Netgate pfSense vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

Netgate and Stormshield are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 94% of Netgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Stormshield users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Stormshield Network Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

January 2025

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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

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.

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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.

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BartVan Es

IT Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

It's an easy, straightforward management platform to use. Their support needs improvement, as they could not help us and everything stopped working.

We are not happy with the support. It is a basic support offering. Sometimes, we have to chase support on progress, which is not good, especially on firewalls. We are an enterprise and we have firewalls on the edge. If we have an issue, I want support to be on top of issues, because for us, it's a lot of money if the firewall fails. They only give support up to a specific level, and when we like to exceed that level of support, then we need to fall back on our reseller. This is one issue. If your reseller landscape is not really up to speed, then in the most critical cases, we're depending on the reseller and not on the support of Stormshield because we cannot escalate. It's impossible for us to escalate a situation at Stormshield by ourselves. We have to fall back on our reseller. When our reseller was on vacation, it was impossible for us to act on an issue. We had just created a brand new firewall cluster to offload our website. Then, all of a sudden, we bumped into root errors on the connection which pointed to the firewall, and Stormshield support couldn't even help us fix it. Therefore, we had serious issues for a couple of weeks and it was all related to firewalls. It was a combination of unexpected or unwanted behavior and bugs. Sometimes things happen that can be due to configuration errors or something we did ourselves, which is not according to the plan, eventually we ruled everything out, and it was mainly due to the firmware on the Stormshield firewalls. The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me. I would rate their support as a five out of 10.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."

"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."

"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."

"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."

"The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."

"The threat prevention is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The ease of setting the solution up is a valuable aspect for us."

"Good performance, stability, and virtual domain ability."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I have found the firewall portion for the blocking most valuable."

"The stability is good. I haven't had any issues with the firewall crashing spontaneously."

"Remote access with two-factor authentication was a big one for us. Pulling in things like Endpoint NG to monitor traffic has been quite helpful. The pfBocker has been good. It helps us limit who's trying to bash away at access to the systems."

"The stability has been great. We've rarely had any issues that have caused a failover. When we do, the failover has made it. I don't think we've experienced any real impact from it that caused any product issues."

"An incomparable stability is achieved with other firewall systems."

"I had some outages in the network and we provide services for our company. We sell mobile credits. The terminal gets access to our own server inside the network and if one internet fails, then the other one is still up and we have a back-up link on the devices."

"The solution is very easy to use and has a very nice GUI."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an open-source tool and is available at a very low cost."

More Netgate pfSense pros

"This solution is quick and easy to configure."

"I like that it works fine. Stormshield is a very good solution."

"The most valuable features are the IPS, the firewall function, and the price."

"The scalability of the solution is good."

"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."

"I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."

"Ease of use is the best feature of the product."

"Our organization's main concern is stability, and this is a stable solution."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."

"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."

"There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."

"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."

"Though the tool's GUI is user-friendly, it can be considered as an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."

"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."

"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"I would like to see a single pane of glass for multiple devices."

"PfSense's interface could be improved. For example, the menu is ordered alphabetically instead of logically. The reboot button should be located near the shutdown, but it's in alphabetical order. Also, Netgear should create a home license for pfSense Plus for non-commercial use."

"While the software is great, they could work on improving the hardware."

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

"One concern I have with Netgate pfSense is related to packet filtering. Specifically, issues can arise with certain functionalities like GP, and, at times, there may be bugs."

"For the third-party packages, I'd rather have it built-in, like a core feature of pfSense, part of the core model."

"Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to know how to do something when you want to do something, for instance, setting up a point to point VPN."

"The solution could always work at being more secure. It's a good idea to continue to work on security features and capabilities in order to ensure they can keep clients safe."

More Netgate pfSense cons

"With Stormshield, there are difficulties joining things, and it can be complex depending on the architecture."

"The SD card could be more secure."

"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."

"Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."

"This is not a next-generation firewall."

"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."

"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is usually on a three-year period."

"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."

"It is an inexpensive solution."

"I do not have first-hand experience with the rice of Fortinet FortiGate, but I have heard the price was reasonable."

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."

"The price could be lower."

"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."

"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The price point is highly competitive."

"Its price is pretty fair."

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

"Netgate pfSense is competitively priced."

"If you are a technical person, it is a pretty cheap solution because first of all, the Community Edition (CE) is free. I am in Australia, and my pfSense license is about 200 dollars. It is not bad because it is per year and not per month. It is cheap compared to other solutions."

"The price of pfSense seems reasonable. I pay around a hundred dollars a year for pfSense Plus, which is inexpensive for such a complex product. It's also good that they can still release a community edition. If it started to get extremely expensive to the point where it was more of an enterprise-only product that costs thousands of dollars a year or something like that, I might consider stepping down to the community edition or looking elsewhere."

"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."

"When it comes to Netgate pfSense, I use the basic TAC Lite license, which comes for about 100 USD."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."

"I think the price is good."

"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."

"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."

"The pricing could be better."

"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."

"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."

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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

10%

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

22%

Comms Service Provider

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Stormshield Network Security?

Ease of use is the best feature of the product.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Stormshield Network Security?

We pay for the quality we receive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Stormshield Network Security?

The product must improve its pricing.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 23% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

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OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 44% of the time

Sophos XG vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 8% of the time

KerioControl vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 4% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

Zyxel Unified Security Gateway vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 1% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

OPNsense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos XG vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 4% of the time

More Stormshield Network Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

December 2024

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Buyer's Guide

Stormshield Network Security

December 2024

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

Also Known As

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

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NETASQ Firewalls

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Fortinet

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Netgate

Stormshield

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.

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.

NETASQ's integrated intrusion prevention engine uses protocol conformity analysis, application filtering and antivirus analysis to inspect authorized traffic flows and strengthen application security. NETASQ enables you to establish and configure user-based security policies, giving you greater control over which network resources each user is authorized to access.

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

ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

January 2025

Free Report: Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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