Check Point NGFW vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

Check Point Software Technologies and Zscaler are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Check Point Software Technologies is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.6, while Zscaler is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.3. Check Point Software Technologies holds a 3.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Zscaler’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Check Point Software Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Check Point NGFW and Zscaler Cloud Firewall compete in the network security market. Check Point NGFW may have an upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set, including robust policy management, while Zscaler stands out for cloud integration and ease of deployment.

Features: Check Point NGFW offers centralized management, zero-day threat protection, and strong VPN capabilities. Zscaler Cloud Firewall integrates seamlessly with existing security features, provides malware detection, and encryption, and allows for simple cloud-based management.

Room for Improvement: Check Point NGFW may face stability issues and bugs in new releases and compatibility with older hardware. Zscaler Cloud Firewall could enhance customer support, technical service, and expand features relative to competitors.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Check Point requires significant infrastructure for hybrid or private cloud deployment and has varied customer support experiences. Zscaler offers easy public and hybrid cloud deployment, reducing infrastructure requirements and emphasizing intuitive cloud-based management, though its technical support might need improvement.

Pricing and ROI: Check Point NGFW might be costly for small businesses due to a complex licensing structure, yet offers strong ROI with centralized management reducing costs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall, although pricey, presents varied licensing options and operational cost advantages through minimal hardware requirements, making it attractive for scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Check Point NGFW vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Check Point NGFW vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point NGFW is 3.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Hailemichael Yigrem

Senior Cyber Security Engineer at Deliver ICT and Telecommunication Technology PLC

Advanced security features enhance threat detection and prevention

Check Point NGFW provides granular application control and detailed visibility over application and user activity. It integrates with the ThreatCloud ecosystem, enabling real-time threat detection and prevention. The User Identity Awareness blade integrates with Active Directory, identifying user traffic sources. Check Point NGFW is highly scalable and has centralized management through SmartConsole, which manages policies, logs, and threat data. It reduced our incidents and decreased the time to analyze cyber threats by 70 percent.

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Bhaskar Rao

Network manager admin at Yamaha

Though it helps deal with web traffic or any malicious traffic, it needs to work on its DC performance issues

The product's initial setup phase is moderate in level, so it is neither very complex nor very easy. For the deployment, my company first needs to gather all the requirements of the users and the domain names and consider how many users there are in the company. In the implementation and planning part, my company needs to consider what kind of policies we will create while ensuring that the policies are created based on the requirements of the users. There is a need to segregate the users' requirements since there are separate departments in the company, like the HR department, sales department, IT department, and manufacturing department, so that our company can create policies depending on their requirements. On-site, if you want a GRE tunnel, our company can handle GRE tunnel traffic routing and Zscaler Cloud Firewall, after which Zscaler will take action based on the policies created by our organization. For the deployments and maintenance, a team of five members consisting of two managers and three engineers is required.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is pretty good."

"It has upscaled our security posture, especially regarding external connectivity, because any access or connection from the company has to go through the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."

"We can detect any attack of viruses or malware at the first point of contact."

"The strengths of Fortinet FortiGate include network security, VPN, site-to-site tunnels, client VPN solutions, two-factor authentication for VPN clients, and SD-WAN for branch level. We have implemented these solutions for various customers."

"It has improved our organization with control data."

"The reporting and monitoring are very good."

"In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."

"The features I find most useful in Fortinet FortiGate are its simplicity of utilization, which is very important, and its provision of interfaces to see the alerts and other things."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The sales, pre-sales, professional services, and tech support are all very nice."

"The security posture assessment with two-factor authentication has saved more time and commercial costs by avoiding deploying having to deploy another solution."

"I like the dashboard, redundancy, log analysis, threat prevention and ISP, and VPN."

"The interface allows us to quickly adapt to new security requirements and maintain compliance with organizational policies."

"The scalability is very good."

"The initial setup is very straightforward."

"The product is very scalable."

"The tool provides great security."

