No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Sangfor NGAF comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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-VM
Ranking in Firewalls
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
151
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sangfor NGAF
Ranking in Firewalls
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.2%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate-VM2.1%
Sangfor NGAF1.2%
Other96.7%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Ehab Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Unified security fabric has simplified multi-country deployments and strengthened threat response
FortiGate VM delivers exceptional performance and security with no degradation of service or protection (same features as the HW option). As part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, it extends across clouds and distributed locations, mitigating blind spots in virtual infrastructures. FortiGate VM can be rapidly deployed, managed through a centralized platform, and offers a range of purchasing options to suit every need. Also, FortiGate VM offers versatile deployment options across both public and private clouds, supporting all major public clouds including AWS, Azure, and Google as well as most hypervisors such as VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM. These deployments enable organizations to create scalable, high-performance firewalls that can be tailored to different virtualized environments and hyper-scale public cloud infrastructures. FortiGate VM integrates seamlessly with various infrastructure as code (IaC) tools such as Jenkins and GitLab, supporting security as code practices.
AK
Network Administrator at GC University Lahore
Leverage detailed reporting for effective attack management
We are hosting applications over the platform, including websites and NAT traffic from our side. Because it's deployed in our data center, which is fully operational, we have various applications hosted there, websites, FTP portals, making it quite comprehensive. Essentially, it performs all the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is that its IPsec works perfectly."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate include web filtering and application category functionality; the application category allows web filtering based on categories, which is one of the strengths of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."
"From security changes to VPN setup to web filtering, changes happen now more quickly."
"FortiGate-VM's firewall is excellent."
"I rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten."
"An enhanced security solution for any kind of alert that we have configured."
"Fortinet FortiGate-VM is purpose-built as a next-generation firewall, excelling in its performance of this specific function."
"This product is affordable and it's a good, high-performance appliance."
"It enables us to not only detect but also prevent various types of incoming threats, allowing us to take appropriate corrective actions and exercise control over the network."
"We can utilize our own network rather than paying for a private one."
"SSL VPN is the best feature."
"The VPN connectivity feature is really nice."
"The top functionality is the reporting feature."
"In our hospital, Sangfor NGAF works well for us in terms of ensuring confidentiality and availability, which are crucial in the healthcare industry."
"The support from Sangfor NGAF here in Pakistan is great."
"We are Sangfor Gold partners and I'd recommend this solution for the SMB market, as it is cost-effective and reliable."
 

Cons

"The previous version 5.6 had integrated features for logging, monitoring, and management. Now, these features require separate products like FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and a FortiCloud subscription for reporting."
"The partner support is quite low, and the end-user support is delayed at levels L2 and L3. L1 support is quick."
"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."
"The solution should provide more useful GUI features."
"If I could add one feature, it would be free security profiles."
"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."
"​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.​"
"The operating system isn't stable, so it goes to memory counters every night."
"It has an issue with the Sangfor Cloud Platform rather than the firewall. When we run a virtual machine, the window tabs display Chinese characters."
"The reporting and log management could be improved."
"The interface and user experience are horrible."
"We have deployed many firewalls and have faced two or three faulty devices that we have to replace over a year because their power supply was faulty."
"Sangfor could improve their interface capacity on the 5100 series model and upgrade their hardware from one gig to 10 gig. This would improve the overall throughput."
"An area for improvement would be the number of ports defined on the box. In the next release, I would like them to develop their provisioning stage of enrolling end devices."
"An area of improvement for Sangfor NGAF could be in the field of reporting and logging."
"Our experience with its customer support was quite challenging."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​It is on par with what you receive. It can be expensive upfront."
"There are no additional costs beyond the standard fee."
"The solution could be better priced."
"We are on an annual license for this solution and it could be cheaper."
"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."
"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.​"
"The license can be purchased at intervals of one, three, and five years."
"We have been waiting a long time for the vendor to give us licenses, it has been five months and we are still waiting. However, the price is reasonable."
"For over 2000 users, the cost is around 5000 to 6000 USD. If you want a web application firewall, you have to purchase an additional license for it."
"Sangfor NGAF price is reasonable and there is an annual license. However, the maintenance cost can be a bit high."
"When it comes to the price of firewall solutions, Sangfor NGAF takes the cake."
"The price could be more competitive."
"It is one of the cheapest tools in the market."
"Sangfor is cheaper than competing vendors."
"The price is unmatcheable."
"Price-wise, I would not consider Sangfor NGAF to be a cheap product. It is an expensive firewall solution, though not as expensive as something like Palo Alto, which is costly. However, the higher price point is justifiable given the feature set the tool provides that other firewalls may not offer in a single dedicated appliance."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
914,351 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

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 kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate-VM?
I am not involved in the pricing and costs associated with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, as those are handled by the CFO. We are in operations, and we just access the product as it is and take care of the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?
The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.
What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?
The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardware scalability, allowing for more storage and memory capacity. Making the soluti...
What is your primary use case for Sangfor NGAF?
We are hosting applications over the platform, including websites and NAT traffic from our side. Because it's deployed in our data center, which is fully operational, we have various applications h...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Security7 Networks, COOPENAE
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Sangfor NGAF and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,351 professionals have used our research since 2012.