Hillstone T-Series vs Untangle NG Firewall comparison

Hillstone Networks and Untangle are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #40, while Untangle is ranked #24 with an average rating of 8.0. Hillstone Networks holds a 0.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Untangle’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Untangle users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Hillstone T-Series and Untangle NG Firewall are two well-regarded firewall solutions. Hillstone T-Series is noted for its pricing and customer support, but Untangle NG Firewall stands out for its features, making it a superior product for many users.

Features: Hillstone T-Series is praised for its robust security features, high performance, and comprehensive threat protection. Untangle NG Firewall is highly regarded for its ease of use, extensive app library, and flexible deployment options.

Room for Improvement: Hillstone T-Series could benefit from a more intuitive management console, an expanded feature set, and better usability. Untangle NG Firewall users suggest improving support response times, enhancing reporting capabilities, and focusing on support improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hillstone T-Series users find deployment straightforward but occasionally complicated by the need for technical expertise. Customer service is viewed positively. Untangle NG Firewall has a simple and quick deployment process, though customer service has mixed reviews.

Pricing and ROI: Hillstone T-Series is cost-effective with good ROI. Setup costs are reasonable, and long-term benefits are favorable. Untangle NG Firewall users find it worth the price due to its expansive feature set, though initial costs may be higher.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone T-Series vs. Untangle NG Firewall Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone T-Series vs. Untangle NG Firewall

July 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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Untangle NG Firewall is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

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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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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MatthewSmith3

Service Delivery Manager at CasCom

Thorough with all-in-one security functions and good affordability

The all-in-one gateway security functions and the ability to install it on generic equipment stand out. The centralized management console is great. I can template my installations and configurations. My ability to monetize it as a gateway security appliance to offer enhanced service offerings allows me to increase our price point. I provide it as a managed device to many of our clients. I take on the initial costs and charge them a monthly fee. They have threat detection.

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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

"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."

"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."

"It has upscaled our security posture, especially regarding external connectivity, because any access or connection from the company has to go through the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."

"The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN."

"The price-to-performance ratio for using Fortinet FortiGate is always better compared to any other competitor, so they are rated better than the likes of Check Point or Palo Alto."

"A strong point of FortiGate is that the graphical interface is complete and easy to use, especially if we think there is a list of operations that we are able to perform inside."

"Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market."

"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

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

"It has been stable so far."

"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."

"The all-in-one gateway security functions and the ability to install it on generic equipment stand out."

"Web Filter is effective, Web Cache offers bandwidth savings, and the VPN setup is easy."

"Application Control and filtering features are valuable."

"The Untangle firewall is a software firewall, so it runs on generic hardware. We found that was probably the best feature, and it's why we chose it when we started using it three years ago."

"NG Firewalls allow us to permit or deny applications we don't want to run. We also use content filtering, SSL inspection, and all the other things we run on the firewall to keep our clients protected and ensure they're not going where they shouldn't. It's a great firewall that works as intended."

"The most valuable features are IPS, MAPI, NAT, and VPN."

"What I like about this product, which is the reason that we continue to use it, is that you can install the software version on your own hardware. In case there is a problem with the hardware, we can just install the firewall in another machine and restore the configuration."

"Its detection, antivirus, and filtering features are the most valuable. The facility to connect by using the VPN connection is also a very valuable feature. It is very strong, secure, and reliable. We have implemented the Untangle solution in all hardware. It is also a user-friendly solution. It is easy to learn and easy to configure."

More Untangle NG Firewall pros

Cons

"With the standard support subscription, if the device goes down, the customer has to first ship the box, and then Fortinet sends the replacement. With the higher support, the customer has to ship the device after they have the replacement. It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription."

"The feedback that I have received is that the performance could be better, and the user experience is not as good compared to a previous solution we used. It could be more user-friendly. Of course, it still works fine for our operations."

"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."

"The support structure needs to be improved because every time we contact them, there is a delay in the response."

"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."

"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."

"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."

"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."

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."

"The web content filtering needs improvement."

"Web-filtering policies could be improved."

"Whenever there are a large number of endpoint VPN clients, connectivity becomes slow."

"On their low-end appliance, they could have more memory and the largest storage space. The low-end appliance comes with a too-small hard drive, and it could use a little extra room. It only comes with about 4 gigs or 8 gigs of memory, and the hardware space is only 40 gigs, which is really small."

"The product must improve its reporting features."

"The product should improve reporting."

"We have a minor issue when assigning IP addresses in the ARP tables. You should be able to go into the ARP tables, look at the IP address and say, "Nope, they need to be on this side on this IP address." The ability to set a DHP reservation from the ARP tables would be great. It's no big deal, but it would be nice to have."

"The product needs to improve its mobile application."

More Untangle NG Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device. Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works."

"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."

"The licensing costs are very low."

"On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight."

"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."

"Its licenses cost the same for different subscription plans."

"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

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."

"The pricing model is better than with SonicWall."

"We pay $350 USD per year for the solution. There are no additional costs. As long as you're not using a physical appliance, that's all you need."

"It is the most cost-effective to use."

"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."

"It is not expensive. It is cheaper than Fortinet."

