Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks WildFire comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 29, 2022

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

  • Ease of Deployment: Fortinet Fortigate users all agree that deployment is easy and the initial setup is straightforward. Some users of Palo Alto Networks Wildfire mention that deployment is easy, while some other reviewers find it to be somewhat complex.
  • Features: Reviewers of both solutions praise their stability, scalability, and VPN. Valuable features of Fortinet Fortigate include UTM shared bundle, SD-WAN network monitoring and features, Industrial Databases, Internet of Things, Detection, an intuitive administration panel, a good user interface, great templates, Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR), web filtering, application control, intrusion protection, link load balancing, reliability, user-friendliness, two-factor authentication, content filtering switches, and unified threat management capabilities. Users mention there are areas where the solution could be improved, including better monitoring and reporting, more improvements on the WiFi controller and the SSL-VPN, better performance and speed, and more flexibility for some of the cloud-based features.

    Valuable features of Palo Alto Networks Wildfire include automatically opening up emails to check if any damage occurs to the system, cloud-based protection against zero-day malware attacks, URL and DNS filtering, threat protection and antivirus, options of both a cloud or on-premises version, SLA, environment analysis, integration with all the other Palo Alto products, sandbox capabilities, application encryption, Panorama feature, backup feature, remote access, and its ease of use. Users feel that it could benefit from more automation for reporting, improved threat intelligence, that it could be easier to use from a product management perspective, and that it could have better integration with third-party products and services.
  • Pricing: Fortinet Fortigate users share mixed opinions, with some users expressing that they think the pricing is affordable and fair and some users mentioning they think it is on the more expensive side. Most Palo Alto Networks Wildfire reviewers agree that the solution is expensive.
  • Service and Support: Users of Fortinet Fortigate are satisfied with the service and support they receive, reporting that they have had positive experiences and fast turnaround times. In contrast, users of Palo Alto Networks Wildfire say that while the technical support is fairly good, their response times are quite slow.
  • ROI: Fortinet Fortigate users say they have definitely seen an ROI. A Palo Alto Networks Wildfire reviewer mentioned that the solution has saved them a lot of money.

Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet Fortigate is the more popular solution because of its ease of deployment combined with its solid set of features, excellent service and support ratings, and the fact that it is more affordable than Palo Alto Networks Wildfire.

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: November 2023).
745,775 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
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use.""FortiGate has a strong security topic which allows all of the Fortinet devices to communicate and share information which makes their security more powerful.""The most valuable feature is the interface, which is very user friendly. We are utilizing most of the features, like content filtering. The firewall is powerful.""It's an easy solution to set up.""The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering.""The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy.""I like Fortinet's cloud management. It allows me to manage all my devices in different branches for three cloud accounts. Even though I use on-prem devices, I can manage everything on the cloud.""Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"A good tool for file scanning and email threat detection, especially when it comes to attachments and communications.""The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks WildFire is its ability to adapt to environments and its robustness.""We get support in the free version.""The graphic user interface of Palo Alto is good and it's easy to configure.""We have found that Palo Alto Networks WildFire is scalable. We currently have six thousand users for the product.""I give the initial setup an eight out of ten.""I love the idea of Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It's more geared toward preventing malware. If someone's laptop or phone is malware-infected, the tool prevents it from uploading valuable corporate data outside the corporate network. That's what I love about Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It stops malware in its tracks.""Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten since we never faced any issues."

More Palo Alto Networks WildFire Pros →

Cons
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution.""Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem.""The stability could be a bit better.""I would like to see improvements in the product's application rules.""Web security solutions can be improved.""Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets.""I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products.""The solution lacks sufficient filtering."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"The cyber security visibility and forensics features to receive more information about incidents could improve in Palo Alto Networks WildFire.""The price could be better.""The free version does not have real-time updates. It is slow.""In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release of Palo Alto Networks WildFire, each release is based on malware that has been identified. The key problem is an average of six months from the time malware is written to the time it's discovered and a signature is created for it. The only advice that I can give is for them to shorten that timeframe. I don't know how they would do it, but if they shorten that, for example, cut it in half, they'll make themselves more famous.""High availability features are lacking.""There are some formats that the solution cannot support .""The global product feature needs improvement, the VPN, and we need some enhanced features.""The solution can improve its traffic management."

