Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Hillstone CloudEdge comparison

Fortinet and Hillstone Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2, while Hillstone Networks is ranked #50. Fortinet holds a 2.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Hillstone Networks’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hillstone Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and Hillstone CloudEdge based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone CloudEdge Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone CloudEdge

April 2026

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	16.0%
Fortinet FortiGate-VM	2.1%
Hillstone CloudEdge	0.3%
Other	81.6%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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Karel Ondracek

Network Administrator at THK Co Ltd

Faced hardware limitations and setup challenges but have improved network protection over time

I spent much time finding exact firmware on Aruba which was working with these guns, but it is not optimal because it is not the latest version, so there could be potential security problems. We decided to replace those access points with another one. I personally have trouble because I don't know the exact life cycle of Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes. I don't know if the life of boxes is five years or something else; we moved from our previous company, which sold us to other companies. Before 10 years, we had a special department that took care of core networks, including firewalls. After that, this responsibility fell to me and my colleague. It is not easy to set up these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes properly because we didn't have previous experience with this kind of solution. At first, we set up only a few rules that were not secure enough, and over a couple of years, we improved the settings and security of these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes. Currently, I have one Fortinet FortiGate-VM that needs to be replaced next year, and this box is not so powerful, so I need to redirect some traffic to another Fortinet FortiGate-VM. It is stable, but because the CPU processor of this box is not powerful, I need to redirect some traffic to another box. In the future, I need to choose a higher-level box to prevent potential troubles with the power of this box.

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Albert-Wang

Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies

Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities

Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.

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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

"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are ease of use, flexibility, and most of the configuration we can be done using the GUI. When we compare Fortinet FortiGate with other solutions the firewall policy are very easy to understand."

"The solution is used in my company since its management is very comfortable"

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing. It can provide central management and VPNA. Additionally, it has enhanced our security environment."

"The product is very user-friendly, it is quite scalable, I love the interface, the power is great, and I have a limited embedded team in IT with one man on the team for 1,000 users who can manage all the infrastructure due to the fact that the console is very easy, and the people are very happy with the results pertaining to that interface."

"The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."

"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."

"We’ve gone from only selling Fortinet FortiGate as an accessory to creating an entire department in our business dedicated to selling Fortinet products in the span of three years."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We use it to ensure that our network is properly protected from viruses and malware."

"High network throughput while providing leading edge network security technology for a competitive price."

"It's a very simple solution to manage."

"The combination of SD-WAN and VPN capabilities is the most valuable feature."

"Using this product protects our company from attacks that come from outside of our network, and at the same time, we get better speed and performance when connecting to the internet."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include the flexibility of hybrid cloud capabilities and the way they are structuring their multi-tenancy and for managed services, along with manageability."

"The most valuable features are site-to-site connections and UTM."

"The pricing of the solution is good."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pros

"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."

"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."

"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."

"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."

Cons

"The monitoring and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak. I would for them to develop better visibility, monitoring, and reporting."

"They should add a feature for detailed reporting."

"The price and deployment part of Fortinet FortiGate is good, but it can always be better."

"I have an issue with NAT only, in that I can't allow traffic from outside to inside using a NAT pool."

"The solution could improve the integration."

"Some features of Fortinet FortiGate are actually fee enabled that are inconvenient for deploying in production. Other issues relate to isolation with Cisco products and your server."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having better visibility. Palo Alto has better visibility."

"I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"It might be that it should be a little cheaper for us."

"The solution is fairly complex."

"his is not a good solution for enterprises. It's better for smaller companies."

"The stability could be improved. I find Cisco to be more stable than Fortigate, which is I major differentiator between the two."

"The tech support calls were not the best and could be improved. There have been times when we felt as if we knew more about the device than the support person on the phone."

"There is always room for improvement in any solutions, including Fortinet's FortiGate-VM. Although the solution claims to have a superior throughput compared to other OEMs, upon closer examination and comparison, there is potential for significant improvement in this area. In today's rapidly evolving technology world, it is important to continuously strive for enhancement and development, and I believe Fortinet can make significant strides in this direction for the FortiGate-VM."

"Their offering for MFA isn't the cleanest."

"For the SD-WAN use case that I am researching, it seems more suitable for medium-sized customers. It is a little bit difficult to use for a big customer."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM cons

"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."

