We performed a comparison between Check Point NGFW and Fortinet Fortigate based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Fortinet’s lack of an option to deploy firewalls on multiple endpoints is a definite downside. Although Fortinet received better feedback for its support, Check Point is the winner in this comparison.
"One of the most advantageous features of Check Point firewall is its multi-interface capability."
"It secures my organization. With the application blade, I can make security as application based and the custom application is also very useful. With identity awareness blades we get insights on our local users who are accessing/passing through the respective rule as users. We also use the DLP, IPS, and VPN features."
"Extracting data from the logs and utilizing the log analyzer tool provides valuable insights and enhances the product's overall effectiveness."
"Policy configuration has been consistent over the years, so there is not much of a learning curve as upgrades are released."
"Log storage gives us insights when required."
"The most valuable feature is that we are protected against zero-day threats."
"The most valuable feature of Check Point NGFW is it is a complete solution for protecting not only the network but the applications. Additionally, it provides a hybrid cloud solution."
"By deploying Check Point, it has made it easier to manage everything from a single interface. The management dashboard and policies are on its single pane of glass."
"I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and the UI. It has always provided me with what I needed. I have no need for additional costs that other solutions have, such as Sophos."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"It's very easy to configure."
"This is an easy solution to deploy."
"The IPsec tunnels are very easily created, and quite interoperable with devices from other vendors."
"We are a visual effects company, and there have been a number of high profile security issues in our industry. This has brought us to a higher standard of security, which our clients are very keen on these days."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the analytics."
"Our SAM rule is also not working to block the IP address which we don't allow in our organization so we have to create a traditional rule base block which is a time-consuming job for me and my team."
"I still don't have access to the reporting service."
"Debugging could be improved when compared to the competition."
"While not being cheap, their pricing models are competitive. In the pricing structure, however, they need improvement."
"The distributor support capability is quite lacking as the problem/incident is rarely solved on the distributor level and instead escalated to the principal."
"The SmartUpdate interface is a little bit crowded if your company has a lot of software items."
"Check Point products have many places that need to be improved, but they are constantly upgrading."
"They should integrate all blades to use a single policy rather than multiple."
"It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier."
"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"We'd like more management across other integrations."
"Backup can be improved."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."
"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."
Check Point NGFW is ranked 5th in Firewalls with 275 reviews while Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews. Check Point NGFW is rated 8.8, while Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Check Point NGFW writes "Good antivirus protection and URL filtering with very good user identification capabilities". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". Check Point NGFW is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and Azure Firewall, whereas Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and SonicWall TZ. See our Check Point NGFW vs. Fortinet FortiGate report.
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I have worked for several years with the Check Point platform (NGFW) and it is by far more stable in hardware and software.
It is a very friendly platform and easy to configure. It is true that it is a bit expensive according to the required blades but it is a platform that is worth having as security in a corporate.
We are using both but the GUI and clustering on the FortiGate side look better/easier/more comfortable.
And I do agree with others - Check Point is expensive and Fortinet FortiGate has many models offering less expensive implementation.
I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such).
-Check Point GUI is a bit complicated,
-Application and Web filtering are better than Fortigate.
-IPS and AV are more effective than Fortigate. Overall more stable than any other firewall
Support: not up to the level like Fortigate and lack of trained resources (in the gulf).
Check Point is expensive.
Fortinet has many models and is more affordable than Check Point. It also provides outstanding support. GUI is more user-friendly.
We had this same discussion recently with my organization. It came down to the security of the platform.
Fortinet has had a number of breaches over the last 2 years and this was a key factor in our decision.
The challenge with Check Point will be the transition from our existing firewall and taking advantage of the various features across our organization.