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Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs OPNsense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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
7.4
Fortinet FortiGate provides strong ROI with reduced costs, improved performance, and quick value through affordability and efficient management.
Sentiment score
6.5
Check Point Harmony SASE users report fewer security incidents, cost savings, enhanced productivity, and reduced traditional VPN reliance.
Sentiment score
2.5
Entities benefited from rapid returns and cost savings with OPNsense, offering superior threat management compared to Check Point and FortiNet.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
There's definitely an ROI. Having a centralized way of managing and applying policies across the entire organization always helps.
there is a prominent ROI
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) blocked access to those URLs at the network level before users could click through.
We are saving 40% of our time, which is good.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Fortinet FortiGate customer service is mixed, praised for expertise but criticized for inconsistency and slow response times.
Sentiment score
7.2
Check Point Harmony SASE receives mixed to positive reviews for responsive support, though some users experienced delays in resolution.
Sentiment score
6.4
Many users rely on forums for support, expressing mixed satisfaction with OPNsense's accessibility, cost, and technical support.
I would rate their support for FortiGate a nine out of ten.
They offer very accurate solutions.
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.
I would rate support 10 out of 10.
After updating firmware, data utilization was visible for a few days before collapsing again.
I mainly rely on community support since the solution is open source.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiGate offers effective scalability for diverse environments, though hardware upgrades and configuration complexities may arise.
Sentiment score
8.2
Check Point Harmony SASE is scalable, cloud-based, and adaptable but faces some redundancy limitations compared to competitors.
Sentiment score
6.5
OPNsense is scalable for diverse organizations, efficiently supporting different user volumes, with some challenges in high-volume voice traffic.
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.
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.
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.
The cloud-native model ensures we are not tied to any specific location or hardware, which has been a great game changer in terms of agility.
The scalability of Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is good, and I can add more users and devices easily as my organization grows.
I would rate it nine out of ten for scalability.
In my organization, there are 400 users, and OPNsense serves as our gateway and proxy for all of them.
Aside from these aspects, it demonstrated good scalability.
It supports routing, VPN setups, and traffic monitoring with additional packages like Snort and Suricata.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiGate is generally stable and reliable, with most issues being resolved through updates and proper setup.
Sentiment score
7.8
Check Point Harmony SASE is stable with 99.9% uptime, despite rare glitches, earning high user reliability ratings.
Sentiment score
8.5
OPNsense is stable with high ratings, despite issues with VPN failover, occasional bugs, and hardware compatibility concerns.
We have not had any problems with the operating systems or maintenance of subscriptions.
The solution is very stable.
We have observed that the device is significantly more stable than before.
Even the support team does not have a proper solution for this issue.
There are some lags and glitches with connectivity, so I would rate the stability as between seven or eight out of ten.
After the last improvement, I can say it is much more stable now.
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
It just doesn't respond, so I have to restart it over and over again to try to figure out what the problem is.
OPNsense is the same, but it does have a way of installing the Realtek drivers, which gives you a lot more stability overall on the system.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs better documentation, user experience, scalability, and competitive features, with improvements in support, pricing, and security.
Check Point Harmony SASE could improve with SD-WAN, alerts, better UI, analytics, integration, support, and documentation enhancements.
OPNsense faces challenges with integration, user interface, documentation, scalability, performance, and security features, needing enhancements in various areas.
If I have put 10 GBPS of throughput on a firewall and I enable all of these features available, such as IPS or UTM functionalities, the throughput comes down to 1 GBPS.
By providing an integrated solution, users would have access to all features and functionalities within a single window, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple windows.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
An example of when the support cycle took longer than expected was when I had a ticket open for nearly six to seven months regarding a simple issue.
A local data center in Turkey would enhance the product, as currently, our Internet traffic goes to another country, which is problematic for us.
One area for improvement is integration with third-party identity providers.
For high availability, it's crucial to have a method in place where a designated component oversees the entire process.
The user experience when we create policies can be made easier.
Some of the features include classified traffic and better blocking of newly registered DNS domains.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Fortinet FortiGate competitively priced, offering flexible licensing, though some find renewal costs and licensing complexity challenging.
Check Point Harmony SASE offers clear pricing and flexibility, ideal for large enterprises but costly for small businesses.
OPNsense is a cost-effective, flexible solution for enterprises, preferred over costly alternatives like FortiGate and Palo Alto.
The most expensive part is the renewal of the license subscription.
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
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.
Cost efficiency is a consideration, as SASE products are not the cheapest security products.
It is a bit expensive.
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is that it is a rental service, but I find it satisfactory.
It's a free solution.
It is a free solution, and when you compare it to alternatives like FortiGate, which is quite powerful but also costly, the value becomes evident.
I would rate the pricing a nine out of ten, especially considering the availability of a free community edition.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers high-performance security with valued VPN features, centralized management, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness for users.
Check Point Harmony SASE enhances security with Zero Trust Access, Secure Gateway, and ThreatCloud intelligence, optimizing remote work management.
OPNsense is valued for its flexibility, user-friendly interface, robust features, frequent updates, and compatibility with useful plugins.
The firewall, IPS, and VPN functions are the most valuable features.
FortiGate provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats.
Within the same dashboard, you get to see the security profiles, the type of traffic that's passing through, the top applications that are being consumed, etc.
The firewall management is the most valuable feature for me.
The Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) feature is a major highlight as it gives users seamless and secure access to internal resources without requiring a full-blown VPN, which improves both security and user experience.
The best key features of Harmony are stabilization, private access, and Internet access.
The most valuable features include the basic firewall functionality and the GeoIP location services.
One of the most valuable features is the network checking.
OPNsense is easy to use and open source.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
341
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Check Point Harmony SASE (f...
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (6th), Anti-Malware Tools (8th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (7th), ZTNA as a Service (5th), ZTNA (5th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (7th)
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.4%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) is 0.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 11.5%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Brian M. - PeerSpot reviewer
A solid firewall with straightforward management and robust capabilities
It's one of the more expensive brands. FortiManager has not been my favorite. I don't use it and cannot say I really care for FortiManager for managing the firewalls. I primarily just access and manage the firewalls individually. Nothing else particularly comes to mind, as it has been a pretty good experience.
Ajinkya Mohod - PeerSpot reviewer
User interface and accessibility have enhanced network management transparency
I usually use Check Point Harmony SASE for firewall and firewall application management for my internal network traffic The features are excellent, particularly the user interface and user accessibility. It provides clear transparency on the traffic and network distribution. The firewall…
Akram Zaki Hussein - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support
The interface is user-friendly, but there's room for improvement in terms of intuitiveness. The bundle management aspect requires additional attention to make it more intuitive, especially for inspecting high-level traffic. This is crucial, especially for larger companies where the existing features might not be the most optimal choice, given limitations like printer constraints. For high availability, it's crucial to have a method in place where a designated component oversees the entire process. Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine. It would be beneficial if OPNsense supported additional virtualization platforms like Hyper-V from Microsoft and VMware, similar to how Kaspersky has integrated them.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
19%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 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 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...
What do you like most about OPNsense?
What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?
The pricing is competitive when compared to vendors like Palo and FortiNet.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Check Point Quantum SASE
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
Aqua Security, Cognito, Multipoint, Kustomer, Postman, Meredith
1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc.  3. EuroBSDCon  4. Netgate  5. Claranet  6. Voleatech  7. Open Systems AG  8. Securebit AG  9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH  10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH  Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs. OPNsense and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
853,271 professionals have used our research since 2012.