Sangfor NGAF vs Untangle NG Firewall comparison

Sangfor and Arista are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Sangfor is ranked #21 with an average rating of 8.7, while Arista is ranked #31 with an average rating of 8.0. Sangfor holds a 1.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Arista’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Sangfor users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Arista users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Untangle NG Firewall and Sangfor NGAF compete in the network security category, specifically focusing on next-generation firewalls. Untangle NG Firewall appears to have the upper hand in user-friendliness, which is particularly beneficial for non-technical users, while Sangfor NGAF stands out with its depth in security measures.

Features: Untangle NG Firewall is known for its user-friendly interface, web filtering, and VPN setup. Additionally, it supports generic hardware, allowing for flexible deployment. Sangfor NGAF provides integrated application control and intrusion detection, enhancing its security capabilities. Its features also include a web application firewall and WAN optimization, which offer detailed cyber threat protection.

Room for Improvement: Untangle NG Firewall users suggest improvements like the development of mobile apps, enhanced web filtering, and better hardware availability. They also desire improved real-time threat protection. Sangfor NGAF could improve with a better GUI design and expanded SD-WAN capabilities. Users also call for more comprehensive logging and streamlined setup procedures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Untangle NG Firewall offers various deployment options and satisfactory customer support, though some users seek better support access and faster responses. Sangfor NGAF provides flexible deployment options including hybrid cloud setups and offers reliable 24-hour technical support, which earns praise for quick troubleshooting through its command center.

Pricing and ROI: Untangle NG Firewall is cost-effective for smaller installations due to its transparent per-device licensing, but becomes less economical as device numbers grow. Sangfor NGAF is competitively priced, cheaper than leading firewalls like Fortinet and Sophos, and offers a lower total cost of ownership, making it a value-for-money choice for larger networks.

To learn more, read our detailed Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall

April 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 886,576 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 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 17.2%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.0%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Untangle NG Firewall is 1.0%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	17.2%
Sangfor NGAF	1.0%
Untangle NG Firewall	1.0%
Other	80.8%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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

Gary-Downey

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.

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

"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."

"We are using this solution to filter communication to and from the website or our site, and we also use it to create a VPN connection for all of our sites in the world."

"It is simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG. It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."

"What I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is that the UI is easier than what I've previously known from Sophos."

"I'm looking forward to FortiGate's dashboard features, insights, application oversight, and monitoring, which could help us significantly."

"The user interface is intuitive; anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product, and the back-end is robust with good security."

"It is a good source for firewall protection."

"It enables our organization to become more productive, and it protects our NetWare from viruses and malware."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"In four steps one can configure the entire firewall."

"Sangfor serves most of the basic purposes of a firewall, is particularly good in the DPI where we can inspect the inbound and outbound traffic on a very granular level, gives a very good predictive measure as well as the current measure of things going on in our network, and gives us value for money overall."

"The product is very fast and reliable."

"Sangfor is a good solution that provides a WAF and firewall solution. Most other vendors, like Sophos and Fortinet and Cisco, only provide one solution. That's a valuable feature of Sangfor."

"Sangfor has the best capabilities for securing connections, securing web browsers, securing servers, and general threat protection."

"In our hospital, Sangfor NGAF works well for us in terms of ensuring confidentiality and availability, which are crucial in the healthcare industry."

"The capabilities are mostly within the box."

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

More Sangfor NGAF pros

"The most valuable features are IPS, MAPI, NAT, and VPN."

"The reason we chose this solution is because of their support, which is hands down the best support that I have had with a firewall."

"Web filtering is very reliable."

"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."

"It has improved and secured multiple clients."

"The most valuable features are IPS, MAPI, NAT, and VPN."

"The product’s most valuable features are endpoint protection management, load balancing, and connectivity with Active Directory."

"None of my clients has had a ransom or breach using Untangle."

More Untangle NG Firewall pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."

"It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."

"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

"The stability and performance of Fortinet FortiGate are mixed, as some features are quite good and very stable while others are quite new and very buggy."

"With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic."

"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."

"I believe there is room for improvement in machine learning and AI in Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see more automation regarding AI and machine learning in Fortinet FortiGate."

"They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The support for YouTube or the Internet is not enough."

"Sangfor could improve their interface capacity on the 5100 series model and upgrade their hardware from one gig to 10 gig. This would improve the overall throughput."

"The support offered by the product has certain shortcomings where improvements are required. The knowledge levels and response time of the support team need improvement."

"I would be happy if Sangfor developed a firewall designed specifically for home use, as well as for small businesses such as clinics and so on."

"Scalability for any network device is not very easy in terms of vertical scalability."

"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."

