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Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

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)
Check Point Quantum Force (...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
347
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (7th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
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.
DS
Network Security Engineer at Connecting Cyber Networks
Advanced threat prevention has protected our perimeter and simplifies daily security operations
Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) can be improved in several areas. First, the interface could be a little more intuitive for new users. The Smart Console is powerful, but it has a steep learning curve when you start using it. Some simple functions for common tasks would help. Second, the initial setup and configuration take quite a bit of time and expertise. It would be helpful if there were more guides, wizards, or templates to speed that up. Third, the price model could be more transparent and flexible. The license cost can add up quickly, specifically when you want to add more advanced features. Finally, I would appreciate seeing better integration with some third-party security tools we use. Right now, we have to do a lot of manual work to make everything talk to each other. Overall, these are minor things. The core product is really solid and does what it is supposed to do very well. The documentation could be more comprehensive in some areas. When we run into issues, the documentation does not have clear answers, so we end up contacting support. Speaking of support, the response time could be faster sometimes. We have had cases where we need help with a certain security issue, and it takes longer than we would prefer to get a response. As for features, it would be nice to have more general reporting options so we can customize reports for different teams and stakeholders without having to do manual work afterward. One more thing, better mobile access to the dashboard would be helpful. Sometimes we need to check on security alerts when we are away from the office, and the mobile experience is not as smooth as it could be. Again, these are improvements that would make it even better, not issues with the core product itself.
William Cambronero - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at ITQS
Great firewalls, VPN, and Intrusion prevention capabilities
Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management. Another point is to improve the technical support provided by Check Point UTM-1. Although the company offers different standards, including basic and premium, by mail and by telephone, they present a very large deficiency in the time it takes to comply with the provisions of the SLA. Coordinating a meeting is complicated by the schedules. The documentation should also be improved by having it unified.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Web filters, particularly web application controls, grant us the ability to regulate user access effectively."
"Fortinet FortiGate has saved me both money and time."
"Fortinet FortiGate is considered the best in the European market for security reasons."
"FortiGate SWG has helped our IT security teams to be faster and more responsive."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use."
"FortiGate is the most effective solution for us and it's a cheaper option to Check Point or Palo Alto which we looked at."
"Fortinet FortiGate saves a lot of time in expert hours from an expert engineer because the administration of the Fortinet FortiGate solution is easy, which may lead to fewer hours of an engineer spent on Fortinet FortiGate."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection, and it is also simple to use."
"Check Point has a really cool GUI."
"In summary, this is an excellent product and featured consistently in Gartner for the last 10 years."
"We always believed and saw that the money we spent on Check Point was not in vain."
"The malware blocking capabilities more than paid for the cost of the device and license."
"All of the features are very valuable, but the most valuable features are the sandboxing and the advanced IPS/IDS."
"We have found the central management (Smart Console) to be very helpful in managing all the firewalls and keeping the software/hotfix versions up to date."
"All in all, I'm delighted with their security solution."
"It allows us to be a little bit more diverse in our hiring, as we can hire people in remote areas who otherwise would need to come into the office."
"Check Point is not cheap when compared to other solutions, but it provides high level security, and as an organization we are fully satisfied with this product."
"The most outstanding feature is being able to centralize each of the functions in a single device."
"The filtering was very good."
"The UTM platform has been the most valuable."
"Browsing speed has picked up considerably as users now have to do their official work and cannot browse social sites instead."
"The solution came to give us an elimination of having independent products such as antivirus firewalls and all the types of applications that were previously used for this type of content filtering, and now it is a single solution."
"The firewall allows the logging of traffic, and it has an easy to use VPN."
"This is my favorite product that I use, and I think it's one of the best in the world."
 

