Fortinet FortiGate vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL] comparison

Fortinet and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 92% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 580 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

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53,258 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Read 34 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

WatchGuard XTM and Fortinet FortiGate compete in the network security appliances category. Fortinet FortiGate appears to have the upper hand thanks to its extensive functionality and perceived pricing value.

Features: WatchGuard XTM is noted for robust firewall capabilities, comprehensive centralized management, and strong support interaction. Fortinet FortiGate offers advanced threat protection, integrated VPN features, and an extensive feature set, which provide a competitive advantage over WatchGuard.

Room for Improvement: WatchGuard XTM could improve its range of advanced features and expand its integration capabilities. Fortinet FortiGate might enhance intuitive user interface design, optimize initial configuration complexity, and expand documentation clarity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard's deployment model is straightforward with good support interaction, whereas Fortinet FortiGate offers efficient deployment recognized for its comprehensive documentation and enhanced support service, adding value beyond WatchGuard.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard XTM provides a lower initial setup cost with satisfactory ROI. Fortinet FortiGate, despite higher initial pricing, offers a higher ROI through its extensive support and capabilities, making it a compelling investment over time.

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

580

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Q&A Highlights

Miriam Tover

Service Delivery Manager at PeerSpot

Mar 23, 2020

What Is The Biggest Difference Between Fortinet FortiGate and WatchGuard XTM?

The main difference between Watchguard and Fortinet is the operating system, and how it uses the hardware features. The user interface in Fortinet is cleaner and we can adjust network and security needs in a logical way. Point-of-care only for SSO, certificate usage does not work sometimes, but this issue is handled in new OS releases.

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Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Generalm4545

General Manager- IT & Automation - Serum at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Protects from attack software and hacking but it doesn't provide the reports in a readable format

In my opinion, image clarity is very important, because I don't get the proper image product on reports. This means that functionality is not there. My engineer does not know how he can replace an order. We attach a log after any kind of keys using a utility instead. For the internet policies that we are implementing, the policy should be based on proper protocols. We use the default policies and there are a number of third-party protocols that appear here. Management with WatchGuard XTM means that out of policy is the problem from our side. In this way, we can not do effective services for people with this one. The policy definition with WatchGuard XTM is not proper for all use case requirements. I've got weekly business reports that I am expecting attachments with from WatchGuard XTM that display data for all kinds of consideration which should be required. Main User Functionality Level Order must adhere to using the admin functionality on the registry, or else our users publish their own name. Maybe these recommendations are irrelevant, but I say that the issue to improve most with WatchGuard XTM is the Main User Function.

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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

"Provides good VPN capabilities."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."

"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."

"The initial setup is very straightforward and easy, with wizards helping to configure the device efficiently."

"The solution is secure."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is its efficiency."

"It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"After installing the product, we achieved awareness of our data protection needs and email misuse."

"It configures in all-in-one place."

"Monitoring of network activity is included in the box."

"SNMP status monitoring and the Central Management Software."

"WatchGuard XTM is fairly basic. We use it as the perimeter firewall. The main point is to protect from attack software and hacking."

"There is a site-to-site VPN configuration between others people."

"It is stable and does not require you to reboot all the time."

"Application Control is fantastic with over 2,500 applications and the granularity that we can either allow people to view but not be able to log on to Facebook; or view it and log onto it if they're in the marketing department, but not play Facebook games. There are all sorts of different options like that. So it's highly granular."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"It's my understanding that more of the current generation features could be brought in. There could be more integration with EDRs, for example."

"The solution can have more features in a single box that can be multi-applied to integrate everything."

"Their technical support could be improved a little bit in terms of responsiveness."

"We understand that FortiGate cannot be standalone without others, such as FortiManager, so for small businesses, if FortiGate can provide something similar to FortiManager, it will be better."

"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."

"During a recent upgrade from old devices to the latest ones, corporate IT faced challenges as there was no straightforward migration process, requiring many manual steps."

"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."

"Bandwidth usage in reporting could be improved for Fortinet FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The initial setup is neither simple nor complex. If you know the base in networking and how the firewall works, you will be able to figure it out."

"One huge issue with WatchGuard XTM is that I'm not getting reports in a readable format. Readable means, I don't want Excel online. We repeat auditing when we trigger the report or setup calendar. That functionality is what we are looking for from WatchGuard XTM here."

"I would like them to improve the product's overall protections. This would be good for all product users."

"Sometimes we have had issues with stability of the product."

"Syslog (Dimension) is focused on presentation, but needs more focus on utility like SonicWall syslog (GMS/Analyzer)."

"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."

"WatchGuard doesn't have a product that allows them to get into the data center. And that's just because there is no hardware to do the job. The software could do it, but there's no hardware that allows that to happen at the moment. So it doesn't scale as well as some other products, that's for sure."

"The setting policies need improvement. It needs an easier way to do static NAT and check on what policy is being used for that specific traffic."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."

"My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is quite good. I don't have a public site, such as in Azure, where I can see the pricing. I always have to go through the distributor, and that could take some time to get the real price for each appliance."

"The solution is very expensive so pricing is rated a one out of ten."

"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

"Price-wise, it's at a good price point for our market."

"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"

"It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device. Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The licensing and renewal is very expensive."

"Get at least a maintenance contract for the updates and take a larger WatchGuard than you need. A WatchGuard creates new ways to secure your network."

"It costs less than the SO works and others (like SonicWall, Cisco, and Barracuda) without increasing so much CPU use."

"Like all other manufacturers, there are a lot of features and different pricing. The best is to talk to a representative."

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

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Answers from the Community

Miriam Tover

Service Delivery Manager at PeerSpot

Mar 23, 2020

What Is The Biggest Difference Between Fortinet FortiGate and WatchGuard XTM?

2 out of 17 answers

MichaelZhang

IT Director at Guangdong Technion Institute of Technology

Mar 18, 2019

Hi Nick, Thank you for email. I have no experience of WatchGuard product. Regards, Michael Zhang

Read full answer

reviewer895482

ICT Officer at a non-profit with 5,001-10,000 employees

Mar 18, 2019

Hi Nick, Sorry, but I can hardly provide relevant comparison between two products as I have never used WatchGuard XTM. As I have no intention to promote certain brand, no matter how satisfied I am with FortiGate - I feel incompetent to advise on this matter. Best regards, Vladimir

Read full answer

See all 17 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...

See all answers

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 good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

December 2025

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Small businesses need big security, too, and the WatchGuard XTM Series firewall/VPN appliances deliver that strong protection, but without the hefty price tag. Enterprise-grade security includes full HTTPS content inspection, VoIP support, and optional security subscriptions like Application Control and Intrusion Prevention Service.

WatchGuard

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

AVG, Cyren, Kaspersky Lab, Lastline, NCP engineering, Trend Micro, Websense

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