Netgate pfSense vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

Netgate and Stormshield are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 93% of Netgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Stormshield users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Stormshield Network Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

March 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

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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Juan-Arias

Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control

What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.

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Zsolt Jónás

System Administrator at NaxoNet

Advanced GUI and layered security have supported compliance and simplified intrusion prevention

I haven't had a task that I couldn't solve with Stormshield Network Security. The active-active high availability solution would be beneficial because currently, if you build a high availability solution with Stormshield Network Security, you have a main device and another one is a backup device. The HA can switch between them, but it would be good to have a master-master solution, not just a master-slave one. I could set a URL that I can call to update the DNS record. Currently, Stormshield Network Security devices support DynDNS, which is not a usual feature request from a server environment. I have my own solution instead of DynDNS because I don't prefer it, so I have my own service for that. However, the GUI does not support using a custom service instead of DynDNS. I had to solve it in the console on Stormshield Network Security device, but it would be much better if it was reachable on the GUI. I had to figure out a trick for the IPsec configuration. In the IPsec config, we have to provide the remote side's IP address, but it's always changing. This means that an office, for example a company that has an office but without a fixed IP address, cannot be used with IPsec VPN.

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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

"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."

"FortiGate is easier to deploy than Juniper."

"FortiGate is a scalable product and our customer has approximately 2,000 users."

"All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include everything about networking, such as routing and VPNs."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is value for money."

"Fortinet FortiGate protects against internet-based threats, both internal and external, and is scalable, stable, easy to use, and easy to install."

"Overall, I am satisfied with the product."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We've found the stability to be very good overall."

"Sophos Intercept X is scalable. Currently, we have almost 30 people using it in our company."

"From my perspective, the best feature of Netgate pfSense is the load balancer, as I usually take multiple internet connections. I can use both internet providers' bandwidth as a single network bandwidth, which helps in a very smooth network traffic flow."

"It allows me flexibility in hardware size and capabilities while maintaining the exact same interfaces and controls."

"Routing, load balancing, Traffic Limiter and queues. Since this company relies on an Internet connection, having these features is a must."

"If you need the firewall to implement security in your network, then pfSense is better than the competition in terms of price."

"The most valuable feature, for instance, is the ease of migrating configurations between different Netgate devices housed in the same box."

"Outbound Load Balance for internet links work great; it's very good to keep internet access for the company we support."

More Netgate pfSense pros

"Our organization's main concern is stability, and this is a stable solution."

"The scalability of the solution is good."

"The features I find most valuable is the backup inspection, the filtering, and the load balancing, and I am also impressed by the antivirus feature that gives us two controls over the viruses - one is from the parameter and one on the endpoint."

"I like that it works fine. Stormshield is a very good solution."

"The performance of this solution is good."

"The StormShield solution has enabled us to fully implement best practices from Microsoft in the cloud : the hub and spoke architecture."

"Filters and URL filtering helped us to optimize our bandwidth."

"The multi-layered security approach of Stormshield Network Security is a good one and has helped with compliance."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"Customer service is poor."

"The pricing could always be better."

"The learning curve is a bit higher."

"An area for improvement for Fortinet FortiGate is that their support needs to be more customer friendly."

"The cloud features and integration could be improved."

"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on."

"The tech support is not excellent; this is where Fortinet saves money compared to others... But plenty of free, clear and public documentation is available and this compensates for the most part the tech support shortcomings."

"Fortinet renewal prices for all models are too high, so they should offer discounts for customers on renewal."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"I'd like to see some instructional videos as opposed to documentation."

"The stability could be improved."

"They can improve the dynamic of the input of IPs from outside."

"Currently, you deploy it, and it performs as expected, but there are no analytics or reporting capabilities to extract information from the firewall, generate a report, and engage stakeholders in discussions about network connectivity issues, concerns, or upgrades."

"I think the dashboard/interface could be improved and the ability to manage it from a mobile platform."

"It requires more attention to provide a better alternative for open source to small government or educational institutions with reduced budgets in terms of technology."

"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."

