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Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs Netgate pfSense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
411
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Arista Edge Threat Manageme...
Ranking in Firewalls
41st
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
217
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.1%, up from 18.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 11.1%, down from 19.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate20.1%
Netgate pfSense11.1%
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall0.1%
Other68.69999999999999%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Nitesh Saxena - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides virus protection but needs improvement in the area of policy implementation
The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation. If our company wants to give a separate policy to a particular client, user or system, it is very difficult to manage it. There is no categorization in the web filter option. If you want to search for a particular content to be blocked in the web filter, the search option is not there. You have to manually choose the option in the tool and then check it.
Jean-Pierre DAREYS - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, configurable, flexible, excellent user group support
I'm not knowledgeable enough to suggest new features. The use has been very straightforward. Whatever questions I've had, I've found videos to help me on YouTube, or I've been able to ask the forums. I've also reached out to technical support and I've received help although there could be more videos or tutorials from Netgate, in addition to third parties who have already implemented it, which is great. I have suffered a lot of problems over time but I don't think the problems are related to the hardware or the software. I am convinced that the problems have been related to hacking during configuration. During the setup process, while experimenting, the device would stop working or the password would suddenly not allow access, requiring re-installation and re-configuration, it was very slow going until I moved to the cloud. The dashboard is a little bit slow and the reporting isn't always current or immediate but acceptable. I'm not sure I can make data-driven decisions due to insufficient volume. I would need enhanced reporting, statistics, playback. I haven't looked at the reports a lot since because you have to access the log files, time is an issue, I use it in a home office environment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate is among the best firewall solutions, having a significant market share in Egypt."
"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is value for money."
"Their web interface to manage it is excellent, even compared with other providers."
"Its stability is the most valuable."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"The dashboard I have found the most valuable in Fortinet FortiGate."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"Phish Blocker is a valuable feature."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the high availability that easily allows failover to a backup unit and the Snort integration with pfSense and WireGuard."
"Centralized administration with multiple services, which allows for execution in several important functionalities of information security."
"Improved service performance and availability through redundancy."
"The ability to perform packet captures on the command line and via the GUI is useful for diagnosing problems."
"I have found pfSense to be stable."
"The initial setup is easy."
"OpenVPN, IPsec, DHCP, and DNS are the most valuable features."
"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."
 

Cons

"I prefer Palo Alto over Fortinet FortiGate. Its IPS engine is not better than the Palo Alto version. The monitoring tool needs improvement, and the syslog configuration needs enhancement."
"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."
"They should offer special pricing to premium partners and customers."
"Stability and technical support are the two major issues I have found with Fortinet."
"Areas that have room for improvement in Fortinet FortiGate include support and GUI enhancement."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"It does not have key authentication for admin access."
"The support system could be improved."
"The documentation is not clear."
"The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation."
"I would like to see different graphs available in the reporting."
"The hotspot and the portal feature in this solution are not stable for WiFi access. We use it at least once or twice every day and it crashes. Some modules can be better by improving detection and having new updates. Additionally, we have some issues with clustering and load balancing that could improve."
"We're doing a lot of OpenVPN tunnels, and some of the fields in the OpenVPN setup on the server side do not lend themselves to multiple sites. It's kind of ugly. It's a big list of allowed IP addresses. I'd much rather see that via the table individually."
"The solution could be more user-friendly, and the graphical interface needs some work so that someone without an IT background can use the application. I would like the ability to manage the on-premise appliance from the cloud. When I'm not in the office, it would be great to connect to the pfSense server and administer the network remotely."
"The GUI. There are TONS of plugins for pfSense, as such, if a user wants to add quite a bit of functionality, the GUI will feel a little congested."
"They could improve their commercial stance and be more agile when it comes to the commercial pricing of enterprise deals."
"User interface is a little clumsy."
"Currently, you deploy it, and it performs as expected, but there are no analytics or reporting capabilities to extract information from the firewall, generate a report, and engage stakeholders in discussions about network connectivity issues, concerns, or upgrades."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very affordable."
"The pricing is comprehensive and clear. You can easily understand what you are purchasing, including which features correspond to each license and maintenance contract. Overall, the information is straightforward. Additionally, compared to other vendors, their prices are competitive."
"If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."
"Fortinet FortiGate is cost-efficient. Palo Alto is expensive, but Fortinet FortiGate is not."
"The product pricing is reasonable."
"I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."
"The setup cost was good. The Egyptian pound is declining, and upgrading Fortinet FortiGate yearly costs about $2000 USD, which equals one hundred Egyptian pounds. I maintain a business relationship with the vendor and receive support from them."
"The tool is quite cheap."
"I consider it an averagely-priced tool."
"It is a free solution."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The solution's pricing is comparable to other products."
"I think Netgate should charge something nominal like $50 a year for the community edition to deter people from using it for everything."
"pfSense is a free solution."
"It is free. It is open source."
"The pricing is lower than some of its competitors."
"I use the free version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Educational Organization
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business261
Midsize Enterprise99
Large Enterprise143
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business166
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
I consider it an averagely-priced tool. Adding additional features does not cost extra. My small company pays around ...
What needs improvement with Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation. If our company wants to give a separate policy...
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...
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...
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...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Information Not Available
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.