Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway comparison

Fortinet and Netskope are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7, while Netskope is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.8. Fortinet holds a 5.9% mindshare in WSG, compared to Netskope’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Netskope users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway and Fortinet FortiGate SWG compete in providing secure web gateway solutions. FortiGate holds an edge with its robust feature set, making it a more comprehensive solution compared to Netskope, which excels in customer support and pricing.

Features: Netskope is characterized by its cloud-native architecture, effective data leak prevention, and comprehensive threat protection. It integrates well with IAM and PAM systems, ensuring smooth traffic flow and compliance. Netskope also offers excellent URL filtering and role-based permissions. FortiGate offers a security fabric, strong VPN features, and comprehensive visibility through a single management console. Its SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, and application control capabilities provide a holistic security approach. The solution's content filtering, IPS, and scanning further enhance its robust feature set.

Room for Improvement: Netskope could improve its on-premise integration and enhance sandboxing capabilities for better threat prevention. Its granular control might benefit from more advanced analytics and reporting. Additionally, expanding support for more SaaS platforms could be beneficial. FortiGate's integration can be complex for non-IT users, needing simplification for broader user access. Its initial cost might deter small businesses despite its ROI benefits. The user interface could also be more intuitive for quicker policy configuration. Lastly, enhancing real-time reporting features could add value.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate provides flexible deployment options for diverse environments with responsive customer support, making it suitable for various organizational needs. Its initial setup process is straightforward. On the other hand, Netskope offers rapid cloud-native deployment, allowing quick implementation and seamless scaling. Its customer service is responsive, aiding in smooth transitions.

Pricing and ROI: Netskope attracts with its competitive pricing and quick time-to-value, appealing to businesses needing cost-effective solutions. It enables users to turn on features like CASB, VPN, and SWG without requiring additional investment in hardware. FortiGate, with a potentially higher upfront cost, offers substantial ROI through its expansive feature set and performance. Despite the initial investment, the comprehensive security features justify its pricing model.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

July 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 August 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 5.9%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway is 2.4%, up from 2.2% 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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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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Ernst (Eric) Goldman

Owner at Antares Joint Development

Designed to enforce architecture governance, ensuring traceable SaaS traffic

Netskope provides vigorous policy enforcement for SaaS platforms based on how we configure it, but its vulnerability management and threat intelligence capabilities could be stronger. We rely on external sources to become aware of vulnerabilities in major SaaS platforms, which highlights a gap. It would be beneficial if Netskope offered more robust vulnerability management or integrated threat intelligence through in-house development or partnerships. This would allow for a better policy setup without needing external threat intelligence to configure Netskope. Adding these features would enhance its overall value. I would suggest making some minor improvements to the interface to make it more intuitive, but those are primarily cosmetic. In terms of actual features, the only significant enhancement I could think of, besides better threat intelligence, would be for Netskope to assess the general SaaS landscape. This could include a scorecard showing the security posture of various SaaS platforms based on their track record with breaches and vulnerabilities. I understand this could create friction with SaaS providers if some receive poor scores, which might impact their relationship with Netskope. If Netskope were to harness machine learning more effectively and share those models transparently with enterprise customers, this could include making traffic data they already collect available for deeper analytics, allowing customers to gain better insights into employee traffic patterns. It could also assist with network operations by helping to fine-tune performance based on traffic flow, even though the primary purpose of analyzing that data is security-related. Providing more advanced analytics using existing data could significantly enhance its value to enterprises.

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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."

"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."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

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

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

More iboss pros

"The technical support is good."

"The most useful features are application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN."

"Web filtering is the most useful feature."

"The product's most valuable features are SD-WAN and the integration of WiFi and switches."

"The pricing on offer is excellent."

"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."

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

"It is simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG. It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

"Prevents data leakage and protects data."

"The solution's CASB, DLP, and threat protection features are very good."

"Web filtering and DLP are good features."

"As Netskope is a cloud-based application, it is possible to analyze and distinguish personal and enterprise instances."

"There are a lot of features, but the groups that are created for the policy groups available with Netskope are already relevant to any industry. So grouping the policies is the easiest part and a valuable feature."

"It is for secure web trafficking, and it is doing what it needs to do. It allows customers to consolidate and eliminate multiple technologies onto Netskope and just kind of turn the dial and use more features, such as CASB, VPN. SWG is another feature. You can monitor and govern all the traffic."

"The solution has some useful features, such as microservices. They have sandboxing that allows the prevention, encryption, and remote browser isolation."

"We can connect cloud apps and monitor them."

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway 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."

"Its pricing could be better."

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"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."

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

"The area I would like to see improvement in is the ability with in the reporter to navigate directly to the content the user is traversing. It is kind of there, but it's not perfect. Quite frequently, I receive links that lead me to pages with error messages."

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

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

More iboss cons

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

"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 improvements in their support."

"Zero trust could be added. Nowadays, solutions like Zscaler, Netskope, and even SecureWorks combine multiple features into a single product."

"They have not yet extended to the cloud."

"The solution’s stability could be improved."

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

"Fortinet needs to continue to improve network traceability. Other than that, we haven't run into anything that would give me any concern."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

"The stability of the solution to be very good. It is not the best and could improve but it is better than other solutions, such as Forcepoint."

"The accuracy could be improved."

"The solution lacks a good reporting feature."

"There is room for improvement in streamlining policies. So what happens is that when you apply a specific Netskope policy, you never know the kind of content it will automatically block, or it will allow."

"Cost competitiveness is its area of improvement. They will have to figure out how can they strategically price it because there are a few players in the game who have been doing it for a long time. They will have to figure out how to go to market on the pricing."

"Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway needs to integrate IoT, which can help to control devices."

"The solution could improve the features for Zero Trust Network Access. They should add more security components to that module."

"Improvement in the solution is required in certain areas where the product does not provide access to its direct end users, who use the portal as an administrator."

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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 expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution."

"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."

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

"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."

"FortiGate SWG is reasonably priced."

"I rate FortiGate's pricing a five out of ten."

"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

"The solution's overall cost is cheaper than regular web security solutions."

"We pay a licensing fee of $10,000 on a yearly basis."

"The license model is based on the number of users. You have the possibility to have 10,000 users if you wish."

"The price is average. Because the license is user-based, you can increase it as per the user quantity."

"The product is cheap."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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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Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datac...

See all answers

Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Those firewalls that allow extend the perimeter. Nowadays, there is a issue with the static perimeter and all is goin...

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What do you like most about Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway?

There are a lot of features, but the groups that are created for the policy groups available with Netskope are alread...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 11% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 3% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 43% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 19% 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

TitanHQ WebTitan vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 1% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Zscaler Internet Access vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 13% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 7% of the time

Menlo Secure vs Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

More Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

August 2025

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway report

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Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

No data available

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

Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway is a comprehensive cloud-based security solution that provides advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, and web filtering capabilities. It offers real-time visibility and control over web traffic, enabling organizations to enforce policies and protect against web-based threats. The solution uses machine learning and behavioral analysis to detect and block advanced threats, including malware, phishing, and ransomware. It also provides granular control over web access, allowing organizations to block or allow specific websites and applications based on user, group, or location. With Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway, organizations can ensure compliance with industry regulations and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or exfiltration. The solution is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized policy management.

Netskope

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

Arrow, Cloudrise, Sainsbury, Evalueserve, Stroock, Apria, Ather Energy, CSA, AVX Corporation Nuna, City of San Diego Case, Genomic Health Case Study, Oak Hill Advisors, MaRS Discovery District.

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

July 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Netskope Next Gen Secure Web Gateway and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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