Cons

"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
"The product does need better support in the cloud environment. It's not exactly cloud-native right now."
"We understand that FortiGate cannot be standalone without others, such as FortiManager, so for small businesses, if FortiGate can provide something similar to FortiManager, it will be better."
"To improve Fortinet FortiGate, I think they need to improve the software and make updates more quickly, rather than taking a long time to update the software or firmware."
"There is room for improvement in pricing."
"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the VPN. There are times it is slow."
"User experience for the administrator is basically not good as it needs to be more proficient."
"Complex and not very easy to use."
"Check Point NGFW deployment in our organization showed that the initial setup and policy design can be complex, especially for teams unfamiliar with Check Point's architecture."
"I primarily work on the network side, so my expertise lies in configuring and working with firewalls. I have experience in firewall policies and know how to configure them within CheckPoint, including blocking URLs and specific website categories. However, I acknowledge that there's room for improvement, particularly in areas related to application-level control within the firewall. While I can't pinpoint a specific area for improvement, I am trying open to enhancing my skills and knowledge in various aspects of firewall management."
"The complexity involved in the solution's initial setup phase and deployment process is an area of concern where improvement is required."
"While not being cheap, their pricing models are competitive. In the pricing structure, however, they need improvement."
"Check Point needs to lower its price drastically, and the licensing model is very complex."
"Check Point should quickly update and expand its application database to have what Palo Alto has."
"The stability of the firewall is nice if you use the legacy mode, because the new mode is not good."
"Customer Service: Horrible. It takes them days, sometimes weeks, until they try to help, and then they don't help enough."
"I would like to see improvements in the report area. Some features should be integrated and not licensed separately."
"The physical memory is insufficient for installing policies and some other operations."
"What has been the issue of firewalls is they ask me for policies and content filtering application control and all these features that are now part of Harmony."
"Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management."
"The pricing is too high."
"While the technical support is good, the Indian level technical support could use an upgrade."
"Memory and processing power: These devices are strictly for small business applications."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the license and warranty can be better because it is very expensive."
"The pricing for the product is alright."
"It has a competitive price."
"Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years."
"The initial setup is super straight forward and as far as the licensing goes for the small product that we have, the pricing was pretty competitive. It wasn't as simple and as cheap as a SonicWall but for the service we would get it was a good price."
"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 price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"The product is not very expensive."
"The pricing and licensing are expensive. If you compare it with Fortinet, then it is cheaper on a yearly basis. However, Check Point is the most expensive firewall right now in terms of licenses and its appliance. My recommendation is if you want a long-term investment, then you should use an open server. If you use an open server, then the latency is really low. If you pay for a full appliance, it's more expensive."
"The solution is significantly more expensive than Fortinet, although this holds true to a lesser extent when compared with Palo Alto."
"The prices are good for its features. The benefit of its license is we get timely security prevention updates. The price is good for the technology that we get."
"Each blade requires that you have a license."
"We had to get separate licenses for the different blades. It would be nice to have a feature where we can get the multiple licenses all-in-one instead."
"I rate the pricing of Check Point NGFW a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."
"Check Point NGFW can be expensive compared to other competitors, but the price matches the functionality and efficiency of the solution."
"They sell it in one box. In that one box, they sell Antivirus and Threat Prevention. They have everything, so we are not required to purchase additional IPS hardware for it."
"This cost is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per year, so some other solutions are cheaper and the pricing should be improved."
"The pricing is too high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business370
Midsize Enterprise138
Large Enterprise195
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business163
Midsize Enterprise94
Large Enterprise199
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

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How does Check Point NGFW compare with Fortinet Fortigate?
I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such). -Ch...
Which would you recommend - Azure Firewall or Check Point NGFW?
Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include integration into the overall ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point NGFW?
Our experience with pricing for Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) has been mixed. The initial setup costs were fairly ...
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Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Check Point NG Firewall, Check Point Next Generation Firewall
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
Control Southern, Optimal Media
AccessIT Group Inc., Accuvant, Cadre Computer Resources Inc., Compuquip Technologies Inc, Dimension Data North America Inc., Forsythe Solutions Group, Gotham Technology Group LLC, GuidePoint Security LLC, Iovations, IPS
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: May 2026.
900,196 professionals have used our research since 2012.