More Palo Alto Networks WildFire Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."
  • "The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
  • "Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."
  • "Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
  • "The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."
  • "The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device."
  • "It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."
  • "There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Palo Alto Networks WildFire is an expensive product."
  • "Palo Alto Networks WildFire is quite expensive, and this is what puts people off."
  • "The solution is a bit expensive. You pay for security."
  • "It's comparable to what the competition is. It is probably a little lesser than what the competition is because, as a state government, we go for whatever the lowest cost is."
  • "For the last three years, the price of Palo Alto in Vietnam has been very high."
  • "There are different types of licenses."
  • "The price could be better."
  • "The price of Palo Alto Networks WildFire could improve. It is expensive. There is an annual subscription to use the solution."
  • More Palo Alto Networks WildFire Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Netanya Carmi
    Richard Benfatto - PeerSpot reviewerRichard Benfatto
    User

    What type of network is? how many users? 


    Fortinet products are unique in that they have specific chips to work on hardware rather than overcharging a CPU to 90%, as happens with some Sophos boxes and others. 


    Things in the cloud... the cloud is a name, it is software running on someone else's computer system and could be only for you or multi-tenancy. Delays and other dramas may occur. 


    The question as I was invited to comment :| Which is better, does not tell anything, somehow.

    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 Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one considers that fact, it is all the more impressive that the setup is a fairly… more »
    Top Answer:FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like the most about it is that it has an attractive web dashboard with very easy… more »
    Top Answer:When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advanced malware and zero-day exploits with real-time intelligence. The sandbox feature… more »
    Ranking
    1st
    out of 54 in Firewalls
    Views
    122,353
    Comparisons
    90,183
    Reviews
    100
    Average Words per Review
    480
    Rating
    8.4
    Views
    3,844
    Comparisons
    2,844
    Reviews
    16
    Average Words per Review
    346
    Rating
    8.1
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate is an innovative line of firewalls that aim to protect organizations from all types of web-based network threats. They come in a wide variety of product types. Fortinet FortiGate’s solutions are available in a large range of sizes and form factors and are key components of the Fortinet Security Fabric, which enables immediate, intelligent defense against known and new threats throughout the entire network.

    Fortinet FortiGate provides users with next-generation firewall solutions that provide proven protection with unmatched performance across the network, from internal segments to data centers to cloud environments. You can protect every part of your network without exception. Additionally, your protections can be managed from a single central location. This ensures that the task of protecting your network is infinitely easier to accomplish.

    Benefits of Fortinet FortiGate

    Some of the benefits of using Fortinet FortiGate include:

    • The ability to manage your firewalls from a centralized automated control console. Fortinet FortiGate’s FortiManager enables administrators to exercise control of their firewalls in a streamlined manner. Administrators have full visibility and control over their system from a single location. It utilizes automation that collects information in real time, which greatly simplifies and reduces the cost of running various types of workflows. Administrators can free up resources by automating the most basic tasks.
    • The ability to produce uniform, appropriate, and coordinated responses to threats across networks. Fortinet FortiGate’s FortiGuard feature generates system protections in near real time. This allows administrators to address threats to the system with custom-made solutions that can be uniformly enforced.
    • The ability to scale up your security to fit your changing security needs. Fortinet FortiGate’s design allows users to accelerate the transfer of data between users and escalate the number of users that are covered without compromising security of performance. This means that users can grow their networks and continue to collaborate without worrying about the system slowing down or coming under attack.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Fortinet FortiGate’s firewall solutions are cutting edge. They stand out from competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the robustness and power of their firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate’s firewall provides users with many valuable features that allow them to maximize what they can do with the solution. These firewalls enable users to use a single piece of software to accomplish tasks that often require the use of multiple pieces of software.

