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."There is an easy process for configuring it, and it is straightforward to implement the device from scratch."
"It is very flexible to use."
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"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."
"It's inexpensive compared to some of the other technology out there."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward."
"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."
"User identification and application identification are valuable features."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) 's most valuable features are reporting and filtering."
"The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentation and assessing their support is necessary."
"The solution's application control is very powerful."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a good solution because it has a range of options and a clear ecosystem."
"It is a very user-friendly solution. Moreover, Foritgate offers good performance."
"Overall, I am satisfied with the product."
"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."
"It is a very good solution for enterprises that need a VPN for their employees. It is the best way to provide a remote work facility to employees at a very low cost. Other solutions that I have had in the past were very expensive. Enterprises don't always have that kind of money to invest."
"Its scalability is a strong point."
"It is much simpler than other solutions such as Fortinet."
"I can manage it easily by myself."
"It is very easy to use. The interface is quite understandable. There is a good community, and I can take over at any time I want. If there is anything wrong with it, I could just reinstall the whole thing and start all over again, and I'll be up again in less than a few minutes"
"It is easy to use and has integrity with other systems, such as proxies and quality of service."
"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."
"What I like about pfSense is that it works well and runs on an inexpensive appliance."
"The room for improvement is about the global delivery time period. Usually I need to wait for almost one month to deliver it overseas. So if you can shorten the deliver time it'd be great."
"I could not configure sFlow from the FortiGate graphical user interface. I realized that the sFlow configuration is available only from the CLI, and discovered that sFlow is not supported on virtual interfaces, such as VDOM links, IPsec, or GRE."
"They need faster serviceability and more security features."
"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."
"Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem."
"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."
"I would like to see improvements in the product's application rules."
"The inability to scale the FortiAnalyzer to match our growth necessitates the purchase of new hardware."
"I see room to explore its integration with Secure Service Automation for a more comprehensive security view."
"The solution needs to improve its support."
"The room for improvement is to have more flexibility on the virtual machines of their next-generation platforms."
"One area for improvement is the IPS engine."
"There are some issues with security features and aspects like logs not being up to the mark."
"There's a limitation wherein you can only have about 30 virtual or secondary IPs on a particular interface."
"There should be better customization in the IPS."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall could be made a little less expensive."
"The product could offer more integrated plugins."
"This solution is good for small businesses but it is not as stable as other competitors such as Fortinet."
"The solution could use better reporting. They need to offer more of it in general. Right now, the graphics aren't the best. If you need to provide a report to a manager, for example, it doesn't look great. They need to make it easier to understand and give users the ability to customize them."
"Web interface could be enhanced and more user friendly."
"We have not had any problems with it, and we also do not have a need for any new features. If anything, its reporting can be better. Sophos has better reporting than pfSense. Sophos has more detailed information. pfSense is not as detailed. It is summarized."
"More documentation would be great, especially on new features because sometimes, when new features come out, you don't get to understand them right off the bat. You have to really spend a lot of time understanding them. So, more documentation would be awesome."
"The integration should be improved."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
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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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