Netgate pfSense vs Sangfor NGAF comparison

Netgate and Sangfor are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Netgate is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Sangfor is ranked #19 with an average rating of 7.9. Netgate holds a 14.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sangfor’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Netgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sangfor users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Netgate pfSense and Sangfor NGAF compete in the firewall market. Sangfor NGAF seems to have the upper hand due to its powerful application control and integration capabilities.

Features: Netgate pfSense is notable for its open-source nature, extensive customization options, and affordability, offering VPN, routing, and firewall functionalities. Sangfor NGAF is recognized for its powerful application control, SSL VPN, and deep packet inspection, with strong integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Users of Netgate pfSense desire improvements in the user interface, integration with other solutions, and centralized management, along with better SD-WAN integration. Sangfor NGAF could improve its user interface, enhance SD-WAN support, and refine application control policies, with users wanting more detailed logging and real-time reporting improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Netgate pfSense offers versatile deployment options across various cloud environments and benefits from community support, though some users seek more structured support. Sangfor NGAF provides a smoother hybrid cloud deployment experience, but documentation and support structure need enhancement, benefitting from its centralized orchestration.

Pricing and ROI: Netgate pfSense is cost-effective, especially with its free community edition, but transition to pfSense Plus received mixed feedback. Sangfor NGAF is affordable compared to brands like Fortinet and Cisco, though concerns exist over potential price increases. It offers substantial ROI with its comprehensive features at a competitive price.

To learn more, read our detailed Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 846,549 peers since 2012

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

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 Netgate pfSense is 14.4%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

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.

Read full review

Vincent Hamm

CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.

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.

Read full review

Zaid Farooqui

CIO at Indus Motor Company

Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support

We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."

"The most important feature, normally for small business customers, is link load balancing."

"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."

"I like how we can achieve total integration."

"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."

"Centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances allow us to take control over our public and private infrastructure."

"Fortinet FortiGate is good for helping you secure and protect mission-critical data."

"What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I appreciate the depth of what you can do with pfSense and the simplicity of the initial setup. One thing we've done is create an image, and when we get a new customer who needs a device, we can put that image on there. The image gets them up to 90 percent of what we need them to have, and we only have to customize the remaining 10 percent."

"I'm the expert when it comes to Linux systems, however, with the pfSense, due to the web interface, the rest of the staff can actually make changes to it as required without me worrying about whether they've opened up ports incorrectly or not. The ease of use for non-expert staff is very good."

"I can manage it easily by myself."

"The most valuable aspects of pfSense are the stability, hardware compatibility, and low cost."

"It is a good firewall with good performance."

"What I found most valuable is the cost of the platform, the flexibility of the platform, and the fact that the ongoing fees are not there as they are with the competitor. Some people may think you're taking a risk with using Opensource. I think it just provides the end user, specifically for us small, medium business providers of services, the flexibility we need at the right cost to provide them a higher end, almost enterprise type service."

"The most valuable features of pfSense are the high availability that easily allows failover to a backup unit and the Snort integration with pfSense and WireGuard."

"Support is excellent."

More Netgate pfSense pros

"The stability of Sangfor NGAF is good."

"Sangfor NGAF's standout feature is its powerful application control, enabling precise restrictions on mobile user access to approved applications."

"In terms of the most valuable features, the IPS report is quick and updated. Performance is also valuable."

"It offers application control features."

"I think the tool has the feature to detect and kill ransomware in three seconds."

"SSL VPN is the best feature."

"You might try Sangfor if you are on a tight budget. The price is affordable, and Sangfor offers a lot of features. We don't have any complaints about Sangfor."

"We've found the technical support to be helpful."

More Sangfor NGAF pros

Cons

"We had a minor problem where there was a major system upgrade on the hardware platfrom and the Mac client was not available as soon as it might have been. The PC client was available immediately, but we had to wait a month or so, before there was a mac client. I was slightly irritated that it was not ready on time, but it was eventually resolved."

"Application management can be improved."

"Lacks training for new features."

"I would like to see improvements in the product's application rules."

"As far as wanting more scalability or things in the network diagram, it's going to cost you."

"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."

"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."

"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution requires a lot of administration."

"The documentation doesn't align with what I'm seeing on the console."

"One of the features I know they are working on and would like to see improved is the single pane of glass. They have a beta feature available right now that is good, but I would like to see that more developed and made available to customers sooner rather than later. It is currently very basic."

"The solution could improve by adding in some sort of user account credentials in in the sense of accommodating more levels of users. From what I've found, everybody has basically the same access."

"Snort or Suricata don't block things they should out of the box. It's always been a pain point of pfSense. If you turn on Snort or Suricata for IPS or IDS, no setting is effectively set and forget. Turning any commercial firewall to the lowest setting will provide you with a decent amount of security with almost zero false positives, but pfSense is not that way. You've got a babysit Snort and Suricata to the point where sometimes you turn it off."

"pfSense's dashboard offers basic monitoring, but it lacks centralized management for multiple PSM devices and a unified event interface for various services."

"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."

"The learning curve is a little long."

More Netgate pfSense cons

"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardware scalability, allowing for more storage and memory capacity."

"The GUI needs to be improved, lacks logic in some areas."

"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here."

"It has an issue with the Sangfor Cloud Platform rather than the firewall. When we run a virtual machine, the window tabs display Chinese characters."

"It does not offer any recommendations on how to mitigate or control attacks."

"I believe that IAM and NGFW need to merge into a single box, instead of there being two separate box solutions."

