Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall comparison

Citrix and Forcepoint are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Additionally, 90% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 78% of Forcepoint users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 2025

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] and Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall compete in the network security domain. User reviews suggest that Forcepoint has the upper hand due to its extensive feature set and perceived value, despite Citrix offering better pricing and support.

Features: Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] is known for its superior CIFS optimization, HDX WAN acceleration, and load balancing capabilities, enhancing branch communication and stability. In contrast, Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is highlighted for its robust security features, including integrated multi-layer filtering, advanced threat protection, and centralized management.

Room for Improvement: Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] needs improvements in reporting, customization, and competitive pricing options for varying markets. Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall could benefit from a more user-friendly interface, improved support services, and simpler deployment processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] and Forcepoint favor on-premises deployments. However, Citrix's technical support receives mixed reviews with some delays in issue resolution, while Forcepoint requires skilled resources for deployment but maintains moderate support interactions.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] is viewed as costly but delivers good ROI by reducing MPLS expenses. Its pricing strategy, including perpetual licenses, offers financial management benefits. Conversely, Forcepoint's pricing is high against some competitors, though it offers flexibility in model choices with additional costs for extra features.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

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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

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

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.

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Rohit Ghorpade

Cloud network engineer at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.

A scalable solution for MCN controller but lacks technical supports, upgrades

There are a few things that can be improved, are domain-based routing and the slowness of virtual parts, and it may be due to the wrong configuration, which we have been unable to find out. Previously, we faced some issues with the slowness part. Apart from that, feature like end gateway level antivirus. We are currently using a NetFlow proxy to establish a virtual position for the NetFlow. Our current environment has many use cases, but we are not using them on the Citrix SD-WAN. When I navigate the NCL part, it involves configuration. I want to highlight this disadvantage. Sometimes, when we push the configuration, it tries to push it to all branch locations. This process takes a lot of time, nearly 30 minutes, to push a single change from the NCL. Overall, I don't think Citrix meets our use cases what we have. This is based on my feedback after using it for the past year and working on this Citrix SD-WAN. However, from my experience, it is the worst solution I have seen. There's no domain-based routing, which is horrible. That's why we are moving to other products. We have checked our use case requirements with Fortinet, Palo Alto, and they meet them. I will consider the PoC or another OEM. There are many things in the area you need to be prompt, like the automation part. If any link or device goes down, alerting notification, etc. We need to perform and highlight so many things to your management. This should be improved.

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reviewer2774055

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Improved network segmentation has reduced lateral movement while the interface still needs modernization

For threat prevention, I noticed on another customer that there were repeated scanning and exploit attempts against some public-facing service running on HTTPS. I configured Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall to handle IPS by enabling it with critical and high severity signatures only to reduce false positives. I turned on IP reputation filtering to filter out known malicious networks, applied rate limiting on specific services in the DMZ, and logged events centrally for correlation. As a result, exploit attempts were much less than before, being blocked before reaching the back-end servers from the firewall itself, with no performance degradation on the applications. The security team received clear and actionable logs that were centralized, so they knew what was happening all the time. Strong network segmentation is my favorite feature that Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers. The policies are very deterministic and readable, and it has excellent east-west blocking and least privilege architecture. Application awareness identifies traffic beyond just the port itself; I can identify the application using a specific port and block risky applications even if they use allowed ports, which is great for environments with shadow IT. The integrated threat prevention is also very good, with IPS featuring well-tuned signatures and reputation-based filtering that blocks known bad actors before they can touch any applications. It supports both IPsec and SSL VPN tunnels, along with site-to-site, client-to-site, and hybrid cloud links, integrating well with Active Directory and LDAP. Additionally, centralized log management and reporting are very actionable and structured, with clarity in the policies for auditing. Overall, its stability and reliability are commendable. A real example of how Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall's readable policies and application awareness features made my work easier was fixing a flat network problem without breaking actual applications. I inherited an environment where users, application servers, and databases were loosely segmented, with port-based and messy firewall rules. Security audits flagged lateral movement risks, and application owners were scared of outages if I tightened security too much. Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall made it easy by providing very easy-to-read and logical policies. I built policies that are clear, showing communications from the user zone to the application zone to specific applications, or from the app zone to the database zone, using only required database protocols. By default, I applied a deny rule between zones unless explicitly allowed by the readable rules I implemented. The policy view clarified who talks to whom, which rules exist, why they exist, and the business function they support, effectively stopping port abuse. Security posture has definitely improved greatly since using Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall. From a flat or semi-flat network, I now have clear zone-based segmentation, with increased operational efficiency. The admins using the firewall have rules that are easy to read and intent-based, making changes easier to review and approve. There is less fear that one wrong rule could break production and fewer outages caused by security changes, without hidden matches or rule shadowing surprises. Clear hit count visibility helps me clean unused rules, leading to much fewer outages caused by changes on the firewalls. The centralized log management with supported log types provides better visibility for the SOC team and the SIEM team, as Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall sends very easy-to-parse and search clear logs to the SOC team. I did see measurable, defensible results after using Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, including fewer security incidents reaching the back-end servers. This reduction is due to strong segmentation, application awareness, and IPS features, leading to a 60 to 70 percent reduction in security alerts that actually reach the servers. DMZ exploit attempts dropped to near zero, and no lateral movement incidents were detected post network segmentation. Additionally, overall SOC efficiency improved due to well-structured and contextual logs reflecting clear policy intent, resulting in a 35 to 40 percent reduction in mean time to triage. SOC analysts stopped chasing noise and false positives, as they had much clearer logs to use confidently.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its usability is good. We can easily navigate the system, and we have a very good user experience."

