Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiGate comparison

Citrix and Fortinet are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Additionally, 90% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Read 22 Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 592 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

82,052 Views
8,205 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Fortinet FortiGate

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Citrix SD-WAN and Fortinet FortiGate are key competitors in networking solutions, focusing on WAN optimization and network security respectively. Citrix SD-WAN excels in application acceleration, especially for voice and video traffic, while Fortinet FortiGate is superior in providing advanced security and Unified Threat Management.

Features: Citrix SD-WAN is highlighted for its WAN optimization, application acceleration, and seamless failover capabilities. It efficiently manages video and voice traffic, ensuring stability and enhanced user experience. In contrast, Fortinet FortiGate offers VPN, firewall, web filtering, and data security protocols, positioning itself as a leader in network security. Its UTM features integrate well within organizations for comprehensive protection.

Room for Improvement: Citrix SD-WAN could enhance its security features and simplify its licensing model to be more competitive with Fortinet's offerings. Users have expressed a desire for more robust network security and better integration with existing IT solutions. On the other hand, Fortinet FortiGate needs improvements in its interface and support system. Its load balancing and API integration could also be refined for ease of use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Citrix SD-WAN is praised for its straightforward deployment in hybrid cloud environments. Fortinet FortiGate is valued for its flexibility across on-premises and cloud deployments. While Citrix's support is generally good but inconsistent, Fortinet offers reliable support, although response times can be slow. Both products enjoy a strong global presence with generally positive feedback.

Pricing and ROI: Citrix SD-WAN involves a higher upfront cost with various licensing options, whereas Fortinet FortiGate is regarded as cost-effective with competitive pricing and straightforward licensing models. Fortinet's pricing is more affordable for a wider range of businesses, ultimately offering strong ROI through cost savings in infrastructure and maintenance.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

June 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 900,747 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiGate

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

592

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)

Featured Reviews

Rohit Ghorpade

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.

Read full review

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at airtel

Enables customers to manage security effortlessly with intuitive features and easy integration

In terms of improvements for Fortinet FortiGate, they could offer evaluation licenses, as compared to Meraki, which provides a 90-day evaluation. In Fortinet FortiGate, they do not provide standard evaluation licenses; instead, we need to request them from the OEM through the account manager for POCs. If we want to conduct a demo, we need to work with real hardware. In comparison to Cisco, we have DCloud, which helps with providing demos to customers, but in Meraki, I need to reach out to them, book a lab, and they need to provide all the hardware. I need remote access and L3 engineers to program it; only then can I offer a real-time demo to the customer.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are using it widely for the local record for SaaS-based applications. Another valuable feature is a local breakout."

"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 stability is the main feature of Citrix SD-WAN. You can also upgrade the data packages or have less transmission."

"The other banks, bank branches, require good connectivity, which is very important for a branch to have, and they managed to have an SLA of almost 100%."

"The scalability and stability are quite good in general."

"Citrix SD-WAN is an enterprise-grade solution."

"It provides a more fluid experience to end-users when they're using their applications or desktops."

"The hands-on customer support and load balancing that come with this solution are above all others on the market."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pros

"Regionally, we are well covered. Technical support is good in this area."

"The cost of the solution is very good in the context of other, similar solutions on the market."

"The features that I have found most valuable are that it is good to use, and most importantly, the pricing, and the customer especially likes the discount when they trade up or something like that."

"The Fortinet technical support is awesome."

"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has a very high ROI"

"The biggest reason I went with Fortinet is that it felt like it has got Palo Alto type of functionality at a much more reasonable price point."

"Their web interface to manage it is excellent, even compared with other providers."

"It's very easy to set up, it's very easy to make policies and, for an organization, that means you don't need IT expert in firewalls. You just need to have somebody who knows a little bit of IT, and that's it. With other products, you need someone with a "Masters" degree in firewalls."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

Cons

"The price could be improved, it's an expensive solution."

"I would like to see more customization to adjust for the WAN lock-out due to our unexpected power outages."

"I think the price can be improved, particularly in third world countries such as Ecuador where companies don't have the budget to implement expensive products."

"The solution's licensing model could be improved."

