Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

Hillstone Networks and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #22, while WatchGuard is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Hillstone Networks holds a 1.5% mindshare in ID, compared to WatchGuard’s 6.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 15, 2026

Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System and WatchGuard Firebox compete in network security by focusing on intrusion prevention and firewall protection. WatchGuard Firebox offers a broad feature set appealing to organizations seeking robust security, making it the preferred choice for those investing in extensive protection.

Features: Hillstone S-Series provides advanced threat detection, comprehensive traffic analysis, and a focus on depth of analysis. WatchGuard Firebox integrates firewall, VPN, and malware protection, focusing on integrated functionalities and ease of use. Both offer powerful tools in distinct areas to meet various network security needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hillstone S-Series involves a detailed setup process with solid customer support post-deployment. WatchGuard Firebox simplifies deployment with automated features, offering strong support channels for a quicker, user-friendly implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Hillstone S-Series incurs a higher initial setup cost, justified by its extensive threat management. WatchGuard Firebox offers flexible pricing suitable for various budgets, promising ROI through efficient management and streamlined deployment. Hillstone requires upfront investment, while Firebox offers a comprehensive return over time with additional features and lower initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

February 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 13.2%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 6.1%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	13.2%
WatchGuard Firebox	6.1%
Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System	1.5%
Other	79.2%

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

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reviewer1080873

Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Complements any firewall

The core processors are there and it's able to generate reports for that. It also complements any kind of firewall. For example, if an end user is using Palo Alto as a firewall, they'd need another layer of firewall like the S-Series that will protect internal servers. It's something that complements any firewall in the market.

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Pedro Soteras

CEO at ajuntament del Prat

Network protection has improved with stronger VPN connectivity but administration remains complex

Deploying WatchGuard Firebox was quite easy, but we have had some problems regarding the VPN and the administration of the tool and the two firewalls that we have. When comparing WatchGuard Firebox with our previous solution, Palo Alto, we have had some problems in administration because of the tools. I think that they have some aspects in their system that are cloud-provided, but they also have an on-premise solution, which makes this combination good. Although I should say that when compared to Palo Alto, we have taken a step backwards. In general, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox around 6-7; it is a good firewall, but they lack good administration tools. We experience many problems with the performance and administration tools on the web, including several issues with VPNs.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate is a simple solution, and the integration with other solutions in the Fortinet portfolio, such as the Security Fabric integration, is competitive."

"For application filtration, I really appreciate many features of Fortinet FortiGate because it is more reliable, easy to use, and the reports are easy to read and understand."

"There are lots of features and most of them are deployed for internet security. Users are protected if they accidentally go to some malicious sites."

"The Fortinet FortiGate IPS has a good interface and integration."

"The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products."

"I am "headache free" that I don't have to categorize all the websites and that security has been pre categorized by the people, and that the services are getting updated. At least one part of my problem is over."

"The ease of setting the solution up is a valuable aspect for us."

"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Setup is straightforward with the same reliability and scalability as the firewall series."

"WatchGuard Firebox is the most powerful firewall for Wi-Fi security."

"[A] valuable feature would be the branch office. We have five offices throughout the United States, and it coordinates the connections of those offices."

"WebBlocker has the best URL category database ever."

"Easy to change the model if you need more performance, with good cohesion in the whole lineup of devices."

"It has everything we need in terms of functionality."

"The solution has increased productivity with our outside salespeople being able to connect into their computers and use those remotely."

"I like their management features a lot. Their System Manager server as well the System Manager software make managing them, and tracking changes, very easy and complete."

"The set up of the VPN is pretty straightforward. Being able to build VPNs on the fly for certain users, if need be, is also valuable."

More WatchGuard Firebox pros

Cons

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

"The product does need better support in the cloud environment. It's not exactly cloud-native right now."

"The price could be improved."

"The user interface needs a bit of upgrading."

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

"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Lack of tools to help educate end users"

"In terms of the reporting and management features — and this isn't necessarily a WatchGuard issue, this seems to be more of an industry-wide issue — you get reports, but a lot of times you don't know what you're looking at. You're so overwhelmed with the data. You're getting a lot of stuff that doesn't matter, so it takes time to parse through it, to actually get what you want to know."

