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Azure Firewall vs KerioControl comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
373
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Azure Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
KerioControl
Ranking in Firewalls
31st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (19th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Firewall is 2.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KerioControl is 1.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
AnvarSadique - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy setup and effective traffic routing enhance security
In terms of improvements, I think the price could be a concern as Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) services are often more expensive compared to other firewalls. However, the functional aspects of Azure Firewall met our needs. While I found the interface not particularly user-friendly, this is a common issue across vendors.
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security
The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."
"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."
"The stability and scalability of this solution are satisfactory. Its SD-WAN, VPN, and URL filtering features are very useful."
"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"
"The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well."
"I find the ease of configuring specific policies to be the most valuable feature of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."
"The solution is very, very easy to use."
"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the IPS or IDS implementation. I appreciate most the agility or the flexibility to create hashes to block incoming threats, and I can integrate with third-party threat intelligence with our FortiGate."
"The solution has FQDN integration."
"The Layer four features are okay and meet my business needs."
"I like that you can deploy the policies separately from the firewall."
"The solution is very stable. When comparing it to other environments, it's actually quite impressive."
"Azure Firewall integrates well with multiple platforms."
"Azure Firewall's feature that I have found most valuable is its scalability."
"Azure Firewall is a cloud-native solution that removes the pain of load balancers."
"We use the solution for application and server deployment."
"What I like the most about Kerio is that I can use the software appliance as a solution, so if the hardware fails for any reason then I can quickly replace it with hardware that I have in stock."
"The most valuable features include geo-tagging, which blocks all other IPs except for the specified accounts, and web filtering."
"The initial setup is a breeze."
"Kerio Control is easy to use and provides the ability to deliver customized solutions."
"The user interface and the ease of use are pretty good. Everything fits together so nicely."
"We also like the security. We can control what sites users can go to and we can make sure that where they're going is appropriate and that it's work-related."
"I did not face any issues with stability while using the tool's trial version."
"​Setup is simple. The Kerio interface is very intuitive.​"
 

Cons

"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."
"At the moment, if you don't integrate any third-party solution with a simple Fortinet FortiGate box, the box would not function as expected for superb protection."
"It is somewhat expensive compared to other solutions such as Sophos."
"Fortinet FortiGate is not a scalable solution, as they give you a number and each box comes with concurrent connections; if you need to expand, you have to change the box."
"In my opinion, Fortinet FortiGate could be improved by making the appliance smaller than what we have here, as it is pretty big."
"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."
"I think Fortinet FortiGate is stable because previously it had a hiccup around a bug within the authentication VPN due to the firmware, but after updating, it's easier to control."
"Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem."
"The product could be made more customizable."
"The development area and QA area could be improved. With those improvements, we can improve projects and take even less time to implement them."
"Maybe one of the things in the tool where improvements are needed as there are some shortcomings consist of Azure Firewall Manager."
"Currently, it only supports IP addresses, so you have to be specific about the IPs that are in your environment."
"The reporting, logging, and monitoring features, as well as the flexibility of the policies, need to be improved."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network. The problem is you have to plan ahead of time if you expect to use the firewall in the future so that you don't have to reconfigure your subnets or that specific IP range. Other than that, I don't any issues. I use it for basic configuration for a single application, so I really don't try to leverage it for multiple applications where I might find some complexity or challenges."
"It needs a lot of improvement, especially on intruder detection. They are working hard on that."
"I would appreciate it if Azure Firewall included built-in VPN capabilities."
"I would like it if the interface section had multiple failovers. Although I do have three connections, just in case our physical cables get disconnected, I can only set up one failover as a backup. So, if for some reason our fiber and our AFM went down together, I would have to have it search for our 4G modem. I'd love to have extra backups running."
"Kerio Control could improve content filtering."
"If you have to dive deeper into the firewall or any other features, then you really have to read up a bit about how to set it up properly. Some of my colleagues, in the beginning, jumped in and made a bunch of rules but then it got really messy. If Kerio had a template or guidelines for best practices, at the beginning, that would really help. With Kerio Control it's basically 'find out for yourself.'"
"My experience with the solutions technical support is fine but they could be faster in responding."
"The reporting needs to be improved. It is hard to get a domain."
"They don't provide content filtering when it comes to search engine results. We had an incident on the network where a blocked site was showing up in search results. We are in a school environment, so we have blocked a site with some of the explicit content so that kids wouldn't see it. When one of them did a search, the results came on the search engine part. When you try to drill down to the website, it blocks, but when you search by image, it brings up all the images. That's one of the reasons why we are looking at Juniper."
"The trial duration of the product should be extended."
"The improvement that we are looking for is for when decide to move some part of our application to the cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."
"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."
"Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"The price is highly competitive when compared to other brands that offer similar functionality."
"It was worth the money overall. It's good value."
"Its pricing is competitive with other solutions."
"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"Azure Firewall is expensive."
"The solution is cheaper than other brands. My company has an enterprise contract and we finally got a good price with Azure."
"Azure Firewall is quite an expensive product."
"It is expensive, especially with the premium functions. For one of the clients, it was very expensive. You have to use it more at an enterprise level, and there, it was not at an enterprise level. So, it was very costly, but security-wise, it was a very wise decision to use it that way."
"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."
"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."
"I rate the product pricing a five out of ten."
"The licensing module is good."
"The price of Kerio Control could be better, it is a bit overpriced compared to other solutions."
"Licensing is easier with Kerio Control. With FortiGate, we realized the licensing is really hectic, because if you skip one year, you have to back pay that year. If you skip two years, you have to back pay two years. With Kerio Control, if a license expires, one year later you can just reactivate and go on."
"I am living in Iran and we cannot buy the product from Kerio because of sanctions."
"It gets expensive pretty quickly if you need to purchase license packs."
"We have to pay approximately EUR 175 for the product."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. For additional costs, you can add on more features such as antivirus."
"I pay approximately $50 for the solution on an annual basis."
"KerioControl's pricing is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Media Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...
What do you like most about KerioControl?
The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?
KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the p...
What needs improvement with KerioControl?
The logs could be improved for better clarity. It is difficult to understand when there is a threat attack, and handl...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Information Not Available
Triton Technical, McDonald's
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. KerioControl and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.