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Fortinet FortiOS vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
317
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Fortinet FortiOS
Ranking in Firewalls
28th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Firebox
Ranking in Firewalls
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Saleem Ullah Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up, reliable, and good for traffic management
We are not scaling it right now. We bought it sometime back and we didn't need to scale it. We bought a higher end for our use case, which is still sufficient for another few years. We have 200 or so users of different levels and positions on it. We do not have plans to increase usage. This firewall is quite a capable firewall - even up to 1000 users. Due to that, we didn't find any requirement to expand it or replace it somehow. It has helped us build our software-defined WAN, LAN, et cetera. It is sufficient for us. It gives us Gbps throughput, which is good enough. The firewall itself is 32Gbps capable, which is more than what we need.
CarlosArdila - PeerSpot reviewer
Serves as the main firewall for customers' premises and data centers
The initial setup is straightforward. You can deploy it on-premises or using the cloud. If you configure the device to connect to the cloud, you can deploy the Firebox based on templates. You can add a template for a specific client and deploy it for a particular use case. For example, if you're setting it up for a restaurant or a cafe, you can have templates tailored for those businesses. This significantly reduces deployment time, especially if you have several customers of the same type of business. One person is enough for the solution's deployment, but it will run in less than an hour. A network security engineer meets with clients to gather configuration requirements. He prepares a configuration template before the implementation. When he arrives at the site, he turns on the device, applies the template, tests everything, and then migrates the settings from the existing router or firewall to the Firebox.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate protects against internet-based threats, both internal and external. It is scalable, stable, easy to use, and easy to install."
"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering."
"The most valuable features are the enterprise modeling and the simple interface."
"The solution is stable."
"It has improved our security capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of the solution revolves around SSL VPN."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"There are lots of features and most of them are deployed for internet security. Users are protected if they accidentally go to some malicious sites."
"The solution provides good firewall and antivirus protection."
"The technical support on offer has always been quite good."
"FortiGate as a product is very easy to configure."
"The most valuable features are the ease of use, and the overall simplicity, everyone can use it with a small introduction."
"For ten to 12 years it has been quite secure."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are the granular control and their interoperability is good."
"The most important feature of Fortinet FortiOS is the IPS."
"The initial setup is easy. It's the easiest firewall installation process on the market. I work with three or four other products and this one is the easiest."
"The policy monitoring and allowing different traffic flows are the most useful features for us; regulating which traffic comes in and out."
"Among the most valuable features is the ease of use — love the interface — of both the web interface and of the WatchGuard System Manager."
"Management and visibility are the most valuable features."
"The ports that I have assigned appear to be unattainable to outside 'mal-actors,' unless they have an address registered on the internet that this thing is expecting. That's a layer of security."
"We experienced that WatchGuard is easy to setup regarding VPN compared to other firewalls of other brands."
"The most valuable feature of WatchGuard Firebox is its ease of use."
"Policy VPN, site-to-site VPN, traffic monitoring, anti-spam filters, and all other advanced features are valuable."
"It's pretty simple to understand when you want to do any diagnostics on your network. If you want to go in and see what packages are having trouble getting through, what's being held, stalled, etc., it's very easy to use in that way."
 

Cons

"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."
"We'd like more management across other integrations."
"They should improve the interface to make it more user-friendly."
"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."
"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."
"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."
"The pricing of the product is too high."
"Real-time threat monitoring is not there."
"The complexity of the VPNs should be improved."
"The support could be improved, Fortinet's response time is very slow. Setting up the VPN could be made much easier, especially when deployed with Azure."
"It could more scalable for the lower end users."
"The solution could improve the log retention and reports."
"For monitoring purposes, we don't have any option to monitor the ISP link."
"In terms of what needs improvement, the pricing could be lower. The price is very steep."
"The solution is lacking a professional website, they should be updated more often."
"I would like to have a little more control over access points and the ability to see the bandwidth that is passing through a specific access point. We are not able to see that. We can see what traffic is passing through the Firebox itself, but we can't identify if it is coming from a particular access point or not."
"I'm not really impressed with the reporting side of it. It may be something I just haven't figured out very well, but it's hard to filter down on reporting of the actual valuable information that you would want. There is a lot of information out there so you have to have some kind of tool capture it and then filter through. So far, I haven't found the reporting side of the WatchGuard to be that user-friendly."
"There's always room for improvement, especially if the threats are getting more sophisticated and the IT department cannot sufficiently meet this kind of sophistication with their own knowledge and experience. Knowing that this solution can get up to the level of addressing a lot of these threats is something that everybody wishes for. If we look at the dark web and the lawful web, they are two opposites, and if these two good and bad collide in the world of the internet, you want the best possible product—especially if you cannot get to that point of knowledge. I am just an individual and end user, with limited knowledge of usage. That's why I say there's always room for improvement, from their side and also from mine, because by knowing exactly what they can achieve and the knowledge that they can get on an everyday basis, and the portion that is understandable to me, it's an improvement for them as well."
"The performance of the solution's processor needs to be faster."
"It would be wonderful if the WatchGuard team develops nice products for threat intelligence."
"If they could make the traffic monitoring easier that would be great. I don't use it that frequently, but I would like to see some improvements in the ease of use of that component, so it makes more sense. I know it's a technical component so there's going to be some difficulty trying to make that easier."
"The pricing could be improved. It is definitely one of the more expensive products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 is fair for what we get with FortiGate."
"I do not have first-hand experience with the rice of Fortinet FortiGate, but I have heard the price was reasonable."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."
"It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable. We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years."
"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."
"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."
"It would be better if it were cheaper. We have the firewall in our office, and the license is expiring in 20 to 25 days. We got a quote for almost 80,000 Pakistani Rupees, which is a little costly."
"The pricing is competitive for the medium and high markets but for the small markets it can be expensive."
"The cost is around $40,000."
"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 solution is cost effective. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"We pay $100,000. That covers the cost of the hardware that we run the VN's on. That also includes any SGNA costs for the internal support tech."
"The program is expensive."
"A medium 100 or 200 Series box costs around $3000, and the software cost is around 55% of the hardware cost."
"It's fair pricing, but it could always be reduced."
"I find the solution to be very affordable."
"WatchGuard had a very competitive price. It was only 10 to 20 percent more than a single instance device but with that extra cost it provided a second load balancing device... unlike other brands whose method of hardware and software licensing would have doubled our cost."
"The price of the WatchGuard Firebox is reasonable."
"I think the larger firewall packages are much better because a normal firewall is not enough for these times. You need IPS, APT, and all the security features of a firewall that you can buy."
"There is an additional cost for support on top of licensing. When I bought my new unit, I received additional time added to my support."
"WatchGuard Firebox has good quality, but it is expensive."
"The pricing of WatchGuard is probably a little higher than the SonicWall, but it makes up for it in dependability. It's worth it to me, especially since it's not much higher. For just a little bit higher price you get the dependability of the firewall with the WatchGuard brand."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Hospitality Company
6%
Retailer
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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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?
Regarding the cost, the initial purchase is relatively cheap because it comes bundled. However, the subscription rene...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiOS vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,145 professionals have used our research since 2012.