Fortinet FortiOS vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

Fortinet FortiOS vs. Stormshield Network Security

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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

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Harshama Silva

Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd

We have improved network security with user-friendly controls and high threat intelligence

FortiOS is very user-friendly and easy to configure for L1, L2, and L3 personnel. Its web filtering, application control, and IPS features are very user-friendly, easy to manage, and deploy. The threat intelligence in FortiOS is very high, and the system is scalable without additional licensing costs. FortiOS allows us to expand the number of users and devices as our network needs grow.

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Ben_Ben

Network Engineer at ACS

The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats

The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed.

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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

"We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."

"This solution made it very easy to manage our bandwidth."

"The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."

"Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic."

"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."

"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."

"Fortinet FortiGate's ease of management is the most valuable feature."

"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Overall, I rate FortiOS a nine out of ten."

"Has a very simple OS and a good price point."

"In terms of benefits, it’s a standard solution used by many, and our customers and partners widely utilize the VPN features. It’s elementary to work with and implement because it is familiar across different infrastructures."

"The main features I find useful are intrusion prevention and web filtering. Additionally, the solution is easy to manage."

"It has a lot of scalability abilities which makes it easy to scale."

"The most valuable features are the ease of use, and the overall simplicity, everyone can use it with a small introduction."

"For my organization, it has become much easier to scan the firewalls because the solution is more user-friendly than competitors."

"For ten to 12 years it has been quite secure."

More Fortinet FortiOS pros

"Ease of use is the best feature of the product."

"This solution is quick and easy to configure."

"A very robust product."

"I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page."

"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed."

"It's an easy, straightforward management platform to use."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."

"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."

"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."

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

"FortiOS is not simple."

"At this moment, we believe that Fortinet FortiGate should be improved by injecting more AI because the kind of threats we are seeing are more ransomware threats. Fortinet FortiGate is able to ensure these threats do not enter, but we would prefer to see more proactive alerting mechanisms come out."

"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."

"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There is some room for improvement in the support."

"Could be improved by supporting an allocation of quota base management regarding user data."

"There are some features for FortiGate using FortiOS that can only be enabled via a command line. These aren't very advanced features they have been part of FortiOS for quite some time but they still aren't accessible from the graphical user interface. It makes it a little bit harder than it should be for us to manage the solution. That's my main concern with the user interface. Another concern we have is some elements for the user interface, if they're not properly configured, it could lead to hardware and performance degradation."

"A switch should be introduced."

"The threat time interval lags a little, especially if there's a heavy load on the firewall."

"It would be great if they can push the Microsoft updates through Fortinet OS and provide a centralized patch management system. They should also include the data loss prevention (DLP) and data leakage prevention features. They could also add network monitoring more effectively."

"The solution's graphic interface could be a bit more responsive and include notations when changes are made."

"Right now, all the features meet my requirements."

More Fortinet FortiOS cons

"With Stormshield, there are difficulties joining things, and it can be complex depending on the architecture."

"Improvement is needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer."

"This is not a next-generation firewall."

"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."

"The product must improve its pricing."

"Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."

"It could be better if it were more user-friendly. It's too complicated for us to use it. The price could be better as well."

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I find it quite reasonable."

"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."

"The price range is quite acceptable and normal."

"Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."

"No comment."

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is affordable. Most of our customers are on a three-year license to use the solution. All the features and support are included in the price."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The cost is around $40,000."

"Pricing depends on implementation and licensing choices and is usually not a practical budget choice for small businesses."

"The solution is cost effective. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The price of Fortinet FortiOS is reasonable and it is paid annually. You are able to select the features that you want."

"It is not cheap; it is also not expensive. It is somewhere in the middle."

"The scalability of Fortinet FortiOS is good. However, central management is intuitive for the end-users. We had a lot of questions about central management, and sometimes they didn't use it and did their firewall management directly on FortiGate instead of using Fortinet FortiOS."

"We pay an annual license fee. It is rather expensive so I would like to perhaps see a drop in price in the future."

"The software costs roughly half what the hardware costs. Overall, the product is expensive."

More Fortinet FortiOS pricing and cost advice

"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."

"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."

"The pricing could be better."

"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."

"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."

"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."

"I think the price is good."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

22%

Comms Service Provider

17%

Government

Financial Services Firm

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 a...

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...

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 ...

Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls

In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiOS?

The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?

I rate the pricing for FortiOS as eight or nine out of ten. It is an affordable solution for us.

What do you like most about Stormshield Network Security?

Ease of use is the best feature of the product.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Stormshield Network Security?

We pay for the quality we receive.

What needs improvement with Stormshield Network Security?

The product must improve its pricing.

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Fortinet FortiManager vs Fortinet FortiOS

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiOS

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiOS

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Fortinet FortiOS

Compared 4% of the time

Darktrace vs Fortinet FortiOS

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiOS Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 17% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 7% of the time

OPNsense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

More Stormshield Network Security Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Fortinet FortiOS

Download Fortinet FortiOS product report

Stormshield Network Security

March 2025

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

NETASQ Firewalls

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Fortinet FortiOS is a comprehensive security operating system that powers Fortinet's network security solutions. It provides advanced threat protection, network visibility, and centralized management for organizations of all sizes. With its robust features and intuitive interface, FortiOS enables businesses to secure their networks, applications, and data from cyber threats.

One of the key features of FortiOS is its advanced threat protection capabilities. It incorporates multiple security technologies, including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention system (IPS), and web filtering, to detect and block a wide range of threats. This ensures that organizations are protected against malware, ransomware, and other malicious activities. FortiOS also offers extensive network visibility, allowing organizations to monitor and analyze network traffic in real-time. This visibility enables businesses to identify potential security risks, detect anomalies, and take proactive measures to mitigate threats.

Additionally, FortiOS provides detailed reports and analytics, helping organizations gain insights into their network security posture. Centralized management is another crucial aspect of FortiOS. It allows businesses to manage and configure their security policies, devices, and users from a single console. This simplifies the management process and ensures consistent security across the entire network infrastructure.

Moreover, FortiOS supports integration with other Fortinet products, enabling seamless security orchestration and automation. FortiOS is designed to be scalable and flexible, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. It offers a range of deployment options, including physical appliances, virtual machines, and cloud-based solutions. This flexibility allows businesses to choose the deployment model that best fits their requirements and easily scale their security infrastructure as their needs evolve.

Fortinet

NETASQ's integrated intrusion prevention engine uses protocol conformity analysis, application filtering and antivirus analysis to inspect authorized traffic flows and strengthen application security. NETASQ enables you to establish and configure user-based security policies, giving you greater control over which network resources each user is authorized to access.

Stormshield

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

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location

Fortinet FortiOS vs. Stormshield Network Security