Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Fortinet FortiProxy comparison

Fortinet FortiGate SWG and Fortinet FortiProxy are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.7, while Fortinet FortiProxy is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.9. Fortinet FortiGate SWG holds a 6.5% mindshare in WSG, compared to Fortinet FortiProxy’s 5.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet FortiGate SWG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet FortiProxy users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Fortinet FortiGate SWG and Fortinet FortiProxy both compete in the security solutions category. FortiGate SWG has an edge due to its remarkable security features, performance, and manageability, making it preferred over alternatives like Cisco.

Features: FortiGate SWG is equipped with comprehensive functionalities, ease of configuration, and robust VPN and web filtering capabilities. It offers excellent performance, stability, and an integrated management portal. FortiProxy provides granular access control, allowing administrators to define detailed policies on user web activities. It also excels in detailed reporting and enhanced web filtering, providing visibility into user activities.

Room for Improvement: FortiGate SWG users desire more cloud-integrated security features and quicker technical support. FortiProxy requires better web filtering, content categorization, and policy management. Both solutions could improve in documentation and integration with existing infrastructures, with FortiProxy also needing a boost in its intrusion prevention capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: FortiGate SWG is known for its flexible deployment across various environments, including on-premises and cloud-based settings. It offers a range of options but receives mixed reviews on customer service responsiveness. FortiProxy is similarly adaptable but has fewer deployment options and room for improvement in technical support, although generally satisfactory assistance is noted.

Pricing and ROI: FortiGate SWG is more suitable for large enterprises due to higher pricing but justifies its cost with significant ROI through extensive features. Users find its pricing justified by the robust security it offers, despite being slightly expensive compared to other solutions. FortiProxy is viewed as cost-effective and provides good value, appealing to a broader audience with moderate pricing. Improved licensing models could enhance its appeal further, and both products show potential for ROI, especially with long-term use or cloud-based implementations.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Fortinet FortiProxy Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

March 2025

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 6.5%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiProxy is 5.8%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

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David Carlson

CIO at Camco Mfg.

Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help.

FortiGate is easy to configure. We configured one of the units and sent it to Indiana to be installed. We asked them to give us a call when they got it, so we could help them through the process, but they called us back to tell us it works great. Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help. That was fantastic. Fortinet also offers a single pane of glass that we can use to manage our routers with gateways, so that's convenient. We're running a VPN to our remote location, and the performance is good. We're changing all our VPN connectors on our laptops from Cisco's Anywhere to Fortinet's VPN because the performance is just so much better.

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Adnan Kallas

Sr. Network & Security Engineer at Data Consult

Superior threat protection with robust IPS and antivirus capabilities

The main use case is to protect internal enterprise users in an enterprise network. Users from different departments such as finance, IT, and sales who want to access the internet, search social media, or visit websites are protected from potential threats when using Fortinet FortiProxy. It allows…

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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

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"The iboss system is highly reliable. The false positive rates are small compared to some other systems we've experienced through other partner agencies who use competing solutions."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"Granular setup, which was able to set different levels of filters using the OUs in the AD."

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"Because of iboss, I did not have to assign web filtering tasks to my techs on a daily basis."

More iboss pros

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is inspection."

"One of the features I appreciate the most is application control which offers great flexibility."

"It has a valuable SD-WAN feature and provides good performance."

"FortiGate is easy to configure. We configured one of the units and sent it to Indiana to be installed. We asked them to give us a call when they got it, so we could help them through the process, but they called us back to tell us it works great."

"We have found the product to be scalable."

"The interface is user-friendly, so it's easy to add policies and block traffic."

"The product has the most valuable configuration, offloading, and security features."

"The technical support is good."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is traffic inspections."

"We can use Fortinet FortiProxy configuration for your network."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its granular access control. For example, users can browse the main site if you allow access to Amazon, but it stops them from visiting secondary Amazon websites without specific permission. This granular control is really helpful."

"It seamlessly integrates with various security products, enhancing threat intelligence and improving indicators of compromise."

"The solution's stability is good."

"It is a really stable solution."

"It helps to secure the networks at the DNA level and ensure proper identification and filtering of DNS traffic."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiProxy are its simplicity and performance."

More Fortinet FortiProxy pros

Cons

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

More iboss cons

"One area of improvement I've noticed is the lack of built-in monitoring capabilities in the firewall. Currently, we rely on third-party solutions for monitoring purposes. However, I believe the firewall itself has the potential to do a better job in this aspect. Another aspect of Fortinet that concerns me is related to redundancy. We have a setup with two firewalls working in parallel, which requires a highly adaptable configuration. However, it feels unfair that clients need to purchase two licenses, especially when one of the firewalls serves as a backup. We have noticed that other manufacturers have different policies on this matter."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG should be localised to specific regions to comply with local data privacy regulations because of the data privacy rules in the countries. In the Middle East, data organisation and KFA requirements are stringent."

"We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG."

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

"The solution has many heightened points which we cannot get to without working on CLI."

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"We also have FortiAnalyzer deployed here, so we want to enable the soft functionality of FortiGate and built-in compression for a firewall VPN use case. We want the ability to deploy a gateway for HTTPS enabled on this firewall. It is currently only for use in our headquarters."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's costs need improvement."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

"Its power supply process for some of the proxies needs improvement."

