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Huawei NGFW vs OPNsense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
329
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Huawei NGFW
Ranking in Firewalls
31st
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (13th)
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei NGFW is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 12.3%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Muhammad-Nadeem - PeerSpot reviewer
A scalable and easy-to-setup product that can be used to configure different policies for specific users
In other next-generation firewalls, if you are creating virtual systems, they will create separate hardware resources for different virtual systems. Other products will create a different routing table when we create a routing protocol. In Huawei, the routing table, control plan, and data plan will share the resources. Every virtual system should have separate resources, routing tables, and hardware resources. We have created multiple segments and virtual systems, and we don't want one segment to communicate with another. The product must divide the virtual firewalls with different utilization systems. The hardware, routing switch, and security bundle should be separate and different. The solution does not have sandboxing features. It should provide a sandboxing solution. It should also work on zero-day attacks. The solution should be comparable with the products provided by Palo Alto, Check Point, and Cisco.
Eddy Ramirez - PeerSpot reviewer
Good interface and firewall capabilities and overall easy to use
The security has improved as we can isolate the network. We can do attrition prevention via a tool that comes with the solution. We can have a VPN solution in place for those that work from home, outside the network, in a secure manner. We also like that it offers good authentication. It offers radius-based authentication, which has been useful for the company. The main platform is under the Open VPN firewall. The solution has high availability. When we have different ISPs, we can actually load balance those links or actually put some priority or even classify the traffic that might go into one ISP or another.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"This solution has solid UTM features combined with a nice GUI."
"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
"Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."
"I find the ease of configuring specific policies to be the most valuable feature of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"I had no difficulty using the Huawei NGFW."
"The user interface is very, very good."
"It enables us to configure different policies and restrictions for specific users within the same subnet."
"The operational management dashboard is easy to use for the customers."
"The security is good. It's as effective as anything else on the market."
"One of the best things about Huawei NGFW is its ability to integrate Azure solutions. Every year, we can add new features to the firewall. The key advantage is the integration across the entire network, so it doesn't work in isolation. For example, we can manage everything with features like the secret manager or analytic IDs. The solution is straightforward. It can also detect intrusions."
"The tool helps us to integrate with other brands."
"Huawei support is excellent. I rate it 10 out of 10."
"It's more secure and more reliable."
"I mostly rely on the solution's network intrusion detection and prevention system, along with other systems, CMs, and log management."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"It's open source."
"The feature I find most valuable, is that the program helped me to realize all the requested functionality that was needed."
"It is a very good solution. I like the dashboard. I can see what is going on and manage it as I like it."
"The technical support is very good."
 

Cons

"There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"There is a lot of improvement needed with SSL-VPN."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."
"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."
"I need user-behavior analytics, to find threat scenarios from inside the organization, insider attacks. That would be very helpful for us. In addition, I would like next-generation features for small and medium businesses. These businesses require UTM, all in one product. Fortinet must include it."
"The solution is very expensive."
"Huawei also need to improve spam techniques and add a web application firewall. Currently, Huawei does not have a built-in web application firewall (WAF) like Fortinet does."
"The solution is scalable but it is difficult because you need to purchase new systems, it is not just one click."
"There needs to be more security equipment for the solution."
"Wi-Fi scanning and Wi-Fi analysis would be useful features to include in the future."
"One issue we've encountered with Huawei NGFW is that after using a firewall for two or three years, we need to replace it. The new firewalls often have more features and better memory or throughput. However, sometimes, they lack some features that the old ones had."
"The solution doesn't seem to be very mature. Our networking team says they are experiencing a lot of issues in the firewalls and some routers."
"Huawei should improve their threat intelligence."
"The IPS feature must be improved."
"I would like to see better SD-WAN performance."
"pfSense has better performance and quicker updates."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"You will need additional training before you can actually start to use it."
"The interface isn't so friendly user. But we have some technicians here who are quite confident with this tool. OPNSense could maybe add sets of rules so it's simpler to manage different groups with particular needs."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"There are some add-ons that need enhancements to make management easier for users, especially the reporting features. Some reports don't show the level of detail I'm looking for, and I've had trouble installing certain add-ons, especially for Internet bandwidth shaping within my company."
"The ability to set the VPN IP address would be a welcome addition."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."
"Pricing for this product is comparatively lower than other products. It's an affordable solution, but when expanding the number of users, they'll ask you to replace the model, so that's an added cost."
"It has a competitive price."
"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."
"We are on an annual license to use Fortinet FortiGate."
"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."
"The price is fine."
"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."
"The solution isn't cheap. It's market price."
"The price of the license of this solution is high."
"Huawei is 30% cheaper than Arista."
"The solution is inexpensive."
"Huawei is priced lower than most competitors."
"I believe that we are entitled to a one-year extension on our licensing."
"The pricing is cheap."
"Licensing fees are billed on an annual basis."
"I'm using the free version of OPNsense. I didn't check the pricing for the solution because I still need to test it before getting the approval to purchase OPNsense, and it isn't easy to get approval from the higher-ups."
"As an appliance, it's in the medium price range."
"I've used the free version. My computer with two network cards at home allows me to try as many different software options as I want. I did pay for the license, but it was for the Zenarmor license, which is the packet inspection tool. They use AI for packet inspection, which integrates with OPNsense and pfSense."
"It's not expensive."
"There are no licensing costs for OPNsence."
"The price of OPNsense is good."
"The solution is not expensive."
"I would rate the pricing three out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

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 Huawei NGFW?
The solution's implementation is pretty easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei NGFW?
The pricing is quite cheap compared to other NGFWs like Palo Alto or Cisco.
What needs improvement with Huawei NGFW?
Huawei should improve their threat intelligence. They need to have a more diversified platform and continuously updat...
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...
What do you like most about OPNsense?
What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?
I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall p...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Huawei USG Firewalls, USG9500 Series, USG6600 Series, USG6300 Series
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
KMITL, Peking University
1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc.  3. EuroBSDCon  4. Netgate  5. Claranet  6. Voleatech  7. Open Systems AG  8. Securebit AG  9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH  10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH  Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Huawei NGFW vs. OPNsense and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.