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Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiGate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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

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
Fortinet FortiGate
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
589
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)
 

Q&A Highlights

Oct 04, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The filtering was very good."
"When we were evaluating services, we knew we needed something robust and easy to implement with the old equipment and something that was safe."
"The ability to create a central database for objects (sources, destinations, services, etc.), which can be used in several different policies, and the possibility of browsing all logs (FW, IPs, identity awareness, etc.) from all the gateways from a unique screen are big pluses."
"Browsing speed has picked up considerably as users now have to do their official work and cannot browse social sites instead."
"It's pricey, but it provides 100% satisfaction for the money you spend."
"Check Point has been in the security industry for so long that it has evolved different solutions and technologies."
"The most important features are performance and ease of management."
"The UTM platform has been the most valuable, as it's a great system with the possibility of having several plates implemented on the same appliance."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are its simplicity, ease of installation, and ease of functionality."
"The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
"I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate IPS as it is a core component of cybersecurity for our company."
"We have received a very good ROI; it has provided significant time savings of almost 20-25%."
"Fortinet FortiGate helps improve my organization since it's quick and easy to install, and we don't have to call support frequently."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility."
 

Cons

"Specifically on the user experience, sometimes the set up of things, such as the VPN SSL, takes a lot of time to load and a lot of time to get up and running on every session."
"As we don't have a representative of Check Point supplier in our country, this makes it very difficult when we have some issues to resolve."
"The pricing is too high."
"The solution could be improved if there was a better way to report. The reporting functionality is not really good."
"Customer service is not their strong suite. It takes a lot of time until they fix anything, and it can be better to try and fix the issue without them."
"Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management."
"Technical support was very bad because the supplier who sold it to us, wasn't very supportive, and he wouldn't giving us direct links to the OEM."
"Technical support was very bad because the supplier who sold it to us wasn't very supportive, and he wouldn't giving us direct links to the OEM."
"It claims it does DLP, but the degree and level of controls are very basic."
"It could always be more secure."
"There are some license issues. Not every feature must have a separate license. There must be some of kind synergy between the license so we don't have to pay for every individual license that we would like to have."
"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"The solution could maybe use more integration with artificial intelligence to be more proactive."
"Fortinet FortiGate firewall is good, but other products like the switching part and all that fabric, in handling very audio-video traffic, sometimes it struggles on the switching part, but on the routing part, it is fine."
"FortiGate is a complete solution, but it is very expensive compared with other solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is too high."
"This cost is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per year, so some other solutions are cheaper and the pricing should be improved."
"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."
"Although the solution's pricing is high, compared with other products, it may be cheap."
"The pricing is flexible."
"The solution is very expensive so pricing is rated a one out of ten."
"It's an expensive solution."
"Its pricing is good. It's average or normal as compared to Palo Alto and Check Point firewalls."
"It's a year based license."
"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Answers from the Community

Oct 4, 2017
Oct 4, 2017
Hi, It's very hard to compare brand name of firewalls and you did not clarify specific models. Normally, an IT is often using a firewall and suggest that brand name. Actually, it will depend on what bundle of service you choose in each brand name of firewall. Of course, Palo Alto - it's worth it. My suggestion is base on your requirement of security and your budget, then read the specs of each ...
2 out of 42 answers
it_user125442 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dono at a tech consulting company
Jul 18, 2017
it_user627312 - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder with 51-200 employees
Jul 18, 2017
Hi, It depends on their requirements. Each solution adds a different layer of value.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business365
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise191
 

Questions from the Community

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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 at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...
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 the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...
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 good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: March 2026.
886,510 professionals have used our research since 2012.