IPFire vs Sangfor NGAF comparison

Why PeerSpot?

IPFire Project and Sangfor are both solutions in the Firewalls category. IPFire Project is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0, while Sangfor is ranked #32 with an average rating of 8.0. IPFire Project holds a 0.9% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sangfor’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IPFire Project users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sangfor users who would recommend it.

IPFire

Read 3 IPFire reviews

4,084 Views
4,002 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Sangfor NGAF

Read 34 Sangfor NGAF reviews

5,678 Views
5,451 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IPFire

Sangfor NGAF

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Sangfor NGAF and IPFire are both in the cybersecurity space, offering distinct values to organizations. Sangfor NGAF seems to have the upper hand with its integrated security features, while IPFire attracts users with its flexibility and open-source nature.

Features: Sangfor NGAF provides advanced threat protection, strong integration capabilities, and robust reporting tools. IPFire features a flexible open-source firewall, extensive customization options, and community-driven support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sangfor NGAF offers professional deployment services and dedicated support, simplifying implementation for complex security needs. IPFire's open-source model requires technical expertise for deployment and relies on community support for maintenance.

Pricing and ROI: Sangfor NGAF might have a higher initial setup cost yet promises strong ROI through enhanced security and streamlined operations. IPFire offers a lower entry point with its open-source model, potentially resulting in lower operating costs for organizations managing the system independently.

To learn more, read our detailed IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 915,341 peers since 2012

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

IPFire

Ranking in Firewalls

28th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sangfor NGAF

Ranking in Firewalls

32nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of IPFire is 0.9%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IPFire	0.9%
Sangfor NGAF	1.2%
Other	97.9%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Agharinma Ehiedu

Chief Technology Officer at Agileware Limited

Firewall deployment has secured mission-critical public apps and simplifies Linux-based management

The best features IPFire offers include its very intuitive nature because, even though it has a Linux back-end, in terms of configuration, it has a very rich GUI interface. The GUI and configuration features of IPFire have made my work easier and more efficient because their positioning and the sequence with which I follow is easy. In terms of all the processes, what you need to do at first and the next thing that you need to do is clear. The GUI is well arranged in sequential order, so you can follow that from whatever you want to do until you get the target objective. IPFire includes features with a very robust and rich community that is very much valid in terms of content. IPFire has positively impacted my organization by giving us some mileage. At least, a lot of organizations now know that we have a solution that can deliver the same value.

Read full review

AliKhan1

Network Administrator at GC University Lahore

Leverage detailed reporting for effective attack management

We are hosting applications over the platform, including websites and NAT traffic from our side. Because it's deployed in our data center, which is fully operational, we have various applications hosted there, websites, FTP portals, making it quite comprehensive. Essentially, it performs all the…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."

"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."

"Regarding IPFire's AI capabilities, I think they are quite focused; in all the deployments I have done, I have not had any incidents or breaches."

"I think this solution is a very good example of a proactive solution that can detect problems and immediately fix the problems or issues."

"Sangfor is a good solution that provides a WAF and firewall solution; most other vendors, like Sophos and Fortinet and Cisco, only provide one solution, and that's a valuable feature of Sangfor."

"Sangfor has the best capabilities for securing connections, securing web browsers, securing servers, and general threat protection."

"We can utilize our own network rather than paying for a private one."

"I think the tool has the feature to detect and kill ransomware in three seconds."

"The product is very fast and reliable."

"The tool's performance is good."

"It is a stable solution."

More Sangfor NGAF pros

Cons

"I would rate IPFire 8 out of 10 because I do not think there is any solution anywhere in the world that is 100 percent efficient."

"The graphical interface could be much better."

"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."

"An area for improvement would be the number of ports defined on the box. In the next release, I would like them to develop their provisioning stage of enrolling end devices."

"Scalability for any network device is not very easy in terms of vertical scalability."

"Sangfor NGAF could improve by refining its application control policies, especially in addressing challenges with certain types of applications."

"It has an issue with the Sangfor Cloud Platform rather than the firewall. When we run a virtual machine, the window tabs display Chinese characters."

"The interface and user experience are horrible."

