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Fortinet FortiOS vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

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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
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
396
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Fortinet FortiOS
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (22nd)
Stormshield Network Security
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (13th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
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.
Harshama Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
We have improved network security with user-friendly controls and high threat intelligence
FortiOS is very user-friendly and easy to configure for L1, L2, and L3 personnel. Its web filtering, application control, and IPS features are very user-friendly, easy to manage, and deploy. The threat intelligence in FortiOS is very high, and the system is scalable without additional licensing costs. FortiOS allows us to expand the number of users and devices as our network needs grow.
Benjamin - PeerSpot reviewer
The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats
The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like Fortinet FortiGate's antispam filter, SPN, and clustering features."
"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."
"Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."
"The most important features with FortiGate are the web filter and application controls. We can control our internet usage and use the web filter for application purposes."
"Customers are more inclined towards FortiGate because of application control, web filtering, and anti-spam features. The support from the FortiGate team is good, and price-wise, it is affordable."
"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are its SD-WAN capabilities, such as dynamic routing, and other features, including security options such as antivirus, IPS, and IDS—all integrated into one device."
"In my opinion, Fortinet FortiOS provides significant benefits to users, such as saving time, saving money, and streamlining workflow processes."
"The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive."
"I am satisfied with Fortinet FortiOS. It's a cool product and has a lot of UTM features. It has application control, web filtering, antivirus, IPS/IDS, DNS filtering, and many things in that firewall. It also has a web application firewall WAF feature. On the feature side, it's a good firewall."
"The technical support on offer has always been quite good."
"I find filtering traffic, filtering web traffic, session traffic, and managing the network as valuable features."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are the ease of use and user-friendly interface."
"The most valuable feature of this solution would be the caching feature."
"I like that the firewall gives me a lot of control in terms of outgoing and inbound traffic, and it scores better in deep packet inspections when compared with the Azure Firewall."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed."
"Our organization's main concern is stability, and this is a stable solution."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"A very robust product."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page."
"It's an easy, straightforward management platform to use."
"The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."
"I like that it works fine. Stormshield is a very good solution."
 

Cons

"The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."
"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."
"To some degree, it's almost a question as to why some of this stuff isn't simpler. For example, for an AP deployment, while it's integrated, the number of steps that you have to go through in order to get the AP up, seems like a lot."
"Improvements for Fortinet FortiGate could be made by making it easier to implement on networks and simpler to add users and accounts that utilize this solution. That's basically the only challenge that I see."
"They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."
"At the moment, if you don't integrate any third-party solution with a simple Fortinet FortiGate box, the box would not function as expected for superb protection."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"The built-in logging and reporting is limited without FortiAnalyzer."
"It would be great if they can push the Microsoft updates through Fortinet OS and provide a centralized patch management system. They should also include the data loss prevention (DLP) and data leakage prevention features. They could also add network monitoring more effectively."
"The complexity of the VPNs should be improved."
"Fortinet FortiOS need to manage its memory and CPU utilization better. It peaks at times, which sometimes can be challenging."
"Lacks flexibility for different scenario configurations."
"The solution is good, but they have poor marketing in Nigeria. They need to market their product better."
"Real-time threat monitoring is not there."
"The solution could improve the log retention and reports."
"Fortinet FortiOS's integration could be improved."
"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."
"This is not a next-generation firewall."
"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."
"Improvement is needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer."
"It could be better if it were more user-friendly. It's too complicated for us to use it. The price could be better as well."
"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."
"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."
"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Setup costs and pricing depends on many variables, but it's mostly affordable."
"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."
"Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years."
"We just pay a flat monthly fee to the vendor for the support."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is the lowest in the market."
"The price could be lower."
"There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support."
"Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate."
"Be sure to choose a licensing plan that leaves a little headroom so performance is not an issue."
"The pricing could always be lower."
"The solution is cost effective. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The solution is quite affordable and I rate the cost a four out of ten."
"The software costs roughly half what the hardware costs. Overall, the product is expensive."
"The licensing for FortiOS is good, with a security license included when we update the main license."
"The scalability of Fortinet FortiOS is good. However, central management is intuitive for the end-users. We had a lot of questions about central management, and sometimes they didn't use it and did their firewall management directly on FortiGate instead of using Fortinet FortiOS."
"The best solution in the category including the price in Thailand is Fortinet FortiOS."
"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."
"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."
"The pricing could be better."
"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."
"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."
"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."
"I think the price is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
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...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiOS?
The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?
I rate the pricing for FortiOS as eight or nine out of ten. It is an affordable solution for us.
 

Also Known As

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

 

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
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiOS vs. Stormshield Network Security and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,564 professionals have used our research since 2012.