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 575 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

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58,242 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Read 34 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2025

WatchGuard XTM [EOL] and Fortinet FortiGate are competitors in the network security sector. Fortinet FortiGate tends to have an edge due to its comprehensive features, providing a better long-term investment despite requiring a higher upfront cost than WatchGuard.

Features: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] is known for its robust firewall capabilities, easy network management, and competitive pricing. Fortinet FortiGate is recognized for advanced threat protection, strong integration with other security devices, and a wide suite of security features, including intrusion prevention and VPN support.

Room for Improvement: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] could enhance its advanced threat detection capabilities, user interface, and support for newer protocols. Fortinet FortiGate could benefit from simplifying its deployment process, expanding initial configuration assistance, and providing more straightforward integration options for non-technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] offers straightforward setup processes and commendable customer support, ideal for seamless integration. Fortinet FortiGate features a modular deployment model with a learning curve but provides a robust customer service experience, aiding efficient issue resolution.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] is a cost-effective option, making it attractive to cost-conscious buyers with lower initial setup costs. Fortinet FortiGate, although requiring more significant initial investment, offers extensive features that justify its price through a higher long-term return on investment.

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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

575

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 (2nd), 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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Alexander Padilla

Global Director MSS with 11-50 employees

Based on WG, we can deploy 30 offices in a few days, and maintain an excellent visibility of the network traffic for the entire network, using a single console.

Security is a requirement for any organization, using WG products you can deploy faster solutions to big problems with a fair price. Based on WG, we can deploy 30 offices in a few days, and maintain an excellent visibility of the network traffic for the entire network, using a single console.

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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

"The scalability is easy with switches and access points that are basically plug-and-play for the most part."

"It's quite comfortable to handle the FortiGate firewall."

"We have found the product to be scalable."

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

"Consolidated our network environment at all locations, but mainly at our datacenter."

"It has improved our security capabilities."

"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."

"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"They have a reporting system which can store data over a very long period of time. Not many other firewall vendors provide a reporting system, but if they do, like Fortinet does, then you've got buy that as an additional product and that can be more than twice as expensive as the initial investment in the firewall. And without reporting over a long-term period, you're just about wasting your time."

"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."

"Reputation Enabled Defense indicates that some websites are so infested that it's not even worth visiting them, and therefore saving the bandwidth of going through the detection process."

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

"We have used technical support for WatchGuard many times and overall, we are satisfied with it. They are always listening and there is a good reaction time to our findings. When there are issues, they really try to resolve them."

"I like the hostwatch because I can see what traffic uses the most bandwidth and I can block that site."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."

"While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up."

"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."

"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."

"Performance on the box and technical support are areas where Fortinet FortiGate can be improved."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."

"The pricing could be a bit better, especially when you consider how they have the most basic offering priced."

"The inability to change passwords when using FortiGate firewall and relying on a local FortiGate database for account creation can be problematic, particularly in non-Active Directory setups."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."

"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."

"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."

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

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."

"Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software."

"The pricing is very reasonable."

"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."

"The solution could be better priced."

"Before choosing a piece of equipment you have to take into account the cost-benefit offered by each one. Sometimes it is not worth paying a very cheap price to have a minimum level of security."

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

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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

15%

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	351
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

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 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

September 2025

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] product report

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

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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