"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."

"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The Indian market is different than the European and American markets. When you compare they need to be a bit more aggressive on pricing."

"The pricing for this solution is good."

"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"It's an expensive solution"

"The setup cost was good. The Egyptian pound is declining, and upgrading Fortinet FortiGate yearly costs about $2000 USD, which equals one hundred Egyptian pounds. I maintain a business relationship with the vendor and receive support from them."

"I rate the pricing an eight and a half on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high."

"The price is fine."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It's not a cheap solution but it comes with its benefits."

"It is on par with what you receive. It can be expensive upfront."

"The license we pay is a yearly fee. I can't say it's very expensive; it is a good price and is highly suitable for our usage."

"The customer must buy his own license."

"Licensing is pretty standard. It's approximately 15% of the total cost per year as a subscription cost."

"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"It's a mid-ranged product."

"On a scale of one to ten, where ten is very expensive, I rate the solution around two or three. I think the solution's prices are okay, considering the services and features they offer."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Media Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	72
Midsize Enterprise	34
Large Enterprise	39

No data available

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls

In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...

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Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?

Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...

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

From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threat...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?

There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?

Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone CloudEdge?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Azure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 15% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 23% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 21% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 12% of the time

KerioControl vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 8% of the time

More Hillstone CloudEdge Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate-VM product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

April 2026

Download Hillstone CloudEdge product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Fortinet FortiGate-VM delivers robust security services and advanced network management suitable for cloud environments, providing solutions like firewall and SD-WAN, with seamless integration across Fortinet devices.

FortiGate-VM is designed for enterprise security, offering comprehensive features like intrusion prevention and application filtering. It's known for its scalability and flexibility, supporting cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS. It enhances threat response and network management efficiency, thanks to real-time threat response, intuitive integration with existing systems, and cost-effectiveness.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

Strong Security: Offers firewall, intrusion prevention, and application filtering.
SD-WAN Capability: Improves network connectivity and performance.
Scalability: Efficient scaling in cloud environments.
Integration: Seamlessly connects with other Fortinet devices.

What benefits can users expect from Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

Enhanced Network Management: Simplifies deployment with real-time threat response.
Cost-Effectiveness: Optimal for managing network protocols at reasonable costs.
Flexibility in Deployment: Suitable for secure virtual machine operations on platforms like Azure or AWS.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is predominantly employed in industries requiring stringent data center security, enabling network segmentation and VPN services. It's particularly favored by organizations using virtual and cloud networks due to its Unified Threat Management capabilities, making it an efficient solution for protecting virtual environments from threats.

Fortinet

Hillstone CloudEdge is a robust network security platform designed for managing risks and safeguarding data in dynamic cloud environments. It offers scalable features to provide consistent protection against threats while optimizing cloud infrastructure.

Hillstone CloudEdge delivers superior security for cloud infrastructures, providing advanced threat prevention and management capabilities. It empowers businesses to efficiently control cloud resources while ensuring data protection. The platform supports seamless integration with existing IT infrastructure, enhancing cloud security strategies. With a focus on adaptability, Hillstone CloudEdge suits a broad range of enterprises, from mid-sized companies to larger corporations, facilitating secure cloud transitions.

What are the key features of Hillstone CloudEdge?

Scalable Architecture: Easily adapts to changing network demands, ensuring long-term compatibility.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Offers top-tier security against a wide range of cyber threats.
Flexible Managed Options: Supports both centralized and distributed management setups for optimal control.
Advanced Visibility: Provides deep insights into network traffic and potential vulnerabilities.

What benefits should you look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Analyzes the platform's ability to provide high-level security with a better cost structure.
Integration Ease: Highlights seamless collaboration with existing enterprise systems.
Performance Improvement: Details improvements in network performance and security posture.
Scalability Potential: Reviews how systems can expand with minimal disruption.

Hillstone CloudEdge is notably implemented across industries like finance and healthcare, where data security and compliance are critical. These sectors rely on its capabilities to streamline secure cloud operations while maintaining regulatory standards, offering a significant edge in safeguarding sensitive information.

Hillstone Networks

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Security7 Networks, COOPENAE

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone CloudEdge

April 2026

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