"It is complemented by other equipment, such as the Fortinet switch, and it is integrated with other tools that help to prevent cyberattacks, including a web filter, IPS, and application control."

"The threat prevention is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."

"Web filtering is the most useful feature."

"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."

"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are the UTM package which provides internet blocking restrictions and load balancing. Additionally, the solution is easy to use and the security reporting is good. The security fabric which they have launched Fortinet FortiGate IPS, it's very good in terms of giving details."

"The product is stable and strong."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"They have a zero downtime failover mechanism, where, when there's a link failure or a link weakness, or bad link conditions, they provide the ability to fail back seamlessly."

"The zero-touch deployment is most valuable for us."

"The SD-WAN solution as it is already is quite feature-rich and the upgrade process is very simple."

"Downtime for branch offices is now almost zero. We have 100% real-time visibility into all of our lines. MPLS links have been replaced with lower-cost links, saving a larger percentage of line costs. Overall, I see SD-WAN as a must. And the Citrix SD-WAN product has delivered on expectations and exceeded them. (With later firmware updates we now have good firewall capabilities in the product too)."

"The VPN and the load balancing are the most valuable features."

"The most valuable feature is security, as it gives me the port bindings that cannot be accomplished using other solutions."

"The solution's most valuable feature is load balancing."

"The reliability of connectivity is most valuable."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pros

"When comparing this solution to others this one has better reporting, user management, and is easy to use."

"One of the most valuable features is having the ability to cluster multiple firewalls even if they are different versions."

"The VPN is great."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"With Forcepoint, this process is simplified compared to others like Fortinet."

"We like the scalability of Forcepoint because with the Forcepoint NGFW solution, we can scale anything. The solution has central management, so we can manage all the branches and devices centrally in one controller."

"It is a scalable solution."

"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is quite affordable, cheaper than other brands like Palo Alto or Check Point, with a lot of capabilities, very stable, and very well-made, making it a really good product for its price when compared to other vendors."

More Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall pros

Cons

"FortiGate NGFW can improve technical support. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad."

"The solution needs to improve its support."

"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."

"They should provide us with a CSV number for patch updates. It will help us block specific signatures as well."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve their documentation on forward error correction and failover technologies."

"Fortinet's support team consists of a huge networking team, because of which there is a delay in response at times."

"Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues."

"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The price could be improved, it's an expensive solution."

"I would like to see more customization to adjust for the WAN lock-out due to our unexpected power outages."

"The communication around the life cycle would have been really helpful. The main issue we have had is related to the life cycle because some of the things that we are using were discontinued. They were discontinued within a year after we had purchased it, which is a bit painful. If we had known that, we would've made some other decisions."

"Citrix SD-WAN's knowledge base has a few missing things, so you may need to seek help from support."

"I would like to see support for additional reporting."

"The only improvement for Citrix SD-WAN would be to lower its cost."

"Citrix SD-WAN does not have the SD-WAN with one optimization in a single license. Other competitors have this option and it should be added to this solution."

"The reports need to be improved. We need to have them customized but they don't have that right now. I would like for them to have better system predictions. We don't have that right now. My system may be working fine right now but after making some changes, that can change."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] cons

"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall can be improved with better response from support."

"Next Generation Firewall's configuration could be improved."

"The network interface could be better, and it could be cheaper."

"Making this solution easier to use would be an improvement."

"The security features need to be improved."

"They should have a local vendor who can provide support. Most of the support is overseas, so the time zones can be a problem."

"Sometimes Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not really stable at all. It has many freezes for no reason, and local support needs to reboot it physically by unplugging the power cable and plugging it back in."

