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Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 2025

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

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Forcepoint Next Generation ...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (25th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), WAN Edge (11th)
 

Featured Reviews

Rohit Ghorpade - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Network Engineer at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
A scalable solution for MCN controller but lacks technical supports, upgrades
There are a few things that can be improved, are domain-based routing and the slowness of virtual parts, and it may be due to the wrong configuration, which we have been unable to find out. Previously, we faced some issues with the slowness part. Apart from that, feature like end gateway level antivirus. We are currently using a NetFlow proxy to establish a virtual position for the NetFlow. Our current environment has many use cases, but we are not using them on the Citrix SD-WAN. When I navigate the NCL part, it involves configuration. I want to highlight this disadvantage. Sometimes, when we push the configuration, it tries to push it to all branch locations. This process takes a lot of time, nearly 30 minutes, to push a single change from the NCL. Overall, I don't think Citrix meets our use cases what we have. This is based on my feedback after using it for the past year and working on this Citrix SD-WAN. However, from my experience, it is the worst solution I have seen. There's no domain-based routing, which is horrible. That's why we are moving to other products. We have checked our use case requirements with Fortinet, Palo Alto, and they meet them. I will consider the PoC or another OEM. There are many things in the area you need to be prompt, like the automation part. If any link or device goes down, alerting notification, etc. We need to perform and highlight so many things to your management. This should be improved.
Ajit Pratap Kundan - PeerSpot reviewer
MANAGER SOLUTION CONSULTING at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Unified security management has improved traffic control and simplified remote workforce access
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall does help in vulnerability identification and response by providing a single unified console through which I am able to monitor and manage infrastructure. The URL filtering capability of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall helps in blocking malicious sites. We have to take care of both known threats and unknown threats. The firewall takes care of known threats, and we protect ourselves from unknown threats such as malicious code and malware that we cannot create firewall rules for. With these routing capabilities and policies, only whitelisted things get processed or passed. The biggest advantages of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, especially as a partner, service provider, and integrator, are that it is very easy to integrate these APIs with our solution, and most of the features I am getting in the clientless mode. Even with the client mode, it is easy to integrate with our client, allowing the customer to get a single client to address all the features of the firewall as well as the GTNA perspective. The flexibility of deployment, especially for the government and defense sectors, is that they want an on-premises solution, while the rest of the PSUs or enterprise segment are comfortable with the cloud offering, which is the SaaS offering and the way to go in the future.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is brilliant, the way it calculates its paths and trails is great."
"Citrix SD-WAN is an enterprise-grade solution."
"The scalability and stability are quite good in general."
"This is a good product and I recommend it."
"The zero-touch deployment is most valuable for us."
"Downtime for branch offices is now almost zero. We have 100% real-time visibility into all of our lines. MPLS links have been replaced with lower-cost links, saving a larger percentage of line costs. Overall, I see SD-WAN as a must. And the Citrix SD-WAN product has delivered on expectations and exceeded them. (With later firmware updates we now have good firewall capabilities in the product too)."
"The main advantage of Citrix SD-WAN is that it enables fast communication between our branches and data centers. And, with its cloud management features, it also makes the process of adding new branches into our company network much easier."
"We migrated an online gambling company in South Africa off MPLS onto our SD-WAN solution, and they're saving millions every month purely on MPLS spend."
"The most valuable features of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall are the advanced threat protection, including features like IPS and DDoS prevention, which help avoid internal DDoS attacks."
"Technical support from Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is great."
"Forcepoint is a very expensive solution but it is also very secure."
"Overall, it is an excellent product, highly reliable, and among the top contenders; Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is well known."
"The Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is a scalable product."
"When our customer needs some optimization, along with performance and security. If they want everything in one package, I recommend Forcepoint because they have everything."
"I like the Firewall and the IPS."
"I like the IPS; IPS is the master feature and I depend on the firewall and sandbox."
 

