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GajShield Next Generation Firewall vs Netgate pfSense 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)
GajShield Next Generation F...
Ranking in Firewalls
30th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
206
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.5%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GajShield Next Generation Firewall is 0.1%, down from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 18.6%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

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…
AMBARISH PATKAR - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly settings, frequent updates, and responsive support
The scalability of the GajShield Next Generation Firewall is good, but it depends on what model I have. There are many different models available. If I need to have more users I can purchase a model that can handle more. A physical device would allow me to have more users. We have approximately 150 users using this solution in my organization and out of the 150, 54 of them on sitting in the office.
Vincent Hamm - PeerSpot reviewer
I appreciate the depth of what the solution can do and the simplicity of the initial setup
We do a lot of managed services and are currently trying to get people off of L2TP VPN. Apparently, we can download a mobile config file from a configured NetGate device, and we're primarily Apple. We've experimented with it on a device that's not a production device, and we can't seem to get the phase one IPSec set correctly so that the Apple config will accept it. We've tried looking at the documentation but haven't found anything. While it's not the highest priority, it is rather frustrating. We'd like to do this, and the feature is right there, but we can't get it configured. We certainly don't want to try it on a production machine because it will break the current VPN. I would like to download the Apple mobile config so that I can tell it to configure my VPN connection to do that. We have some cross-platform things. So there's also a Windows VPN. You can download a script or a PowerShell, put it on a Windows machine, and it can connect to the VPN. It would be nice if I could say I want Mac only, Windows only, or both. I wish it could configure the IPSec phase one and phase two, or at least give me solid instructions on how to configure that. It doesn't supply out-of-the-box visibility to drive decisions. You get 75 log lines, so if you're trying to troubleshoot something, you have to look at one log and then another. It integrates with SysLog systems, but our customers are not at the level where they want to pay for some third-party SysLog system. Usually, we can get things taken care of fairly quickly. I would like to have the ability to control all my devices from one place. With Ubiquiti, you can get a controller that allows you to control all of your Wi-Fi devices, switches, and routers. From one area, you can switch to that customer and see what's happening in their environment. That's not part of pfSense. I understand why it's not because pfSense is open source and community supported. That's something that someone in the community needs to pick up and run with. It's not something the pfSense can easily implement. If they could, that'd be great.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."
"We are very happy with the general bandwidth agility we have seen from one website to another website."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and there are several operating systems that can include the hardware capacities. In the newer releases, the resources were more useful because they were included in the operating system."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"It has improved our organization with control data."
"I think that the UTM features are the most value, as it truly protects my infrastructure."
"Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."
"The simplicity of the product is great. It's very easy to use, which is a compliment we get all the time in terms of feedback."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall's best feature is the network DLP."
"Gajshiled's enterprise cloud and DLP-level features give it an advantage over other products."
"The solution's outcome is very high, and we often use it in a very high-traffic environment."
"GajShield has improved our mobile device-based connectivity."
"It is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of the GajShield Next Generation Firewall is the user-friendly settings, dashboards, and anti-threat protection. Additionally, the solution upgrades frequently which is good because we receive new features."
"It is an easily scalable solution...The initial setup was very easy."
"The initial setup was straightforward, therefore I wanted to continue using the product."
"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."
"I appreciate pfSense's foundation on FreeBSD, which enables me to leverage additional FreeBSD packages for expanded functionality."
"I like that there's a community edition that I can install on my own virtual machines or hardware. I can test things without messing with them in production, which is incredibly useful. If you have a Juniper or Cisco, you can typically only afford one. You're forced to make changes in production and hope they don't break anything because there's no easy way to have a testing environment. The free version of pfSense offers load balancing or failover WAN, which is also helpful. Most commercial firewalls don't have that in the cheapest iteration of the hardware."
"I can manage it easily by myself."
"I like the connectivity to the open VPN. It's very smooth."
"We can run it on any hardware."
"Deploying pfSense is easy. I'm not a network administrator, but I'm familiar with computers. I can install it on a USB and set it up like any other operating system. The documentation is excellent. I can configure it based on that, and many YouTubers cover it."
 

