Fortinet FortiGate vs Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) comparison

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 6.9%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) is 0.7%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	6.9%
iboss	2.5%
Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)	0.7%
Other	89.9%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

Designed to provide comprehensive and secure internet access with high visibility into users

Muhammad Asif Shaikh

Deputy GM - IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

After my purchase, I noticed a need for improvements, particularly in the area of identifying the source user of the device, which can sometimes roll back to the base. Additionally, there were challenges with SSL gate traffic, which wasn't functioning as effectively as expected. Even though there have been fixes to these issues, they should be inherent to the product and need further attention. These aspects, especially sub-features, aren't very robust and seem complex. Regarding integration, while Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) integrates well with its own products, its compatibility with third-party tools like QB is limited. There's room for improvement in making protocols compatible with various third-party products.

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"Technical support is pretty sharp and very responsive."

"The iboss solution gives me the ability to scan the traffic through all the ports, through all the 131,000 PCP and UDP ports, and with this ability, we have the granularity also for consults over social media and applications on mobile, and this is an advantage that the customers are looking for right now."

"iboss has significantly lowered the number of security incidents. It is crazy how much it blocks and how much it is aware of the outside danger."

"From a corporate perspective, I understand that it's important to keep the company data safe."

More iboss 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, and we are also using it for the VPN and VLANs."

"In my area, this solution is recommended for many projects because it's very easy to do the implementation and troubleshoot and is highly stable."

"The interest of the Fortinet FortiGate appliance is the ability to manage quickly and easily the different functionalities."

"Its administrative panel is very intuitive and simple. It is simpler than the other solutions that we had. As an administrator, we are always looking for the easiest solution to manage network policies. We are able to filter everything on our network and also use the VPN feature, which is important these days when people are working remotely during COVID."

"The pricing is excellent. It's much less expensive than Cisco."

"Fortigate can mitigate all attacks, it can handle a lot, it has a good set of UTM features, a good bandwidth shaping mechanism, and other features."

"We use the filtering feature the most. It has filtering and inbuilt securities. We can create customized rules to define which users can access a particular type of site. We can create policies inside the firewall."

"The product is user-friendly and not complex."

"The most significant aspect is the control it offers over internet traffic, like managing computer access to specific sites such as Facebook. I find particular value in its ability to control the depth of internal traffic, enabling actions like blocking specific file extensions on social media or specific IPs. This control by categories is a standout feature for us in Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)."

"The solution is interoperable and has centralized management."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

Cons

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."

"I'd like to see them accelerate development on the security side, particularly around data loss prevention."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

"If they could implement an extra security layer preventing access to iboss from the open internet, it would be great."

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

"I am currently doing a PoC of the zero trust aspect of it. Compared to other similar solutions, it is hard to get around each feature. It takes a while to get used to it."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

More iboss cons

"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."

"The solution should allow more user-friendly integrations or deployment"

"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."

"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."

"Maybe they can offer a smaller scope for a cheaper price for smaller organizations."

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

"There is a lot of improvement needed with SSL-VPN."

"In the past six to seven years with the Fortinet FortiGate, we've had two major downtimes, both caused by firmware upgrades."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"After my purchase, I noticed a need for improvements, particularly in the area of identifying the source user of the device, which can sometimes roll back to the base. Additionally, there were challenges with SSL gate traffic, which wasn't functioning as effectively as expected. Even though there have been fixes to these issues, they should be inherent to the product and need further attention. These aspects, especially sub-features, aren't very robust and seem complex. Regarding integration, while Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) integrates well with their own products, its compatibility with third-party tools like QB is limited. There's room for improvement in making protocols compatible with various third-party products."

"The solution's logging system should be improved because its logs are not precise and are a little confusing."

"In Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG), its speed is an area of concern where improvements are required."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

"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."

"Its pricing is competitive with other solutions."

"We are currently evaluating a Palo Alto solution, and the pricing could be a reason for going for Palo Alto."

"By default, they give SD-WAN along with the firewall. They don't have separate licensing for the SD-WAN functionality. However, they have security licenses that are sold separately on a subscription basis. Customers can consume these security features to protect their users from internet traffic."

"It scales well if you know what to buy from a physical box standpoint. They seem to offer something for every level."

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"Its price could be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It is one of the reason for choosing it over other available products. However, recently, this year, there have been recurring concerns. I believe we might consider migrating to another solution."

"The solution’s pricing is cheaper than any other solution."

"I rate the product pricing a five or six out of ten on a scale of one to ten."

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

What needs improvement with iboss?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	360
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	190

No data available

Questions from the Community

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

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Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

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When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

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Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Cisco Umbrella vs Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)

Compared 24% of the time

Fortinet FortiProxy vs Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)

Compared 19% of the time

Skyhigh Security vs Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)

Compared 13% of the time

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Product Reports

iboss

Download iboss product report

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

February 2026

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) report

Download Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

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

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) enhances network security and control with its reliable internet management functions, catering to enterprises seeking robust solutions. It optimizes bandwidth utilization and offers comprehensive traffic analysis, making it a choice option for IT professionals.

Sangfor IAG addresses critical security needs while providing detailed insights into internet activities. It stands out for its integrated functionalities that ensure high data security and seamless network performance. Designed for ease of use, it simplifies administration and policy management, thus facilitating organizational efficiency. With its advanced threat protection, it ensures compliance and reduces security threats.

What are the key features of Sangfor IAG?

Bandwidth Management: Optimizes and allocates bandwidth to ensure smooth network operations.
Behavior Management: Monitors and controls user activities to enhance productivity.
Traffic Analysis: Provides detailed reports for comprehensive understanding of network usage.
Access Control: Implements security policies that restrict unauthorized access.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Enhanced Security: Offers robust protection against network threats and vulnerabilities.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces overhead costs with efficient bandwidth management.
Improved Productivity: Allows businesses to tailor network access to boost efficiency.
Ease of Use: Simplifies network management with user-friendly interfaces.

Sangfor IAG is effectively used across industries like education and finance. Educational institutions utilize it for controlling student access to online resources, while financial sectors rely on its security features to protect sensitive client data. Its adaptability makes it suitable for diverse business environments.

Sangfor

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

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

Information Not Available

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG)