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Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Netgate pfSense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 15, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
Fortinet FortiGate boosts ROI by reducing WAN costs, minimizing downtime, and enhancing productivity with centralized management and security.
Sentiment score
7.2
Organizations enhance operational efficiency and security with Check Point Cloud Firewall, noting cost savings, scalability, and reduced personnel needs.
Sentiment score
5.9
Netgate pfSense provides significant ROI with cost-effectiveness, eliminating license fees, ideal for small to mid-sized companies replacing costly systems.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems
The value lies in maintaining operational integrity with zero downtime or incidents, facilitating secure, ongoing business operations.
Cybersecurity consultant at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Implementing CloudGuard has resulted in an excellent return on investment over one hundred percent ROI.
Android Developer at Droidforge
The unified policy is comprehensive and helps me to create firewall policies that are shared across all our facilities and plants.
System engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Since the memory leak fixes, it's been incredibly stable and requires minimal maintenance.
Network Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees
In four years of using it, that payment of 189 dollars per year has already paid off.
L2 Systems Administrator at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
It's very favorable to have the inclusion of firewall, VPN, and router functionalities.
Owner at SimpleIT
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Fortinet FortiGate's support is prompt but has delays and gaps; users prefer integrators and rate it 6-9 out of 10.
Sentiment score
7.1
Check Point Cloud Firewall support is knowledgeable and responsive, though some users note delays and regional differences.
Sentiment score
7.8
Netgate pfSense receives praise for effective support, though some users experience slow responses; forums often suffice for troubleshooting.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
They usually respond quite fast, and they are very knowledgeable about what they do.
Network security engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We had an endless loop of emails trying to fix this, and the suggestion was to reinstall the gateway and do it from scratch, which was not an option at that point because it would leave that specific location without access.
System administrator at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
Available twenty-four by seven.
Android Developer at Droidforge
When I provide detailed information about the problem, they've been able to reply quickly with a solution or go research the problem and get back to us quickly with a fix.
NOC / Network Engineering Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
They are highly responsive.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
I couldn't imagine having better support.
Director of IT at Cutting Edge Hair Salon RSS
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate offers scalable, adaptable solutions for businesses, ensuring performance and compatibility with management tools during network expansion.
Sentiment score
7.6
Check Point Cloud Firewall offers scalable integration for virtual and physical environments, enabling easy deployment and management across locations.
Sentiment score
6.6
Netgate pfSense is highly scalable for SMBs, supporting high user counts and complex configurations depending on hardware choices.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo
I can deploy it everywhere I need it.
Security & Network Services at a tech company with 201-500 employees
We have transitioned from 1,000 to 500 users without any issue.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at delaware BeLux
We perform minor and major upgrades, and it works seamlessly.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
If I put things into a certain context and say that we have a network that has around 100 people, then you don't put up a device that can manage 100 people. Instead, you need to get a device that can manage 150 to 200 people, and then you can create room for growth.
CTO at Vigon Business Solutions Limited
I don't think Netgate pfSense can offer much scalability for big enterprises.
Director at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Even with a jump from a 50 megabit to a 500 megabit internet connection and approximately 65 active VPN clients, our firewall operates smoothly without any strain.
IT Manager at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for stability and reliability, though some issues with updates and high-traffic conditions are noted.
Sentiment score
8.0
Users praise Check Point Cloud Firewall for stability and reliability, despite occasional deployment challenges and minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.1
Netgate pfSense is highly stable, with users attributing minimal issues to hardware rather than the firewall, ensuring reliable performance.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have not observed any downtime.
Sales manager/ project manager at Atea
For instance, when we are working on a release and do an upgrade, we start experiencing unexpected issues.
Chief Technology Officer at Chief Security Officers
The solution is stable.
Network administrator at Helios IT Service GmbH
I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.
Infrastructure and integration Architect at CommunityForce
I've noticed a substantial improvement in stability and ease of use for upgrades and patching over the past year or two.
Technical Sales Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When I replace consumer routers with pfSense for small businesses with two or three employees, they are often amazed to discover the router can run for a year without a reboot.
Partner and Owner at Free Range Geeks
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs better interface readability, customer support, integration, usability, documentation, and pricing, with improved automation and stability.
Check Point Cloud Firewall needs improvements in performance, integration, user experience, support, and transparency for a better customer experience.
Netgate pfSense requires better centralized management, an updated user interface, improved security integrations, and enhanced documentation for ease of use.
