Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Skyhigh Security comparison

Fortinet and Skyhigh Security are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Fortinet is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while Skyhigh Security is ranked #21 with an average rating of 7.7. Fortinet holds a 5.4% mindshare in WSG, compared to Skyhigh Security’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Skyhigh Security users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

In the competitive field of cloud security and network security, Skyhigh Security and Fortinet FortiGate SWG offer distinct solutions. Based on this comparison, Skyhigh Security tends to have the upper hand in deployment flexibility and threat detection features, while Fortinet FortiGate SWG is commendable for its robust integration and network security features.

Features: Skyhigh Security stands out for its ability to identify shadow IT, perform risk assessments, and ensure compliance through its Cloud Registry. It employs advanced threat prevention to detect abnormalities like suspicious login attempts. Fortinet FortiGate SWG excels in URL categorization, antivirus filtering, and application control, with strong SSL decryption and integration across diverse environments.

Room for Improvement: Skyhigh Security users mention challenges with console performance, report generation, and integration for unsanctioned applications. Fortinet FortiGate SWG could benefit from an improved user interface and easier deployment while needing enhancements in reporting features and pricing models.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Skyhigh Security offers flexible deployment options, including hybrid, on-premises, and cloud, catering to varied user needs and maintaining good customer service, though support quality varies. Fortinet FortiGate SWG primarily supports on-premises deployment, praised for its reliable support, yet desires for deployment flexibility remain.

Pricing and ROI: Skyhigh Security offers cost-effective pricing based on API integrations, slightly premium but justified by its comprehensive features. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is generally viewed as expensive, with a pricing model more suited to larger enterprises rather than smaller businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

September 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 September 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 5.4%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skyhigh Security is 2.9%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate SWG	5.4%
iboss	2.2%
Skyhigh Security	2.9%
Other	89.5%

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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Ayman Said

Infrastructure System's Manager at ICAPP (Americana Group)

Enables seamless traffic handling and effective network protection

We are using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for web filtering, application control, and IDPS. Additionally, we utilize it for VPN and the main features of a firewall Web filtering is very good, as well as IDPS. SD-WAN is a perfect feature. Additionally, the VPN is stable and very good. These features…

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Chinthu James

SME/Manager -Secure Web Access at Capgemini

Good scalability, but the technical support service needs improvement

We use the solution to monitor and secure our customers' internet access The solution's best feature is the flexibility of use. The stability of the solution's cloud portal needs improvement. Sometimes, it gets timed out. We have been using the solution since 2017. We need help accessing a…

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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

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

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

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

"Valuable features: Within the filter: Controls (Web categories, applications, and Allow/Block list) and Network (local Subnets). Within the reporter: Logs (Event Log) and Reports."

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

"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."

"First of all, the security policies are essential. I do not have to rely solely on Active Directory for our users."

More iboss pros

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

"It's a flexible solution."

"The solution is easy to use and checks the access control as a firewall."

"Web filters, particularly web application controls, grant us the ability to regulate user access effectively."

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

"The product is stable and strong."

"I am content with its user interface and functionalities."

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

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

"I like the encrypted disk feature and the endpoint protection."

"The most valuable features of McAfee Web Gateway are anti-malware, reports, and powerful categorization of web pages."

"Skyhigh offers solutions like WLP and CASB. These tools provide instructions and guidelines for enhancing data security. Additionally, they offer additional software solutions for further protection."

"Overall, the performance is good."

"Shadow IT reporting capabilities."

"Tokenization."

"It gives us visibility into how the data is being used within our cloud environment."

"It's an easy-to-use product."

More Skyhigh Security pros

Cons

"Their on-premise hardware's network interface is capped at one gigabit, which is sort of a problem. If you stand a filter up where all traffic flows through that, according to them, in order to go above a gigabit, you have to have multiple devices, which in today's IT seems a little bit silly. They could easily put in an SFP port into their device that could accommodate 10 gigs or at least offer a box."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"Its pricing could be better."

"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."

"The solution could be stronger on the integration side and offer more cloud applications like G Suite or Oracle."

"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."

"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."

More iboss cons

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

"The initial setup is medium complex and takes between five days and a week."

"The product needs to drastically improve its reporting capability."

"The price could be improved."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG could improve the price, it is expensive."

"The graphical user interface of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"Their technical support could be improved a little bit in terms of responsiveness."

"They have not yet extended to the cloud."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

"You have to have some kind of background with cloud-based security, like working with different providers and how to make instances in the clouds and that kind of stuff - including cloud, networking cloud, cloud application development, anything like that is a requirement to be in the CASB space."

"McAfee Web Gateway could improve the reporting. We have the reporting on a separate server and sometimes the database becomes full. These aspects could improve."

"The solution is hard to configure, our team does not have specific training requirements for McAfee making it difficult."

"The only thing we have faced is that sometimes, randomly, the portal becomes too slow."

"The documentation could be improved."

"Skyhigh Security, as a product, is excellent, but in terms of the right services and support, those are lagging very much, for example, in Trellix. From one hundred, its score has gone down to ten, so ten out of one hundred, otherwise, it's the number one product."

"Its initial setup could be more straightforward."

"The solution has room for improvement in its DDoS protection."

More Skyhigh Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"The solution is cheap."

"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten. Its one-year license cost is competitive with three and five-year licenses offered by other products."

"The product is expensive."

