CRITICALSTART vs Fortinet FortiSOAR comparison

Critical Start and Fortinet are both solutions in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category. Critical Start is ranked #26, while Fortinet is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.8. Critical Start holds a 1.2% mindshare in SOAR, compared to Fortinet’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Critical Start users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 73% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

Fortinet FortiSOAR and CRITICALSTART are competitors in the security orchestration and response market. CRITICALSTART appears to have an edge in features and functionality, despite Fortinet FortiSOAR offering better pricing and support options.

Features: Fortinet FortiSOAR is renowned for its comprehensive automation capabilities, integration flexibility, and advanced playbook creation that simplifies incident response. CRITICALSTART is valued for robust threat detection, enhanced incident response features, and a powerful Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) that excels in alert reduction and management.

Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiSOAR could improve in offering a more modern user interface, faster response times, and a simpler initial setup process. CRITICALSTART might enhance their mobile app's functionality, integrate with more data sources without additional costs, and refine their system's intuitiveness further to reduce UI sluggishness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiSOAR provides a flexible deployment model that suits various IT infrastructures and includes robust support options. CRITICALSTART offers streamlined deployments, quick setup, and responsive customer service, fostering fast problem resolution with a personal approach.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiSOAR is attractive due to its competitive pricing and high ROI potential owing to low setup costs and efficient integration. CRITICALSTART, while possibly more expensive, offers perceived higher value through enhanced threat management capabilities and efficient resource allocation.

To learn more, read our detailed CRITICALSTART vs. Fortinet FortiSOAR Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART vs. Fortinet FortiSOAR

June 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

Torq

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of Torq is 3.8%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CRITICALSTART is 1.2%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiSOAR is 3.8%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Torq	3.8%
Fortinet FortiSOAR	3.8%
CRITICALSTART	1.2%
Other	91.2%

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)

Featured Reviews

AdityaDesai

Solutions Architect at Swimlane

Automation has streamlined multi-tenant SOC workflows and improves alert handling efficiency

Although the reporting within Torq is not that great, we did ask for many features regarding reporting in Torq, but due to some platform constraints, they could not make the whole dataset available for us to be used in reporting. Except for that, we used some basic reporting. When I used Torq, it was indeed in the early stages of AI capabilities. Only a few customers were allowed to use it, and we were among them. It functioned well as long as we summarized the data properly. If you input garbage, you would get garbage out. Thus, we had to do significant fine-tuning regarding what data context we provided to the AI orchestrator to get meaningful results. In terms of Torq's unified platform approach to AI SOC automation and case management compared to managing multiple point solutions across my security stack, I find it case-centric. The unified view in case management is good since it provides clarity, although there are limitations regarding how many items in case management can be modified at once. Bulk operations are very limited, potentially due to their back-end database or data retrieval processes that can be improved. Regarding improvements for Torq, when we were onboarded, there were aspects we were uncertain about, such as the number of cases that could be generated, what data we could bring in, how many clients we could onboard, and similar concerns. Initially, we also lacked clarity about the number of playbooks or workflows we could build. Different triggers like system triggers, case-based triggers, and others can be employed without restrictions, but when it comes to on-demand and scheduled jobs, there is a limitation based on the subscription and pricing tier that notably caps the number of workflows we can create. No bulk editing across cases was one issue, along with limited filtering related to single grouping constraints. Additionally, the out-of-the-box case templates provided require substantial modifications before they become usable. There is also a feature in the cases for notes that cannot be searched. They are only visible through the UI, which is another area for improvement. The workflow and execution-based charges seem misleading as this was not discussed initially. I am not sure if new customers are made aware of this. It seems that workflows revolving around cases hinder functionality outside of case management, as we have many use cases needing on-demand triggers and schedules for functions like reporting or polling devices. Creating additional workflows to achieve basic functionalities raises costs significantly, which disadvantages customers. While they facilitate optimization and scaling, the support received tends to be very basic. Improvements can be made in that area as well.

