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Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiGate comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiGate
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
595
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (2nd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
 

Q&A Highlights

Oct 04, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

William Cambronero - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at ITQS
Great firewalls, VPN, and Intrusion prevention capabilities
Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management. Another point is to improve the technical support provided by Check Point UTM-1. Although the company offers different standards, including basic and premium, by mail and by telephone, they present a very large deficiency in the time it takes to comply with the provisions of the SLA. Coordinating a meeting is complicated by the schedules. The documentation should also be improved by having it unified.
VR
Practice Head at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Unified security has protected diverse environments and supports consistent policies everywhere
I would say 8 out of 10 regarding the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. It requires a lot of bug fixing and what I understand, Fortinet is fast enough to provide bug fixes and patches, but usually I suggest Fortinet should do thorough testing of their releases and software releases and once probably they can reduce the frequency of new releases but make it stable. That's what my recommendation is. As far as the core objective of Fortinet FortiGate is concerned, I think they are meeting the targets but I guess for rolling out new features and new updates, they are doing a bit of hurry just to cope with the market dynamics. But possibly, I understand that they are compromising on the quality of the software and stability. So over there they have to improve. Rest of the aspects, I guess they are doing pretty good. We are happy. Regarding my experience with Fortinet FortiGate in comparison to maybe some other vendors such as CyberArk, Fortinet is in the top three and they give a lot of competition to their nearest peers in the market. But I guess Fortinet is really struggling in software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, and FortiSwitches space. So they have to make their products more affordable in Forti-switching and Forti-WiFi space. They are not able to compete effectively with the nearest competitor HP Enterprise and HP Aruba.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Check Point has been in the security industry for so long that it has evolved different solutions and technologies."
"The ability to create a central database for objects (sources, destinations, services, etc.), which can be used in several different policies, and the possibility of browsing all logs (FW, IPs, identity awareness, etc.) from all the gateways from a unique screen are big pluses."
"Since I have installed the solution everything is working very great."
"Firewalls help us a lot in controlling traffic on our network and preventing unauthorized access."
"Browsing speed has picked up considerably as users now have to do their official work and cannot browse social sites instead."
"The databases and its signatures are its most important features."
"We can create a domain to separate and segregate some functions, some services."
"It has given us the ability to securely connect remote office sites to our Core Data Network over ISP DPLC Circuits."
"The most valuable feature is the policy routing and application control."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"We use the FortiGate Sandbox to detect zero-day vulnerabilities, such as anomalies or malware, that are unknown and have not yet been discovered."
"The technical support is great."
"Consolidated our network environment at all locations, but mainly at our datacenter."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall can be described as the most complete solution."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a good solution because it has a range of options and a clear ecosystem."
"The most useful features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are you can create a virtual firewall within it, most other firewalls do not have this feature, you are able to manage your network and have network segmentation within your firewall, and additionally, you can create virtual switches within the firewall and have policy management, such as firewall and access policy."
 

Cons

"What has been the issue of firewalls is they ask me for policies and content filtering application control and all these features that are now part of Harmony."
"I would like to see improvements in the report area. Some features should be integrated and not licensed separately."
"The solution should be more user-friendly."
"Yes, about once a year we have a catastrophic failure. It's pretty random."
"The physical memory is insufficient for installing policies and some other operations."
"Memory and processing power: These devices are strictly for small business applications."
"Technical support was very bad because the supplier who sold it to us, wasn't very supportive, and he wouldn't giving us direct links to the OEM."
"The solution could be improved if there was a better way to report. The reporting functionality is not really good. Even though it's not the major function. Maybe adding a way to make a custom report."
"The IPS monitoring can be improved."
"The support package being an additional extra, even with an enterprise package purchase, is pathetic. Though I haven't had direct experience with support, the fact that it doesn't come by default, which is very misleading compared to other brands, warrants a rating of two out of ten."
"The anti-malware engine could use an upgrade."
"They should offer special pricing to premium partners and customers."
"Overall, the integration could be better."
"The stability and performance of Fortinet FortiGate are mixed, as some features are quite good and very stable while others are quite new and very buggy."
"When they release security updates, functionality needs to be cross-checked thoroughly."
"Some features of Fortinet FortiGate are actually fee enabled that are inconvenient for deploying in production. Other issues relate to isolation with Cisco products and your server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This cost is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per year, so some other solutions are cheaper and the pricing should be improved."
"The pricing is too high."
"As far as I'm aware, in our case, it's just a yearly pricing arrangement with no additional licensing costs."
"At the time we bought them, I was satisfied with their pricing; I don't know how the new pricing will be."
"Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need."
"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."
"The platform offers a reasonable price point compared to its competitors."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten"
"FortiGate SWG is reasonably priced."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Answers from the Community

Oct 4, 2017
Oct 4, 2017
Hi, It's very hard to compare brand name of firewalls and you did not clarify specific models. Normally, an IT is often using a firewall and suggest that brand name. Actually, it will depend on what bundle of service you choose in each brand name of firewall. Of course, Palo Alto - it's worth it. My suggestion is base on your requirement of security and your budget, then read the specs of each ...
2 out of 42 answers
it_user125442 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dono at a tech consulting company
Jul 18, 2017
it_user627312 - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder with 51-200 employees
Jul 18, 2017
Hi, It depends on their requirements. Each solution adds a different layer of value.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Marketing Services Firm
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business373
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
 

Questions from the Community

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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 at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...
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 the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...
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 good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AccessIT Group Inc., Accuvant, Cadre Computer Resources Inc., Compuquip Technologies Inc, Dimension Data North America Inc., Forsythe Solutions Group, Gotham Technology Group LLC, GuidePoint Security LLC, Iovations, IPS
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
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