Stormshield Network Security vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

Stormshield Network Security vs. WatchGuard Firebox

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 31.9%, down from 38.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Stormshield Network Security is 3.9%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 10.0%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Unified Threat Management (UTM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	31.9%
WatchGuard Firebox	10.0%
Stormshield Network Security	3.9%
Other	54.2%

Unified Threat Management (UTM)

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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Benjamin

Network Engineer at ACS2I

The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats

The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed.

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Pedro Soteras

CEO at ajuntament del Prat

Network protection has improved with stronger VPN connectivity but administration remains complex

Deploying WatchGuard Firebox was quite easy, but we have had some problems regarding the VPN and the administration of the tool and the two firewalls that we have. When comparing WatchGuard Firebox with our previous solution, Palo Alto, we have had some problems in administration because of the tools. I think that they have some aspects in their system that are cloud-provided, but they also have an on-premise solution, which makes this combination good. Although I should say that when compared to Palo Alto, we have taken a step backwards. In general, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox around 6-7; it is a good firewall, but they lack good administration tools. We experience many problems with the performance and administration tools on the web, including several issues with VPNs.

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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

"Its usability is good. We can easily navigate the system, and we have a very good user experience."

"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."

"It's a firewall that secures our internal network. I have been using it since 2013, and I find that most of the features are advanced, and very user friendly."

"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and there are several operating systems that can include the hardware capacities. In the newer releases, the resources were more useful because they were included in the operating system."

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution 10 out of 10."

"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."

"Application control and the web filter are the best features of Fortinet FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."

"A very robust product."

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

"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."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page."

"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."

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

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

"The firewall aspect and the branch office VPNs are the most valuable features... We don't have any issues with it. We don't have to spend a lot of time maintaining it."

"There are no problems with the technical support. If a problem occurs it gets resolved immediately with our technical support partners."

"The technical support of WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is generally helpful; we have had two issues related to the VPN, and we experienced 24/7 activity from their team—their support was very powerful as they responded very quickly and stayed online with us for two days."

"It protects me against malicious websites, as well as malicious downloads, as a perimeter anti-virus. I've also seen it blocking a lot of pings and different probes."

"From my experience with their customer service team, I would say that they seem quite knowledgeable and fairly quick to respond."

"It saves us time in the respect that we now have the template built for it so we can get in and get it done. We've had much less problem supporting Voice over IP technologies from different companies. Because our client base has grown over the years, we're probably saving 20 to 30 man-hours a month now that we've got this on a good stable level."

"All of the features have been valuable. There's nothing on my M270 that I'm not using. If you have remote access, you can see how many users are coming from the outside world to be connected to the systems, through the virus systems that we have behind the firewall, in order to gain access to their files and do their work. We can also see how long they stay online and whether these connections are closed forcefully or for any other reasons, such as a glitch or some kind of misbehavior, to see if internet traffic is optimized and if that particular traffic is under company policies, concerning which websites were visited."

"The most valuable are the VPN and proxy features."

More WatchGuard Firebox pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."

"The platform's interface could improve."

"The pricing of the solution should be more affordable"

"Fortinet needs more memory to save the log files. We need it to save the logs on the hardware and not in the cloud. I know this feature is available in FortiCloud, but if we need this log locally, it is not available."

"Some of the software stability could improve."

"The support system could be improved."

"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."

"Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The SD card could be more secure."

"The product must improve its pricing."

"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."

"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."

"This is not a next-generation firewall."

"Improvement is needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer."

"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."

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

More Stormshield Network Security cons

"Its documentation could be improved. Sometimes, you need to search a bit longer to find what you are looking for."

"One area for improvement could be making the interface even more user-friendly."

"The reporting is a little on the weak side. I would like to see a better reporting set and easier drill-down options."

"I would like to see more simplified management of the firewall... It's a complicated system to use."

"It's very difficult to find a reseller of WatchGuard Firebox to purchase a license"

"It's very hard to get information from their website, for exactly what I need to do. Sometimes I end up having to open a lot of support tickets... It's a navigational issue which makes it hard to find what I'm looking for and it's just so broad."

"The main problem that WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response has is that they use several tools to do the same tasks, and they are sometimes very complicated to use and very slow."

"It doesn't offer the best protection and it's incompatible with a lot of China's websites. It makes a lot of mistakes when it is detecting items as it's not recognizing items correctly."

More WatchGuard Firebox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."

"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."

"It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device. Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works."

"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."

"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."

"Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced."

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

"Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"I think the price is good."

"The pricing could be better."

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

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

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

"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."

"The licensing contract we have is on a three-year basis. There aren't any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees—usually, every three years, we just purchase or renew the same license and we are okay. Every six years, we completely change the firewall, but that's the usual schema. So after three years, we just renew the licenses for another three years, and then after that particular period of time, we just purchase another firewall equivalent to the ones that we currently use."

"The two larger devices are about $1,000 each and the smaller ones are about $500 or $600 each... It's cheaper and you have more control because it's self-managed."

"I haven't seen the pricing since 2017, but it was competitive. SonicWall, Barracuda, and WatchGuard were all about the same price when we did our last pricing."

"Their price point worked, which is the reason why we stayed with WatchGuard."

"We don't have any other costs other than the licensing stuff."

"I spent $600 or $800 on this product and I'm paying a couple of hundred dollars a year in a subscription service to keep the lights on, on it... It works out to $100 or $200 a year if you buy several years at once. It's fair."

"The licensing can be a one-time purchase unless you need the extra services for example twenty-four seven support."

"The price of WatchGuard is very good."

More WatchGuard Firebox pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

16%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	93
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	15

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...

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...

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 ...

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.

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 11% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 8% of the time

OPNsense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 4% of the time

More Stormshield Network Security Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 7% of the time

OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 2% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Stormshield Network Security

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

WatchGuard Firebox

Download WatchGuard Firebox product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

NETASQ Firewalls

WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service

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

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

WatchGuard Firebox is a high-performance firewall known for its ease of setup, offering robust security with layered protection and centralized management capabilities.

WatchGuard Firebox stands out for its intuitive management and high throughput, addressing security needs with features like VPN, web filtering, and threat detection. Its centralized control and reporting abilities, along with Active Directory integration, make it popular among varied organizations. Its user-friendly interface and ongoing updates enhance usability and reliability. However, there's a call for better cloud-based administration, scalability, and improved integration with third-party vendors.

What are the key features of WatchGuard Firebox?

Ease of Setup: Quick and straightforward installation process.
GUI: User-friendly graphical interface for simplified navigation.
VPN Features: Secure and efficient virtual private network management.
Web Filtering: Advanced filtering for safer browsing experiences.
Threat Detection: Proactive monitoring and detection of cyber threats.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Centralized Control: Streamlined management from a single point.
High Throughput: Efficient data handling and processing capacity.
Stable Performance: Consistent and reliable operational functionality.
Active Directory Integration: Seamless connection with user directories.
Customer Service: Strong support service for customer inquiries.

WatchGuard Firebox is implemented across industries to secure internet gateways and protect data in multi-site businesses. Its applications span from Unified Threat Management (UTM) and intrusion prevention to compliance support in business environments requiring secure connectivity through VPNs.

WatchGuard

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

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

Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence

Stormshield Network Security vs. WatchGuard Firebox