Cons

"I am happy with this product. If anything, its price can be reduced. It is a bit expensive."
"The initial setup could be a bit easier."
"Citrix should continue to offer a perpetual licensing model because it is very important to us."
"The firewall reporting could be easier to use and filter."
"I would like to see support for additional reporting."
"Citrix SD-WAN's knowledge base has a few missing things, so you may need to seek help from support."
"It is a bit expensive. A cheaper product would be good, but everybody likes things to be cheaper."
"The only improvement for Citrix SD-WAN would be to lower its cost."
"They should have a local vendor who can provide support. Most of the support is overseas, so the time zones can be a problem."
"However, we did have a horrible experience with Forcepoint in the past."
"Intel could ditch the Java-based GUI rendering and could use some serious revamp on the way they manage their GUI."
"Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall could change its interface, allowing standard or direct connect modes to be configured."
"It's a complicated firewall. Until you come to know the firewall inducers, most people don't like the firewall because the components for the firewall are a little bit complex. User-friendliness is a little bit tough. It needs to be user-friendly when creating policies, and pushing policies. Committing takes more time compared to Palo Alto."
"I would like to see more sizing in the next release, and the roadmap should be clear."
"They need to increase the local support here. There are also some bugs or fixes on which they need to work. They very well know about these bugs. In terms of licensing, I would like them to either increase the number of features in a single license or make licensing more flexible."
"The network interface could be better, and it could be cheaper."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a bit expensive. A cheaper product would be good, but everybody likes things to be cheaper. We bought the devices up front, and then we pay for the annual support."
"Citrix SD-WAN is quite an affordable product."
"The license was a one-time purchase. It's expensive."
"It depends on the scale. In our case, it would have been better if we had known about the life cycling steps, but otherwise, it is worth the money."
"It would be helpful to have a demo license available for customers who want to prove the concept and conduct a proof of concept (POC) before committing to the solution. This is particularly important for customers in Egypt who often require a demonstration of the solution's features and compatibility with their needs before making any investment or incurring costs. Providing a demo license would allow customers to assess whether the solution would meet their needs or not."
"It's a little bit on the high side compared to the other products."
"I believe that Citrix SD-WAN is a good investment, but I do not have the information to be more specific."
"The price of the subscription should be cheaper."
"Everything in Forcepoint comes with an individual license, which is kind of a problem. In our last meeting, they said that it may change at the beginning of 2021, and they will try to merge some licenses together. Customers will get more features than what they got previously. We will wait and see."
"We would love to take other solution from Forcepoint, but unfortunately the price is too high. That's why we are not considering using Forcepoing for our proxy and DLB. They have a very good DLB, but the matter in the end is the cost."
"We have found the price could be reduced. It is a little expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"It could be cheaper like Fortinet."
"I believe the licensing fee is for one year, three years, and five years, or something like that. If you wants to increase the support level from a simpler level to platinum, I think that there's a cost. There are differences between every kind of support, but I don't know the numbers."
"The big advantage of this solution is that we can select the right model for our requirements, which is not too expensive."
"There is a license required to use this solution and we can purchase it for one, two, three, or five years."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Citrix SD-WAN?
The solution's licensing model could be improved. Citrix SD-WAN is a good product from a technical point of view. However, when you compare its licensing with the prices of competitors, you will se...
What advice do you have for others considering Citrix SD-WAN?
If a customer already has Citrix NetScaler and is not looking to change anything in their existing environment, we proceed with Citrix SD-WAN. However, if a customer is looking for a change because...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
In terms of price, I would say Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not expensive. It is very much comparable to other vendors, and pricing is not a problem, especially for the Asian market, with...
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
The negative side of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is that the ZTNA part is missing. For that, we have to integrate a third-party component with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall to complet...
What is your primary use case for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
The major use cases for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall are in government turnkey projects where we require a lot of traffic coming from the public domain. That is why we are putting these fire...
 

Also Known As

Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN
Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
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