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Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Hillstone CloudEdge comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
390
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
Ranking in Firewalls
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
121
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Hillstone CloudEdge
Ranking in Firewalls
50th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.0%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Sitti Ridzma Salahuddin - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates seamlessly and helps with real-time threat response
Since the solution we offered was a complete suite with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, it was easier for them to manage because they have FortiManager as well. The main reason they wanted to position FortiGate in the cloud was so that they could easily deploy through FortiManager. That was the selling point we had for them. Especially for their multiple branches, where they had approximately 60 sites, and some assets were in AWS, it was really a good deployment opportunity. FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer were also part of that solution.
Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"It performs very well."
"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are UTM, web filtering, and IPS."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"I like Fortinet's cloud management. It allows me to manage all my devices in different branches for three cloud accounts. Even though I use on-prem devices, I can manage everything on the cloud."
"This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."
"The policies are very valuable. They allow me to secure and manage future traffic effectively."
"FortiGate-VM's firewall is excellent."
"It is scalable because it is a virtual appliance. You can probably scale it up more."
"The ROI is good since I get free support."
"The technical support is very good."
"The VM it's very quick for deployment. If we need to have a POC for a customer, if we don't have any hardware physically at our premises, at our store, in our office, we can download the VM from Fortinet and install all the VM to their environment in order to run it. If we have a customer that says "let's start tomorrow" we are able to do that in a way that's not possible with a hardware version."
"The most valuable features we have found to be the VPN, ease of use, and overall simplicity."
"I like the visibility and monitoring features because they're easy to use to monitor traffic. Features like geo-blocking and more have AI, and we're currently using all of it. But for now, we're only using geo-blocking, and we're able to block traffic from different countries. I also like that it's highly responsive. VM04 is also very powerful."
"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"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."
 

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"There is a lot of improvement needed with SSL-VPN."
"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."
"We are pretty happy with it. If anything, I believe the web interface could be simpler, especially for someone who has limited networking experience."
"Fortinet needs more memory to save the log files. We need it to save the logs on the hardware and not in the cloud. I know this feature is available in FortiCloud, but if we need this log locally, it is not available."
"I have to say that the initial setup was complex. The deployment took a few days to get set up. Initially, we were using an IPVanish. We switched to this tool since we thought it would be easier. But it turns out it wasn't easier to set up and run."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."
"The solution should provide more useful GUI features."
"We are experiencing a failed login issue. There should also be improvements in functionalities we store to enhance our services."
"The key activation is very complicated at times."
"In the Philippine market, where cybersecurity is still growing but not yet fully mature, we have many clients who have Fortinet FortiGate-VM or hardware. However, we cannot really position the Fabric if the licenses, renewal parts, or other components have monetary requirements that hinder full utilization."
"We'd like to have more customization and easier customization of policies."
"The technical support is not very responsive and is an area that needs to be improved."
"Fortinet FortiGate-VM should improve its asset identification, wherein the device can identify assets on the network, like computers."
"​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 room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for the solution annually."
"Its pricing is good. It's average or normal as compared to Palo Alto and Check Point firewalls."
"In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive."
"The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is average, not cheap or overly expensive compared to other firewall solutions in the market. It's effective and affordable for customers."
"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."
"Fortinet FortiGate is expensive."
"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
"FortiGate's pricing falls within the mid-range when compared to other leading firewall solutions."
"There is a support fee that can be bought on a yearly or two-yearly basis. I don't think they do five years. The best benefit is that the same pricing is guaranteed for that duration. If you can afford it, I would recommend using the longest possible time span."
"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."
"There are yearly or monthly licenses which you can choose from."
"It has a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model."
"Installation does not require another license making it an inexpensive solution."
"I rate the product price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"The best part of Fortinet is the license is bundled together, so it is easy to use and apply."
"The solution could be better priced."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate-VM?
An enhanced security solution for any kind of alert that we have configured.
What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?
There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...
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...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
LinkTime
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone CloudEdge and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
862,452 professionals have used our research since 2012.