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Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs Steelhead comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
Users report significant ROI with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall due to cost reduction, improved security, enhanced performance, and easier management.
Sentiment score
8.5
Steelhead enhanced bandwidth efficiency, resulting in substantial cost savings and improved user experience without additional tools or upgrades.
Cybersecurity ROI could be $1 or $100 million, depending on the risk of data behind it.
Without Steelhead, we would have spent much more on bandwidth costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.5
Forcepoint's support is effective but slow, facing time zone delays; users desire faster response and improved technical expertise.
Sentiment score
6.4
Steelhead's customer service and technical support are efficient, knowledgeable, and responsive, though complex issues may face slower resolution.
Unlike Fortinet where you can escalate an issue and quickly get responses from the development team, Forcepoint's process seems slow and challenging.
Steelhead's support is generally good for typical issues yet can be time-consuming during complex problem-solving across teams, particularly for Active Directory integration.
Riverbed's customer service and technical support would be rated an eight.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall excels in scalability, efficiently supporting organizational growth and diverse environments, appealing to various industries.
Sentiment score
8.4
Steelhead efficiently scales for SMBs and enterprises, managing up to 20,000 users with effective traffic handling and deployment support.
It allows us to maximize use from our MPLS providers by handling traffic efficiently across phased deployments.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is highly rated for stability, reliability, and performance, with occasional log management challenges.
Sentiment score
8.5
Steelhead offers stable, efficient network operations with minimal downtime, robust performance, and reliable support, ensuring continuous traffic flow.
It's quite stable and provides all necessary alerts if something is wrong.
Steelhead helps significantly with large data transfers.
 

Room For Improvement

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall needs improved usability, documentation, integration, support, pricing, and features for better user satisfaction.
Steelhead needs improved traffic handling, encryption optimization, enhanced response times, better integration, and user support with fewer scaling limitations.
Fast response and efficient handling of issues, similar to how Fortinet responds, would be great.
It could still be useful in places with satellite communications, such as the south of Chile, or in the mining industry.
It would help if Riverbed could prevent such drastic impacts during updates.
 

Setup Cost

Forcepoint NGFW offers flexible licensing with competitive pricing, though considered pricier than Fortinet, but cheaper than Palo Alto.
Enterprise users find Steelhead costly yet valuable for TCP optimization, with complex licensing and comparable alternatives like SolarWinds.
In terms of pricing, I would place Forcepoint in the middle when compared to other firewalls like Fortinet and Palo Alto.
Buying the hardware initially is costly, but yearly maintenance and licenses are not as expensive.
Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country.
 

Valuable Features

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers centralized management, robust security, scalability, and efficient connectivity with user-friendly features and support.
Steelhead optimizes WAN with compression and caching, enhancing network efficiency and reducing costs in bandwidth-limited environments.
With Forcepoint, this process is simplified compared to others like Fortinet.
Functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP, and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency.
Steelhead's most valuable feature is its ability to hash and send only the important parts of the information, avoiding the resending of data.
 

Categories and Ranking

Forcepoint Next Generation ...
Ranking in WAN Edge
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (27th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (11th)
Steelhead
Ranking in WAN Edge
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the WAN Edge category, the mindshare of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is 2.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Steelhead is 1.1%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
WAN Edge
 

Featured Reviews

OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Raj Metkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency & bandwidth saving, best layer 7 QoS shaping policy can be achieved with ease
There are several features specific to branches, like keeping data hot and active on Steelhead devices. These features prevent unnecessary data travel across the international MPLS. Additionally, functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP for branches and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency along with really good QoS for bandwidth shaping.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
In terms of pricing, I would place Forcepoint in the middle when compared to other firewalls like Fortinet and Palo Alto.
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
There is a lot of technical stuff that could be improved. We've encountered scenarios that were really hard to set up and required support. It would be beneficial if the support and contact with th...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitoring solutions were ExtraHop first, Riverbed SteelCenter second. Their negotiated c...
What do you like most about Riverbed Steelhead?
One of our most valuable features is Steelhead's cloud migration optimization. Moving to the cloud helped optimize our workflow, improving performance for end-users.
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
In the past, we have sold a lot of Steelhead ( /products/steelhead-reviews ) for retail companies, insurance companies, some finance companies, and some engineering companies. Steelhead ( /products...
 

Also Known As

Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs. Steelhead and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.