"Its web filtering capabilities could be improved."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should integrate AI/ML technologies. Its pricing needs to be more flexible."

"I see that the solution's interface is not in French...It would be good for our company if we could have the tool interface in French."

"For IT administrators and managers, the reporting features are the main issues that should be addressed in order to improve the performance, security, and effective utilization of the product."

"Integration with existing infrastructure was generally easy, especially if you had tools like LDAP. However, I had to go through a lot of documentation as it was my first time working with a proxy server. We did experience some issues with certain web applications not working properly after implementing Fortinet FortiProxy."

"Fortinet FortiProxy should improve by adding more documentation and guides."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"It is around $50,000 per month."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

"FortiGate SWG is reasonably priced."

"The product is expensive."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

"It is a cost-effective solution that meets the user's needs."

"The solution is cheap."

"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

"The tool's pricing is in the middle."

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"Price-wise, Fortinet FortiProxy is moderate - not the highest among competitors, but not cheap either."

"The solution is neither too expensive nor very cheap."

"It can be considered expensive, with a limited lifespan and support that eventually requires updating to newer solutions."

"It offers a more cost-effective solution than alternatives like FortiMail, FortiGate, and various Barracuda devices."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?

Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.

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What needs improvement with iboss?

I have the same complaint about them that I have about other software companies. Sometimes when you call in support, ...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

We are a PreK-12 public school district, and we use iboss to filter internet content for our students at home and sta...

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What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

The interface and other reports are all user-friendly.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the pricing for FortiGate AWG as nine, which is perfect.

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What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

I would rate the technical support of Fortinet a six or seven out of ten. It is not very helpful. I would like to see...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiProxy?

The tool's most valuable feature is traffic inspections.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiProxy?

One issue is the limitation in using Fortinet FortiProxy for remote users, as it requires users to be members of the ...

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What advice do you have for others considering Fortinet FortiProxy?

Before implementing Fortinet FortiProxy, study your enterprise architecture and know your needs. Consider using the h...

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Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Cloudflare One vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81) vs iboss

Compared 4% of the time

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Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 21% of the time

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 7% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 4% of the time

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 3% of the time

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 8% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Web Security Appliance vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 6% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Fortinet FortiProxy

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiProxy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiProxy

March 2025

Download Fortinet FortiProxy product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

FortiProxy

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a comprehensive web security solution provided by Fortinet. FortiGate SWG combines web filtering, malware protection, data loss prevention (DLP), and application control capabilities into a single integrated platform. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats, enforce compliance policies, and provide secure access to web resources.

FortiGate SWG Benefits:

Comprehensive web filtering and security features
Ease of use and management
Integration with other Fortinet products
Strong threat detection capabilities
Scalability and flexibility
Granular control over user access and activity

FortiGate SWG Features:

Web Filtering: FortiGate SWG employs URL filtering and content categorization to control and enforce web access policies.
Malware Protection: The solution provides real-time protection against web-borne threats, such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): FortiGate SWG helps prevent sensitive data from being leaked or exfiltrated through web channels.
SSL Inspection: The solution supports SSL/TLS decryption and inspection, allowing organizations to examine encrypted web traffic for threats and enforce security policies.
Application Control: FortiGate SWG enables granular control over web applications and protocols.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: FortiGate SWG leverages Fortinet's threat intelligence services to provide up-to-date information about emerging threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
User Authentication and Access Control: The solution supports various authentication methods, including single sign-on (SSO) and integration with identity providers, to ensure secure user authentication and access control for web resources.
Reporting and Analytics: FortiGate SWG provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

FortiGate SWG is typically deployed as a hardware appliance or as a virtual appliance in on-premises environments, but it may also be available as a cloud-based service. It is part of Fortinet's broader security fabric ecosystem, allowing integration with other Fortinet products to provide a unified and coordinated security infrastructure.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by FortiGate SWG users.

David Carlson, CIO at Camco Mfg., says that "Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help".

Suresh Vijayen, Product Manager at IX Telecom, writes that FortiGate SWG "Provides helpful technical support, but its dashboard needs to be more user-friendly".

Chandan Munshi, Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, states that "The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."

Fortinet

Fortinet FortiProxy is a secure web gateway that provides advanced web filtering, malware protection, and SSL inspection capabilities. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats and prevent data loss by enforcing granular policies for web access. FortiProxy is available as a physical or virtual appliance and can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. FortiProxy uses a combination of signature-based and behavior-based detection techniques to identify and block known and unknown threats. It also includes advanced features such as sandboxing and machine learning to detect and prevent zero-day attacks. FortiProxy can inspect SSL traffic to detect and block threats hidden in encrypted traffic. FortiProxy provides granular control over web access by allowing administrators to create policies based on user identity, device type, time of day, and other factors. It also includes pre-defined categories for web filtering, such as social media, gambling, and adult content. FortiProxy can also enforce compliance with regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA. FortiProxy integrates with Fortinet's Security Fabric, allowing it to share threat intelligence with other Fortinet products and provide a coordinated response to threats. It also includes a web-based management console that provides real-time visibility into web traffic and allows administrators to quickly respond to security incidents.

Fortinet FortiProxy is a comprehensive web security solution that provides advanced protection against web-based threats and allows organizations to enforce granular policies for web access.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Salt Lake County, Catholic College Bendigo, Azienda Unita Sanitaria

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

March 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Fortinet FortiProxy

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