Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG comparison

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Download the complete report

Helped 860,592 peers since 2012

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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 6.1%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

Read full review

Nasseer Qureshi

Pre Sales Consultant at Redington Group

Delivers seamless and secure remote access while enhancing security posture

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) offers strong features, but there are areas that could be improved. One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers. It works with standard SAML and SSO, but we would prefer deeper integrations with solutions such as Ping for more advanced identity-based policies. Additionally, a mobile-specific client or lightweight agent would be helpful for securing access from smartphones, especially in BYOD environments. We would appreciate more granular reporting and analytics, including better drill-down capabilities to investigate specific users or app activity. The logs are comprehensive, but filtering them can sometimes feel messy. The user interface on the management portal could be more intuitive, especially when managing multiple sites or remote offices. Some of the policy configuration steps are nested and could be streamlined.

Read full review

Ayman Said

Infrastructure System's Manager at ICAPP (Americana Group)

Enables seamless traffic handling and effective network protection

We are using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for web filtering, application control, and IDPS. Additionally, we utilize it for VPN and the main features of a firewall Web filtering is very good, as well as IDPS. SD-WAN is a perfect feature. Additionally, the VPN is stable and very good. These features…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

More iboss pros

"Our investment in quality hardware has proven to provide a better customer experience. They heavily rely on Check Point Firewall and Check Point SaaS Connect to safeguard their networks from external threats and attacks."

"The solution offers both client and clientless versions for good remote access."

"HTTPS decryption is a valuable service and not always found in cloud-based secure web gateways."

"The solution offers ATP features and management features."

"The solution provides high performance along with ATP prevention, policy management, remote activity, and IoT support."

"Perimeter 81 is very pretty."

"Its most effective feature is controlling employee access to specific applications. I can manage and monitor every step of the access process."

"The features are excellent, particularly the user interface and user accessibility."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) pros

"The response from the technical support team has always been excellent."

"FortiGate is a great solution, although initially, it faced challenges in the Brazilian market due to lower brand recognition than Cisco. However, explaining and demonstrating its product format and offerings has proven easy. The cost-effectiveness and better features of FortiGate have made some clients skeptical. We set up a trial period, and they eventually opted for it. Many clients were convinced it was great after experiencing the solution's capabilities firsthand."

"Customers keep on improving their licenses. The solution remains scalable and flexible. On-premises deployments may have some limitations. However, cloud deployments offer a high degree of flexibility."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is inspection."

"The product is highly stable."

"The product is stable and strong."

"The interface is user-friendly, so it's easy to add policies and block traffic."

"FortiGate is easy to configure. We configured one of the units and sent it to Indiana to be installed. We asked them to give us a call when they got it, so we could help them through the process, but they called us back to tell us it works great."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

Cons

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Its pricing could be better."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."

"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."

More iboss cons

"The connectivity issue can be improved as at times it lags when connecting to their server."

"The integration from a management perspective could be improved so that the management can, from an existing Check Point firewall, manage a Harmony firewall through one pane of glass."

"Although the interface is user-friendly, further simplification and customization options tailored for non-technical users would benefit smaller firms without dedicated IT teams. Intuitive dashboards and guided setups can help in reducing the learning curve."

"I'd love to learn more about all of the features. Maybe a monthly spotlight of features or having a banner that explains more ways certain features could be used would be helpful."

"The main problem with Harmony Connect is that, because it's in a new category of offerings by Check Point, there's very little marketing of the product so far, and this means that many potential users don't even know this kind of solution is available. There are also few testimonials or case studies talking about people who have used the product and fell in love with it, for example."

"The Point locations need to improve the latency and speed."

"Providing USB control in a Linux environment will give more control over data security."

"My customers want more remote functionality. They need another routing option after they connect to the enterprise intranet. For example, let's say a user tries to connect to a remote branch office and headquarters through Harmony Connect. They need a local breakout after connecting to the headquarters, especially in China. They need to put local breakout in the Chinese internet. The current version cannot do something like this."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) cons

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"The solution is expensive."

"The solution has many heightened points which we cannot get to without working on CLI."

"From a pricing perspective, I would rate them a six."

"FortiGate needs to be elastic to the market's trends. It should be easy for SMBs to get the solution."

"Fortinet needs to continue to improve network traceability. Other than that, we haven't run into anything that would give me any concern."

"Support could be improved."

"We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"Overall I am very happy with the solution’s flexibility and pricing."

"The pricing is good, especially when you compare it to other firewall or UTM solutions from FortiGate or SonicWall, where you would have to invest about four hundred thousand rupees for 100 users over a three-year period."

"The cost of the solution's licenses depends on the particular use cases."

"I would rate Harmony Connect's pricing at six out of ten. It wasn't particularly expensive, but it wasn't super cheap either."

"Annual licenses cost $30 to $40 each."

"Regarding pricing, I can say that the more the number of users, the less they have to pay."

"The solution's pricing model may not be suitable for smaller companies, as they might find it expensive. Larger companies tend to receive more value due to many users."

"The product is reasonably priced."

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) pricing and cost advice

"While slightly more affordable than competitors, it remains relatively expensive due to its inclusive subscription."

