Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router comparison

Fortinet and Netgate are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2, while Netgate is ranked #24 with an average rating of 9.0. Additionally, 98% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Netgate users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router 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. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

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

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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Jim Voige

Site Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

High availability routing has secured our network and delivers reliable support every day

One downside of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is the need for a better understanding of what hardware it would run on. Right now, we're using Netgate's hardware, but I'm interested in knowing if there are other hardware options available, particularly heavier duty hardware, because the Supermicro 1537 version we have only has a single power supply, which is a shortcoming in an IT environment where dual power supplies are ideal. The pricing for the hardware of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is steep, which is one reason I'd explore other options. I'm familiar with the costs of Supermicro servers, and I believe Netgate charges a premium for their server hardware without enough upside to justify it. The pricing is not justified.

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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

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

"Overall it is user-friendly, easy to configure, easy to manage, the support is pretty good, they are priced low, and they do the job that you require."

"Customers want to load balance more than six internet lines, and FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."

"We have found it to be very reliable and that's why our teams and various users in our company use it as our main firewall every day."

"I have found most of the features to be good with excellent functionality."

"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by preventing hackers from accessing our network."

"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are remote access, web filtering, and IPS."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The features and capabilities of Fortinet FortiGate-VM that I have found most valuable are not only specific to Fortinet FortiGate-VM, but generally for most sites: a valuable web filter and DNS filter work together."

"If you have enough budget and care about performance, Fortinet is a good choice."

"A top feature is the really good web interface and the classic Fortinet features, such as IPS, IDS, AV scanner, and spam filter."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are its flexibility and scalability. This solution is available as a license, which allows us to activate it based on the specific needs of the customer. This gives us and the customer a great deal of versatility and customization options."

"Its technical support is excellent."

"The IPS module is my favorite because of the security advantage reached with a few clicks and its automatic updates."

"It offers the same robust features and functionality in virtual, on-premise, and traditional data center environments."

"The thing that I like the most is that they're very willing to work with us to resolve issues that they haven't taken care of before in their product."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pros

"I do not have complaints about Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router with Firewall, VPN, and Router; it is really comfortable for use, and it does a pretty good job."

"They are more satisfied with Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router in terms of its flexibility and customer support."

"We use pfSense and Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router to establish a VPN tunnel between our client and our headquarters to transfer data between client and our equipment; it's very simple to use, efficient, up to date, and the hardware is very available; it's very safe."

"Overall, the entire Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router product has been reliable, though some of their smaller gear aimed at remote offices hasn't been cost-effective."

"My experience with the product is that it is a stable and good product that is easy to use."

"It's very simple to use, efficient, up to date, and the hardware is very available; it's very safe."

Cons

"I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included."

"We would like to have the ability to disable some of the security functionalities."

"There could be improvements in the mathematical algorithms used for behavior analytics of traffic."

"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."

"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."

"We faced difficulties with the configuration because there are many features we could optimize using Fortinet FortiGate, but our reseller didn't have a good understanding of it. So, we just use it on a basic level, not with the best practice for using FortiGate."

"I have contacted the support from Fortinet FortiGate IPS. The service was good but the speed could be better."

"Sometimes the dashboard does not open properly. When we add more options, SD-WAN features, and user control features, the opening is very slow."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"FortiGate is a nice and very good product but the implementation and post-implementation of the product are cumbersome."

"I'd like for it to be possible to cluster together data centers."

"The product is satisfactory. I haven't identified any features to improve, and based on the number of deployments I've handled with FortiGate-VM, there haven't been any complaints from the customer's side."

"Not a ten because I think that Cisco is better."

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

"The user interface needs to be improved."

"The block, the clarity, the quarantine command, is not very user-friendly. You would have to do everything through the command line and I would have preferred if it wasn't a CLI."

"There were challenges during setup, and many of them were self-inflicted."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM cons

"The most significant drawback in recent years has been the cessation of firmware release downloads."

"They have to learn something more from FortiGate."

"I would assess the effectiveness of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router's traffic shaping as good, but I would give a six marks only for that compared to others because in the past few years, there has been a stop of improvement or lack of improvement showing in Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router."

"The pricing for the hardware of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is steep, which is one reason I'd explore other options."

"The effectiveness of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router traffic shaping is quite good, but I am not very satisfied with the interface for control."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint."

"The product is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"I give the pricing of the solution a six out of ten."

"The solution's price is average."

"This is not a cheap solution but it isn't expensive, either. It's a good solution for the right price."

"There is a licensing fee; it is on a yearly basis."

"Fortinet FortiGate is cost-efficient. Palo Alto is expensive, but Fortinet FortiGate is not."

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

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The price is similar to Symantec Endpoint, but it's more expensive than Forcepoint solutions. Fortinet is better than Forcepoint."

"There should be a reduction in the setup price and licensing costs."

"The pricing is really good."

"The best part of Fortinet is the license is bundled together, so it is easy to use and apply."

"At present, the SD-WAN licenses are on an annual basis."

"The price falls somewhere in the middle; it's neither cheap nor expensive."

"I rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Of all the firewalls that we compared, FortiGate is the cheapest and most affordable, so we are satisfied with the pricing."

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

Construction Company

39%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

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...

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What needs improvement with Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router regularly provides updates. One aspect they can improve is that most people ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?

We work with Netgate products. We are a reseller and consultant. We have been working with Netgate and Fortinet for a...

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What advice do you have for others considering Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?

For metrics to measure its impact, we do not measure in a formal way. We use bandwidth monitoring to check how effect...

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

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

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

VyOS Platform vs Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

Compared 59% of the time

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

Compared 41% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate-VM product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

April 2026

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router report

Download Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router 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

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router offers open-source, license-free software with strong VPN options and robust networking capabilities, supporting secure, scalable, and reliable IT infrastructure integration.

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router stands out with its open-source framework, providing organizations the freedom from annual license renewals and enabling focus on CAPEX. It integrates seamlessly within IT environments, offering extensive package availability for broad functionality. Equipped with WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IPsec, it ensures robust VPN configurations. Its traffic shaping, load balancing, and failover functionalities enhance network performance, while Multi-WAN connections boost uptime. Users benefit from its affordability, scalability, VLAN support, and consistent secure operations. However, clearer communication on antivirus capabilities and interface improvements for speed is needed. The equipment's transition to cloud-based firmware updates has seen mixed reception.

What are the key features of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?

License-Free Software: Avoid annual renewals, allowing financial focus on CAPEX.
Strong VPN Options: Supports WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IPsec for secure connections.
Traffic Shaping and Load Balancing: Optimizes network performance and reliability.
Multi-WAN Capability: Enhances connectivity and ensures consistent uptime.
VLAN Support: Allows efficient network segmentation and management.
Open-Source Nature: Provides transparency and continuous community-driven enhancements.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenditure with license-free, open-source software.
Scalability: Grows with organizational demands without added costs.
Reliability: Ensures secure, stable connections with minimal downtime.
Ease of Use: Simplified configuration and management for technical teams.
Community Support: Backed by a knowledgeable user community for ongoing support.

In educational settings, such as universities and engineering colleges, Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router facilitates secure VPN tunnels for data transfer. It sees application as a high-availability BGP setup among consultants and resellers, ensuring reliability and network efficiency.

Netgate

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

April 2026

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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