"They should have a GUI on the product itself, not a separate management tool to be used on the management server or on a server to be used to manage the file. It should be all in one device. The device should be controlled through its own GUI. They also have to improve the learning center and the documents as the documents don't really help."

More Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very affordable."

"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."

"In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"It's a year based license."

"It's very competitive."

"No comment."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It depends on the scale. In our case, it would have been better if we had known about the life cycling steps, but otherwise, it is worth the money."

"I'm not quite sure of the price ranges. Roughly, the hidden devices can scale up to $20K for one appliance. However, the branch CPs are USD $1,000 to $2,500."

"The price is relatively expensive."

"It is a bit expensive. A cheaper product would be good, but everybody likes things to be cheaper. We bought the devices up front, and then we pay for the annual support."

"Citrix SD-WAN is quite an affordable product."

"It's a little bit on the high side compared to the other products."

"As NetScaler is now, I find it quite pricey."

"I believe that Citrix SD-WAN is a good investment, but I do not have the information to be more specific."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"I believe the licensing fee is for one year, three years, and five years, or something like that. If you wants to increase the support level from a simpler level to platinum, I think that there's a cost. There are differences between every kind of support, but I don't know the numbers."

"There is a license required to use this solution and we can purchase it for one, two, three, or five years."

"The solution is expensive."

"Forcepoint is very expensive but it's really secure."

"It could be cheaper like Fortinet."

"It requires a yearly subscription."

"The pricing of the solution is normally competitive with other products."

"It is an affordable product. We purchase its yearly license."

More Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Marketing Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	359
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	190

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

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When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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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 ...

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What needs improvement with Citrix SD-WAN?

The solution's licensing model could be improved. Citrix SD-WAN is a good product from a technical point of view. How...

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What advice do you have for others considering Citrix SD-WAN?

If a customer already has Citrix NetScaler and is not looking to change anything in their existing environment, we pr...

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What do you like most about Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

The product's initial setup phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is limited because I do not work with pricing, but I have exper...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall can be improved, perhaps in the user interface and policy management. While the p...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 23% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 11% of the time

FatPipe WAN Optimization vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

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Commvault Cloud vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

More Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

March 2026

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

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Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN

Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] enhances connectivity and performance by optimizing bandwidth utilization, ensuring reliable communication across branch offices and headquarter data centers. It offers centralized management, efficient deployment options, and improved network reliability.

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] is designed for businesses seeking enhanced connectivity solutions that boost application performance while reducing costs. With HDX WAN Optimization and reliable Active-Active connectivity, it assures improved bandwidth management. Tailored for both cloud and on-premise deployments, it supports fast communication and seamless integration, making it user-friendly even for those with limited technical expertise. Security features and zero-touch deployments further enhance its appeal. However, users highlight areas needing improvement, such as configuration intuitiveness, pricing alignment for specific markets, and stability. Enhanced reporting, networking features, and technical support are desired. Integration with Windows, security elements like firewalls, and licensing clarity require attention to meet user expectations.

What are the key features of Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]?

HDX WAN Optimization: Enhances application performance and traffic.
Load Balancing: Ensures efficient traffic distribution across networks.
Reliable Connectivity: Provides seamless failover and reduced costs through MPLS replacement.
Cloud Management: Simplifies deployment and management via the cloud.
Zero-Touch Deployment: Facilitates easy setup and provisioning.
Active-Active Lines: Optimizes bandwidth utilization and performance.
Backup Capabilities: Centralizes data management for security.

What benefits should users look for in Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]?

Enhanced Connectivity: Improves stability and reduces downtime.
Cost Reduction: Efficiently decreases expenses by replacing MPLS.
Network Optimization: Offers better bandwidth for diverse communication types.
Secure Interconnectivity: Ensures secure and reliable network connections.
Management Flexibility: Supports cloud or on-premise deployment options.

Industries benefit from Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] by leveraging its features to ensure stable, redundant connectivity between branches and data centers. Organizations experiencing frequent line failures or high reliance on bandwidth-heavy applications find it particularly useful. It caters to sectors needing reliable data management and enhanced networking.

Citrix

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is a versatile and comprehensive solution for perimeter security, offering features such as SD-WAN, IPS, VPN, and cloud or on-premises subscription keys. It is preferred by many clients over Cisco and is used for obligation redundancy, VPN access, and as the main point of security in infrastructure.

The product is praised for its simplicity, flexibility, complete feature set, scalability, and central management capabilities. Other valuable features include IPS, firewall, sandbox, application control, filtering, security management center, connectivity, and integration capabilities.

Forcepoint

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

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

March 2026

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