We performed a comparison between Fortinet Fortigate vs. WatchGuard Firebox based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet FortiGate came out ahead of WatchGuard because of its stronger support and better pricing.
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"Unified Threat Management (UTM) features."
"This product is definitely scalable."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."
"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls."
"The solution has many security features. We have an intrusion provision system and filtering and block filtering."
"If there is any conflict, the reporting feature will kick out all types of information, which is great."
"Management and visibility are the most valuable features."
"The most valuables feature of WatchGuard Firebox are the VPNs, and web filtering where we can stop users from going to malicious sites."
"The most valuable feature for small and medium businesses is the support for various protocol proxies."
"The throughput is great. It's perfect. We have no issues whatsoever. The management features are very powerful..."
"Simple to move settings between WatchGuard boxes."
"Intrusion Prevention is my primary focus so that's what I find most useful. The why is straightforward: It's to prevent intrusion."
"They sometimes hide some features and if you want to enable them, you have to go in the CLI, enable the feature and configure it through the CLI. Customers, typically, like everything to be done by the GUI."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"It's my understanding that more of the current generation features could be brought in. There could be more integration with EDRs, for example."
"There aren't really any negative aspects to discuss."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve to be on par with its competitors, such as Palo Alto and Sophos. They are the market leaders. Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve its capabilities. However, we are happy with Fortinet FortiGate."
"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."
"With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"There is room for improvement in the threat protection, data packet inspection, and performance of the solution. Generally, it's just a lower-end product. It does the job but doesn't do it very well."
"In WatchGuard Firebox, the antivirus and malware detection systems are areas with shortcomings that require improvement since they are the most important elements of a cybersecurity tool."
"The solution can improve by adding a feature to tag a MAC address of a computer system in the policy and more IP configuration settings."
"When working with WatchGuard, specifically in configuring Panda Security on the portal for the first time, it was challenging for me."
"We would like to see granular notification settings and more advanced filtering in traffic monitoring."
"The level of support from WatchGuard is not as good."
"The scalability of the solution needs improvement."
"Sometimes I would like to copy a rule set from one box to another box in a direct way. This is a feature that is not present at the moment in WatchGuard."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and Check Point NGFW, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors and best Firewalls vendors.
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Even though my experience with FortiGate products has been mostly positive, I am partial to the WatchGuard appliances. I find the FortiGate interface a bit odd. For example, some of the wizards within the interface make me feel like it is more of a consumer device, even though I know it is a very capable appliance. The WatchGuard interface is more complicated, but it is also more capable. I also find that the UTM features within the FortiGate products lack some of the granular control available with WatchGuard.
I believe WatchGuard is the better choice regarding the quality of support, available documentation, and training resources.
I see that another reviewer indicated that WatchGuard lacked application control features. That is incorrect. Although I do not use this feature in any of my environments, I assure you that the features are available, and my testing has shown it to be capable.
WatchGuard appliances also can integrate their endpoint Threat Detection and Response client to an environment for a correlated view of the environment.
WatchGuard also offers multiple methods for managing an appliance. Although the GUI is very capable, I am not a fan of live changes to an appliance. There are instances when multiple changes must be made to achieve the desired outcome. When these circumstances arise, the WatchGuard Policy Manager software allows you to deploy multiple changes at once while maintaining an OH SH!T copy that you can quickly redeploy if you happen to make a mistake.
When it hits the fan, and you must troubleshoot an appliance issue, WatchGuard is far superior to any firewall I have worked with, including Fortigate. The ability to quickly and easily adjust the policies' order of precedence is a huge advantage and can often save a great deal of time troubleshooting.
Please do not take this as a negative review of FortiGate products. I am only speaking about firewalls. I have not used any of the other FortiGate products. I am strictly speaking of my experience deploying and managing FortiGate and WatchGuard firewalls. From my experience, I find the WatchGuard a superior product.
As a Managed Service Provider, our preferred product is WatchGuard, with our second offering being the Fortigate. We managed other firewall brands, but we only sell WatchGuard and FortiGate products under normal circumstances. There are exceptions based on the client's needs. For example, CradlePoint devices are often the best solutions for a client that only has cellular connectivity as an option. I only point out this situation because FortiGate is now offering LTE/5G solutions. We have many rural clients and moving forward, this may impact what we recommend. Unfortunately, at this time, I don't have enough knowledge to offer any intelligent input on these product offerings, only that they are on our radar.
In my organization, we use Fortinet’s Fortigate. We find it to be very powerful, cost-efficient, and reliable. The user interface is friendly, and it is easy to create policies and set rules. As an NGFW, you can upgrade the firewall cluster firmware without disturbing the user. The graphic interface is very intuitive. The endpoint and email protection are on point, and you don’t have to worry about downtime.
FortiGate offers malware and spyware protection, with advanced capabilities like proxy-based antivirus. It has advanced network protection features and a powerful intrusion prevention system with anti-spam and web filtering capabilities. For all the capabilities it offers, the price is reasonable.
FortiGate has downsides though: the technical support is not great, and there is not a lot of documentation available. It is also kind of hard to configure.
We reviewed WatchGuard before choosing FortiGate. WatchGuard offers a comprehensive advanced network security platform with enterprise-grade security. The router is rich in security features like antivirus, APT blocker, and spam blocker. It is simple to use and applicable for various use cases. It offers web filtering, application control, and monitoring.
We liked that the GUI interface seemed intuitive and easy to use. It integrates with Active Directory, so it is a good fit for MS enterprise users. You can also schedule backups with ease.
WatchGuard is, however, lacking in features for application control and we found the DNS server functionality to be poor. The firewall policies don’t point to a domain, only to IP addresses. While it is excellent that it integrates with Active Directory, the single-sign-on sometimes doesn’t refresh users’ permissions when they log on and off.
Conclusion
Fortinet Fortigate is undoubtedly a powerful and established next-generation firewall, and with all the features and capabilities, it is a better and more cost-effective solution than WatchGuard. WatchGuard would be better for organizations that use MS products.