Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IPFire vs Untangle NG Firewall comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
581
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
IPFire
Ranking in Firewalls
36th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Untangle NG Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
30th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.3%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IPFire is 1.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Untangle NG Firewall is 0.9%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate18.3%
Untangle NG Firewall0.9%
IPFire1.5%
Other79.3%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
DS
Head Competence Team IT at Duktig Brand
Blocking access from specific countries and ensuring robust security have been effortlessly achieved
I use IPFire to protect my home The best feature of IPFire is the location block functionality. It allows me to block certain countries from accessing my site. Additionally, it is a solution that is available for free, which is perfect. The graphical interface could be much better. I have…
Gary-Downey - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Information Technology at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Has provided built-in VPN tools and reporting features that streamline remote access and monitoring tasks
We do an outside-sourced threat prevention regarding the Threat Prevention features. I haven't run into areas that could be improved or cons versus pros for Untangle NG Firewall. I haven't done anything too advanced when it comes to the filtering, so I'm not sure what can be improved or added. I haven't dug into the advanced features, but I think some of the advanced capabilities are probably where it lacks a little bit, with the filtering and firewall rules. These areas could be improved to make it a nine out of 10 or a 10 out of 10 for overall rating.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate appears to be scalable."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"We use the filtering feature the most. It has filtering and inbuilt securities. We can create customized rules to define which users can access a particular type of site. We can create policies inside the firewall."
"Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."
"The web controls are what I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate. We have extensive controls over areas where we could block external-facing IPs, external URLs. We can do geo-fencing with the firewalls, which is a good feature."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
"The scalability is easy with switches and access points that are basically plug-and-play for the most part."
"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."
"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."
"The interface is very good."
"Web filtering is very reliable."
"The majority of our clients are very small businesses, and Untangle devices have been fantastic for these small clients. We've basically standardized our stack to just simply use Untangle. We include the hardware and the service option, which makes it very easy and affordable for us to just simply push that into the monthly per-user costing that we provide as a managed services provider. It's really a no-brainer. They're easy to use, and they're easy to set up and configure. Support is generally good about resolving any issues that we have. We haven't had any real complaints."
"The Untangle firewall is a software firewall, so it runs on generic hardware. We found that was probably the best feature, and it's why we chose it when we started using it three years ago."
"None of my clients has had a ransom or breach using Untangle."
"The threat prevention features of Untangle NG Firewall have helped my network security management, and I find them very good."
"The web blocking for my clients and the application control are valuable."
"All features are useful. We are using premium features such as bandwidth sharing, failover, web filters, SSL controls, antivirus, and VPN. We use these features to the fullest. These features are available in the paid firewall license, not the free one."
 

Cons

"One area for improvement involves FortiAnalyzer, specifically regarding the SOC part and log interpretation. Sometimes interpretation is very difficult."
"Fortinet should improve its software, as we are seeing lots of firmware versions generated for each vulnerability issue. It becomes difficult for us to keep updating the firmware frequently due to bugs."
"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."
"I would like to see more AI features included in future updates, as that would add significant value."
"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."
"Currently, FortiGate is providing SSL VPN. But they're missing some features that are available in Palo Alto's SSL VPN."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
"The graphical interface could be much better."
"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."
"On their low-end appliance, they could have more memory and the largest storage space. The low-end appliance comes with a too-small hard drive, and it could use a little extra room. It only comes with about 4 gigs or 8 gigs of memory, and the hardware space is only 40 gigs, which is really small."
"I do not know if I have seen any return on investment. It might be a little expensive if I need to make an external firewall or at my sites like DNS and web zones."
"They don't have any feature that allows you to drop the session."
"The biggest challenge that we have with this solution is local support. The local support is a problem in our area."
"There is room for improvement in the logs. Like with Cisco, I can do almost everything and know almost anything about what's running. Untangle works very much out of the box. It's very user-friendly, but it's not engineer-friendly. So, it's good for a home user. For something fairly easy, but at the same time, with good technology to have at home, because at home, I'm not a millionaire or anything like that. So it's not like I'm worried to get hacked. I didn't want something like a Cisco firewall; it would be a bit overkill to have at home. So that's why I went for Untangle. But it lacks a few features. It's just a tick-box kind of thing. So they have apps and turn on and off the apps. The VPN's configuration is all very ticked. They have a few custom configurations, but it's not that much."
"The common center facility that Untangle provides should be available on-premises. There are great corporations here in Mexico that like the Untangle solution, but they don't like the fact that the monitoring and access to the appliance are in the cloud. They request for the common center facility to be available and installed on-premises."
"The pricing should be reduced because it is expensive."
"The product must improve its reporting features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive."
"The price is highly competitive when compared to other brands that offer similar functionality."
"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."
"Price-wise, it's at a good price point for our market."
"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."
"Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need."
Information not available
"It is not expensive. It is cheaper than Fortinet."
"The solution is fairly priced."
"The setup cost is about $2000 to $3000 per year."
"It is the most cost-effective to use."
"For the home use, it's cheap."
"Usually, it's about $350 a year for 12 users, and it's about $600 for 50 users. It's very reasonable as compared to the others. One of the reasons is that they're all open-source. You just buy their appliance and put it in until it dies. Because it's run under open platforms, mine seems to always work on older equipment. I've taken old equipment and put a new hard disk in it. I have taken about nine-year-old computers and put their operating system on them, and ran them like a champ. The only thing that changed was the hard drive because I don't trust a hard drive that's more than three to four years old."
"The pricing model is better than with SonicWall."
"Untangle is open-source software. So, you can get it for free. That has been a benefit, especially for the residential users because it is free. The license costs start at $25 a month for some additional features, including higher tiers of security intrusion prevention. The free version comes with intrusion detection, and then the license version has intrusion prevention. It also has some additional things for active directory connectors, etc. It starts at $25 a month to cover 12 devices. Then it goes up from $25 to $50 a month for 12 to 25 devices. That's where it really doesn't scale out per site. If you have a site that has more than 50 devices on it, then Untangle quickly becomes cost prohibitive in comparison to several other competitors."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
883,026 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
22%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise189
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise1
 

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 needs improvement with IPFire?
The graphical interface could be much better.
What is your primary use case for IPFire?
I use IPFire ( /products/ipfire-reviews ) to protect my home.
What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?
Sometimes configuring IPFire is challenging. Overall, I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Untangle NG Firewall?
Based on my experience, the pricing for Untangle NG Firewall is pretty comparable. I haven't bought a new one in a wh...
What needs improvement with Untangle NG Firewall?
We do an outside-sourced threat prevention regarding the Threat Prevention features. I haven't run into areas that co...
What is your primary use case for Untangle NG Firewall?
I just get on and monitor the interfaces, the networking, and the basics of it for this product.
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation 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
1. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG
North American Stamping Group, Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), Brown County Schools, IN, City of Bridgeton, MO, Lancaster County, SC, Vision Charter School, Clay County Sheriff’s Department, NC, Breakwater School, Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, NH, Admiral Farragut Academy, Flow Companies, No Ordinary Hotel, KECdesign,
Find out what your peers are saying about IPFire vs. Untangle NG Firewall and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
883,026 professionals have used our research since 2012.