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.
"The virtual firewall feature is the most valuable. We have around 1,500 firewalls. We did not buy individual hardware, and the virtual firewalls made sense because we don't have to keep on buying the hardware. FortiGate is easier to use as compared to Checkpoint devices. It is user friendly and has a good UI. You don't need much expertise to work on this firewall. You don't need to worry much about DCLA, commands, and things like that."
"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."
"The next-generation firewall is great."
"The features that prevent internet connections, the filtering are the most valuable because we did not have any internet protection before."
"Its administrative panel is very intuitive and simple. It is simpler than the other solutions that we had. As an administrator, we are always looking for the easiest solution to manage network policies. We are able to filter everything on our network and also use the VPN feature, which is important these days when people are working remotely during COVID."
"The simplicity of the product is great. It's very easy to use, which is a compliment we get all the time in terms of feedback."
"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"The GUI is easy to understand."
"A free firewall that is a good network security appliance."
"I can manage it easily by myself."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic."
"It works. I put pfSense in, and it works. I can't think of any trouble I ever had with it. It runs on heat-sensitive appliances. They don't need a fan, so they don't overheat. It is affordable, fast, and very high-speed. It is built on BSD Unix, and it pretty much runs on any Intel processor."
"What I found most valuable is the cost of the platform, the flexibility of the platform, and the fact that the ongoing fees are not there as they are with the competitor. Some people may think you're taking a risk with using Opensource. I think it just provides the end user, specifically for us small, medium business providers of services, the flexibility we need at the right cost to provide them a higher end, almost enterprise type service."
"I use pfSense because it gives me the flexibility to greatly expand basic firewall features."
"It is a very good solution for enterprises that need a VPN for their employees. It is the best way to provide a remote work facility to employees at a very low cost. Other solutions that I have had in the past were very expensive. Enterprises don't always have that kind of money to invest."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."
"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."
"I like that it works fine. Stormshield is a very good solution."
"Our organization's main concern is stability, and this is a stable solution."
"I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."
"I like how you can configure the rules. There is the task for the rules and a task for the network configuration. It also provides SMD filtering, and it can be integrated with the active directory for the users, their mission, and the VPN configuration. We are here in Sudan, and Stormshield didn't work in Sudan for more than a decade. Stormshield is a very strong firewall and very easy to configure and maintain. I am just working with the firewall solution, and we don't have any other solutions like endpoint solutions or something like that."
"Ease of use is the best feature of the product."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"I think that the infrastructure for the VPN could be improved. The way that it is bundled also made it difficult to use and sell as it is too expensive."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"The biggest "gotcha" is that if the client purchases what they call the UTM shared bundle, which has unified threat management on both, it's not as easy to manage if you have more than one firewall."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."
"Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."
"Currently, FortiGate is providing SSL VPN. But they're missing some features that are available in Palo Alto's SSL VPN."
"The integration of pfSense with EPS and EDS could be better. Also, it should be easier to get reports on how many users are connecting simultaneously and how sections connect in real-time."
"It is not centrally managed, where you log into the website and can see all your services there. We would like to be able to see is all the configurations from a central interface on all our pfSenses."
"It could use a little bit of improvement in the reporting."
"A malware blocker should be included. I do not know if it is included yet. However, until now, we have not experienced a large malware invasion."
"The technical support needs to be improved."
"If a user doesn't have a large amount of experience in Linux systems, they will have problems using this solution. Users need to be highly skilled in troubleshooting competency. Users who do not have such skills will find the product difficult to use."
"There is more demand for UTMs than a simple firewall. pfSense should support real-time features for handling the latest viruses and threats. It should support real-time checks and real-time status of threats. Some other vendors, such as Fortinet, already offer this type of capability. Such capability will be good for bringing pfSense at the same level as other solutions."
"The integration should be improved."
"It could be better if it were more user-friendly. It's too complicated for us to use it. The price could be better as well."
"Improvement is needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer."
"With Stormshield, there are difficulties joining things, and it can be complex depending on the architecture."
"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."
"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."
"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."
"Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."
"The product must improve its pricing."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Stormshield Network Security is ranked 9th in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 16 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Stormshield Network Security is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Stormshield Network Security writes "Handles monitoring, collection, analysis, and reporting of data in our HQ and branches". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, KerioControl and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Stormshield Network Security is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, WatchGuard Firebox, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Netgate pfSense vs. Stormshield Network Security report.
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