"Our experience with its customer support was quite challenging."

"We have deployed many firewalls and have faced two or three faulty devices that we have to replace over a year because their power supply was faulty."

"I believe that IAM and NGFW need to merge into a single box, instead of there being two separate box solutions."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The price could be more competitive."

"If one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the tool's price as three out of ten."

"Sangfor NGAF is a cheaply priced product, especially if I consider the previous product that was used in my company."

"It is one of the cheapest tools in the market."

"Price-wise, I would not consider Sangfor NGAF to be a cheap product. It is an expensive firewall solution, though not as expensive as something like Palo Alto, which is costly. However, the higher price point is justifiable given the feature set the tool provides that other firewalls may not offer in a single dedicated appliance."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"If you know you have around 200+ computer users on your network, then the Sangfor NGAF 5200-F-I model would be the minimum recommended model for that amount of users. This model includes modules for packet filtering, deep packet inspection, malware scanning, DSCP filtration, and many other features."

"The license of Sangfor NGAF can be purchased at different interval lengths, such as annually or three years. They offer a range of packages to choose from, such as combo or hybrid packages. We are using the complete solution package which includes IM, NGF and SSL VPN, and WAF."

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

20%

Computer Software Company

University

Government

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

13%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IPFire?

IPFire can be improved, but so far, there are no functionalities that have not been able to meet my needs. I wish IPFire could do more, but so far, I am happy with the solution. If there are other ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IPFire?

My main use case for IPFire is usually for security, functioning as a firewall for organizations that run public-facing applications. I will give you a typical example: there is an agency of the fe...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?

I would rate IPFire 8 out of 10 because I do not think there is any solution anywhere in the world that is 100 percent efficient. In elementary physics, we are told that no machine can be 100 perce...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?

The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?

The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardware scalability, allowing for more storage and memory capacity. Making the soluti...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Sangfor NGAF?

See all answers

Comparisons

OPNsense vs IPFire

Compared 51% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs IPFire

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs IPFire

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs IPFire

Compared 5% of the time

Smoothwall Firewall vs IPFire

Compared 5% of the time

More IPFire Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 10% of the time

H3C SecPath Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 8% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2026

Download IPFire product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

September 2026

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

Overview

IPFire enhances network security and protects against cyber threats. It provides a secure firewall, secure remote access, and customizable options. Users praise its ease of use, flexibility, and reliability for network monitoring and traffic shaping. Its valuable features include efficient firewall capabilities, a user-friendly interface, and reliable network performance.

IPFire Project

Sangfor NGAF offers a user-friendly firewall solution with a strong virus database and competitive pricing. It supports SSL VPN connectivity, intrusion detection, and is known for easy deployment and integration capabilities.

Sangfor NGAF is a comprehensive security platform providing robust network protection through its application control and detailed threat insights. While effective in preventing threats and ensuring network security, it has areas needing improvement such as real-time reporting and system support. It delivers secure internet and VPN connections, proficiently handling malware threats. However, it faces challenges with user experience, reporting capabilities, hardware scalability, and needs better third-party integration. Licensing costs are noted to be high, and there are performance variations between versions.

What are the key features of Sangfor NGAF?

User-friendly deployment: Offers an uncomplicated setup process.
Robust virus database: Provides reliable threat detection.
SSL VPN connectivity: Ensures secure remote access.
Application control: Manages application usage for enhanced security.
Intrusion detection: Detects unauthorized access attempts.
URL filtering: Prevents access to malicious websites.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Sangfor NGAF?

Affordability: Competitive pricing compared to peers.
Integration: Good capabilities with existing systems.
Support: Noted for providing reliable customer service.
Threat prevention: Effective in securing networks against various threats.

Sangfor NGAF is widely used across industries including education, healthcare, and finance for its reliable network security. It is favored for securing internal servers, offering robust threat protection, and managing bandwidth efficiently at a budget-friendly rate.

Sangfor

Sample Customers

1. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.

Buyer's Guide

IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF

September 2026

Free Report: IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF

Find out what your peers are saying about IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IPFire vs. Sangfor NGAF report.

See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.