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Fortinet FortiClient vs WatchGuard EPDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 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
7.8
Fortinet FortiClient boosts productivity, supports remote work, enhances security, and offers significant ROI and VPN cost savings.
Sentiment score
7.0
WatchGuard EPDR delivers strong performance, enhancing security and productivity while offering cost-effective, comprehensive threat protection and efficient endpoint management.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Fortinet FortiClient's support gets mixed reviews, with satisfaction dependent on package level; 24/7 availability varies in effectiveness.
Sentiment score
8.6
WatchGuard EPDR support is valued for excellent technical assistance, effective forums, and reliable service with minimal issues reported.
They initiate the troubleshooting process quickly and resolve issues in a timely manner.
Technical support can be logged on Fortinet's support portal.
They have room to improve by deploying more support resources.
They create a case, tell me to refer to articles, and if not resolved, they take a remote session to solve the issue.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiClient efficiently scales for various enterprise sizes, offering easy user expansion and minimal deployment resources.
Sentiment score
8.3
WatchGuard EPDR is scalable, efficiently manages workloads, offers centralized deployment, easy licensing, and robustly supports expanding needs.
We can add more licenses and Fortinet tokens, demonstrating excellent scalability.
I hope Fortinet will start an insider developer program where professionals can provide feedback on new releases to ensure improvements.
We can recommend FortiClient for small organizations with 50 to 60 users as well as for larger enterprises due to its extensive features.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiClient is stable and reliable, with minor VPN issues, improved stability, and high user ratings.
Sentiment score
8.1
WatchGuard EPDR is praised for its stability, reliable performance, and efficiency in threat management, meeting user expectations consistently.
It is very stable with no hanging problems.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiClient needs improved management simplicity, support, pricing, usability, stability, integration, and advanced features like AI and better VPN options.
WatchGuard EPDR requires competitive pricing, enhanced features, better integration, improved antivirus, and refined web filtering for Latin America.
There are complexities with the scalability part, particularly with routing and policy alignment.
Fortinet frequently releases updates without thorough testing.
There are advanced features like Zero Trust that I currently do not use but could be beneficial for security.
Other firewalls allow adding categories and in-app controls which WatchGuard currently lacks.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiClient offers competitive mid-range pricing with free VPN, yearly subscriptions, bulk discounts, but faces recent price increases.
WatchGuard EPDR pricing is seen as justified and competitive, offering value compared to alternatives like Palo Alto XDR.
FortiClient is a value-for-money product and is not considered expensive compared to similar products on the market.
FortiClient is cost-effective since the client itself is free with the purchase of Fortinet.
Recently, Fortinet has increased prices for its products.
The pricing is slightly high, but the product quality justifies it.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiClient offers robust security, seamless integration with Active Directory, and remote access, ensuring efficient management and user-friendly interface.
WatchGuard EPDR offers zero-trust security, AI alerts, patch management, and excels in ransomware handling and application-based configurations.
We appreciate its VPN capabilities and the features that offer extra security functionalities like antivirus and malware scanning.
The most valuable feature of FortiClient is its high security level.
Remote users connect to the office using FortiClient, where they can access business URLs through a VPN tunnel configured on the FortiGate firewall.
The cloud of WatchGuard lets me see all my devices, updating me to minute levels with detailed information, such as patch status and vulnerabilities.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiClient
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Compliance (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (2nd)
WatchGuard EPDR
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
44th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (39th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 2.2%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard EPDR is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadJahangir - PeerSpot reviewer
Users only need to install the VPN and authenticate with their email address
I primarily use remote VPN solutions to connect securely. We have configured both site-to-site VPN and remote VPN, and it is connected to FortiClient Implementing this solution has streamlined time management in our organization. Without SSO, we would need manual configuration for each PC, but…
Phillip Evely - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good reporting features, saves time, and protects endpoints
The setup is very easy. We have deployed the solution on-premise but can also do it on the cloud. It has a cloud functionality. I can push it from the cloud directly to the endpoint, or I can do it via a group policy. The enterprise-wide deployment takes a day. It is very simple. Once the agent is deployed in any subnet, it monitors the network traffic and informs me about endpoints that don't have the agent. I get alerted via a report. If I have a problem, I can manually deploy on those endpoints. The product is set to auto-update. It updates on its own.
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832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
43%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Government
5%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Retailer
7%
Security Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What do you like most about WatchGuard EPDR?
The product's most valuable features are the zero-trust application service and its capability to detect threats and attacks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WatchGuard EPDR?
The solution's pricing is better compared to other products.
What needs improvement with WatchGuard EPDR?
WatchGuard EPDR does have areas for improvement. One significant gap is the lack of a virtual patching feature integrated into the endpoint security. This would be particularly useful for endpoints...
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiClient vs. WatchGuard EPDR and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.