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Hillstone CloudEdge vs Netgate pfSense 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
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
591
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Hillstone CloudEdge
Ranking in Firewalls
50th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
221
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 8.3%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate16.0%
Netgate pfSense8.3%
Hillstone CloudEdge0.3%
Other75.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches
Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.
Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies
Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities
Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.
JA
Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control
What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Fortinet technical support is awesome."
"The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"I would recommend using Fortinet FortiGate because of its usability."
"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by preventing hackers from accessing our network."
"It's a firewall that secures our internal network. I have been using it since 2013, and I find that most of the features are advanced, and very user friendly."
"Fortinet FortiGate's ease of management is the most valuable feature."
"The stability is great; there are no issues with crashing or freezing, and there are no bugs or glitches."
"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."
"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."
"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."
"The stability of the product is very good; we haven't had any issues, there aren't bugs or glitches, it doesn't crash or freeze, and it's reliable."
"The most valuable feature is the routing capability. We're primarily using the appliance as a router to provide DNS and multi-WAN routing."
"It has a very nice web interface, and it is very simple to use. The way policies are working is also good."
"The gain in performance and security from configuring the VPN connections was significant, since pfSense has replaced a server with a custom Linux open source version, which was running on outdated hardware."
"Open source and support are valuable. I have community support."
"Our security in our organization was previously provided by our ISP and since we have been using pfSense it has provided me more abilities to manage my network in a secure way, and we have much better controls and security."
"It's powerful. You can get quite granular in setting up a highly topical application of pfSense, but if you want just basic protection, you can do that easily. It depends on your needs and how brave you are. You can go deep into the system and do some cool things with it or set up the bare protection you would get from any firewall."
"pfSense provides visibility that enables users to make data-driven decisions. I'd rate the capabilities seven out of ten."
 

Cons

"I would rate the technical support of Fortinet a six or seven out of ten. It is not very helpful. I would like to see improvements in their support."
"The support is not good because I generally search for solutions online. When I open a case, they usually identify it as a bug they are working on."
"Fortinet needs to continue to improve network traceability."
"However, two distinct security policies must be used and nothing of the IPv6 settings are configurable via the GUI."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve their documentation on forward error correction and failover technologies."
"From my point of view, I think Fortinet has to extend the solution into the cloud and provide all the security features from the cloud and not be dependent on the firewall appliances."
"Its filtering is sometimes too precise or strict. We sometimes have to bypass and authorize some of the sites, but they get blocked."
"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"The integration of pfSense with EPS and EDS could be better. Also, it should be easier to get reports on how many users are connecting simultaneously and how sections connect in real-time."
"If pfSense could change its framework from FreeBSD and PHP to a different language and Linux OS, that could enhance security."
"Reporting and real-time monitoring, since I'm used to Watchguard's reporting features, it would be nice to have an embedded solution for reporting."
"Many people have problems setting up the web cache for the web system."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"They could do better with their licensing in the home use space. For me, that has been a struggle."
"In terms of areas of improvement, the interface seemed like it had a lot."
"Something that I do not appreciate about Netgate pfSense and I wish they would change would be the feature limitations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although the solution's pricing is high, compared with other products, it may be cheap."
"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."
"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution."
"While slightly more affordable than competitors, it remains relatively expensive due to its inclusive subscription."
"The price is relatively expensive compared to other solutions which are providing similar features."
"The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars."
"The solution is offered as an annual license."
Information not available
"Spend at least $300 or more on a good pfSense box. Use a hard drive, and not a USB flash drive for pfSense storage."
"pfSense pricing is reasonable."
"PFSENSE turns out to be very economical, the license is free and for little money you get very good support"
"Netgate pfSense Community Edition is great and free. For Netgate pfSense Plus, we have to buy Netgate's boxes, and the pricing is great."
"The pricing is lower than some of its competitors."
"There is no license. You don't have to pay anything. It's completely free."
"Our customers must pay for an annual license."
"There is no licensing fee except for the enterprise support, if you want it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business367
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise193
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business171
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
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 ...
What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?
There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?
Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I reco...
How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?
Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigat...
What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

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
LinkTime
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.