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

Why PeerSpot?

Check Point Software Technologies and Fortinet are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 83% of Check Point Software Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Check Point VPN-1 [EOL]

Read 4 Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] reviews

83% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 595 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

95,567 Views
65,941 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Check Point VPN-1 [EOL]

Fortinet FortiGate

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] and Fortinet FortiGate are both competitors in the security solutions market, known for their advanced VPN capabilities. Fortinet FortiGate appears superior due to its comprehensive feature set and value.

Features: Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] provides a robust network security environment with VPN functionalities, an intrusion prevention system (IPS) that detects malicious activities, and a reliable firewall for filtering network information. Fortinet FortiGate offers a wide array of features such as application control, advanced VPN configurations, and integrated security fabric, allowing better threat detection and overall protection.

Room for Improvement: Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] could improve by simplifying setup processes and enhancing support responsiveness. More intuitive user interfaces and real-time threat intelligence analytics would help. Fortinet FortiGate could enhance its cloud-based management capabilities, refine integration with third-party tools, and improve the user interface for better user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate stands out with its straightforward deployment model and dependable customer service. In contrast, Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] suffers from a complex setup and slower customer support, giving Fortinet an edge.

Pricing and ROI: Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] is considered cost-effective with a good ROI. However, Fortinet FortiGate, despite its slightly higher costs, offers better ROI by providing enhanced security features and higher functionality worth the investment.

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Firewalls

October 2026

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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

Check Point VPN-1 [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

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)

Featured Reviews

Ralf Zlabinger

Manager Informationssicherheit at Bacher Systems EDV GmbH

Very good IPS, anti-malware, and VPN capabilities

This product has now served more than 30 years in the market and has evolved tremendously over the years. Check Point administration and management help you through visibility and performance. Even though its price is high, you have one management platform that has a great user experience and is easy to use. The log viewer and its indexing is especially useful. It can lower your administration time and can also be used with an API. If you want a perfect and centralized solution that gives you fast access to all of your network areas, this is the right product. The new AI functions will speed up the administration even more.

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Vijay Ramani

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.

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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

"VPN clients are easy to use and deploy."

"Its most outstanding feature is content filtering."

"The product offers fairly good centralized administration and monitoring with decent capabilities that allow the administrator to have relevent control over devices."

"Technical support has been good."

"The application control of the solution is something that I find very valuable."

"It allowed us to have content filtering and commercially available firewall perimeter management that had been available since 1997, was very functional, and was one of the best brands that had been securing the network."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."

"The product is so stable I don't need to have a cluster."

"Fortinet scores very high against security threats when you compare it with Check Point and Palo Alto."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are UTM, web filtering, and IPS."

"The most important features with FortiGate are the web filter and application controls, as we can control our internet usage and use the web filter for application purposes."

"The product's most valuable features are SD-WAN and the integration of WiFi and switches."

"The solution is stable."

"Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

Cons

"The reporting from the file or reporting from mobile access needs improvement. The solution, in general, could use better reporting tools."

"Every time we made a change, the policy took about three minutes to apply, and obviously, when there were emergency changes or changes that we needed that were escalated, they were not modified very, very quickly."

"Pricing is sometimes challenging, although it brings a lot of features."

"It should have excellent integration with the other security tools."

"The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing."

"The customer support is expensive. We have had difficulties with technical support from Fortinet."

"However, two distinct security policies must be used and nothing of the IPv6 settings are configurable via the GUI."

"We understand that FortiGate cannot be standalone without others, such as FortiManager, so for small businesses, if FortiGate can provide something similar to FortiManager, it will be better."

"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."

"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."

"I'd like to see an improvement in the Bandwidth Management and Traffic limit control. Also, the licenses are expensive, turning off some users."

"The representative from the vendor seems to know the basics of the product but when it comes to troubleshooting he seems to lack information."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Easy to understand licensing requirements."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"Fortinet bundles FortiGate with other products and because of this, the price is a little expensive to some SMB enterprises."

"Its price is normal. If I compare it with other vendors, such as Palo Alto, it's normal. Palo Alto is expensive."

"We pay about $4,000 for a yearly license, and there aren't any additional fees."

"The beauty is the price performance ratio is great with FortiGate. It provides all the features we needed and the price is comparable with others' firewalls. The price is quite competitive with the firewalls with similar features."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall."

"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

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…

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Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	373
Midsize Enterprise	139
Large Enterprise	195

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...

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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...

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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...

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Comparisons

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Check Point VPN-1 [EOL]

Compared 54% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Check Point VPN-1 [EOL]

Compared 19% of the time

More Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 15% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

October 2026

Download Check Point VPN-1 [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Also Known As

No data available

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Overview

VPN-1/FireWall-1 is Check Point’s enterprise security suite that integrates access control, authentication, encryption, network address translation, content security and auditing

Check Point Software Technologies

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

Sample Customers

SF Police Credit Union, Carmel Partners, S_ren Rothe

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Netgate and others in Firewalls. Updated: October 2026.

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