"Usually, it's about $350 a year for 12 users, and it's about $600 for 50 users. It's very reasonable as compared to the others. One of the reasons is that they're all open-source. You just buy their appliance and put it in until it dies. Because it's run under open platforms, mine seems to always work on older equipment. I've taken old equipment and put a new hard disk in it. I have taken about nine-year-old computers and put their operating system on them, and ran them like a champ. The only thing that changed was the hard drive because I don't trust a hard drive that's more than three to four years old."

"This is not an expensive product. It is affordable and there are different packages available depending on the features that you need, or the sector that you are in."

"The setup cost is about $2000 to $3000 per year."

More Untangle NG Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

17%

Real Estate/Law Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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 a...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Untangle NG Firewall?

The product helps small and medium enterprises secure their networks from intrusions. It also has features like DNS b...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Untangle NG Firewall?

The setup cost is about $2000 to $3000 per year.

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What needs improvement with Untangle NG Firewall?

The user interface, training, and general product innovation need improvement. Enhancements could also be made to the...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 48% of the time

Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 28% of the time

Sangfor NGAF vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 24% of the time

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OPNsense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 40% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 14% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos XG vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

IPFire vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

July 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

July 2025

Download Hillstone T-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Untangle NG Firewall

June 2025

Download Untangle NG Firewall product report

Also Known As

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

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

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

Hillstone’s T-Series intelligent Next-Generation Firewall (iNGFW) uses three key technologies to detect advanced attacks and provide continuous threat defense for today’s networks. First, it uses statistical clustering to detect unknown malware, leveraging the patented Hillstone Advanced Threat Detection engine (ATD). Second, it uses behavioral analytics to detect anomalous network behavior, which is based on the Hillstone Abnormal Behavior Detection engine (ABD). Finally, it leverages the Hillstone threat correlation analysis engine to correlate threat events detected by disparate engines – including ATD, ABD, Sandbox and other traditional signature-based threat detection technologies – along with context information to identify advanced threats.

Hillstone Networks

Untangle NG Firewall is an open-source firewall and gateway security platform that helps keep networks safe while accessing the internet. It offers a free core firewall platform with paid add-ons, and a cloud-based management platform with a variety of deployment options for smaller teams. The solution also has a cloud-based management console for remote management that can either be deployed on premises or as SaaS, and virtualized or cloud-based. It also has flexible deployment options, including third-party hardware, as a virtual machine, or as a turnkey appliance. Untangle NG Firewall is ideal for small IT teams with limited budgets.

Untangle NG Firewall Features

Untangle NG Firewall has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Intrusion protection
Threat prevention
Virus blocker
Virus scanner
App control
SSL inspection
Bandwidth control
Reporting
Logs
VPN
Web filter
IDS/IPS
Access controls
Location control
Proxy
Active Directory/LDAP connections

Untangle NG Firewall Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Untangle NG Firewall. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Simplified network security: Untangle NG Firewall has a single, modular, software platform which simplifies security for all networks and ensures every device is adequately protected.

Visibility: The solution provides a browser-based, responsive, and intuitive interface enabling users to gain visibility quickly into the traffic on the network.

Deep analysis and insights: With the solution, users can see a network’s status at a glance on the dashboard, ensure compliance with full event logs, and get notifications of network anomalies or unusual user behavior with alert rules. In addition, users can gain insights in real time from database-driven reports.

Next-generation filtering: Untangle NG Firewall makes it easy to manage every rogue application, encrypted web request, malware distribution point, and drive-by malvertising attempt.

Connectivity and performance: The solution helps your organization maintain visibility and control over remote workers, branch offices, and guest Wi-Fi to keep users connected and data safe regardless of location or level of access.

Policy creation: Users can create policies by user, group, device, and time in order to control access.

Additional apps: Untangle NG Firewall offers additional apps, allowing organizations to create complete configuration backups to protect against network disruptions.

Reviews from Real Users

Untangle NG Firewall is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it is easy to use, has good features, including VPN, reporting, alerting, and filtering, and can be installed on existing hardware.

“It is very easy to use. The user interface is very straightforward. It may not be as fancy as some of the ones I've seen, but it's very straightforward. It's very easy to find what you need, and it's very easy to get things done,” says Josh E., CEO at DragonTech IT Services, Inc.

Barry A., Owner at ThinkEzIT, says, “It has good VPN features, helpful reporting and alerting, built-in content filtering, and excellent support.”

PeerSpot user Victor O., Director at Kisii County Government, explains, “What I like about this product, which is the reason that we continue to use it, is that you can install the software version on your own hardware. In case there is a problem with the hardware, we can just install the firewall in another machine and restore the configuration.”

Untangle

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

North American Stamping Group, Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), Brown County Schools, IN, City of Bridgeton, MO, Lancaster County, SC, Vision Charter School, Clay County Sheriff’s Department, NC, Breakwater School, Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, NH, Admiral Farragut Academy, Flow Companies, No Ordinary Hotel, KECdesign,

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone T-Series vs. Untangle NG Firewall

July 2025

Free Report: Hillstone T-Series vs. Untangle NG Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone T-Series vs. Untangle NG Firewall and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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