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FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) vs Intercept X Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 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
6.9
FortiGate Firewall's ROI is mixed; praised for security benefits, yet criticized for high cost and limited immediate returns.
Sentiment score
6.5
Intercept X Endpoint is praised for its cost-effectiveness, ransomware protection, strategic impact, and overall network security satisfaction.
It has notably improved our efficiency and visibility.
Using FortiGate has enabled us to increase security, control user access, manage bandwidth, and enhance the ability to provide a variety of operations solutions to clients.
It's easy to configure a new connection, and it works in a few minutes if everything works fine.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
FortiGate customer service is generally good, with varied response times and quality rated between seven and ten.
Sentiment score
6.5
Intercept X Endpoint support is mixed; many praise responsiveness, though some experience delays, especially in sanctioned regions.
I must study the best version to install to avoid previously found bugs.
I would rate Fortinet's support a 10 because they are excellent and very available whenever we needed their help.
In some cases, you need to come prepared because the people there work by the book and ask for particular things. If you don't have them, you cannot proceed, but if you know what they need, after some time, it's pretty easy to get support or whatever you need.
Technical support from Sophos is rated as nine out of ten, which represents high quality.
There are issues with onboarding technical engineers to resolve problems, which causes delays.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is scalable for medium-large businesses, with strong ratings and excellent SD-WAN integration.
Sentiment score
7.6
Intercept X Endpoint is praised for its scalability, ease of deployment, and adaptability for businesses of all sizes.
The scalability of the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is quite good; it is easy to make it scalable.
What it allows us in terms of connections to other companies is a straightforward solution that you don't have to use something else.
The tool's scalability is good, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is praised for stability, reliability, and performance despite occasional compatibility and management challenges.
Sentiment score
8.0
Intercept X Endpoint is stable and reliable, though some report occasional issues with updates and high resource usage.
Regarding next-generation firewalls, I would give the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) a rating of 10 for stability.
In some cases, you need to restart it, but mostly, it's working flawlessly, especially if you have an HA environment, high availability.
In my experience, there are usually no significant stability issues with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW).
In terms of stability, I would rate Intercept X Endpoint an eight out of ten.
To improve Intercept X Endpoint performance, upgrades in RAM and other system features are needed.
 

Room For Improvement

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall requires better licensing, support, SD-WAN, GUI, pricing, tool integration, security features, and scalability improvements.
Intercept X Endpoint needs enhancements in user management, integration, performance, customization, and support, while addressing high resource consumption.
Improvements could be made when companies expand and need better equipment and more licenses.
Configuring these services is quite complex and not very user-friendly, requiring technical steps that are difficult for normal users to understand.
When a site is blocked, it is necessary for me to consult the logs to understand what the Next Generation Firewall policy has blocked.
There should be a profile where I can see what files Sophos is scanning.
Intercept X Endpoint sometimes slows down machines due to high CPU utilization and significant RAM consumption during scanning.
There is a licensing issue with Intercept X Endpoint; these licenses are user-based, and most of our customers require per-device licenses because they use one PC for multiple accounts, which presents a problem.
 

Setup Cost

FortiGate Firewall's pricing is competitive for mid-enterprises, affordable against Cisco, but higher than Barracuda and Sophos.
Intercept X Endpoint pricing varies by deployment, offering annual plans with discounts and flexible payments, valued for robust features.
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
The pricing of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is competitive.
Fortinet tools like FortiGate are costly for us as a higher education institute in India.
The pricing of Intercept X Endpoint is a bit high.
I would describe it as economical, but not much cheaper than other solutions.
 

Valuable Features

FortiGate Firewall offers user-friendly, cost-effective security with advanced features, seamless integration, and robust support, favored by IT professionals.
Sophos Intercept X Endpoint provides AI-driven security, centralized management, easy setup, and cost-effective protection with advanced threat detection.
The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks.
The most valuable features of the FortiGate firewall include SSL inspection, VPN functionality, and threat intelligence features for preventing threats.
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) has improved our efficiency in setting up security and provided us with more visibility over some issues and incidents we previously faced.
The stronger the AI/ML in an endpoint, the better the protection against unknown threats.
Intercept X Endpoint is the only endpoint security product I know that provides content filtering and application controls.
Intercept X Endpoint has been stable, and I appreciate the centralized management and the reporting feature.
 

Categories and Ranking

FortiGate Next Generation F...
Ranking in ZTNA
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (16th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (8th)
Intercept X Endpoint
Ranking in ZTNA
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (10th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (11th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (11th), Ransomware Protection (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the ZTNA category, the mindshare of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is 7.0%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Intercept X Endpoint is 1.2%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ZTNA
 

Featured Reviews

Juan Solano - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation improves efficiency and provides greater visibility over issues
One of the most valuable features of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is the ease of usability it offers. It is quite easy for me to learn to use. Additionally, FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) has improved our efficiency in setting up security and provided us with more visibility over some issues and incidents we previously faced.
Suwandhi Suraweera - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers advanced filtering features and benefits from improved licensing and performance
There is a licensing issue with Intercept X Endpoint. Their licenses are user-based. Most of our customers use per device licenses, and they need per device licenses because they use one PC for multiple accounts. This creates a problem. There was one customer who complained about the slowness of PCs using Intercept X Endpoint. They use minor performance PCs, which causes their PCs to become slow.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)?
The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)?
Fortinet has good prices compared to other vendors; there were cheaper options, and when we compared Cisco, Fortinet's prices were lower.
What needs improvement with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)?
I'm not completely sure how Fortinet can improve the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW), however, there were situations of availability related to their switching solutions due to box errors...
How does Crodwstrike Falcon compare with Sophos Intercept X?
I like that Crowdstrike Falcon allows me to easily correlate data between my firewalls. Its detection and machine learning are very valuable features. Crowdstrike Falcon also successfully prevents ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Intercept X?
I would describe it as economical, but not much cheaper than other solutions.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sophos Intercept X
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Flexible Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) vs. Intercept X Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.