We performed a comparison between Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall and Netgate pfSense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The next-generation firewall is great."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"It is quite easy to handle."
"It's super reliable. I don't think I've ever had a reliability issue with it."
"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."
"The blocking, based on the signal provided, is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"I like the Firewall and the IPS."
"It provides decent protection for the LAN, especially in run mode."
"The central security management center and the content management center are very good."
"The most valuable feature is the console management."
"I like the IPS. IPS is the master feature. I depend on the firewall and sandbox."
"My technicians find the pfSense's web interface very useful. It is very easy to use. pfSense is very reliable and stable. We like the OpenVPN clients that can be deployed using pfSense very much."
"The "OpenVPN Client Export" package is really helpful in exporting the VPN client software on most popular devices: iOS/Android, Windows, Mac, Linux, and a handful of SIP handsets."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic."
"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"Great extensibility of the platform."
"The solution is very robust."
"pfSense helped us during COVID-19 because we used OpenVPN to connect from home."
"The search tool needs improvement. It's very difficult to search for policies right now."
"The Web-filter in this solution is not very good."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"FortiGate should have a better way of detecting and managing the system memory because otherwise if the memory is too low, a system restart is required."
"The platform's interface could improve."
"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"FortiGate support could do some improvements on their IPv6 configuration. Right now it's still in the very early stage for utilizing in an enterprise level network environment."
"Configuration is not easy because it has an old-fashioned interface. The configuration interface is highly complex, and it's been the same for years. They have to change the interface."
"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall could change its interface, allowing standard or direct connect modes to be configured."
"The solution's support could use improvement."
"They need to work on stability, it has not been the best in our experience."
"While they offer a comprehensive bundled solution, some users may prefer on-premise deployments for certain features, such as URL filtering."
"Its management center should be easier to use. The management interface of Forcepoint is unique and a little bit different from some of the firewall solutions on which people might have worked before. Sometimes, the customers say that it is not very friendly, and we help them with how to use this management interface. It just takes a little bit of time, and after some time, it gets easy to manage or use. It is quite similar to Palo Alto, Fortinet, and legacy Juniper solutions. Their support should be faster. We have received complaints that they are not responding fast, which is not good for the vendor and us."
"The initial setup of the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall has areas that are difficult."
"It's a complicated firewall. Until you come to know the firewall inducers, most people don't like the firewall because the components for the firewall are a little bit complex. User-friendliness is a little bit tough. It needs to be user-friendly when creating policies, and pushing policies. Committing takes more time compared to Palo Alto."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"Layer 7 advanced firewall features are not included in the solution."
"Network monitoring and device inventory could use some improvements. I'm using SpiceWorks for this because it never really worked in pfSense."
"We are at the moment looking to use it as a proxy service so that we can limit what websites people go and view and that sort of thing. That's an area I've struggled with a little bit at the moment and it could be a bit easier to set up."
"The GUI could use improvements, though it is manageable."
"Improve analysis of logs and dashboards (control panel) with improved alert functionality."
"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."
"The security could be improved."
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Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is ranked 31st in Firewalls with 40 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is rated 7.6, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall writes "Good URL filtering with helpful technical support and good scalability". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention, Check Point NGFW, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG and Darktrace, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, KerioControl and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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