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Azure Firewall vs Zyxel Unified Security Gateway comparison

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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 FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
592
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Azure Firewall
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (11th), Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
Zyxel Unified Security Gateway
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

JK
IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana
Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.
Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.
AD
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Has enabled us to manage internal access securely but lacks accessible documentation for deeper integration
We haven't required any support, but overall, Microsoft support is good. Whenever we raise any concern, they are supporting us on time. Currently it is good. We are not a public-facing company; it is a retail company only, so that's why I don't think it is required. We don't have an e-commerce solution on Azure. For that, we are using a different stack for the e-commerce portal, so that is not in Azure. We are only using it for business applications, and I think L3 filtering in network security suffices for our problem currently. Regarding scalability for Azure Firewall, we don't need it here because the request to the application is internal. All are internal users. So there is not much request to get into the application, so scalability is not required for us in the current scenario.
reviewer2399337 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales and technical consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
User has benefited from stable performance and effective completion of security tasks
I use it mostly for VPN and for some firewall solutions When considering my main use case with VPN, I can say that I got the Zyxel Unified Security Gateway, and it works fine. However, we are thinking about using a different solution based on open source because Zyxel Unified Security Gateway…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."
"Stateful packet inspection is valuable. It also does SSL packet inspection. It is able to provide a VPN for remote users with secure connectivity."
"It does a lot for you for intrusion protection and as an antivirus. The threat management bundle is worth the money. You don't need another company to monitor your web traffic for you. You can do everything yourself on the firewall. You restrict your own black list for people on the firewall. You don't need to pay some other company for another product to do that for you. The firewall can do that for you. So, it's an easy-to-use product for people to be independent. They don't need to rely on other vendors to do what the firewall can do. They can do everything."
"It is complemented by other equipment, such as the Fortinet switch, and it is integrated with other tools that help to prevent cyberattacks, including a web filter, IPS, and application control."
"The solution effectively controls browsing traffic."
"Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance."
"The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."
"It's easy to manage. The GUI is very simple, and what is very good is that every product, regardless of size, has the same interface."
"Azure Firewall is integrated well with Microsoft ecosystem."
"It provided ease of maintenance, if a new firewall was needed, we only had to run the pipelines for this, so the maintenance was very easy and it reduced work by 30% while saving maintenance and operational costs by 15%."
"Microsoft's technical support is very good. They're quite knowledgable and responsive."
"The scalability is very good and you don't have to think about sizing, as in the case of a traditional firewall where you have to think about the throughput."
"One of the best features is that it natively integrates with Azure Services and tools. When you have a third-party offering, that is not the case. But Azure Firewall provides a comprehensive and seamless security solution for your Azure resources."
"With this technology, we were able to handle different projects in a smaller amount of time, the time-to-market has been much better since we implemented this solution, we have more agility, take less time to implement, and are able to set up faster."
"The firewall policy control, URL content control, and antivirus are all the most valuable aspects. Threat prevention is as well quite good."
"The most valuable feature is threat intelligence, which is based on filtering, can identify multiple threats, and easily detects them, with malware signatures updated automatically, which is helpful for new customers."
"This is a capable appliance and the standard features work well for us."
"The cost is very low."
"The solution can scale well."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from web filtering, malware protection, and antivirus."
"The Zyxel Unified Security Gateway solution is stable and does its job effectively."
 

Cons

"We would like to see a better training platform implemented."
"The performance and speed are aspects of the solution that could always be improved upon."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's costs need improvement."
"They should consider making some improvements regarding the pricing."
"The AI part needs improvement to enhance its functionality."
"There are SD-WAN network monitoring, SD-WAN features, Industrial Databases, Internet of Things, Detection, etc., however, we do have not licenses for those features. We thought that if you bought a product, you should have all of the features it offers. Why should you need to make so many extra purchases to enable features? They should have one price for the entire offering."
"They need to improve their technical support."
"The standard functionality for API Management is at a zero level, and then the next level is one. The difference between zero and one is very huge."
"It is still not at par with traditional next-generation firewalls. It is still behind other network and firewall vendors such as Palo Alto."
"In terms of improvements, I think the price could be a concern as Azure services are often more expensive compared to other firewalls."
"I would rate it a six out of ten. It's good enough but it's not as good as other virtual appliances."
"For larger enterprises, they need to adjust the scalability."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network."
"It needs a lot of improvement, especially on intruder detection. They are working hard on that."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network. The problem is you have to plan ahead of time if you expect to use the firewall in the future so that you don't have to reconfigure your subnets or that specific IP range. Other than that, I don't any issues. I use it for basic configuration for a single application, so I really don't try to leverage it for multiple applications where I might find some complexity or challenges."
"The product has some scalability and data management issues where improvements are required."
"I have never seen it in any company that I've worked with before, and I would advise other companies not to buy it."
"Sometimes it reboots when you least expect it, and that's the main issue."
"The integration capability is quite challenging. The system is very complicated, and many features are hidden."
"Although manageable, the user interface is a little bit slow and could be improved. The advanced UI allows me to do whatever I want, but this is where the issue of speed exists."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."
"Pricing for this product is comparatively lower than other products. It's an affordable solution, but when expanding the number of users, they'll ask you to replace the model, so that's an added cost."
"The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
"A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously."
"I think price-wise, the solution is totally reasonable since it has many products to serve, starting from small homes to massive scale sites."
"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."
"The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is average, not cheap or overly expensive compared to other firewall solutions in the market. It's effective and affordable for customers."
"The price of FortiGate support is too expensive."
"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."
"The licensing module is good."
"I rate the product pricing a five out of ten."
"The solution is cheaper than other brands. My company has an enterprise contract and we finally got a good price with Azure."
"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."
"Azure Firewall is expensive."
"Azure Firewall comes with Azure native services. We did not buy any kind of license for it. Whether you have a free subscription or a pay-as-you-go model, you can deploy the Azure Firewall service... The amount that you use will determine how much you pay."
"It is expensive, especially with the premium functions. For one of the clients, it was very expensive. You have to use it more at an enterprise level, and there, it was not at an enterprise level. So, it was very costly, but security-wise, it was a very wise decision to use it that way."
"The price of Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is good compared to other similar products in the market."
"This gateway is pretty cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
19%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business369
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise22
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
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What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
I cannot definitively comment on whether Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is an affordable product as I haven't done co...
What needs improvement with Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
The integration capability is quite challenging. The system is very complicated, and many features are hidden. I'm lo...
What is your primary use case for Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
I use it mostly for VPN and for some firewall solutions. When considering my main use case with VPN, I can say that I...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
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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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: May 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.