Fortinet FortiGate vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

Fortinet and Zscaler are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Zscaler is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.5. Fortinet holds a 19.8% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Zscaler’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 316 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

100,196 Views
73,866 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Read 16 Zscaler Cloud Firewall reviews

1,714 Views
1,275 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 1, 2024

Fortinet FortiGate and Zscaler Cloud Firewall are leading solutions in the cybersecurity market. Fortinet FortiGate is preferred for pricing and support, while Zscaler Cloud Firewall stands out for advanced features and capabilities.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive security services, advanced threat protection, and SD-WAN capabilities. Zscaler Cloud Firewall integrates well with cloud environments, provides seamless security for remote workforces, and has superior cloud integration.

Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiGate users suggest enhancing documentation, simplifying configurations, and improving usability. Zscaler Cloud Firewall users want better support for legacy applications, improved offline capabilities, and enhancements for specific use cases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate has complex on-premise deployment but robust customer service. Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers straightforward deployment due to its cloud-native architecture, with mixed experiences in customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive pricing with satisfactory ROI, especially for on-premise setups. Zscaler Cloud Firewall has higher initial costs but delivers excellent ROI through reduced hardware and maintenance expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in Firewalls

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

316

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Ranking in Firewalls

26th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.8%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28

Senior Manager at Cognizant

Sep 25, 2024

Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability. The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in…

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Vikram Srirama.

Deputy General Manager at Sagility

Nov 9, 2023

A highly scalable solution that helps monitor and block undesired, non-standard traffic

We use Zscaler Cloud Firewall to block any non-standard traffic originating from the inside network. The solution helps us to monitor and block the undesired, non-standard traffic Zscaler Cloud Firewall understands the applications in the current generation and adapts to the present generation…

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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

"It is a good source for firewall protection."

"I am "headache free" that I don't have to categorize all the websites and that security has been pre categorized by the people, and that the services are getting updated. At least one part of my problem is over."

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

"The pricing is great and very reasonable."

"The customization potential is quite impressive."

"The payment function for applications is good."

"FortiGate firewalls are easy to manage through a user-friendly web interface. They also have advanced features like DDoS and DLP. However, I wouldn't recommend enabling all of these features on one device because it can cause performance issues."

"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution offers good sandboxing."

"The scalability is okay. We have around 2200 people using this solution."

"It is a stable solution."

"It provides in-depth visibility into your network, ensuring that traffic flowing into your organization, be it from offices or individual users, is effectively filtered and secured through multiple layers of protection."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The solution is scalable."

"It helps a lot of companies to reduce their downtime. Also, It helps businesses in terms of being secured and protected from any threats."

"Includes advanced tech protection."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pros

Cons

"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."

"One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."

"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."

"There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."

"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."

"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."

"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."

"The advanced models are expensive."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Certain criteria need to be met if you want to scale this solution."

"When it comes to customer support, there is room for improvement in Zscaler's service."

"It would be nice to have some sort of a form factor, a physical form factor perhaps, or virtual machine that you could install on devices or on a cloud, and have some cloud computing."

"Instead of the standard license, they should certainly provide customers with the visibility to access and view the logs."

"Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP."

"We are having some issues with internet access being denied when organizational ID-based policies change. For example, a lower level employee ends up getting the same level of access as that of a higher level employee."

"There are some areas it could improve when it comes to blocking, we have to block some things manually. For example, if we block a top-level domain we have seen that the new IPs come through, the IPs are not blocked. There should be some more granular way of doing it. My only request is if you're blocking something at a top level, the sub-level sub-domains and all those other IPs should be blocked too automatically."

"It would be better if they improved their policy, package visibility, and flexibility while we're creating rules for inspection. It could also be cheaper or more things could be included in the basic package. In the next release, I would like better coverage in the Asia Pacific region and better quality of service."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you look at these end security systems and firewalls, these firewalls even five years ago were $50,000 or perhaps $25,000 to implement in some types of customer sites. Now we're talking about tools that are $1,000. In this case, it might have been $500 or something like that."

"The price is fair compared to the other competitors."

"Its price could be better."

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"It is not a very costly product if you compare it with other products. The return on investment is also good. If you compare the return of investment and money that you are spending on this product with Palo Alto, Cisco, Check Point, and other solutions, the investment is very less. We are happy with this solution. The optional licenses are there, and you can choose which one you want and which one to avoid."

"The price is fair for what we get with FortiGate."

"By default, they give SD-WAN along with the firewall. They don't have separate licensing for the SD-WAN functionality. However, they have security licenses that are sold separately on a subscription basis. Customers can consume these security features to protect their users from internet traffic."

"Setup costs and pricing depends on many variables, but it's mostly affordable."

More Fortinet FortiGate 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 an eight out of ten."

"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."

"There are different subscription models available."

"It is expensive for small businesses."

"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."

"There are licensing costs, and I would not say that it's a cheap vendor."

"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."

"It is not the most budget-friendly solution, but it's important to consider its overall value."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pricing and cost advice

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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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the produ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 25% of the time

OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Check Point NGFW vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Multicloud Defense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

November 2024

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

October 2024

Download Zscaler Cloud Firewall product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate

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Fortinet

Zscaler

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

Zscaler enables the world’s leading organizations to securely transform their networks and applications for a mobile and cloud first world. Its flagship services, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access, create fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Zscaler services are 100% cloud-delivered and offer the simplicity, enhanced security, and improved user experience that traditional appliances or hybrid solutions are unable to match. Used in more than 185 countries, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting thousands of enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.

Check more details: https://www.zscaler.com/produc...

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

Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

October 2024

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.

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