"The solution needs to improve its accessibility."

"The solution can improve by adding a feature to tag a MAC address of a computer system in the policy and more IP configuration settings."

"The solution is a bit confusing and there are unusual complications with setup."

"It is also difficult to diagnose issues if any devices get compromised; for example, if someone hacks our system, it becomes hard to trace who made changes or accessed the firewall."

"We were able to take from an older configuration, build a new one quickly, and get it up and running, which didn't take long, but there was some pain around it."

"The pricing of WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response could be improved."

"The UI and web view aren't nice."

More WatchGuard Firebox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."

"The pricing is better compared to other solutions like Check Point, Arista, or Cisco."

"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."

"Fortinet FortiGate is cost-efficient. Palo Alto is expensive, but Fortinet FortiGate is not."

"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."

"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."

"A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"For what we use, the tool's price has been reasonable, but it is not the cheapest. The tool has been quite reasonable."

"There is a license required to use the solution and we pay annually. The price could be reduced because it is a bit expensive."

"The cheapest configuration, for maybe five people, is approximately $500."

"The primary reason that we went with Firebox was its cost. It is very economical and it provided us with all the security functions that we were looking for at the time. And the throughput was more than what we required, so it was a very cost-effective device to deploy on our network."

"We license the WatchGuard Firebox annually. There are different types of subscriptions available. We are paying approximately $15,000 annually. The cost can increase if you purchase different subscriptions."

"They license it. When we buy it, we buy it with a three-year license. That's the most cost-effective way to do it. So, if you're going to buy it, then buy it with the three-year licensing."

"We had a trade-in offer at the end of our first three-year term. As a result, we pretty much got a free device by buying the three-year subscription. It was around $3,000 for the three-years."

"Despite the fact that there is always room for improvement, the current pricing of the solution is still lower compared to its competitors."

More WatchGuard Firebox pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Comms Service Provider

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	189

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	95
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	15

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System

Compared 24% of the time

Vectra AI vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System

Compared 18% of the time

Darktrace vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System

Compared 17% of the time

ProtectWise vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System

Compared 14% of the time

Trellix Intrusion Prevention System vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System

Compared 11% of the time

More Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 3% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

February 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

February 2026

Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System report

Download Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Firebox

January 2026

Download WatchGuard Firebox product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Hillstone S-Series NIPS

WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service

Overview

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

Hillstone Network-based IPS (NIPS) appliance operates in-line, and at wire speed, performing deep packet inspection, and assembling inspection of all network traffic. It also applies rules based on several methodologies, including protocol anomaly analysis and signature analysis to block threats. Hillstone NIPS can be deployed in the network to inspect traffic left undetected by perimeter solutions, and is an integral part of network security systems for its high-performance, no compromise, best-of-breed protection capability and broad and flexible deployment scenarios.

Hillstone Networks

WatchGuard Firebox is a high-performance firewall known for its ease of setup, offering robust security with layered protection and centralized management capabilities.

WatchGuard Firebox stands out for its intuitive management and high throughput, addressing security needs with features like VPN, web filtering, and threat detection. Its centralized control and reporting abilities, along with Active Directory integration, make it popular among varied organizations. Its user-friendly interface and ongoing updates enhance usability and reliability. However, there's a call for better cloud-based administration, scalability, and improved integration with third-party vendors.

What are the key features of WatchGuard Firebox?

Ease of Setup: Quick and straightforward installation process.
GUI: User-friendly graphical interface for simplified navigation.
VPN Features: Secure and efficient virtual private network management.
Web Filtering: Advanced filtering for safer browsing experiences.
Threat Detection: Proactive monitoring and detection of cyber threats.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Centralized Control: Streamlined management from a single point.
High Throughput: Efficient data handling and processing capacity.
Stable Performance: Consistent and reliable operational functionality.
Active Directory Integration: Seamless connection with user directories.
Customer Service: Strong support service for customer inquiries.

WatchGuard Firebox is implemented across industries to secure internet gateways and protect data in multi-site businesses. Its applications span from Unified Threat Management (UTM) and intrusion prevention to compliance support in business environments requiring secure connectivity through VPNs.

WatchGuard

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

Information Not Available

Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence

Buyer's Guide

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

February 2026

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