Hillstone T-Series vs KerioControl comparison

Hillstone Networks and GFI are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #42, while GFI is ranked #27 with an average rating of 9.3. Hillstone Networks holds a 0.5% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to GFI’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of GFI users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

KerioControl and Hillstone T-Series are competing firewall solutions. KerioControl is favorable for its affordability and customer support, while Hillstone T-Series is favored for its advanced features, making it worth the higher price.

Features: KerioControl is known for its ease of setup, user-friendly management tools, and strong customer support. Hillstone T-Series provides advanced security features, higher performance capabilities, and enhanced scalability.

Room for Improvement: KerioControl could benefit from improved scalability, additional advanced security options, and enhanced performance. Hillstone T-Series may need better documentation, a more intuitive management experience, and easier deployment processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: KerioControl is praised for its straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Hillstone T-Series offers robust features but can be more challenging to deploy, often requiring specialized support.

Pricing and ROI: KerioControl has lower setup costs and favorable ROI, especially for small to mid-sized businesses. Hillstone T-Series involves higher initial costs but delivers a higher ROI for organizations requiring enhanced security and complex network management.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone T-Series vs. KerioControl Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone T-Series vs. KerioControl

April 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 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 T-Series is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KerioControl is 1.2%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	16.0%
KerioControl	1.2%
Hillstone T-Series	0.5%
Other	82.3%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

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.

Read full review

TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Is stable and has a user-friendly dashboard and a good interface

We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good We cannot secure a specific IP class with this firewall. Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the…

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Constantnos Achilleos

Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean

Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security

The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…

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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

"The pricing on offer is excellent."

"It is easy to use, and there are a lot of security features right out of the box."

"The enterprise-level support is excellent, and we receive quick assistance from Fortinet FortiGate."

"Fortinet solutions are very easy to implement, proven, certified and tested."

"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."

"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution."

"FortiGate firewalls are user-friendly, and I like the security profiling features."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We found some limitations with Fortinet FortiGate, and we are satisfied with Hillstone T-Series right now."

"Hillstone supports IOT setup and detecting intrusions from IOT or CCTV connectivity, and with this solution, we can also detect unauthorized devices plugged into the CCTV network and sound the alarm to the administrator."

"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."

"The only firewall able to monitor traffic from a CCTV network. Can detect unauthorized devices plugged into the network, which standard firewalls can't do."

"It has been stable so far."

"The most valuable features of Kerio Control are the IPS and traffic rules, the traffic rules are very user-friendly and the IPS is working well, and additionally, the anti-virus is effective with quick options, such as filtering."

"Kerio has improved my organization's security."

"I want to have access to my computer from the outside and Kerio Control plays a role because it has a VPN... It is more reliable because it's a smaller group of computers to target for hackers and the like. The VPN works very well. I use it to work remotely very easily and exchange information, both to and from the location where it's deployed, and there have been no problems there."

"Kerio Control is easy to use and provides the ability to deliver customized solutions."

"I haven't found another product that is able to do the things that Kerio Control can do for the money."

"Setup is simple. The Kerio interface is very intuitive."

"The most valuable feature is the reliability of VPN capabilities. The VPN has been very reliable and secure. The security has been very good and the VPN connections are reliable in that they stay up. We don't have a lot of problems with downtime and that type of thing."

"It helps us better control internal and external communications."

More KerioControl pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."

"There could be more modifications."

"The area that Fortinet may improve is customer support."

"We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions."

"With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."

"Its price could be better."

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

"We are pretty happy with it. If anything, I believe the web interface could be simpler, especially for someone who has limited networking experience."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the hotspot get all the functions, and the security does not work."

"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."

"Licensing is not cheap, but there are customers who will buy because they understand that this has a cost involved and they will cater their budget for that."

"Licensing is not cheap."

"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."

"Because of all the security features within Kerio Control, e.g., it can do a deep packet inspection, this can slow down the traffic."

"They should improve the remote connectivity feature for users."

"Effectively, I can't use the WiFi facility in the appliance and had to purchase a separate web that supports VLANs."

"KerioControl has met some of the network infrastructure needs yet could improve in terms of scalability, which I rate four out of ten."

"The comprehensiveness of the security features could be improved upon. However, for the most part, it is pretty good. They could add more logs. I would like to see more detailed reporting, custom reporting from the logs, and more of a streamlined interface for certain aspects."

"I would like to be able to automatically send email from Kerio Control and have it tell me what my external IPs are, because on one of my lines I have a fixed IP address and on the other it is variable."

"The GUI should be changed because it remains the same consistency across versions. However, those who have been using KerioControl for a long time may be accustomed to the current interface. Installing a new version in the same location makes it easy to find, but overall, there are no notable changes between versions."

"The denial of service could also be improved. There recently was a big issue with denial of service attacks and it was a bit laborious."

More KerioControl cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an expensive solution"

"It is very cost-effective. You get features similar to other firewalls, such as Palo Alto, but at a lower price."

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."

"The setup cost was good. The Egyptian pound is declining, and upgrading Fortinet FortiGate yearly costs about $2000 USD, which equals one hundred Egyptian pounds. I maintain a business relationship with the vendor and receive support from them."

