Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Hillstone T-Series comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
581
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
Ranking in Firewalls
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
145
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Hillstone T-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
45th
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.7%, down from 20.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate18.7%
Fortinet FortiGate-VM2.0%
Hillstone T-Series0.2%
Other79.1%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
KO
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.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
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…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The key features include SD-WAN, firewall use, intrusion prevention, intrusion detection, and application control."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."
"It's inexpensive compared to some of the other technology out there."
"Web filtering is the most useful feature."
"Fortinet FortiGate helps improve my organization since it's quick and easy to install, and we don't have to call support frequently."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"Fortinet FortiGate is one of the most solid and secure firewalls as long as you keep it up to date. The price is right; it's not very expensive."
"The product is easy to install since we only need to follow the user manual, documents, and articles provided by Fortinet to install the product."
"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."
"It gives all the features of a full-fledged firewall with great performance."
"The interface is decent."
"We use it to ensure that our network is properly protected from viruses and malware."
"The policies are very valuable. They allow me to secure and manage future traffic effectively."
"The most valuable features are site-to-site connections and UTM."
"The web GUI is easy to use."
"All the security features that are built into the product are valuable."
"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

"The ease of use could be improved."
"One issue is that they have retired SSL VPN for existing devices. This causes significant effort for us to change customer setups."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."
"The biggest "gotcha" is that if the client purchases what they call the UTM shared bundle, which has unified threat management on both, it's not as easy to manage if you have more than one firewall."
"I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included."
"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."
"Whitelisting could be better."
"There is room for improvement in pricing."
"The log settings and filters could use some improvement."
"With FortiGate, we sometimes encounter bugs in various operating systems."
"The product has issues with integration. I would like to see better integration in future releases of the product."
"Deployment can be difficult and they could dispense with reliance on FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer."
"Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet FortiGate-VM in providing high-level security for high-level customers, we have some visibility issues, so it doesn't seem high level; there's definitely room for enhancement."
"VM should be more optimized."
"Fortinet FortiGate-VM should improve its asset identification, wherein the device can identify assets on the network, like computers."
"The performance could be better. Some features need to have quality control when the switch is working. The dedicated bandwidth for some users is not reliable."
"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."
"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."
"Licensing is not cheap."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."
"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"I would rate pricing to be about four or five out of ten, it is reasonable."
"Pricing and licensing is a little bit complicated in FortiGate. They are always on the higher side. This is one issue that we always raise with the company that they should reduce the price according to Indian market requirements. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
"With Fortinet FortiGate-VM you can bring your own licensing, or it can be paid on a yearly basis."
"If you are in a licensed solution, like Cisco or Palo Alto, it is cheaper. I do recommend using it with a license, because it is a security solution and it needs updates.​"
"There are no additional costs beyond the standard fee."
"There is no additional cost. Once you get the licensing fee, you're good."
"The product’s licensing must be a little cheaper."
"The tool is neither expensive nor cheap, so it is okay."
"I find it quite reasonable."
"The price is fair for what we get with FortiGate."
"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
881,928 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Media Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise189
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business72
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise38
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.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW
 

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
University of Córdoba
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Hillstone T-Series and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,928 professionals have used our research since 2012.