Fortinet FortiGate vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

Fortinet and Zscaler are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Zscaler is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.3. Fortinet holds a 21.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Zscaler’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 357 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

69,766 Views
52,973 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Read 18 Zscaler Cloud Firewall reviews

1,220 Views
864 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Fortinet FortiGate and Zscaler Cloud Firewall compete in the network security category. FortiGate appears to have the upper hand due to its hardware integration and flexible pricing, while Zscaler excels in cloud-native architecture with seamless cloud application integration.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate includes UTM, IPS, VPN, web filtering, and application control, facilitating its robust performance for various deployment scales. Its intuitive configuration and hardware integration set it apart. Zscaler Cloud Firewall's cloud-native structure supports advanced threat protection, DLP, web security, and CASB. It offers seamless integration with cloud applications and eliminates the need for onsite hardware.

Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiGate could enhance configuration simplicity, GUI improvements, and better cloud management features. It also faces upfront cost challenges for advanced setups. Zscaler Cloud Firewall needs to improve customization flexibility, integration with legacy systems, and deployment simplicity. Users also report issues with internet access policies and data center coverage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate, primarily on-premises, supports hybrid cloud deployment with comprehensive documentation and effective support, despite some response delays. Zscaler's cloud-native model enables easy scaling and fast deployment, although customer support responsiveness and data center distribution could improve.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate is considered cost-effective with extensive features, yet licensing and renewal costs may accumulate. It offers flexible licensing options, providing good ROI. Zscaler Cloud Firewall is deemed pricier, especially for smaller businesses, but its subscription models maintain value by offering comprehensive security coverage.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

June 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in Firewalls

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

357

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Ranking in Firewalls

26th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.4%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Jorge Martínez

Presales Engineer at Sencinet

Offers good SD-WAN capabilities and integrates easily with Fortinet devices

I am not part of the initial setup or deployment process since I work in presales. The setup or deployment is quite easy, as you can do a one-touch deployment that automatically connects to the FortiManager cloud when you connect it to a broadband or dynamic IP, allowing you to start the configuration from that point. We usually sell it for on-premises setups. It's on the cloud only when the client has virtual machines or their own service. Sometimes they have a service on the cloud like AWS, but it's more difficult to sell now because AWS has an e-commerce option where you can buy FortiGate directly. The only thing you need is someone to manage and configure.

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Bhaskar Rao

Network manager admin at Yamaha

Though it helps deal with web traffic or any malicious traffic, it needs to work on its DC performance issues

The product's initial setup phase is moderate in level, so it is neither very complex nor very easy. For the deployment, my company first needs to gather all the requirements of the users and the domain names and consider how many users there are in the company. In the implementation and planning part, my company needs to consider what kind of policies we will create while ensuring that the policies are created based on the requirements of the users. There is a need to segregate the users' requirements since there are separate departments in the company, like the HR department, sales department, IT department, and manufacturing department, so that our company can create policies depending on their requirements. On-site, if you want a GRE tunnel, our company can handle GRE tunnel traffic routing and Zscaler Cloud Firewall, after which Zscaler will take action based on the policies created by our organization. For the deployments and maintenance, a team of five members consisting of two managers and three engineers is required.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."

"Fortinet FortiGate positively provides my clients' organizations with a high return on investment."

"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The response is very quick and they can visually resolve our problems in a short period."

"Fortinet FortiGate has a very stable Linux-based operating system that is easy to use."

"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."

"One of the valuable features is a standardized OS."

"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The visibility and log availability offered are highly valued for troubleshooting purposes, and this is a key factor driving customer interest in the firewall module."

"Zscaler is still a very good product."

"The solution is scalable."

"Since it is really customizable, I can use it and avoid enabling access to the full network."

"The scalability is okay. We have around 2200 people using this solution."

"If malicious traffic attacks our on-premises servers, then it gets blocked by Zscaler Cloud Firewall."

"The technical support from Zscaler was excellent."

"The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pros

Cons

"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."

"The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are."

"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."

"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."

"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."

"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."

"This product needs to have an analysis feature, rather than having the analysis done through the integration of a different product."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There are some areas it could improve when it comes to blocking, we have to block some things manually. For example, if we block a top-level domain we have seen that the new IPs come through, the IPs are not blocked. There should be some more granular way of doing it. My only request is if you're blocking something at a top level, the sub-level sub-domains and all those other IPs should be blocked too automatically."

"Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP."

"The issue right now is probably that Zscaler is not providing web browser isolation. Another solution, Menlo, offers this. For one customer, we had to send traffic to Menlo to do the isolation for us. It was requested by the customer so that they could integrate any iframe. Zscaler needs to add this type of feature in their next release."

"Data Leak Prevention is only for web filtering and there is no protection for email."

"They do not provide a few components that are fundamental to differentiate the products"

"Its technical support services could be better."

"Instead of the standard license, they should certainly provide customers with the visibility to access and view the logs."

"The product could improve its integration with some legacy systems."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For the performance that we get, the price is reasonable. There are cheaper options, but they may not deliver the same kind of performance that we want. For the performance they provide, the price is acceptable."

"Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."

"The pricing is fair."

"For the price, I'd rate it a ten because it's very cost-effective."

"It's an expensive solution."

"The Fortinet FortiGate security features cost approximately $1,500 a year. The firewall itself doesn't have a recurring cost. It's the security features on top of that that you pay for."

"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It is expensive for small businesses."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis. It is somewhere around 30 or 40 pounds per user for our organization."

"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."

"There are different subscription models available."

"It comes at a significantly reduced cost while ensuring control and effectiveness."

"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pricing and cost advice

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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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

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...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

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 upg...

See all answers

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

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 wou...

See all answers

Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datacenter and endpoint. In between you have branch office. So blending EPP and firew...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors. However, it offered moderate value for money.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 21% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 15% of the time

Check Point NGFW vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

June 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

May 2025

Download Zscaler Cloud Firewall product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Zscaler enables the world’s leading organizations to securely transform their networks and applications for a mobile and cloud first world. Its flagship services, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access, create fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Zscaler services are 100% cloud-delivered and offer the simplicity, enhanced security, and improved user experience that traditional appliances or hybrid solutions are unable to match. Used in more than 185 countries, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting thousands of enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.

Check more details: https://www.zscaler.com/produc...

Zscaler

Sample Customers

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

Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

June 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

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