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Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Symantec Proxy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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
7.5
Fortinet FortiGate SWG offers ROI with strong features, enhanced connectivity, and improved traffic management despite higher costs.
Sentiment score
6.2
Users find Symantec Proxy beneficial for security but costly for small businesses, with mixed opinions on ROI.
For supercritical businesses, there should be a return on investment due to the enhanced security features and resilience.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiGate SWG support is knowledgeable but experiences delays; documentation is strong, though response speed needs improvement.
Sentiment score
4.9
Symantec Proxy support varies post-Broadcom, with mixed reviews on response time, expertise, and improvement efforts acknowledged by users.
Support services are lagging and not very responsive.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Fortinet FortiGate SWG offers scalable solutions for medium to large businesses but is costly and less favored by small enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.4
Symantec Proxy is generally scalable, with cloud setups preferred for ease, handling varying users well but needing model updates.
It meets the growing demands of my network.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Fortinet FortiGate SWG is highly stable and reliable, with occasional update bugs and minor power outage resilience issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Symantec Proxy is stable and reliable, but some users report glitches, hardware issues, and occasional high latency.
Fortinet SWG is a stable solution.
Stability depends on the platform on which it is deployed and the number of users.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate SWG requires pricing, cloud integration improvements, user experience enhancements, and streamlined licensing to attract smaller businesses.
Symantec Proxy struggles with SSL inspection, user interface, performance, and needs improvements in security features and AI capabilities.
We would like the VPN to act as a web filtering solution because users outside the company don't have web filtering.
I would rate the technical support of Fortinet a six or seven out of ten.
The product needs improvement in support services, as they are lagging and not very responsive when we raise concerns or queries, especially in terms of significant impact.
AI features could potentially improve the proxy by helping build rules more efficiently, suggesting unused rules, and enhancing preference setting.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing is mixed, seen as costly for SMBs but affordable for enterprises compared to competitors.
Symantec Proxy is seen as costly, with complex renewals and significant financial commitment, prompting users to explore alternatives.
Fortinet products are very expensive compared to competitors like Sophos and SonicWall.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the pricing for FortiGate AWG as nine, which is perfect.
Pricing is difficult to specify as Broadcom sells platforms that include multiple products, making it hard to determine the exact cost for the proxy component.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate SWG offers comprehensive security features, integration, scalability, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness, excelling in cybersecurity.
Symantec Proxy offers caching, URL filtering, policy creation, and advanced security features, highly regarded for ease, stability, and integration.
These features have proven effective in protecting our network, handling large volumes of traffic smoothly without any issues.
The most valuable features are content inspection, caching, SSL encryption, decryption, WAN optimization, and more.
The integration with FireGlass has been essential since both solutions are from Broadcom, enhancing compatibility.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate SWG
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Proxy
Ranking in Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
13th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 6.1%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Proxy is 2.2%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

Featured Reviews

Ayman Said - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Ganesh Basappa - PeerSpot reviewer
Granular control for web traffic with enhanced content inspection, but support needs improvement
There are many use cases in terms of content inspection, such as having granular control for file type extensions when trying to download file types by default. It depends on the requirements, and based on that, we customize policies. We have deployed it in an Azure infrastructure, and we have…
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) solutions are best for your needs.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate SWG?
The interface and other reports are all user-friendly.
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 would rate them a six.
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 outside the company don't have web filtering. It supports web filtering with an a...
What do you like most about Symantec Proxy?
We can address and rectify issues promptly, resulting in consistently positive outcomes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Proxy?
Pricing is difficult to specify as Broadcom sells platforms that include multiple products, making it hard to determine the exact cost for the proxy component. Forcepoint sold only proxies, which w...
What needs improvement with Symantec Proxy?
AI features could potentially improve the proxy by helping build rules more efficiently, suggesting unused rules, and enhancing preference setting. These would make the tool more effective.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway
Blue Coat Encrypted Traffic Management, ProxySG Appliance
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salt Lake County, Catholic College Bendigo, Azienda Unita Sanitaria
Jefferies
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Symantec Proxy and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.