These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The solution should be able to implement machine learning and analytics of all the logs for threat detection and protection.
Senior Systems Engineer at Caribbean Development Company
It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Scalability could be improved as well; needing to purchase a new license each time I want to add a new interface is not ideal.
Security architect at Twinformatics
Better documentation would be welcome.
Network security engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The user interface could be more intuitive, and the initial setup and configuration can be complex, requiring a technical team.
Android Developer at Droidforge
If I need to go between different VLANs, I have VLAN 19.1 and VLAN 19.2, and I strictly use Netgate pfSense, but it doesn't route very efficiently and works quite slowly.
Information Security Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They should support the idea of configuration management as code from source code and provide a more robust API for managing the pfSense configuration.
Co-Owner at Steffi and Tim
Monitoring is crucial. The easier the monitoring and user interface, the simpler our team can work on and investigate issues.
Infrastructure and integration Architect at CommunityForce
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective solutions with competitive pricing, though licensing is complex, making it appealing to enterprises.
Check Point Cloud Firewall offers flexible pricing models; opinions vary on cost but many find value in its features.
Netgate pfSense is affordable, offering open-source and paid versions with robust features and competitive hardware pricing.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
Network & System Admin at Invoke Studios
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1
It is about 20% cheaper.
Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX
The pricing and licensing are expensive, costing between seven thousand to eight thousand dollars.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Check Point is expensive, however, with the features and capabilities, I can justify the cost.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
It is the highest in the market.
System engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is far cheaper than big brand names like FortiGate and Cisco while delivering a feature set that's nearly the same across the entire list.
NOC / Network Engineering Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Advanced features like Suricato or Snort require additional subscriptions for business use, but overall, pfSense remains a cost-effective solution.
Network Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees
Netgate's maintenance contracts are significantly more affordable compared to other vendors, demonstrating their competitive pricing and commitment to customer value.
Infrastructure & network manager at a non-tech company with self employed
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate integrates firewall, VPN, and SD-WAN, providing robust security, ease of use, stability, and efficient network performance.
Check Point Cloud Firewall excels in advanced threat prevention, automation, scalability, and integration with major cloud providers.
Netgate pfSense offers reliable VPN and firewall features, user-friendly management, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and strong community support.
We got a firewall and gave an SSL VPN to my client to connect to their servers, after which, such kind of activities involving ransomware attacks stopped.
Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions
They put in a thing called the FortiCookbook, which is very easy to read with real-life scenarios that make networking tasks like joining networks very straightforward.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks.
Sales & Support at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
One of the most valuable features is the automated threat prevention, which helps us detect and block potential cyberattacks in real-time, minimizing data breaches.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Centralized management is the feature I like best, resulting in reduced workload and more continuous policy.
Security & Network Services at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid and cloud as well as on-prem.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
We have multiple VLANs, and with assistance, it was easy to get everything set up and running in our organization the way we needed it to.
Director of IT at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
We had downtime before pfSense. We've never gone down using the solution.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is very stable, and it works very well.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
589
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Check Point Cloud Firewall ...
Ranking in Firewalls
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (5th), Cloud and Data Center Security (5th), WAN Edge (3rd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
221
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 17.2%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is 1.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 8.6%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate17.2%
Netgate pfSense8.6%
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security1.9%
Other72.30000000000001%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches
Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.
Devraj Kc - PeerSpot reviewer
network and security engineer at Max international
Cloud security has strengthened compliance and now protects internet access for our workloads
The best features Check Point CloudGuard Network Security offers are its threat emulation and threat extraction blade as well as bring your own license where you can use the on-prem Check Point CloudGuard and decommission it to use in the cloud. I believe Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has impacted our organization positively because it is one of the stable products that I have used till now, and we do not have to upgrade Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for any sort of CVE or bug in its OS and it is very stable. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has decreased the organizational risk because it provides compliance with HIPAA as well as PCI DSS by means of its compliance blade. It makes it easier for us to determine if we are compliant or not. It made me more secure because when you talk about security, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is on top of the list with 99.8 in blocking malware according to the Miercom list. I believe it has had a positive effect and we have not had any incidents.
JA
Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control
What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business365
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise191
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business67
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise76
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business171
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
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 do you like most about Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
The tool's most valuable feature is its management console.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Although I do not know much about the pricing or setup costs, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is very cost-ef...
What needs improvement with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security could be improved with faster policy propagation across large multi-cloud env...
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

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security
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
Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
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 Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.