"Pricing for Fortinet FortiGate SWG is more suitable for enterprise or large-sized organizations because they are the ones who can afford it versus small and medium-sized organizations."

"We pay about $4,000 for a yearly license, and there aren't any additional fees."

"The price is relatively expensive compared to other solutions which are providing similar features."

"FortiGate SWG is reasonably priced."

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

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

"There is an annual licensing cost to use McAfee Web Gateway. The purchasing of licensing can be difficult for the government sector."

"Pricing for Skyhigh Security is okay, though there's always a scope for price improvements. Its pricing is okay compared to other products because other products have very expensive licensing costs. Along with the licensing, support is also provided for Skyhigh Security, so pricing is reasonable, but if there's proactive or better support, that will justify the pricing. I haven't interacted with the Skyhigh Security technical support team yet, so I'd give pricing a four out of five rating for now."

"It's an expensive solution."

"This is an expensive product, although it is made for larger enterprises and not for small organizations."

"The price of the solution is good and we pay an annual license."

"Have a risk-based approach towards pricing."

"Skyhigh provided a FedRAMP solution, tokenization, a better shadow IT capability, and lower cost."

"Commercially, I find Skyhigh Security a little costlier, compared to other products such as SentinelOne or Cybereason which are really novelty products. I'm not comparing Skyhigh Security with Trend Micro, but with other products, in particular the new, next-generation products. The price for Skyhigh Security is high in terms of value and ROI. I would rate the product price combined with product efficacy a six out of ten."

More Skyhigh Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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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?

Fortinet products are very expensive compared to competitors like Sophos and SonicWall. From a pricing perspective, I...

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What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

More improvement in AI would be a good edge. We would like the VPN to act as a web filtering solution because users o...

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What needs improvement with McAfee Web Gateway?

The solution has room for improvement in its DDoS protection. Additionally, the documentation needs enhancement to pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for McAfee Web Gateway?

The typical use case for our clients is cloud security.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering McAfee Web Gateway?

I would recommend Skyhigh Security to others. I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 14% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Symantec Secure Web Gateway vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

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Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 44% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 18% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 7% of the time

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 6% of the time

Akamai Secure Internet Access Enterprise vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 1% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 14% of the time

Netskope vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 13% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 6% of the time

McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 5% of the time

More Skyhigh Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

August 2025

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

September 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate SWG product report

Buyer's Guide

Skyhigh Security

August 2025

Download Skyhigh Security product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

McAfee MVISION Cloud, McAfee MVISION Unified Cloud Edge, McAfee Web Gateway, McAfee MVISION CNAPP, and Skyhigh Networks, McAfee Web Gateway

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

iboss

Demo not available

Fortinet

Skyhigh Security

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

Skyhigh Security protects organizations with cloud-based Zero Trust security solutions that are both data-aware and simple to use. Skyhigh’s Security Service Edge portfolio goes beyond data access and focuses on data use, allowing organizations to collaborate from any device and from anywhere without sacrificing security, while providing the visibility and control required to monitor and mitigate security risks.

The Skyhigh Security Service Edge portfolio includes Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway, Skyhigh Cloud Access Security Broker, Skyhigh Private Access, and Skyhigh Cloud Native Application Protection Platform. All solutions form a fully converged, consolidated platform, and are managed from the same single console.

Skyhigh Cloud Access Security Broker protects data and stops threats in the cloud across SaaS, and PaaS, and IaaS environments from a single, cloud-native enforcement point. It enables organizations to accelerate their business by giving them visibility and control over their data in the cloud and protection from threats with a frictionless deployment model.
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway connects and secures your workforce from malicious websites and cloud apps from anywhere, any application, and any device. It protects users from threats and data loss with integrated Remote Browser Isolation, Cloud Access Security Broker and Data Loss Prevention capabilities while providing the ability to access the web and cloud.
Skyhigh Private Access is the data centric Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution that provides integrated Data Loss Prevention scanning and seamless Remote Browser Isolation integration for robust data protection, using Zero Trust principles. Apply a unified policy across web, SaaS, and private apps.
Skyhigh Cloud Native Application Protection Platform is the industry’s first platform to extend Cloud Access Security Broker, bringing application and data context to converge Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) with IaaS Data Loss Prevention for IaaS public clouds. Skyhigh CNAPP provides consistent data protection, threat prevention, governance, and compliance throughout the cloud-native application development lifecycle.

Skyhigh Security Benefits

Modern Data Protection. Extensible data protection policies to determine what can be accessed, shared, and how it can be used.
Zero Trust for the Cloud. Extend zero trust to the cloud ensuring that your sensitive data is accessed, shared, and stored appropriately.
Actionable Insights. Unified view of data and risk, regardless of where and how the policy is enforced.

Skyhigh Security Features

99.999% Uptime. Connects users seamlessly and without disruption through Hyperscale Service Edge with cloud-native web security that operates with ultra-low latency and 99.999% uptime.
Remote Browser Isolation. Prevents threats of a web page from reaching endpoints with intelligent, multi-layer remote browser isolation technology that provides secure web browsing through robust machine learning analysis on real-time telemetry.
Cloud Registry. The world’s largest and most accurate registry of cloud services based on a customizable 261-point risk assessment to support risk-aware cloud governance.

Skyhigh Security

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

Western Union.Aetna.DirecTV.Adventist.Equinix.Perrigo.Goodyear.HP.Cargill.Sony.Bank of the West.Prudential.

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

September 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

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