"An area for improvement would be the number of ports defined on the box. In the next release, I would like them to develop their provisioning stage of enrolling end devices."

"The solution should be able to work in a hybrid setup."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"By default, they give SD-WAN along with the firewall. They don't have separate licensing for the SD-WAN functionality. However, they have security licenses that are sold separately on a subscription basis. Customers can consume these security features to protect their users from internet traffic."

"Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software."

"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."

"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 price could be lower."

"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."

"They need to be competitive with other solutions."

"The price of FortiGate is reasonable as I plan to buy new switches. The initial gadgets are already booted, and the pricing seems normal on the market. As for additional costs, I haven't subscribed to many extra features, so I'm only using what I need. Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"They are on the higher end, but you do not get stuck with spending thousands of dollars every year. You do not have recurring license costs to have people use a simple feature like VPN. That makes it more cost-effective in the long term."

"I think Netgate pfSense is very fairly priced."

"I would say pfSense is competitively priced. It isn't the cheapest hardware, but I've never had a problem with it. It is far cheaper than big brand names like FortiGate and Cisco while delivering a feature set that's nearly the same across the entire list. The only places it falls short are esoteric features that almost nobody needs."

"The pricing seems fair overall, but I think they need more reasonably priced options for very small offices."

"I am using the community version of the solution and it is priced well. There is a cost of learning how to use the solution, if it was free it would be better."

"pfSense is open-source."

"It's open source (and free - as in beer and speech), but also has commercial support."

"There is an open-source community version that is available."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

"Price-wise, I would not consider Sangfor NGAF to be a cheap product. It is an expensive firewall solution, though not as expensive as something like Palo Alto, which is costly. However, the higher price point is justifiable given the feature set the tool provides that other firewalls may not offer in a single dedicated appliance."

"I rate the product price as one on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"Sangfor NGAF price is reasonable and there is an annual license. However, the maintenance cost can be a bit high."

"The price is unmatcheable."

"The solution has a TCO that is 32% to 50% less than Sophos, Fortinet, and SonicWall."

"When it comes to the price of firewall solutions, Sangfor NGAF takes the cake."

"If you know you have around 200+ computer users on your network, then the Sangfor NGAF 5200-F-I model would be the minimum recommended model for that amount of users. This model includes modules for packet filtering, deep packet inspection, malware scanning, DSCP filtration, and many other features."

"The license of Sangfor NGAF can be purchased at different interval lengths, such as annually or three years. They offer a range of packages to choose from, such as combo or hybrid packages. We are using the complete solution package which includes IM, NGF and SSL VPN, and WAF."

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

846,549 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Educational Organization

Government

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?

I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?

The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?

The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 10% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 34% of the time

Sophos XG vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 9% of the time

KerioControl vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

Sophos XG vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 16% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 4% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point NGFW vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 3% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

March 2025

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

March 2025

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Netgate pfSense is widely leveraged by organizations for its comprehensive capabilities in firewalls, VPN servers, and bandwidth management. It suits LAN, WAN, and DMZ networks, offering secure, scalable, and efficient networking solutions.

Netgate pfSense stands out in diverse environments with its enterprise-grade features and cost-effective operations compared to competitors like Cisco. Deployed as an edge device, it optimizes routing, ad-blocking, content filtering, and traffic shaping. Users benefit from its versatile configurations, robust firewall protection, VPN functionality, and ISP load balancing. The open-source nature allows for extensive customization, integrating plugins like Snort and pfBlockerNG, and compatibility with third-party tools enhances its utility. The intuitive GUI combined with detailed logging and centralized management fortifies network security.

What features define Netgate pfSense?

Firewall: Provides robust network security through advanced filtering and stateful packet inspections.
VPN: Ensures secure remote access with high-performing VPN capabilities.
Load Balancing: Efficiently distributes traffic across multiple ISPs, ensuring uptime and performance.
Customization: Supports various plugins for enhanced functionality, tailor-made to specific needs.
Scalability: Adapts easily to varying network demands, providing high availability and flexibility.

What benefits should be considered for ROI?

Cost-Effectiveness: Delivers premium features at a fraction of the cost of traditional network appliances.
Flexibility: Offers a customizable solution that integrates well with existing infrastructure.
Community Support: Backed by a strong user community offering insights and troubleshooting resources.
Security: Supports VLAN segmentation, enhancing protection and management of network traffic.

Organizations in industries such as finance, healthcare, and education find Netgate pfSense integral due to its advanced security features and cost benefits. Its scalable architecture and strong VPN support are crucial for industries requiring stringent data protection and reliable remote access. The adaptability of pfSense makes it suitable for dynamic environments seeking comprehensive, secure networking solutions.

Netgate

Sangfor Next Generation Firewall (also known as NGAF) is a converged security solution providing protection against advanced threat, malware, viruses, ransomware and web-based attacks using integrated security features like firewall, IPS, anti-virus, anti-malware, APT, URL filtering, Cloud Sandbox, and WAF. As the world's first AI-enabled and fully integrated Next Generation Firewall & Web Application Firewall (WAF), NGAF offering the security visibility, real-time detection and response, simplified operation and maintenance and high-performance application layer security needed to operate an enterprise network in total security. Tested and proven to provide cutting-edge network security by ICSA Labs and endorsed by Gartner Inc., NGAF harnesses the power of Sangfor’s Neural-X threat intelligence and analytics platform and Engine Zero’s innovative malware detection to provide next-generation protection for today’s enterprise.

Sangfor

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

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

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF

April 2025

Free Report: Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF

Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

846,549 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Netgate pfSense vs. Sangfor NGAF report.

See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.