More Check Point NGFW pros

"Zscaler provides effective protection against various cyber threats ensuring a safe environment"

"The technical support from Zscaler was excellent."

"The visibility and log availability offered are highly valued for troubleshooting purposes, and this is a key factor driving customer interest in the firewall module."

"The solution offers good sandboxing."

"The scalability is okay. We have around 2200 people using this solution."

"It helps a lot of companies to reduce their downtime. Also, It helps businesses in terms of being secured and protected from any threats."

"The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution."

"I like the ease of deployment and its flexibility. We don't need to deal with license, quotes, procurement, delivery, and installation. Everything is software-based, and it's very easy to operate."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pros

Cons

"I find the management console not very straightforward, so that's an area where Fortinet FortiGate can improve. They should simplify it and make it more user-friendly."

"The biggest "gotcha" is that if the client purchases what they call the UTM shared bundle, which has unified threat management on both, it's not as easy to manage if you have more than one firewall."

"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."

"I believe there is room for improvement in machine learning and AI in Fortinet FortiGate."

"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."

"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."

"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

"WAN load-balancing could be a lot better at detecting when a link is poor or inconsistent, and not just flat out dead."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The distributor support capability is quite lacking as the problem/incident is rarely solved on the distributor level and instead escalated to the principal."

"Check Point should quickly update and expand its application database to have what Palo Alto has."

"The Check Point support needs a lot of improvement."

"It could be easier to access the installation of the Hostfix for VSX solutions. The CLI commands help us understand how virtual firewalls behave in terms of processor, memory, and other aspects. More graphic visualizations of CPUSE commands would be a welcome improvement, and Check Point could expand scripts to run within the solution for multiple tasks."

"You need to merge all the old consoles into one new one and make the interface more convenient for the novice administrator."

"The pricing could be better."

"I'd like to see more use of applications and URLs in security policies moving forwards."

"I would like to see better Data Leakage protection options and easier-to-understand deployment models for this."

More Check Point NGFW cons

"They do not provide a few components that are fundamental to differentiate the products"

"Instead of the standard license, they should certainly provide customers with the visibility to access and view the logs."

"It would be better if they improved their policy, package visibility, and flexibility while we're creating rules for inspection. It could also be cheaper or more things could be included in the basic package. In the next release, I would like better coverage in the Asia Pacific region and better quality of service."

"There are some areas it could improve when it comes to blocking, we have to block some things manually. For example, if we block a top-level domain we have seen that the new IPs come through, the IPs are not blocked. There should be some more granular way of doing it. My only request is if you're blocking something at a top level, the sub-level sub-domains and all those other IPs should be blocked too automatically."

"The issue right now is probably that Zscaler is not providing web browser isolation. Another solution, Menlo, offers this. For one customer, we had to send traffic to Menlo to do the isolation for us. It was requested by the customer so that they could integrate any iframe. Zscaler needs to add this type of feature in their next release."

"When it comes to customer support, there is room for improvement in Zscaler's service."

"Certain criteria need to be met if you want to scale this solution."

"Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall."

"It is cost-effective, and provides a good value for your money. The pricing, and license renewal, is very reasonable for us."

"It is not the cheapest one, but its price is very competitive."

"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."

"Fortinet FortiGate's price can be reduced."

"We have the full license that included all of the features and support."

"It's very affordable."

"The pricing is justified. It's a little pricey, but what you pay for is what you get."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"This product is not cheap and there are additional costs that depend on what model or package that you buy."

"The pricing and licensing part is something that could be improved. Check Point license and pricing are a bit higher compared to competing firewalls. I think they can work on that."

"When comparing the price of Check Point NGFW to other solutions it's difficult to compare because even though everything is included in the Fortinet price, there are large differences between the models. You need to go to a quite expensive Fortinet firewall to receive the same throughput and functionality as in a Check Point firewall. In the end, they are quite similar in price, Fortinet might be a bit cheaper."