"I'd like to see it become more of a next-gen firewall or deep packet inspection, however, I'm very happy with the way it is as of now."

More Netgate pfSense cons

"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."

"It could be better if it were more user-friendly for us as we dont use it very often even if we never had problems to modify setup when needed."

"The pricing is increasing, and I would say it is a bit expensive."

"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."

"One thing, though, is that not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."

"The main area of this product that has room for improvement is pricing. Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension."

"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It cost us around $73,000 for three years."

"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."

"The product pricing is reasonable."

"The product is not very expensive."

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

"Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years."

"It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable. We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years."

"Licensing is usually on a three-year period."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"This solution was about $150,000 cheaper than the closest competitor over a three year period."

"pfSense is open-source."

"pfSense offers a surprisingly affordable enterprise-grade solution for small businesses."

"While pfSense hardware from Netgate might have a higher upfront cost, I've had very little trouble with it. Plus, buying from them directly helps fund the software's development, making it a worthwhile investment in my eyes."

"It is an open source firewall."

"The licensing model needs improvement, especially for home users. There should be more flexibility to change licenses with hardware changes. The pricing model could be more accessible for home users."

"Compared to other business routers, pfSense's pricing is reasonable."

"The price point is highly competitive."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

"The pricing could be better."

"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."

"I think the price is good."

"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."

"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."

"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."

"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	360
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	190

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	168
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	29

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

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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Help me find the best open source router

You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I reco...

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How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?

Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigat...

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What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?

Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...

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What advice do you have for others considering Stormshield Network Security?

The tool is like a firewall and works well. I don't have any issue with it. I rate it an eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense 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

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 57% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 1% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 7% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 7% of the time

OPNsense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 5% of the time

More Stormshield Network Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

March 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

March 2026

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Buyer's Guide

Stormshield Network Security

February 2026

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

NETASQ Firewalls

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

Netgate pfSense is an open-source firewall and router software known for scalability, cost-effectiveness, and community support. It includes customizable packages for varied network management needs, offering solid performance and straightforward management for diverse setups.

Netgate pfSense provides an impressive range of functionalities including firewall capabilities, VPN options, and extensive customization through packages. Its low resource usage and high availability make it viable for businesses of all sizes, especially when dealing with tailored network demands. Despite its strengths, users suggest improvements in ease of use, mobile compatibility, and support for plug-ins. Enhanced centralized management, better documentation, and additional security features are frequent requests.

What are the key features of Netgate pfSense?

Scalability: Suits any network size from small home setups to large enterprises.
Open-source: Offers transparency and flexibility, allowing for community-driven development.
Firewall Capabilities: Provides robust protection against unauthorized access.
VPN Options: Supports secure remote connectivity with various VPN protocols.
Customizable Packages: Allows users to personalize functionalities to fit network needs.
High Availability: Ensures continuous network operations with redundancy features.
Load Balancing: Distributes traffic efficiently across multiple paths or connections.
Traffic Shaping: Manages bandwidth allocation to optimize network performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Significant savings due to low operational costs and open-source nature.
Performance: Reliable service delivery with minimal hardware demands.
User-friendly Interface: Intuitive design that simplifies complex network management.
Community Support: Access to extensive community resources for troubleshooting and advice.
Comprehensive Documentation: Detailed guides and tutorials to facilitate installation and configuration.

In education and healthcare, Netgate pfSense is employed for secure connectivity and efficient traffic management, accommodating distinct demands of remote access and content filtering. Organizations in these sectors often utilize features such as load balancing and VPNs to maintain secure and reliable network operations while integrating with services like Active Directory for streamlined identity management. Small to medium-sized enterprises benefit from its affordability and robust functionality, making it a go-to choice for managed service environments requiring effective network security and control.

Netgate

NETASQ's integrated intrusion prevention engine uses protocol conformity analysis, application filtering and antivirus analysis to inspect authorized traffic flows and strengthen application security. NETASQ enables you to establish and configure user-based security policies, giving you greater control over which network resources each user is authorized to access.

Stormshield

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

Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring

ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

March 2026

Free Report: Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security

Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

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