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Juniper vSRX vs WatchGuard Firebox 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective and efficient security with quick ROI, reducing expenses in data communication and management.
Sentiment score
7.0
Juniper vSRX offers reliability and strong security with a positive ROI, benefiting users within two to three years.
Sentiment score
7.4
WatchGuard Firebox delivers ROI with enhanced security, reduced troubleshooting, remote work support, cost savings, productivity, and high user satisfaction.
They have good integration if you have multiple firewalls and it allows you to be able to push out policies to all of them at the same time.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
If we used a similar solution that required a 'per seat' license per VPN, we would have literally spent over 100x what the solution cost us.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is praised for problem-solving but criticized for inconsistent response times and language barriers.
Sentiment score
6.2
Juniper vSRX support receives varied feedback, from praise for responsiveness to criticism for inconsistency and unresponsiveness compared to competitors.
Sentiment score
7.2
WatchGuard Firebox's customer support is generally seen as responsive and knowledgeable, with quick resolutions and professional service.
The response time for a critical priority one issue was over four hours and they only responded because we threatened legal action for them violating our support contract.
They say they will respond in 24 hours, but I have received responses in a maximum of one hour, which is impressive.
The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is 24 hours a day seven days a week, and 365 days a year.
I would rate their support a ten out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable, flexible, and adaptable, though some face hardware upgrades and licensing challenges during deployment sizes.
Sentiment score
8.6
Juniper vSRX is scalable and flexible, though interface issues and hardware reliance affect large-scale data handling.
Sentiment score
8.8
WatchGuard Firebox scales well with appropriate hardware, praised for configuration ease, but some face limitations in large-scale environments.
The devices will usually fail way before reaching the capacity advertised in the data sheets, especially when you activate several of the features the device can handle.
The solution is working and it is still stable even across all of these devices and servers.
We have over 10,000 users behind it.
Juniper vSRX is a highly scalable solution, and I would rate its scalability a nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional issues improved by updates and configurations.
Sentiment score
8.9
Juniper vSRX offers strong stability, though newer versions may have bugs, and stability depends on configuration and hardware.
Sentiment score
8.0
WatchGuard Firebox is praised for its exceptional stability, long uptime, minimal issues, and dependable performance, often rated highly by users.
All of these issues were resolved in v5.2.
Stability has dramatically improved over the previous main version branch of FortiOS; 5.2.x and 5.4.x are stable enough for critical environments.
Overall, the devices have been very stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs improvements in stability, usability, integration, cost-effectiveness, and documentation for enhanced user satisfaction and performance.
Juniper vSRX needs UI improvements, stability, simple licensing, better support, cloud integration, automatic updates, and advanced features.
Users report issues with WatchGuard Firebox including pricing, usability, support, complexity, integration, advanced features, malware detection, scalability, and update frequency.
FortiWAN supports OSPF but does not support the BGP protocol.
Fortinet VPN and DDoS capabilities are great, yet we need to provide a solution that enables CASB and integration to the cloud.
The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate.
I would suggest improving the pricing, particularly the licensing model.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive pricing with varied costs; affordable long-term licenses, though renewal complexity can accumulate costs.
Juniper vSRX pricing is competitive yet variable, with flexible licensing; buyers in some regions perceive it as costly.
WatchGuard Firebox is considered affordable with three-year licenses, offering good value compared to Cisco and SonicWall.
The cost of the original deployment fell below £5,000, and licenses are priced at around £3,000.
Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment.
Overall, FortiGate is affordable.
The pricing is competitive, being neither the most expensive nor the cheapest option.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers advanced security features, user-friendly configuration, and comprehensive management tools, valued for robust protection and flexibility.
Juniper vSRX offers easy configuration, robust security features, scalability, and user-friendly interfaces for effective network management and threat prevention.
Highly valued for advanced threat detection, ease of use, scalability, performance, and features like VPN setup and traffic management.
The two most valuable features are VPN and firewalling.
WiFi network for visitors isolated from our corporate WiFi network using only one unit
Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it 'readable'
These features are crucial for our network security.
 

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)
Juniper vSRX
Ranking in Firewalls
22nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Virtualization Security (4th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (7th)
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…
JonathanHowell - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides access to route traffic with virtualization allowing you to leverage computing resources
The key dependency lies in the hardware. If you're hosting it in a virtual environment, it relies on the underlying hardware supporting that environment. Physically, you rely on the circuitry, chips, power, and other components. Therefore, using a virtualized platform introduces an additional layer of abstraction. You'll end up wasting money if you don't know what you're doing and use cases. It's not about buying a virtualized firewall. You're getting a virtualized router and a switch combined into one unit capable of performing telco-grade routing at a layer two level. It's a very complex piece of equipment used for threat management. It is capable of much more. We use it for its versatility; it can serve multiple purposes effectively. You can monitor the hypervisor for key performance indicators and understand how it's running and functioning. It integrates well with the most well-known operational toolsets. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
85%
Computer Software Company
3%
Financial Services Firm
2%
Healthcare Company
1%
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

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 Juniper vSRX?
One of Juniper vSRX's most valuable features is its integration with safety applications. It keeps the software secur...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper vSRX?
The pricing is competitive, being neither the most expensive nor the cheapest option. It falls within the medium to h...
What needs improvement with Juniper vSRX?
I would suggest improving the pricing, particularly the licensing model. Although it is currently quite reasonable, m...
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
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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
Expedient Data Centers
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about Juniper vSRX vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.