We performed a comparison between pfSense and Untangle NG Firewall based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Both products received high marks from reviewers, but Untangle NG Firewall ultimately won out in this comparison. It is easy to set up, user-friendly and secure. In addition it has excellent customer support and is fairly priced.
"The security fabric is excellent."
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"The pricing is great and very reasonable."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"The interface is very good."
"Technical support is perfect, excellent."
"The firewall sensor is highly effective, and it's easy to deploy. You can deploy pfSense with limited hardware resources. It's not necessary to have an appliance with much RAM to make it work. It's cost-effective and performs well."
"It is very easy to use. The interface is quite understandable. There is a good community, and I can take over at any time I want. If there is anything wrong with it, I could just reinstall the whole thing and start all over again, and I'll be up again in less than a few minutes"
"Some of the terminologies were more familiar to me than it was when I first encountered Cisco."
"The initial setup is not complex."
"I like pfSense's reports and how I can control access to the policies on the firewall."
"It is much simpler than other solutions such as Fortinet."
"The GUI is easy to understand."
"The web blocking for my clients and the application control are valuable."
"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."
"The majority of our clients are very small businesses, and Untangle devices have been fantastic for these small clients. We've basically standardized our stack to just simply use Untangle. We include the hardware and the service option, which makes it very easy and affordable for us to just simply push that into the monthly per-user costing that we provide as a managed services provider. It's really a no-brainer. They're easy to use, and they're easy to set up and configure. Support is generally good about resolving any issues that we have. We haven't had any real complaints."
"We find the web filter very valuable."
"The product’s most valuable features are endpoint protection management, load balancing, and connectivity with Active Directory."
"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 product is easy to implement."
"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."
"The scalability could be better."
"Lacks sufficient security options."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved."
"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"Ultimately, we'd like something stronger, and something that can handle threats better in real-time."
"There could be a way to remote to it through a mobile app. You can always browse through your browser on your mobile phone or tablet, but it would be good to have a dedicated app. I understand that iOS and Android developers are expensive, but there should be a mobile app."
"The integration could be improved."
"Also, the GUI is helpful, but it's not user-friendly. It's complicated. It should be more intuitive for the average user and have an excellent graphical view. Of course, the user will typically know about network administration, but it still should be easy to understand."
"The solution could improve by having centralized management and API support online."
"I would like to see pfSense integrate WireGuard. Currently, pfSense uses OpenVPN, and there's nothing wrong with it, but WireGuard is a lot leaner and meaner."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."
"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 should improve reporting."
"The biggest challenge that we have with this solution is local support. The local support is a problem in our area."
"The storage is minimal, so we have to set the system to delete data after seven days."
"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."
"It does have multi-factor authentication in some areas, but I would love to see a more widely implemented version of that on the devices themselves."
"Whenever there are a large number of endpoint VPN clients, connectivity becomes slow."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 22 reviews while Untangle NG Firewall is ranked 24th in Firewalls with 7 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Untangle NG Firewall is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "Feature-rich, well documented, and there is good support available online". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Untangle NG Firewall writes "Its simplicity, variety of features, and low pricing have enabled us to improve the security for our small business clients at a price that they are happy to pay for". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Untangle NG Firewall is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, SonicWall TZ and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Netgate pfSense vs. Untangle NG Firewall report.
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