"In my opinion, the pricing of the product is reasonable."

"The price is okay, so far so good."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"On a scale from one to ten, with one being low and ten being high price, I would rate the price of Hillstone T-Series at three. There are no additional costs other than renewal costs."

"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."

"It is a good fit for SMBs because of its maintainability. When you want to keep your costs low, then Kerio Control is a very good solution. It's not an expensive product that is well integrated. It has a complete set of features within it that make it a very strong product."

"On the low-end device that I use, it has unlimited IP addresses. So, they have a subscription model where, on the higher models, you pay X dollars for 10 IP addresses. Then, if you want any more, you have to pay more on the model. On the low-end model, it has unlimited IP addresses, because if you have too many users, the thing will just slow you down and stop working. At some point, you need to say, "Okay, I've grown to a point where performance is impacted. I need to get some bigger hardware." If I get to that stage, I will possibly look at using one of the virtual appliances and putting it on some bigger hardware."

"My advice is to use your own hardware, and do not use theirs."

"It gives us a lot. It does prove to be a very robust product for the cost."

"The price is fine."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. For additional costs, you can add on more features such as antivirus."

"The pricing is in-line with our expectations in terms of the quality that we get for it."

"It's too expensive. The license, in the last year or so, has gone up by over a £100. We're almost being out-priced by the annual license at the minute."

More KerioControl pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	3

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?

KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the p...

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What needs improvement with KerioControl?

Regarding KerioControl's application awareness and control feature, I have not used it much.

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What is your primary use case for KerioControl?

With KerioControl, we usually use them for site-to-site VPNs for most of our clients. With multiple offices, we use K...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 22% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 15% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 8% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 6% of the time

More Hillstone T-Series Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs KerioControl

Compared 11% of the time

OPNsense vs KerioControl

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos UTM vs KerioControl

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs KerioControl

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs KerioControl

Compared 4% of the time

More KerioControl Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

April 2026

Download Hillstone T-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

KerioControl

May 2026

Download KerioControl product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW

No data available

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 T-Series offers a robust solution for high-performance network security, ideal for enterprises requiring reliable, scalable protection against advanced threats.

Designed for dynamic environments, Hillstone T-Series provides comprehensive insight and control across networks, safeguarding data and optimizing resource allocation. Its advanced threat prevention capabilities ensure that enterprises are equipped to handle evolving cybersecurity challenges. Built to integrate seamlessly, it enhances both operational efficiency and security posture.

What are the key features of Hillstone T-Series?

Advanced Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates complex threats in real-time for enhanced network security.
Scalable Architecture: Easily adapts to growing network demands, ensuring long-term reliability.
Comprehensive Policy Management: Simplifies administration with intuitive controls for efficient policy enforcement.
High Performance: Delivers exceptional throughput and low latency, supporting demanding network environments.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating Hillstone T-Series?

Improved Security Posture: Strengthens defense mechanisms to mitigate risks effectively.
Resource Optimization: Allocates network resources effectively, enhancing operational productivity.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenses by streamlining security management processes.
Scalability: Ensures future-proofing with adaptable infrastructure to meet growing demands.

In finance, Hillstone T-Series efficiently handles high-volume transactions, ensuring secure and lightning-fast processing. Healthcare institutions benefit from its robust data protection, maintaining patient confidentiality while facilitating seamless information exchange. In manufacturing, it effectively manages and secures industrial control systems, promoting operational integrity.

Hillstone Networks

KerioControl is a comprehensive network security solution integrating firewall, antivirus, and VPN in an easy-to-use interface for small to medium businesses seeking robust protection.

KerioControl offers a blend of essential security features wrapped in a user-friendly graphical interface that enables effective network management. It supports firewall protection, intrusion detection, real-time monitoring, and flexible VPN capabilities ensuring high reliability and productivity. Despite being suitable for small to medium enterprises, improvements could enhance its overall performance, such as better GUI updates, stronger connectivity, and advanced VPN functionality. Common uses include unified threat management, bandwidth management, remote access, and web filtering.

What are the important features of KerioControl?

Ease of Use: Intuitive interface for effortless security management.
Firewall and VPN Integration: Combines essential security tools seamlessly.
Real-time Monitoring: Offers constant insight into network activities.
Intrusion Detection: Advanced system for prevention and alerts.
Bandwidth Management: Efficient allocation for optimized network usage.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Cost Savings: Economical security solution for smaller businesses.
Productivity Gains: Simplified management increases operational efficiency.
Enhanced Security: Comprehensive coverage with antivirus and malware protection.
Remote Access: Streamlined management of multiple sites and networks.

KerioControl is effectively implemented in industries needing strong security measures, supporting small to medium businesses in sectors like IT services, retail, and education. It's particularly well-suited for companies requiring efficient threat management and convenient internet service management across various sites.

GFI

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

University of Córdoba

Triton Technical, McDonald's

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone T-Series vs. KerioControl

April 2026

Free Report: Hillstone T-Series vs. KerioControl

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