"The reports need to be improved. We need to have them customized but they don't have that right now. I would like for them to have better system predictions. We don't have that right now. My system may be working fine right now but after making some changes, that can change."

"The communication around the life cycle would have been really helpful. The main issue we have had is related to the life cycle because some of the things that we are using were discontinued. They were discontinued within a year after we had purchased it, which is a bit painful. If we had known that, we would've made some other decisions."

"Given that Citrix SD-WAN solved all our problems by providing us with everything we needed to unify communications with our branches and data centers, I cannot suggest anything further in terms of improvements."

"Citrix SD-WAN does not have the SD-WAN with one optimization in a single license. Other competitors have this option and it should be added to this solution."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] cons

"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."

"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."

"The IPS monitoring can be improved."

"Customer service is poor."

"It would be better if they had a dashboard where we could see what attacks were happening. It would be good to see who's trying to get into our network."

"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."

"Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."

"The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

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."

"The price of the subscription should be cheaper."

"As NetScaler is now, I find it quite pricey."

"The license was a one-time purchase. It's expensive."

"I'm not quite sure of the price ranges. Roughly, the hidden devices can scale up to $20K for one appliance. However, the branch CPs are USD $1,000 to $2,500."

"The price is relatively 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."

"Citrix SD-WAN is quite an affordable product."

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"Setup costs and pricing depends on many variables, but it's mostly affordable."

"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."

"This is not a cheap solution but it isn't expensive, either. It's a good solution for the right price."

"For the performance that we get, the price is reasonable. There are cheaper options, but they may not deliver the same kind of performance that we want. For the performance they provide, the price is acceptable."

"I rate the pricing an eight and a half on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

"We are on an annual license to use Fortinet FortiGate."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	370
Midsize Enterprise	138
Large Enterprise	195

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 15% of the time

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

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 6% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

Compared 6% of the time

More Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]

June 2026

Download Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

June 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Also Known As

Citrix CloudBridge, WOC, NetScaler SD-WAN

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Overview

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] enhances connectivity and performance by optimizing bandwidth utilization, ensuring reliable communication across branch offices and headquarter data centers. It offers centralized management, efficient deployment options, and improved network reliability.

Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] is designed for businesses seeking enhanced connectivity solutions that boost application performance while reducing costs. With HDX WAN Optimization and reliable Active-Active connectivity, it assures improved bandwidth management. Tailored for both cloud and on-premise deployments, it supports fast communication and seamless integration, making it user-friendly even for those with limited technical expertise. Security features and zero-touch deployments further enhance its appeal. However, users highlight areas needing improvement, such as configuration intuitiveness, pricing alignment for specific markets, and stability. Enhanced reporting, networking features, and technical support are desired. Integration with Windows, security elements like firewalls, and licensing clarity require attention to meet user expectations.

What are the key features of Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]?

HDX WAN Optimization: Enhances application performance and traffic.
Load Balancing: Ensures efficient traffic distribution across networks.
Reliable Connectivity: Provides seamless failover and reduced costs through MPLS replacement.
Cloud Management: Simplifies deployment and management via the cloud.
Zero-Touch Deployment: Facilitates easy setup and provisioning.
Active-Active Lines: Optimizes bandwidth utilization and performance.
Backup Capabilities: Centralizes data management for security.

What benefits should users look for in Citrix SD-WAN [EOL]?

Enhanced Connectivity: Improves stability and reduces downtime.
Cost Reduction: Efficiently decreases expenses by replacing MPLS.
Network Optimization: Offers better bandwidth for diverse communication types.
Secure Interconnectivity: Ensures secure and reliable network connections.
Management Flexibility: Supports cloud or on-premise deployment options.

Industries benefit from Citrix SD-WAN [EOL] by leveraging its features to ensure stable, redundant connectivity between branches and data centers. Organizations experiencing frequent line failures or high reliance on bandwidth-heavy applications find it particularly useful. It caters to sectors needing reliable data management and enhanced networking.

Citrix

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

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., Dallara, ecVision, Essar, Eurofred, Groupe Promutuel, HMSHost Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd, Royal Caribbean International

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

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

June 2026

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions. Updated: June 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions vendors and best WAN Edge vendors.

We monitor all Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.