    PeerSpot user Eric S., a Solutions Engineer and Consultant at a tech-services company, notes the robustness of this solution when he writes, "One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface.”

    PeerSpot user Jim M., a network admin at Penobscot Valley Hospital, notes the power of Fortinet FortiGate’s security software when he writes, "It does a lot for you for intrusion protection and as an antivirus. The threat management bundle is worth the money. You don't need another company to monitor your web traffic for you. You can do everything yourself on the firewall. You restrict your own black list for people on the firewall.”

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a highly effective cloud-based advanced threat protection (ATP) solution that organizations in a wide variety of fields trust to help them keep safe from digital threats. It is designed to enable businesses to confront even the most evasive threats and resolve them. It combines many techniques to maximize the level of threat protection available to users.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy WildFire include:

    Proactive real-time threat prevention. Organizations that utilize WildFire can take a proactive approach to their network security. Wildfire’s security scanning software is supported by powerful automation that enables it to run 180 times faster than other similar solutions. It also leverages machine learning to spot and address two times more malware monthly than its competitors. Users can solve issues as they arise, which prevents them from suffering severe harm.

    A holistic approach to security. WildFire leverages many of the security features and characteristics that can be found in some of the most effective security solutions in a way that provides users with a powerful protective blanket. It combines such things as machine learning, dynamic and static analysis, and a custom-built analysis environment, and enables users to cover many different potential avenues of attack. In this way, organizations can easily detect and prevent even the most sophisticated threats from harming them.

    Reduce overhead costs. Using WildFire cuts the expenses that a business incurs. Its architecture is based in the cloud and, as a result, users do not have to purchase hardware to run it. Additionally, those users do not have to pay anything more than a product subscription fee. They can scale it up as they wish and incur no additional costs.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Features

    Some of the many features WildFire offers include:

    Third-party integrations. WildFire gives users access to integrations that can enable them to combine Wildfire’s security suite with outside tools. If an organization thinks that they are missing something, they can easily use Wildfire’s third-party integrations to bolster their capabilities. These integrations can connect to many different types of tools, like security information or event management systems.

    URL filtering. Organizations can use a URL filtering feature to safeguard themselves against known threats. When this feature is active, it will scan for traffic coming from specific URLs that are known to be malicious. This keeps them one step ahead of those threats that they know about.

    Deep analytics. Wildfire comes with the ability to provide users with a detailed analysis of any threat that it finds across all of their network environments. It gives users insight into everything from their natures to the actions that they have performed.

    Reviews from Real Users

    WildFire is a solution that stands out when compared to its primary competitors. Two major advantages that it offers are the high speeds at which it can analyze network traffic for threats and the accuracy with which it can pick out genuine threats from false positives.

    Ahmad Z., the principal consultant at Securelytics, writes, “The analysis is very fast. The intermittent is a millisecond and has a speedy response time.”

    Christopher B., the senior systems administrator at a government agency, says, “It gives a more accurate assessment of a virus in terms of whether it's truly a virus, malware, or a false positive. We have some legacy software that could pop up as being something that is malware. WildFire goes through and inspects it, and then it comes back and lets us know if it's a false positive. Usually, when it finds out that it's not a virus, it lets us know that it's benign, and it can exclude it from that scan, which means I don't even have to worry about that one popping up anymore.”

    Offer
    Learn more about Fortinet FortiGate
    Learn more about Palo Alto Networks WildFire
    Sample Customers
    Pittsburgh Steelers, LUSH Cosmetics, NASDAQ, Verizon, Arizona State University, Levi Strauss & Co. Whitepaper and case studies here
    Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization21%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Government13%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Computer Software Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise62%
    Buyer's Guide
    Firewalls
    November 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, OPNsense and others in Firewalls. Updated: November 2023.
    745,775 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 113 reviews while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 3rd in ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) with 20 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "Intuitive, stable, and scalable zero-day threat prevention solution with a machine learning feature". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and Check Point NGFW, whereas Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Proofpoint Email Protection, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Fortinet FortiSandbox and Zscaler Internet Access.

    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.