Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Hillstone T-Series comparison

Fortinet and Hillstone Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.3, while Hillstone Networks is ranked #43. Fortinet holds a 2.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Hillstone Networks’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Hillstone Networks users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Hillstone T-Series and Fortinet FortiGate-VM compete in the cybersecurity category. Fortinet FortiGate-VM seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced functionalities, despite being more expensive.

Features: Hillstone T-Series provides robust security features like threat detection and prevention and solid user reviews. Fortinet FortiGate-VM has advanced security features, including high-level firewall capabilities and seamless integration with cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Hillstone T-Series needs improvement in scalability, documentation, and update frequency. Fortinet FortiGate-VM could benefit from more frequent product updates and addressing occasional performance issues.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hillstone T-Series deployment is straightforward, with mixed customer service reviews. Fortinet FortiGate-VM's deployment is complex but receives higher ratings for responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Hillstone T-Series is cost-effective with a favorable ROI. Fortinet FortiGate-VM, despite being pricier, delivers a high ROI due to its advanced features and reliable performance.

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

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series

March 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 883,044 peers since 2012

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 March 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.3%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.0%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.3%
Fortinet FortiGate-VM	2.0%
Hillstone T-Series	0.3%
Other	79.4%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Is stable and has a user-friendly dashboard and a good interface

We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good We cannot secure a specific IP class with this firewall. Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are lots of features and most of them are deployed for internet security. Users are protected if they accidentally go to some malicious sites."

"The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with."

"I value it's IPS and application control solution."

"Good load balancing feature."

"I find that Fortinet FortiGate is pretty easy to use and integrated, offering many features in one box at a decent price compared to other enterprise vendors."

"The technical support is good."

"One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface. I don't have to log into one interface for the firewall, another one for the access points, and another one for the switches. These firewalls have access point controller functionality built right into the system, so I don't even have to purchase additional devices to manage them."

"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The threat detection capabilities are excellent because of the good features that come with the services and FortiGuard connection, where you can get signatures every hour, including IPS signatures, anti-malware signatures, web filters, and application filters, and you can even create custom signatures such as application signatures and IPS signatures."

"The platform has enhanced our organization's security posture by providing effective threat protection, bandwidth management, and SDN capabilities."

"The ease of access and user-friendly setup is a valuable feature. Fortinet proves to be particularly straightforward to configure, offering simplicity without complexity. Moreover, visibility is easily attainable due to certain factors. Price, implementation, and budget considerations play a role. When it comes to Cisco implementation, the process tends to be more intricate, which many customers find unfavourable for their business needs."

"Web filtering and the IPS functionality."

"Regarding specific features, I appreciate the option for external selection, where you can choose either to use a default or create a self-description. This simplifies the process compared to other vendors that require creating a test extension profile and then applying it to the installation. With FortiGate, there is a streamlined approach. From the benefits perspective, clients mainly see cost reduction, especially with FortiGate VM Firewall, as it eliminates the need for additional hardware."

"The product has been very stable, based on my ten to eleven years of experience."

"It is scalable because it is a virtual appliance. You can probably scale it up more."

"While the stability maybe isn't quite to the level of Cisco, it is a very cost-effective solution. It's cheap compared to Cisco."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pros

"The only firewall able to monitor traffic from a CCTV network. Can detect unauthorized devices plugged into the network, which standard firewalls can't do."

"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."

"It has been stable so far."

Cons

"It's my understanding that more of the current generation features could be brought in. There could be more integration with EDRs, for example."

"There could be more modifications."

"There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available. These would help understand the new product line and the existing product line features."

"Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues."

"The area that Fortinet may improve is customer support. When you have an incident, situation, or open a case, the support is not as good as Cisco or other platforms I have tested."

"The interface and product support could use improvement."

"Though the tool's GUI is user-friendly, it can be considered as an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"We'd like more management across other integrations."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Improvements are needed for the responsive UI and JIT traffic reporting."

"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."

"One thing that can be better is added automation. And, on top of that, enhanced security when it comes to the automation itself."

"When new versions are deployed they tend to be a little buggy, so they should be more fully tested before release."

"In my experience, Fortinet FortiGate is not stable at all."

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

"There are areas for improvement because usually, most policies don't change much."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM cons

"Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the hotspot get all the functions, and the security does not work."

"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."

"Licensing is not cheap."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."

"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a seven and a half out of ten since it is not a cheap solution, though I feel it is a good product for the money one pays."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS' licensing is quite simple to understand."

"It's an expensive solution"

"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."

"It is a good product from a price perspective versus functionality."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

"The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"There is an annual license required to use the solution."

"The price is fair for what we get with FortiGate."

"The solution could be better priced."

"This solution is very expensive."

"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."

"Installation does not require another license making it an inexpensive solution."

"There are yearly or monthly licenses which you can choose from."

"The price of the solution could be less expensive. There are some features that have to be purchased separately that have their own license."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pricing and cost advice

"On a scale from one to ten, with one being low and ten being high price, I would rate the price of Hillstone T-Series at three. There are no additional costs other than renewal costs."

"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

883,044 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Media Company

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	358
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	189

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	72
Midsize Enterprise	34
Large Enterprise	38

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

An enhanced security solution for any kind of alert that we have configured.

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Azure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 21% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 10% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 4% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 35% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 24% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 11% of the time

More Hillstone T-Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

February 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

February 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate-VM product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

February 2026

Download Hillstone T-Series product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM

Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW

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

FortiGate Virtual Appliances allow you to mitigate blind spots by implementing critical security controls within your virtual infrastructure. They also allow you to rapidly provision security infrastructure whenever and wherever it is needed. FortiGate virtual appliances feature all of the security and networking services common to traditional hardware-based FortiGate appliances. With the addition of virtual appliances from Fortinet, you can deploy a mix of hardware and virtual appliances, operating together and managed from a common centralized management platform.

Fortinet

Hillstone’s T-Series intelligent Next-Generation Firewall (iNGFW) uses three key technologies to detect advanced attacks and provide continuous threat defense for today’s networks. First, it uses statistical clustering to detect unknown malware, leveraging the patented Hillstone Advanced Threat Detection engine (ATD). Second, it uses behavioral analytics to detect anomalous network behavior, which is based on the Hillstone Abnormal Behavior Detection engine (ABD). Finally, it leverages the Hillstone threat correlation analysis engine to correlate threat events detected by disparate engines – including ATD, ABD, Sandbox and other traditional signature-based threat detection technologies – along with context information to identify advanced threats.

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

University of Córdoba

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series

March 2026

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

883,044 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series report.

See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.