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Fortinet FortiClient vs ZoneAlarm comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 FortiClient
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (12th), Endpoint Compliance (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (1st)
ZoneAlarm
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Endpoint Security solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiClient is designed for Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) and holds a mindshare of 1.7%, down 2.2% compared to last year.
ZoneAlarm, on the other hand, focuses on Anti-Malware Tools, holds 2.4% mindshare, up 2.1% since last year.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiClient1.7%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint8.1%
CrowdStrike Falcon7.0%
Other83.2%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ZoneAlarm2.4%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint9.1%
F-Secure Total4.4%
Other84.1%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

KL
Senior Technical Manager at Flexaccel
Remote access has become seamless and secure while deployment remains simple for our users
Performance could be improved today. People are now moving toward SASE, which stands for Secure Access, Secure Edge Solution. Fortinet also has that offering, which would be easier since it operates through the cloud, acting as a first line of defense. When the user connects to the internet, they connect to the cloud first for posture assessment and monitoring before connecting to the outside world. The impact is significant because nowadays people are adopting SASE. During COVID time, many users were trying to connect back to their office, causing the performance or CPU utilization of the firewall to increase tremendously, which slowed down performance. I have not worked with endpoint telemetry in Fortinet FortiClient that could have been helpful for threat mitigation.
Bala_Krishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at esupport Solutions Pvt ltd
Security suite has protected individual devices from threats, while installation and network features require improvements
BIG-IP is actually the LTM, Link Load Balancer, which comes with ASM, meaning Application Security Module. It consists of multiple modules, such as ASM, SWG, and a domain DNS manager. ZoneAlarm allows defining trusted and public networks, which helps maintain security in public Wi-Fi environments. It offers comprehensive protection, securing PCs against threats. Users do not experience any system slowdowns while scanning. Harmony Browser protects all your browsing activity and is bundled with Harmony Endpoint and Harmony Connect. It provides a small but effective security layer and sometimes comes packaged with the larger Harmony suite.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use real-time threat detection for scanning files and antivirus. It's integrated with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer. When an endpoint is compromised, Fortinet FortiClient and FortiGate trigger to block and isolate the user on the network."
"Secure and easy connect is the most valuable feature. It is a reliable solution, and it works."
"FortiClient is a very reliable partner, as it has ticked all the checkboxes for our organization's requirements."
"The initial setup of this solution is easy."
"The centralized management dashboard is also a good feature."
"It is very easy and useful. A normal user with basic information can easily connect to any environment."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiClient is its performance."
"This is a solid and stable solution."
"The phone access scan stands out as the most valuable feature for me."
"It is quick and easy to configure."
"ZoneAlarm protects all computers from viruses, spyware, and hackers."
"This antivirus is regularly updated, and the updates can be scheduled."
"It gives us security for the users' mobiles and ends up protecting us in a significant way."
"The product's most valuable feature is the detection engine due to its ability to identify threats."
"It is easy to use through interfaces and easy to configure each of the customizations we created based on the characteristics that we wanted."
"The solution maintains reasonable scalability."
 

Cons

"One area for improvement in FortiClient is the speed of connectivity."
"Fortinet frequently releases updates without thorough testing."
"The user interface on the central server could be improved."
"When we change our endpoint, we have to connect again, which means having to enter our credentials and permissions."
"There are compatibility issues, and sometimes, especially with macOS, it's difficult to set up properly."
"Occasionally, the solution may provide a slow connection. In addition, there may be initialization and authorization issues that one may need to take care of while using the solution."
"Technical support needs to determine priority level based on the cases rather than the support package bundle."
"The features for application control and device control must be improved."
"We'd like better performance of the network equipment. There are high-speed environments where an immediate response is required."
"Currently, the client is only available for the Windows Operating System but it would be good if it were released for Mac OS as well."
"Some of our users say that the interface is a little bit outdated for 2020, and want it to be more modern and cozy."
"The solution's efficiency in threat containment and overall protection needs improvement."
"Perhaps the primary area for potential enhancement is to make it faster, ensuring a more seamless experience while maintaining robust security features."
"ZoneAlarm should be a light application that does not take too much memory in mobile phones."
"They need to update and improve the features available for Mac."
"They should release a single update with all the necessary characteristics to avoid being in a cycle of consecutive updates."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As a technical team member, I am not responsible to look into the pricing matters. These aspects are typically handled by the management team, who have the authority to obtain the necessary licenses based on certain established principles."
"Its pricing is good. One thing that has always attracted us to the Fortinet range of products is that their pricing is very competitive. Our particular licensing is on a yearly basis. However, as part of this project, we did pre-purchase three years of maintenance and support at a fairly significant discount."
"Fortinet requires you to buy a lot of product in order for you to have proper protection."
"The product's licensing is yearly and expensive."
"I don't have the licensing schema for the VPN solution because we just purchased the VPN gateway."
"The solution is more cost efficient than Cisco, as FortiGate tends not to charge for the client license, which allows one to make free use of whatever is supported on the device."
"The price is reasonable compared to competitors, it is very good."
"The price is okay and competitive."
"The pricing is reasonable, with a yearly renewal license costing seventy dollars."
"We use the free version of the software, but it can be upgraded to the paid Extreme Security edition."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for ZoneAlarm, which is cheap."
"This is a freeware product and I recommend using it."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Hospitality Company
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ZoneAlarm?
ZoneAlarm has an acceptable price. Not much detail can be provided as I am not the one to judge the price.
What needs improvement with ZoneAlarm?
Check Point support needs improvement. Currently rated at 9 out of 10, more support is required. There are some concerns on support that need addressing. The integration of new products with their ...
What is your primary use case for ZoneAlarm?
I work with vendors such as F5 and deal with F5 as a reseller. I work with F5 BIG-IP regarding F5 Shape Security. BIG-IP Advanced WAF is what I work with regarding BIG-IP DNS or BIG-IP AFM. Advance...
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Terma, Optix, Samsung Research Amercia, SF Police Credit Union, Independence Care System, Mattias Thomsen, Carmel Partners, Desert Research Institute, CRIF, FXCM Inc, US State Agency
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Microsoft, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: December 2025.
880,511 professionals have used our research since 2012.