FortiSASE vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG comparison

The compared Fortinet FortiGate SWG and FortiSASE solutions aren't in the same category. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is ranked #4 in WSG , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 10.6% mindshare in the category. FortiSASE is ranked #11 in SASE , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 7.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet FortiGate SWG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of FortiSASE users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate SWG and FortiSASE based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed FortiSASE vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG Report (Updated: May 2023).

Buyer's Guide

FortiSASE vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG

May 2023

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

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David Carlson

CIO at Camco Mfg.

Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help.

FortiGate is easy to configure. We configured one of the units and sent it to Indiana to be installed. We asked them to give us a call when they got it, so we could help them through the process, but they called us back to tell us it works great. Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help. That was fantastic. Fortinet also offers a single pane of glass that we can use to manage our routers with gateways, so that's convenient. We're running a VPN to our remote location, and the performance is good. We're changing all our VPN connectors on our laptops from Cisco's Anywhere to Fortinet's VPN because the performance is just so much better.

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Peter VanDorp

Cyber Security Analyst and Network Operations Supervisor at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Improved our operational efficiency because we manage one system now that manages all the sub-pieces to it

Deep packet inspection is easier to deploy in the FortiSASE environment. It's much simpler to configure one-touch deployment. It was considerably more convoluted to get that to work using FortiClient. All that processing horsepower is happening in Fortinet's cloud infrastructure, reducing the load on our local routers and on-prem FortiGate firewalls. There wasn't much of a learning curve because we are already a Fortinet organization. We still use all the same pieces, but the interface is slightly different. Still, I don't think the average user would have difficulty picking the solution up. They've got some excellent documentation and support to help you through any questions you may have. FortiSASE lets us manage everything from one web interface. That's the most significant benefit. We also use FortiManager, but it could only do so much when we only used on-prem systems. We still need to touch the EMS server and a few other interfaces to make all the pieces work. FortiSASE puts everything in one place. If something doesn't work, you've got support there to help you out. Previously, we had local support, but it's more complicated because you needed to explain your environment. The SASE environment is under their control, so they know what it looks like and what they're dealing with.

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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

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times."

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

More iboss pros

"FortiGate is easy to use, and I also like its VPN."

"One of the features I appreciate the most is application control which offers great flexibility."

"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."

"The solution is superior to Cisco in terms of security."

"Web filtering is the most useful feature."

"It offers web filtering capabilities at a more affordable price compared to other solutions like PSMs or NETGEAR."

"The interface and other reports are all user-friendly."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's content is its most valuable feature."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

"The integration with the company's existing security infrastructure enhanced our security posture since it was a straightforward process."

"It is highly scalable."

"The product can scale."

"I feel that it is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."

"Its function is related to the licensing framework."

"Deep packet inspection is easier to deploy in the FortiSASE environment. It's much simpler to configure one-touch deployment. It was considerably more convoluted to get that to work using FortiClient. All that processing horsepower is happening in Fortinet's cloud infrastructure, reducing the load on our local routers and on-prem FortiGate firewalls."

"This advantage is having the ability to create an SPA unit of FortiGate."

"It has AI-based detections for any signature-less virus or any unknown vulnerabilities."

More FortiSASE pros

Cons

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability with in the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing. It is kind of there, but it's not perfect. Quite frequently, I receive links that lead me to pages with error messages."

"Sometimes, obviously, there are bugs."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

More iboss cons

"The initial setup is medium complex and takes between five days and a week."

"It could always be more secure."

"The graphical user interface of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The solution could improve by having some additional features, such as IBS and better cloud administration."

"One area of improvement I've noticed is the lack of built-in monitoring capabilities in the firewall. Currently, we rely on third-party solutions for monitoring purposes. However, I believe the firewall itself has the potential to do a better job in this aspect. Another aspect of Fortinet that concerns me is related to redundancy. We have a setup with two firewalls working in parallel, which requires a highly adaptable configuration. However, it feels unfair that clients need to purchase two licenses, especially when one of the firewalls serves as a backup. We have noticed that other manufacturers have different policies on this matter."

"We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG can't be used on its own, and you have to get FortiAnalyzer."

"We also have FortiAnalyzer deployed here, so we want to enable the soft functionality of FortiGate and built-in compression for a firewall VPN use case. We want the ability to deploy a gateway for HTTPS enabled on this firewall. It is currently only for use in our headquarters."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

"Some of the solution's back-end connectivity and visibility are not robust and could be improved."

"FortiSASE is a work in progress. One area where there is room for improvement is the ability to use FortiSASE on an endpoint that doesn't have the client on it. Other solutions do that by building a VPN tunnel from their on-prem router into the SASE environment. FortiSASE doesn't have that feature yet, but it is on the roadmap for Q3 of this year. I've seen it in their development environment."

"They need to have more concise or precise ways to come up with the return on investment for convincing or presenting this to customers."

"There are some issues at the agent level, and then we have to sign out and sign in."

"Security and support are two areas with certain shortcomings in the product where improvements are required."

"The current high-tech version of FortiSASE is not recommended due to its heavy loading."

"The main concern is that if the client is using another firewall, they cannot establish a private channel with the Cisco cloud."

"Stability issues persist."

More FortiSASE cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."

"The price is relatively expensive compared to other solutions which are providing similar features."

"It is around $50,000 per month."

"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

"When comparing this solution to others, I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of pricing. However, the issue of requiring a separate license for redundancy is a drawback, and I would rate it a nine out of ten."

"The solution is cheap."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

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

"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"I can only speak about the pricing for education users because we get discounts. Other users aren't going to get the same price, but FortiSASE is competitive with the other products out there. All the solutions came in at the same price, so it just came down to the product that works best for us."

"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?

Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iboss?

