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Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Zyxel Unified Security Gateway comparison

 

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-VM
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
148
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (11th)
Zyxel Unified Security Gateway
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2399337 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales and technical consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
User has benefited from stable performance and effective completion of security tasks
I use it mostly for VPN and for some firewall solutions When considering my main use case with VPN, I can say that I got the Zyxel Unified Security Gateway, and it works fine. However, we are thinking about using a different solution based on open source because Zyxel Unified Security Gateway…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The functionality provided is very good."
"The platform has enhanced our organization's security posture by providing effective threat protection, bandwidth management, and SDN capabilities."
"The use of Fortinet FortiGate in an infrastructure saves time, reduces costs, improves the security of users and resources, and prevents data leakage."
"It is very versatile."
"Overall, it's an excellent solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very easy to create the user of VPN, allowing them to use it quickly. Additionally, the integration and interface are good."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its ability to deploy it on live physical hardware. Specifically, when providing firewall services for clients, we can leverage such hardware appliances to support multiple customers on the same hardware."
"Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an internet gateway or firewall is very good for us."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from web filtering, malware protection, and antivirus."
"The cost is very low."
"The Zyxel Unified Security Gateway solution is stable and does its job effectively."
"The solution can scale well."
"This is a capable appliance and the standard features work well for us."
 

Cons

"One small thing I wish would improve is when I am going through event logs, it defaults to my cloud environment, and I have to switch it over to look at the local disk."
"The price is sometimes very expensive.​"
"Improvements are needed for the responsive UI and JIT traffic reporting."
"They could simplify the troubleshooting process."
"I think Fortinet should provide us with more reporting from the AI/ML point of view. They could also offer the SaaS application in a single box. The VPN and ZTNA have so many verticals that they work as a standalone solution. They need to be in a single box."
"I require many more features as of now."
"SD-WAN could be enhanced to provide a clear division between control and data planes, utilizing controllers to manage tasks within the network."
"This is not a good solution for enterprises. It's better for smaller companies."
"Sometimes it reboots when you least expect it, and that's the main issue."
"The product has some scalability and data management issues where improvements are required."
"I have never seen it in any company that I've worked with before, and I would advise other companies not to buy it."
"Although manageable, the user interface is a little bit slow and could be improved. The advanced UI allows me to do whatever I want, but this is where the issue of speed exists."
"The integration capability is quite challenging. The system is very complicated, and many features are hidden."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is more expensive than its competitor, e.g. Sophos."
"It's a mid-ranged product."
"VMs can be affordable, but for high-demand scenarios, I'd still recommend the hardware. For the cost, it's a ten out of ten."
"It has a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model."
"The price: It is a bit higher than the other competitors. This is why I started to look at other brands."
"There is a need to make payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"At present, the SD-WAN licenses are on an annual basis."
"It's not a cheap solution but it comes with its benefits."
"This gateway is pretty cheap."
"The price of Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is good compared to other similar products in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Comms Service Provider
20%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise42
No data available
 

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?
From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threats that are coming because we are using many different other security measures. F...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
I cannot definitively comment on whether Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is an affordable product as I haven't done comparisons with other solutions. When our license expires, we plan to explore ope...
What needs improvement with Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
The integration capability is quite challenging. The system is very complicated, and many features are hidden. I'm looking for something new that is slightly simpler. Regarding user experience, the...
What is your primary use case for Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
I use it mostly for VPN and for some firewall solutions. When considering my main use case with VPN, I can say that I got the Zyxel Unified Security Gateway, and it works fine. However, we are thin...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Security7 Networks, COOPENAE
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls. Updated: July 2026.
904,680 professionals have used our research since 2012.