Fortinet FortiGate vs KerioControl comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jan 4, 2023

We performed a comparison between Fortinet Fortigate and KerioControl based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most reviewers of both solutions say that their initial setup is straightforward.
  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their stability and scalability.

    Fortinet Fortigate users are happy with its intuitive administrative pane and say that it offers them excellent security. Some users mention that it needs additional SSL VPN features.

    KerioControl reviewers like its VPN, firewall, and intrusion detection features, but
    say it needs better web content filtering.
  • Pricing: Most users of both solutions feel that they are fairly priced.
  • ROI: Reviewers of both solutions report seeing an ROI.
  • Service and Support: Fortinet Fortigate reviewers report being satisfied with the level of support they receive. In contrast, KerioControl reviewers report being unhappy with their support.

Comparison Results: Fortinet Fortigate is the clear winner in this comparison. Fortinet Fortigate has responsive and knowledgeable support staff, whereas KerioControl users report being dissatisfied with the product’s support.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. KerioControl Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs.""Good anti-malware and web filtering features.""We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box.""The solution is extremely reliable.""I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use.""Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”""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.""It's a user-friendly firewall. Most of the tasks are very simple. It's simple to configure and troubleshoot this firewall."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"​It helps us better control internal and external communications.​""Technical support is good. They respond right away.""The reporting needs to be improved. It is hard to get a domain.""Instead of using a cloud-based product for accessing information, and putting my data at risk in the cloud and in someone else's hands, it has allowed me to use a VPN and access my data directly from a laptop when I am out in the field. That has made my life a lot easier, where I'm able to access any information I need to be able access, basically on demand, with an Internet connection. That alone has been great.""Kerio has improved my organization's security.""The traffic insight page or the administrative portal is really helpful because you can see all the internet usage down to the point where you can see if it's big files or streams. It gives us a good view of what the internet usage is of users who are coupled to an IP address. That way, if there are problems with, for example, a lot of data usage or problems with the connection, we can narrow it down to a single user or server and address the problem. It's really helpful for diagnostic data.""What I like the most about Kerio is that I can use the software appliance as a solution, so if the hardware fails for any reason then I can quickly replace it with hardware that I have in stock.""The initial setup is a breeze."

More KerioControl Pros →

Cons
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data.""Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution.""In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers.""Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use.""I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting.""The firewall engine is not so strong as of now, in my opinion... My second concern is that, while they have Zero-day vulnerability and anti-malware features, the threat engine needs to be strengthened, its efficiency can be increased.""One issue that I have had is that sometimes I need to monitor the traffic, so I need to filter it according to the user and which user is using it the most. I experience a bottleneck most of the time, particularly at the peak time when the number of contracts and users are at maximum.""There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"Kerio Control could improve content filtering.""Kerio Control could improve by having higher availability and adding a mobile VPN channel. These additions are needed. The VPN is working fine on the Kerio Control but there needs to be a VPN client on the mobile phones, both for iOS and Android. This would be very good for us.""The Kerio hardware devices look cheap and could be improved. Some of our clients are switching to Sophos because their hardware has a more sleek design.""The reporting needs to be improved. It is hard to get a domain.""If I would suggest anything, it would be to expand on its multifactor authentication to be a little bit more user-friendly. They should do multifactor authentications for the client itself perhaps, rather than served on a webpage, in a page hijack, that might be more user-friendly, but I don't have a lot of complaints about it. It's doing its job. You have to have a certain amount of skills to configure these things anyway, the ones that we use on-site doing point-to-point, and we've been tricked up a few times with their interfaces.""After the takeover by GFI, one of the things that Kerio built was MyKerio environment. This has not been very reliable because I get many messages that MyKerio is not functioning. For some reason, there are things that they changed and it is not very reliable at this moment, instead I have to connect to the firewall to see what is happening.""The denial of service could also be improved. There recently was a big issue with denial of service attacks and it was a bit laborious.""I would like the customer statistics to be more user-friendly. It should explain more what users have been doing throughout the day. Sometimes, it'll just say they downloaded a big file. Meanwhile, they were connected through a VPN."