I have the same complaint about them that I have about other software companies. Sometimes when you call in support, ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

We are a PreK-12 public school district, and we use iboss to filter internet content for our students at home and sta...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

The interface and other reports are all user-friendly.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

The product pricing is moderate and competitive to Palo Alto. I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten, where on...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

Fortinet FortiGate SWG can't be used on its own, and you have to get FortiAnalyzer.

See all answers

What do you like most about FortiSASE ?

The integration with the company's existing security infrastructure enhanced our security posture since it was a stra...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiSASE ?

License is yearly-based.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FortiSASE ?

If they had application segmentation, we could give secure access to applications. That is not there. I had security ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway vs iboss

Compared 5% of the time

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Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 47% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 23% of the time

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 8% of the time

Axis Security vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 3% of the time

Trend Micro Web Security vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 1% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs FortiSASE

Compared 25% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs FortiSASE

Compared 21% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs FortiSASE

Compared 12% of the time

Netskope vs FortiSASE

Compared 10% of the time

Tailscale vs FortiSASE

Compared 1% of the time

More FortiSASE Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

January 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate SWG product report

Buyer's Guide

FortiSASE

January 2025

Download FortiSASE product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

No data available

Learn More

iboss

Fortinet

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a comprehensive web security solution provided by Fortinet. FortiGate SWG combines web filtering, malware protection, data loss prevention (DLP), and application control capabilities into a single integrated platform. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats, enforce compliance policies, and provide secure access to web resources.

FortiGate SWG Benefits:

Comprehensive web filtering and security features
Ease of use and management
Integration with other Fortinet products
Strong threat detection capabilities
Scalability and flexibility
Granular control over user access and activity

FortiGate SWG Features:

Web Filtering: FortiGate SWG employs URL filtering and content categorization to control and enforce web access policies.
Malware Protection: The solution provides real-time protection against web-borne threats, such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): FortiGate SWG helps prevent sensitive data from being leaked or exfiltrated through web channels.
SSL Inspection: The solution supports SSL/TLS decryption and inspection, allowing organizations to examine encrypted web traffic for threats and enforce security policies.
Application Control: FortiGate SWG enables granular control over web applications and protocols.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: FortiGate SWG leverages Fortinet's threat intelligence services to provide up-to-date information about emerging threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
User Authentication and Access Control: The solution supports various authentication methods, including single sign-on (SSO) and integration with identity providers, to ensure secure user authentication and access control for web resources.
Reporting and Analytics: FortiGate SWG provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

FortiGate SWG is typically deployed as a hardware appliance or as a virtual appliance in on-premises environments, but it may also be available as a cloud-based service. It is part of Fortinet's broader security fabric ecosystem, allowing integration with other Fortinet products to provide a unified and coordinated security infrastructure.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by FortiGate SWG users.

David Carlson, CIO at Camco Mfg., says that "Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help".

Suresh Vijayen, Product Manager at IX Telecom, writes that FortiGate SWG "Provides helpful technical support, but its dashboard needs to be more user-friendly".

Chandan Munshi, Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, states that "The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."

FortiSASE is a comprehensive security solution that combines SD-WAN, security, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities in a single platform. It provides secure access to applications and data from any device, anywhere, and at any time. FortiSASE offers advanced threat protection, real-time visibility, and control over network traffic, ensuring that organizations can securely connect their users and devices to the cloud and on-premises resources. With FortiSASE, organizations can simplify their security infrastructure, reduce costs, and improve their overall security posture.

FortiSASE Benefits:

Easy to use and set up
Good value for the price
Provides accurate and reliable results
Compact and portable design
Comes with helpful instructions and customer support

FortiSASE combines the following key elements:

Networking: FortiSASE provides networking capabilities, including SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), WAN optimization, and network traffic routing. It allows organizations to optimize and secure their network connectivity.
Security: FortiSASE integrates multiple security services, including next-generation firewall (NGFW), secure web gateway (SWG), secure web application firewall (WAF), and zero-trust network access (ZTNA). It offers comprehensive protection against various threats, such as malware, intrusions, and data breaches.
Cloud Security: FortiSASE includes cloud-native security services to protect cloud-based applications and workloads. It offers secure access to cloud services, cloud-based firewalls, and security for multi-cloud environments.
Zero Trust Security: FortiSASE follows the Zero Trust security model, where all users and devices are treated as untrusted and must undergo strict authentication and authorization before accessing resources. It enforces granular access controls and micro-segmentation to limit lateral movement within the network.
Secure Web Access: FortiSASE includes secure web access capabilities, enabling organizations to enforce web filtering policies, block malicious websites, and protect against web-based threats like phishing and malware.
Visibility and Analytics: FortiSASE provides centralized visibility and analytics to monitor network traffic, security events, and user behavior. It helps organizations detect and respond to security incidents and provides insights for ongoing security improvements.

FortiSASE aims to simplify and streamline security operations by integrating multiple security functions and network services into a single platform. This approach allows organizations to reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and enhance overall security posture.

Reviews from Real Users

Peter VanDorp, Cyber Security Analyst and Network Operations Supervisor at a non-tech company, says that "Deep packet inspection is easier to deploy in the FortiSASE environment. It's much simpler to configure one-touch deployment. It was considerably more convoluted to get that to work using FortiClient. All that processing horsepower is happening in Fortinet's cloud infrastructure, reducing the load on our local routers and on-prem FortiGate firewalls."

Jose-Rivera, Account Manager at Telefónica, that FortiSASE is "Reliable with good security and helps with network optimization".

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Salt Lake County, Catholic College Bendigo, Azienda Unita Sanitaria

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

FortiSASE vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG

May 2023

Free Report: FortiSASE vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Find out what your peers are saying about FortiSASE vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.

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