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Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
316
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Forcepoint Next Generation ...
Ranking in Firewalls
24th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), WAN Edge (12th)
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.8%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is 0.4%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 25, 2024
Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support
We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability. The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in…
OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 19, 2024
Provides decent protection for the LAN but complicated interface
We had some licensing issues with its web filtering capabilities. That's why we migrated our web filtering to Cisco Umbrella. Moreover, the interface is complicated. It's difficult to locate all the necessary menus and functions. For example, one of the many issues is with SSH. Even now, we haven't successfully opened the port to connect using SSH mode when we want to change the configuration. It's like a black box—not very open to changes and customization. It's simply not easy to configure. There are other problems, too. For example regarding Forcepoint's Websense component. We had a lot of problems managing the web settings within Websense. That's why we migrated to Cisco Umbrella for cloud-based web filtering. It's not that Forcepoint is inherently bad. The issue is that it's not user-friendly. It is not easy to use. The developers need to redesign the interface (GUI) for better management. It is very difficult to manage. For example, simple actions require too many clicks compared to FortiGate or Palo Alto. That's the main problem.
AshwaniTyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 16, 2024
Advanced protection and good integration capabilities with good reliability
We use Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to offer services to our customers as a managed security service provider. We provide solutions and services to our customers across the globe. For example, if I want to host a firewall in the cloud or somewhere where the physical appliance is not a possibility…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"It has improved our security capabilities."
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"What's most important is the ease of use."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the SD-WAN and their IP4 policy."
"It is stable and scalable. In addition, their support is great. When you ask them for something, they provide support, and if required, they also involve the R&D team to help you to resolve the issues in your configuration."
"Forcepoint's stability is satisfactory, for the most part."
"It is a scalable product. I know a customer who has deployed more than 4,000 firewalls in a single deployment."
"Forcepoint is a complete package because it has network and systems applications. Other firewalls are only for the network."
"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is very simple, easy to use, and flexible."
"The support is great. They also have very good categorization. It's very good. It captures a lot of threats."
"When our customer needs some optimization, along with performance and security. If they want everything in one package, I recommend Forcepoint because they have everything."
"Forcepoint is a good, stable solution."
"It ensures that every interaction, pre and post-loan processing, undergoes a thorough inspection, leveraging VPN features and comprehensive security protocols."
"It offers a single pane of glass for all the different types of installations."
"App-ID and User-ID have repeatedly shown value in securing business critical systems."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series has everything centralized. You have the VPN solution, firewall, routing, UDR, flexibility, updates, and full visibility of your traffic."
"They now know the details about their network traffic that they did not know before: Applications that they are using and some application they did not know they were using."
"We can monitor the traffic manually and detect threats. Additionally, we can block different IP addresses and URLs."
"The threat prevention and WildFire features are the most valuable features. DNS is another good feature of the product."
"The VM-Series reports how much bandwidth a particular IP is using. You don't need to regularly log into a website, like a Cisco command, to see what kind of ACL it's getting. There isn't an ACL use portal event. You can go there and see how much my ACL has been getting me."
 

Cons

"Stability and technical support are the two major issues I have found with Fortinet."
"The SD-WAN functionality is a bit overly complicated and not fully documented."
"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"It needs more available central management."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."
"The anti-malware engine could use an upgrade."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"If I want to allow access to Facebook, yet not allow the user to access videos, then I am not able to do it with this product."
"While they offer a comprehensive bundled solution, some users may prefer on-premise deployments for certain features, such as URL filtering."
"In larger companies with extensive infrastructure, retrieving logs for a longer period of time can sometimes take a bit longer than desired."
"When it comes to a complex deployment, the rules, firewall features, SD-WAN core features, and auto-scaling can cause the device to be not quite stable."
"The ability to dynamically change policies could be improved."
"The network interface could be better, and it could be cheaper."
"They should provide more details on potential cyber threats."
"Something that I've noticed that Forcepoint lacks, is the training that they offer to their end-customers"
"On the cloud side, they need to come up with more HA solutions to support the multi-region."
"The product needs improvement in their Secure Access Service Edge."
"We have run into some issues with scaling and limitations associated with some of the configurations."
"Integrative capabilities with other solutions should be addressed."
"The product could provide protection above Layer 3, which gets into the application layer and provides better visibility into those aspects of application security."
"There's room for improvement in terms of integration with the load balancer. It isn't like Fortinet, which has a load balancer built into its firewall. It is effortless to integrate within the load balancer-plus-firewall solution."
"The utilization monitoring and GUI have room for improvement."
"I would like to see a more thorough QA process. We have had some difficulties from bugs in releases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Work through partners for the best pricing."
"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."
"Pricing is lower than Cisco."
"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."
"I think that the pricing is fair."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."
"Setup costs and pricing depends on many variables, but it's mostly affordable."
"I believe the licensing fee is for one year, three years, and five years, or something like that. If you wants to increase the support level from a simpler level to platinum, I think that there's a cost. There are differences between every kind of support, but I don't know the numbers."
"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is reasonable, it is priced the same as other firewalls."
"We would love to take other solution from Forcepoint, but unfortunately the price is too high. That's why we are not considering using Forcepoing for our proxy and DLB. They have a very good DLB, but the matter in the end is the cost."
"The pricing of the solution is normally competitive with other products."
"There is a need to make payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The product is not expensive."
"The cost is fair, but it could be improved."
"It is expensive."
"There is a license required to use this solution and we can purchase it for one, two, three, or five years."
"Palo Alto is more expensive than other products."
"The solution is a little bit expensive compared to other vendors."
"Do not buy larges box if you do not need them. Rightsizing is a great task to do before​hand."
"The pricing for Palo Alto is quite high compared to FortiGate, which is more affordable. I don't have the exact figures as my manager handles that, but from my research, Palo Alto's licensing costs are significantly higher."
"The box, if you do not want to buy the threat prevention license in the box, you can buy it only with the support license. It is for the support of the hardware. It works like a simple firewall. It integrates what it calls user IDs and application IDs. If you do not buy any other license, only the firewall, Palo Alto will also help you improve a lot of your security."
"It is a little bit of crazy if you compare it to Vanguard, Sophos, or even Cisco. The newest version of Cisco, the Next-Generation Firewall of Cisco, is less expensive than Palo Alto. It is more comparable to Check Point."
"The price of this solution is very high for some parts of Africa, which makes it a challenge."
"For licensing, It depends how they want to use the firewall. The firewall can be used only for IPS purposes. If you only want that firewall IPSs, you will only need a license that is called threat prevention. That license, threat prevention, includes vulnerabilities, antivirus signatures and one additional measure (that I can't remember), but it includes three measures and security updates."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
There is a need to make payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The product is not expensive.
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
My experience with this Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall wasn't very pleasant due to its complexity. For example, ...
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.