"The pricing and licensing are pretty steep. They know that they are good, so they are pricey."

"The product provides value for pricing in terms of performance and technical features compared to other firewalls."

"Check Point solutions are very expensive here. They're good, but they're expensive... Check Point is only useful for customers that have a big IT budget."

"It's an expensive solution"

"The pricing is high compared to competitors."

More Check Point NGFW pricing and cost advice

"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."

"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"There are licensing costs, and I would not say that it's a cheap vendor."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis. It is somewhere around 30 or 40 pounds per user for our organization."

"There are different subscription models available."

"It comes at a significantly reduced cost while ensuring control and effectiveness."

"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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How does Check Point NGFW compare with Fortinet Fortigate?

I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such). -Ch...

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Which would you recommend - Azure Firewall or Check Point NGFW?

Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include integration into the overall ...

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What do you like most about Check Point NGFW?

Check Point NGFW provides essential security, featuring no-obligation access for secure connections, strong intrusion...

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Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datac...

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What do you like most about Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors. However, it offered moderate value for money.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Check Point NGFW

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Check Point NGFW

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XG vs Check Point NGFW

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Check Point NGFW

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Check Point NGFW

Compared 6% of the time

More Check Point NGFW Competitors

Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Multicloud Defense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

July 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Check Point NGFW

July 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

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Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

Check Point NG Firewall, Check Point Next Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Check Point NGFW provides comprehensive firewall protection, managing VPNs, and securing network perimeters with advanced threat prevention techniques. It's widely used to protect businesses, data centers, and ensure secure traffic management.

Check Point NGFW offers robust security for companies, delivering security features like threat prevention, URL filtering, and intrusion prevention across both layer 3 and layer 7. It supports remote access, web filtering, application control, and safeguards against malware, botnets, and zero-day attacks. With its intuitive management console, deep packet inspection, centralized management capabilities, and sophisticated threat detection, Check Point NGFW enhances network security and productivity. The system integrates seamlessly with other technologies and provides real-time monitoring, detailed reporting, and automated policy management. Additionally, its setup is straightforward, it scales well, and offers comprehensive logging.

What are the key features?

VPN capabilities: Ensures secure remote access and encrypted communications.
Intuitive management console: Simplifies administration with an easy-to-use interface.
Application control: Provides extensive control over applications running on the network.
Deep packet inspection: Examines data packets in detail to detect and prevent threats.
Intrusion prevention system: Protects against unauthorized access and attacks.
Centralized management: Manages all security policies and devices from one location.
Automated policy management: Reduces administrative tasks through automation.
Advanced threat detection: Identifies sophisticated threats in real-time.
Real-time monitoring: Continuously monitors network traffic and security events.
Easy setup and scalability: Simplifies deployment and scales with business needs.

What are the benefits?

Enhanced security: Provides comprehensive protection against a range of cyber threats.
Increased productivity: Simplifies security management, allowing IT teams to focus on other tasks.
Improved visibility: Detailed reporting and monitoring provide insights into network activity.
Reduced risk: Automated threat detection and policy management mitigate potential risks.
Cost efficiency: Consolidates multiple security functions, reducing the need for additional solutions.

Check Point NGFW is implemented in industries like finance, healthcare, and retail, where protecting sensitive data and ensuring compliance are critical. Its advanced security features and ease of management make it suitable for large enterprises and data centers, ensuring reliable and secure network operations.

Check Point Software Technologies

Zscaler enables the world’s leading organizations to securely transform their networks and applications for a mobile and cloud first world. Its flagship services, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access, create fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Zscaler services are 100% cloud-delivered and offer the simplicity, enhanced security, and improved user experience that traditional appliances or hybrid solutions are unable to match. Used in more than 185 countries, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting thousands of enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.

Check more details: https://www.zscaler.com/produc...

Zscaler

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Control Southern, Optimal Media

Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group

Buyer's Guide

Check Point NGFW vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

Free Report: Check Point NGFW vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point NGFW vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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