"When comparing this solution to others, I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of pricing. However, the issue of requiring a separate license for redundancy is a drawback, and I would rate it a nine out of ten."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

"It is a cost-effective solution that meets the user's needs."

"It could be more competitive and cost-effective."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution."

"The product is expensive."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?

Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

What do you like most about Perimeter 81?

Even after restarting, it tries to quickly reestablish connection which is very helpful.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Perimeter 81?

It's essential to consider the organization's specific requirements and budget. Here are some general recommendations...

What needs improvement with Perimeter 81?

In terms of improvement, Perimeter 81 could enhance its reporting and analytics capabilities to provide more detailed...

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

The interface and other reports are all user-friendly.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

Fortinet products are very expensive compared to competitors like Sophos and SonicWall. From a pricing perspective, I...

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

More improvement in AI would be a good edge. We would like the VPN to act as a web filtering solution because users o...

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Comparisons

Compared 19% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Appgate SDP vs iboss

Compared 4% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 11% of the time

Netskope vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 10% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Compared 7% of the time

More Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) Competitors

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 45% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 21% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 6% of the time

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 6% of the time

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Product Reports

iboss

Download iboss product report

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)

Download Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) product report

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) report

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Download Fortinet FortiGate SWG product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Check Point Quantum SASE

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Perimeter 81 is a cloud-based network security and software-defined perimeter (SDP) solution designed to provide secure access to resources in the cloud, data centers, and on-premises environments. It offers a unified platform for organizations to manage and secure their network infrastructure, regardless of the location or type of resources.

Perimeter 81 Benefits:

Easy to use
Flexible access policies
Strong encryption and authentication protocols
Scalable
Compatible with various devices and platforms

Perimeter 81 Features:

Secure Network Access: Perimeter 81 provides secure access to internal resources and cloud-based applications through its client applications and gateways.
Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP): SDP is a security framework that focuses on dynamically creating secure connections between users and resources on a need-to-know basis.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Perimeter 81 follows the Zero Trust security model, which assumes that no user or device can be inherently trusted.
Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Support: Perimeter 81 is designed to secure access to resources across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.
User and Device Management: The solution offers centralized user and device management capabilities, allowing administrators to define access policies, manage user roles, and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security.
Network Segmentation: Perimeter 81 enables organizations to segment their network resources, creating isolated environments based on logical groupings.
Centralized Management and Analytics: Perimeter 81 provides a centralized management console where administrators can configure and monitor their network security settings.

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot user, Frontend Developer at Limelight Networks, states that "We use some VPN solutions, and Perimeter 81 has the best user experience for desktop or mobile".

Daniel Goldfeld, Vice President of Customer Success at Mine - The All-in-One Privacy Suite, says that Perimeter 81 has "Great SAML and SCIM support with the ability to deploy site-2-site tunnels with specific IP restrictions".

Another PeerSpot user, Accounts Payable Specialist at Simera, writes that "The feature that I have found to be most valuable is the reputation that the company has regarding privacy. Nowadays, this is critical, especially when you do all of your work online."

Check Point Software Technologies

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a comprehensive web security solution provided by Fortinet. FortiGate SWG combines web filtering, malware protection, data loss prevention (DLP), and application control capabilities into a single integrated platform. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats, enforce compliance policies, and provide secure access to web resources.

FortiGate SWG Benefits:

Comprehensive web filtering and security features
Ease of use and management
Integration with other Fortinet products
Strong threat detection capabilities
Scalability and flexibility
Granular control over user access and activity

FortiGate SWG Features:

Web Filtering: FortiGate SWG employs URL filtering and content categorization to control and enforce web access policies.
Malware Protection: The solution provides real-time protection against web-borne threats, such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): FortiGate SWG helps prevent sensitive data from being leaked or exfiltrated through web channels.
SSL Inspection: The solution supports SSL/TLS decryption and inspection, allowing organizations to examine encrypted web traffic for threats and enforce security policies.
Application Control: FortiGate SWG enables granular control over web applications and protocols.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: FortiGate SWG leverages Fortinet's threat intelligence services to provide up-to-date information about emerging threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
User Authentication and Access Control: The solution supports various authentication methods, including single sign-on (SSO) and integration with identity providers, to ensure secure user authentication and access control for web resources.
Reporting and Analytics: FortiGate SWG provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

FortiGate SWG is typically deployed as a hardware appliance or as a virtual appliance in on-premises environments, but it may also be available as a cloud-based service. It is part of Fortinet's broader security fabric ecosystem, allowing integration with other Fortinet products to provide a unified and coordinated security infrastructure.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by FortiGate SWG users.

David Carlson, CIO at Camco Mfg., says that "Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help".

Suresh Vijayen, Product Manager at IX Telecom, writes that FortiGate SWG "Provides helpful technical support, but its dashboard needs to be more user-friendly".

Chandan Munshi, Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, states that "The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."

Fortinet

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Aqua Security, Cognito, Multipoint, Kustomer, Postman, Meredith

Salt Lake County, Catholic College Bendigo, Azienda Unita Sanitaria

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs. Fortinet FortiGate SWG