More KerioControl Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "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 →

  • "Search and compare."
  • "Pricing is good, but the licensing took a lot of time."
  • "The price is inexpensive."
  • "It's very affordable."
  • "The pricing is in-line with our expectations in terms of the quality that we get for it."
  • "There is a yearly upkeep fee."
  • "My advice is to use your own hardware, and do not use theirs."
  • "It is a good fit for SMBs because of its maintainability. When you want to keep your costs low, then Kerio Control is a very good solution. It's not an expensive product that is well integrated. It has a complete set of features within it that make it a very strong product."
  • More KerioControl Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too.… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I would… more »
    Top Answer:The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.
    Top Answer:The pricing is reasonable. We have to pay approximately EUR 175 for the product.
    Top Answer:The pricing of the product can be improved. The trial duration of the product should also be extended.
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 59 in Firewalls
    Views
    126,666
    Comparisons
    92,626
    Reviews
    64
    Average Words per Review
    574
    Rating
    8.4
    28th
    out of 59 in Firewalls
    Views
    7,378
    Comparisons
    4,858
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    276
    Rating
    7.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    Kerio Control is a popular security product for small and medium-sized businesses. It is a next-generation firewall that provides unified threat management without complexity. Kerio Control provides advanced anti-virus protection and industry-leading web and content application filtering, and has a secure VPN.

    With Kerio Control you can:

    • Preserve the integrity of your network.
    • Manage bandwidth to streamline traffic flows.
    • Improve productivity with filtering capabilities.

    Kerio Control Features

    Some of Kerio Control’s most valuable features include:

    High availability, deployment flexibility, deep packet inspection, advanced routing, usage reporting, quick administering, intrusion detection and prevention (IPS), gateway anti-virus, VPN, web and content application filtering, and centralized administration with MyKerio.

    Kerio Control Benefits

    • Eliminate downtime risks: Because Kerio Control offers high availability and failover protection, you can eliminate the risk and cost of connectivity or threat protection downtime.

    • Detailed reports: Kerio Control makes it easy to view individual users’ internet activity through detailed reports.

    • Traffic monitoring: Traffic monitoring allows you to manage bandwidth and makes it possible for you to control access to streaming video and peer-to-peer networks.

    • Server protection: Using Kerio Control’s advanced networking routing and deep packet inspection, you can protect servers.

    • Easily create policies: With Kerio Control, you can create both inbound and outbound traffic policies, and can also restrict communication by specific URLs, applications, traffic type, content category, or even time of day.

    • Snort-based analysis: Kerio Control gives you the ability to add a transparent layer of intrusion prevention with snort-based analysis along with a database of rule and blacklisted IP addresses that is regularly refreshed.

    • Optionally integrated anti-virus: WIth this feature, you can prevent viruses, Trojans, or spyware from entering your networks.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Here is some feedback from some of our users who are currently using the solution:

    PeerSpot user Brian C., Senior Technology Specialist, VP at Unified Technology Solutions, writes "It is very comprehensive and simple. It has all the active protections. It's updated. We love that you can set how often it is updated so you can work on what is right for you. A large company with a lot of bandwidth can update the virus definitions and security definitions hourly, if they want. A smaller site that's remote, where maybe updating the definitions will eat into the bandwidth, we can schedule those more to go later at night. It's very flexible and works for us in all types of situations. This is great because then we don't have to learn seven different products to be able to work with seven different scenarios."

    Andy D., IT Manager at Flare Technologies, praises how easy it is to use and says, "One thing we use quite a lot, as well, is the DHCP Server, because we do a lot of work where all our devices need to have static IP addresses. Rather than going around and configuring every box, we do it all through DHCP reservations. It's easier. We've got a record of it. We can manipulate it if we need to change something or change some hardware. It's all easy. Even guys who are not used to using it can pick it up quite quickly."



    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    Triton Technical, McDonald's
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Media Company7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business79%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise46%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiGate vs. KerioControl
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. KerioControl and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 67 reviews while KerioControl is ranked 28th in Firewalls with 9 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while KerioControl is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of KerioControl writes "Has good accounting and live monitoring features". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and Check Point NGFW, whereas KerioControl is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. KerioControl 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.