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IPFire vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall 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

IPFire
Ranking in Firewalls
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
36th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
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 Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IPFire0.9%
Zscaler Cloud Firewall1.0%
Other98.1%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

AE
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.
Farzad Ebrahimi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Devsecops Cloud Cybersecurity Specialist at CGI
Cloud data protection has improved and automation reduces manual security tasks
The best features that Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers are that it is AI powered and automated. The automation especially reduces manual tasks as we used to have lots of manual activities for such services. Reporting is very powerful regarding the features of Zscaler Cloud Firewall. Zscaler Cloud Firewall has positively impacted my organization by increasing ROI, especially by reducing costs.

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."
"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 would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."
"The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution."
"The solution is scalable."
"The solution offers good sandboxing."
"Zscaler is one of the leading vendors in the cloud space."
"It is a stable solution."
"Includes advanced tech protection."
"Zscaler has a good foothold in the market and any new competitor will have to be cognizant of the fact that they will have to be affordable and provide all of the features Zscaler has while being good at threat analysis and filtering."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
 

Cons

"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."
"The graphical interface could be much better."
"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."
"There are some areas it could improve when it comes to blocking, we have to block some things manually."
"Zscaler Cloud Firewall should have a better understanding of all dynamic cloud applications."
"The issue right now is probably that Zscaler is not providing web browser isolation. Another solution, Menlo, offers this. For one customer, we had to send traffic to Menlo to do the isolation for us. It was requested by the customer so that they could integrate any iframe. Zscaler needs to add this type of feature in their next release."
"The needed improvements involve scalability, which is something I wish they would address."
"One area for improvement lies in their customer service, which feels less ideal for a premium product. The response and support are sometimes inadequate, which detracts from the overall experience of an otherwise impressive solution."
"If I can get rid of Jetscaler, I will use Twingate for sure."
"When it comes to customer support, there is room for improvement in Zscaler's service."
"Because it's on cloud, it doesn't allow application of extra settings."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."
"It comes at a significantly reduced cost while ensuring control and effectiveness."
"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."
"There are different subscription models available."
"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 the most budget-friendly solution, but it's important to consider its overall value."
"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis. It is somewhere around 30 or 40 pounds per user for our organization."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
20%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
 

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 ...
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...
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...
Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?
Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datacenter and endpoint. In between you have branch office. So blending EPP and firew...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was fine.
What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
I think Zscaler Cloud Firewall can be improved by adding more features. The needed improvements involve scalability, which is something I wish they would address.
 

Overview

 

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
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Find out what your peers are saying about IPFire vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.