"It would be ideal if the solution offered SD-WAN capabilities."

"The web interface needs to be improved, making it more user-friendly."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

"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."

"The biggest challenge that we have with this solution is local support. The local support is a problem in our area."

"The hardware can be improved."

"The ability to setup a DDNS for each WAN independently would be a very handy feature."

"The web content filtering feature of Untangle was not giving us what we wanted."

"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 pricing should be reduced because it is expensive."

"Whenever there are a large number of endpoint VPN clients, connectivity becomes slow."

More Untangle NG Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for the product is alright."

"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."

"It's a year based license."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."

"Pricing for Fortinet FortiGate SWG is more suitable for enterprise or large-sized organizations because they are the ones who can afford it versus small and medium-sized organizations."

"The product is not very expensive."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"Sangfor is cheaper than competing vendors."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"For four to five physical appliances for a licensed firewall, it costs approximately $4,000."

"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."

"The price falls in the mid-range, neither exceptionally low nor high."

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

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The solution is fairly priced."

"It is not expensive. It is cheaper than Fortinet."

"It is the most cost-effective to use."

"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."

"This is not an expensive product. It is affordable and there are different packages available depending on the features that you need, or the sector that you are in."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

More Untangle NG Firewall 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

886,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

16%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	365
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	191

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	1

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

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

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Untangle NG Firewall?

It is not very expensive, so it is affordable for my budget.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Untangle NG Firewall?

I would appreciate improvements to the ad blocker and SSL Inspector of Untangle NG Firewall.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Untangle NG Firewall?

My usual use cases for Untangle NG Firewall are just like a firewall and router. The main purpose is for firewall fun...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 14% of the time

H3C SecPath Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 6% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 6% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 2% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

OPNsense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 21% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

More Untangle NG Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

March 2026

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Buyer's Guide

Untangle NG Firewall

March 2026

Download Untangle NG Firewall product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

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

Untangle NG Firewall is an open-source firewall and gateway security platform that helps keep networks safe while accessing the internet. It offers a free core firewall platform with paid add-ons, and a cloud-based management platform with a variety of deployment options for smaller teams. The solution also has a cloud-based management console for remote management that can either be deployed on premises or as SaaS, and virtualized or cloud-based. It also has flexible deployment options, including third-party hardware, as a virtual machine, or as a turnkey appliance. Untangle NG Firewall is ideal for small IT teams with limited budgets.

Untangle NG Firewall Features

Untangle NG Firewall has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Intrusion protection
Threat prevention
Virus blocker
Virus scanner
App control
SSL inspection
Bandwidth control
Reporting
Logs
VPN
Web filter
IDS/IPS
Access controls
Location control
Proxy
Active Directory/LDAP connections

Untangle NG Firewall Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Untangle NG Firewall. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Simplified network security: Untangle NG Firewall has a single, modular, software platform which simplifies security for all networks and ensures every device is adequately protected.

Visibility: The solution provides a browser-based, responsive, and intuitive interface enabling users to gain visibility quickly into the traffic on the network.

Deep analysis and insights: With the solution, users can see a network’s status at a glance on the dashboard, ensure compliance with full event logs, and get notifications of network anomalies or unusual user behavior with alert rules. In addition, users can gain insights in real time from database-driven reports.

Next-generation filtering: Untangle NG Firewall makes it easy to manage every rogue application, encrypted web request, malware distribution point, and drive-by malvertising attempt.

Connectivity and performance: The solution helps your organization maintain visibility and control over remote workers, branch offices, and guest Wi-Fi to keep users connected and data safe regardless of location or level of access.

Policy creation: Users can create policies by user, group, device, and time in order to control access.

Additional apps: Untangle NG Firewall offers additional apps, allowing organizations to create complete configuration backups to protect against network disruptions.

Reviews from Real Users

Untangle NG Firewall is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it is easy to use, has good features, including VPN, reporting, alerting, and filtering, and can be installed on existing hardware.

“It is very easy to use. The user interface is very straightforward. It may not be as fancy as some of the ones I've seen, but it's very straightforward. It's very easy to find what you need, and it's very easy to get things done,” says Josh E., CEO at DragonTech IT Services, Inc.

Barry A., Owner at ThinkEzIT, says, “It has good VPN features, helpful reporting and alerting, built-in content filtering, and excellent support.”

PeerSpot user Victor O., Director at Kisii County Government, explains, “What I like about this product, which is the reason that we continue to use it, is that you can install the software version on your own hardware. In case there is a problem with the hardware, we can just install the firewall in another machine and restore the configuration.”

Arista

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

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

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,

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall

April 2026

Free Report: Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

886,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Sangfor NGAF vs. Untangle NG Firewall 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.