Cons

"We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."
"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack."
"We would like to see a better training platform implemented."
"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."
"The initial setup is complex."
"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall could improve the flow of the settings. If somebody's using a Cisco firewall or any other brand and they want to use GajShield Next Generation Firewall the platform's UI is a bit different. If it was more similar to the others it would be better."
"Gajshield can improve SD-WAN compatibility at an enterprise cloud level."
"We face issues with some configuration parts that we don't understand in the solution, and sometimes we face issues with the VPN connection."
"The firewall configuration and administration screens could use some improvement."
"Sometimes, we have to use SD-WAN support for the solution, which can be improved by adapting some features that will help our approach to network services."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall would be improved with the addition of a load-balancing feature."
"We raised a support ticket, and the project didn't get a proper response. There was a skill issue in TAC support."
"pfSense is very flexible, but my only drawback in terms of flexibility is that it is web GUI-driven."
"I'm trying to set up a gaming server for multiplayer games like 7 Days to Die. I spent three or four days trying to publish a private IP address through pfSense to the outside world. Some commercial and consumer-grade routers can do this, specifically gaming routers, but pfSense is not intended for this usage."
"Also, simplifying the rules for the GeoIP. Making it simpler to understand would be an improvement."
"We have not had any problems with it, and we also do not have a need for any new features. If anything, its reporting can be better. Sophos has better reporting than pfSense. Sophos has more detailed information. pfSense is not as detailed. It is summarized."
"The main problem with pfSense is that we have to use proxy solutions."
"I would like clear guidance on supported network interface cards, including detailed performance metrics for various models."
"I'd love a centralized management system for multiple pfSense appliances."
"One area of improvement would be better communication. They kind of left a lot of people in the dark and misled them about the pfSense Plus Edition. I feel like they automatically switched people over and then followed that up with a required subscription model. That aggravated a lot of customers, including me, but I stuck with it regardless."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"Easy to understand licensing requirements."
"The product pricing is reasonable."
"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."
"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."
"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"Its pricing is competitive with other solutions."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall is cheaper than the other products in the market. The licensing costs for the solution are on a yearly basis."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall is reasonably priced."
"The price of the GajShield Next Generation Firewall is very attractive when compared to other solutions."
"GajShield is a cheaper solution as of now. The subscription is yearly."
"It was about 15% cheaper compared to Sophos."
"GajShield Next Generation Firewall is not that expensive, and its pricing is better than Palo Alto."
"I think Netgate pfSense's pricing or licensing models are fair enough...Overall, what I pay for the product is very reasonable."
"It has almost zero cost, and it is open to us. It runs on a small appliance just for a couple of 100 bucks, and I've never had an appliance burn out on me yet."
"Netgate pfSense Community Edition is great and free. For Netgate pfSense Plus, we have to buy Netgate's boxes, and the pricing is great."
"The pricing seems fair overall, but I think they need more reasonably priced options for very small offices."
"It is about €1,000. It is a one-time payment. I do not have a monthly or yearly subscription. I don't subscribe to any subscription because I hate cloud services. There are no additional costs."
"It's not too expensive considering all of the features on offer. It's about $1700 a year."
"It's highly cost-effective for both the average consumer and business users."
"pfSense is open-source, but the support is something that the customer pays for."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Media Company
23%
Computer Software Company
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

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 ...
What do you like most about GajShield Next Generation Firewall?
The solution's outcome is very high, and we often use it in a very high-traffic environment.
What needs improvement with GajShield Next Generation Firewall?
Sometimes, we have to use SD-WAN support for the solution, which can be improved by adapting some features that will ...
What is your primary use case for GajShield Next Generation Firewall?
GajShield Next Generation Firewall helps us with security solutions and platforms. It helps us configure the network....
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I reco...
How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?
Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigat...
What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
GajShield NGFW
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Learn More

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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
Zodiac Clothing
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about GajShield Next Generation Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
823,795 professionals have used our research since 2012.