup was simple and fast."
"It's a good solution for end-users. It's pretty easy to work with."
"We like the fact that the product is open-source. It's free to use. There are no costs associated with it."
"It has a very nice web interface, and it is very simple to use. The way policies are working is also good."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"What I like about pfSense is that it works well and runs on an inexpensive appliance."
"It provides us with Layer 2 and Layer 3 security."
"The solution has increased productivity with our outside salespeople being able to connect into their computers and use those remotely."
"The Dimension control, the one-spot reporting and control, has been nice. It's been easy to go in and make sure people are doing what they're supposed to be doing and that only the right stuff is getting in."
"The product's usability is good. It is straightforward and simple. One of the benefits is that it is easy to navigate and intuitive."
"It's pretty simple to understand when you want to do any diagnostics on your network. If you want to go in and see what packages are having trouble getting through, what's being held, stalled, etc., it's very easy to use in that way."
"The solution has a useful traffic monitor."
"The most valuable features of this solution are live logging, rule setup and maintenance, and VPN creation."
"The solution has many security features. We have an intrusion provision system and filtering and block filtering."
"Due to its higher cost, Fortinet FortiGate can lead to increased operational expenses."
"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
"There is one big configuration file with no separations for the unique VDOMs. Maybe they could separate individual VDOM configuration files with the root VDOM configuration file referencing the individual VDOM config files."
"Its customer service could be better."
"The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."
"The Wi-Fi controller needs a lot of improvement."
"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."
"One area for improvement is the performance on bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."
"If you want to take advantage of all of the solution's options, you need to have a bit of a technical background. It's not for a layperson."
"I expect a better interface with more log analysis because I create my own interface."
"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."
"There could be a way to remote to it through a mobile app. You can always browse through your browser on your mobile phone or tablet, but it would be good to have a dedicated app. I understand that iOS and Android developers are expensive, but there should be a mobile app."
"The router monitoring needs improvement when compared with Sonicwall."
"Lacks instructional videos."
"They could improve their commercial stance and be more agile when it comes to the commercial pricing of enterprise deals."
"There could also be better reporting. For example, there should be more out-of-the-box management reports."
"The scalability of the solution needs improvement."
"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."
"The VPN aspect of the WatchGuard Firebox is an area that could potentially benefit from improvement. We encountered difficulties while attempting to integrate Windows 11 laptops into the system, which resulted in unreliable connections. After some research, we discovered that this was primarily due to compatibility issues with Windows 11 and required a patch. However, it was still a challenge as it seemed that even when we tried to keep the laptops on Windows 10, they still exhibited the same issues as Windows 11 machines. Despite WatchGuard attributing the problem to Microsoft, we were eventually able to find a solution and all the machines are now functioning seamlessly."
"Reporting is something you've got to set up separately. It's one of those things that you've got to put some time into. One of the options is to set up a local report server, which is what I did. It's not great. It's okay... Some of the stuff is a little complicated to get up and running. Once you do, it becomes very user-friendly and easy to work with, but I find there are some implementation headaches with some of their stuff."
"Some of the configuration options are somewhat confusing."
"The solution is lacking a professional website, they should be updated more often."
"Firebox would be improved with integration for endpoint protection solutions."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 79 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.4. 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 WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and SonicWall TZ, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Sophos XG, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Netgate pfSense vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors and best Firewalls vendors.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
