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Fortinet FortiClient vs Hillstone E-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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 FortiClient
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (12th), Endpoint Compliance (1st)
Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
24th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (39th), SSL VPN (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 6.8%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 1.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiClient6.8%
Hillstone E-Series1.5%
Other91.7%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

KL
Senior Technical Manager at Flexaccel
Remote access has become seamless and secure while deployment remains simple for our users
Performance could be improved today. People are now moving toward SASE, which stands for Secure Access, Secure Edge Solution. Fortinet also has that offering, which would be easier since it operates through the cloud, acting as a first line of defense. When the user connects to the internet, they connect to the cloud first for posture assessment and monitoring before connecting to the outside world. The impact is significant because nowadays people are adopting SASE. During COVID time, many users were trying to connect back to their office, causing the performance or CPU utilization of the firewall to increase tremendously, which slowed down performance. I have not worked with endpoint telemetry in Fortinet FortiClient that could have been helpful for threat mitigation.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has inexpensive scalability, works very well and can communicate with other Fortinet devices."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"It is very powerful."
"Fortinet FortiClient is easy to use, and the single-access managed login is pretty good."
"What I like most about FortiClient is that it's easy to use. The way it displays information is very straightforward."
"Remote users connect to the office using FortiClient, where they can access business URLs through a VPN tunnel configured on the FortiGate firewall."
"It’s easy to use."
"The solution is very scalable. It just depends on the number of licenses an organization has. The enterprise management console is related to the number of clients, and the client interface itself is free to download."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"Five out of five ROI."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
 

Cons

"FortiClient needs improvement in restricting user information and ensuring more secure customer data to better protect source code and reduce the risk of security breaches."
"Fortinet needs to cover more areas where threats can come from."
"It has a horrible performance. It is one of the most unstable VPNs I have ever used."
"The licensing feature of the product requires improvement since whenever the license expires, the tool logs out its users automatically, irrespective of whether they are on the network or not, which can be problematic for me."
"The solution should have faster turnaround when it comes to new technology."
"We've had some problems with having to remove the current version and either reinstalling an old version or updating to the new one."
"The pricing of the solution should be less expensive."
"The solution's access control could be improved."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's licensing is yearly and expensive."
"The pricing is good because you get and end-to-end security solution in one package price."
"If we pay for the yearly package that includes the FortiGate firewall, then the FortiClient VPN license is included with it."
"The solution's scalability is inexpensive."
"The pricing is a six out of ten."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten."
"Fortinet FortiClient comes free with the purchase of the FortiGate solution. There is a license required for this solution. You later can upgrade from the free version which will allow more endpoints. The cost of the license subscription is based on how many endpoints you require."
"The price is okay and competitive."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. Wh...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?
I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features which are available in the firewall.
What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?
Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I have not used any AI in the tool. I recommend the tool to others. I rate the tool ...
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiClient vs. Hillstone E-Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.