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Justin Hadley

Sr. Manager, Security Engineering at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

The transparency of data in the platform is perfect: You see everything as they are seeing it

Their Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) engine, which is kind of their correlation engine, is by far and away one of the best in the business. We can filter and utilize different lists to build out different alerts, such as, what to alert on and when not to alert. This engine helps reduce our number of alerts and false positives. The service's Trusted Behavior Registry helps the provider solve every alert. The way that they have it built out is very intelligent. The way every alert comes in, it gets triaged one direction or another. If it is already a false positive, then it is still getting addressed and reviewed on a regular cadence. Also, true positive alerts get escalated to the appropriate personnel. Its mobile app is great. The ability just to be able to quick reference and see what's coming in when you're on the move or go. You don't always need to have your computer or laptop handy, because you can operate it just from the mobile app. It can communicate with analysts, which is great. The mobile app is great at affecting the efficiency of our security operations. Those guys are using it throughout the day, whether that be at the office, home, or off hours. Typically, they triage from the mobile app. Then, if an escalation needs to be done on a computer, they will pull out a computer. We were on the original UI for a few years, so the updated UI has been a refreshing change. It has significantly more ability to filter and translate data, then load that data. It is rather intuitive to click through for some of our junior analysts or interns, especially as we are starting to onboard and teach them different aspects of the security operations team.

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VIJAICYRIAC

Director at Movate

Automated playbooks have reduced response times and provided deeper threat analytics

The effectiveness of Fortinet FortiSOAR playbooks is that they minimize the mean time to response and MTTR, and I think more automation is required to improve the response time. I am working with the Dynamic Case Management feature, and it is dynamic. The Dynamic Case Management feature is more helpful for us to get real-time anomalies and identify the threats. It also assists in real-time response, so it is helpful.

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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

"Torq's unified platform approach to AI, SOAR, automation, and case management is superior compared to my experience managing multiple point solutions."

"Torq has helped a lot regarding SOC analyst efficiency."

"Using that one piece of AI, we auto-closed 511 cases in quarter four alone."

"Torq has exceeded expectations by delivering workflows in a timely and lower effort manner than XSOAR, and it meets all my needs while saving a ton of time and targeting $600,000 saved this year, which is a substantial amount of money."

"What I appreciate most about Torq is that it is an essential part of our system."

"What I liked the most about Torq is the actual workflow builder, which is really great because they offer a lot of features and convenience features that are useful for any automation engineer."

"Once I started to use the system and I saw the potential, it changed all of our work in IT."

"Under one SOC tool in Torq, analysts get to know everything within the context of an alert or incident they are working on, and this ability to view the whole picture within Torq is one of the major breakthroughs and best offerings of Torq."

More Torq pros

"The biggest lesson is transitioning from alert overload to being at a point where we do have eyes on alerts, where every alert is truly possible."

"The new mobile app is awesome. It is one of the best I've ever seen. It's much better than its predecessor. It's more intuitive, a whole lot easier to navigate and get where you need to go. It's less repetitive and just generally easier to use. It allows me to not have to be sitting at my computer all the time. I can be on my phone or tablet or wherever I'm at. It makes it a lot easier to answer tickets and do that kind of thing."

"There are two parts of CRITICALSTART's services that are most valuable to us. The MDR solution where they monitor our computers, laptops, and users across the board; and their knowledge of Palo Alto firewalls."

"Their Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) engine, which is kind of their correlation engine, is by far and away one of the best in the business. We can filter and utilize different lists to build out different alerts, such as, what to alert on and when not to alert. This engine helps reduce our number of alerts and false positives."

"In a given quarter, I get 589,000 security events and 584,000 of those get reduced by the service before they even get to me, so the alerts that actually come through to me end up being about 1,400 in that quarter, which is a 99.7 percent efficiency rate."

"CRITICALSTART makes us much more comfortable with knowing someone else is watching our data and our systems and knowing that professional security people are taking a look at any issues that do arise."

"From where we were prior to going into them, the service has increased our analysts’ efficiency to the point that they can focus on other areas of the business. It gives me the ability to allow analysts to do Level 3 and 4 work and stay out of the weeds of the alerts, where you tend to get alert fatigue. The service takes care of much of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 triage. It is more effective than what we had been used to, because it allows the filtering of Level 1 and Level 2 type alerts to be taken care of. This leaves less for us to handle, which is a good thing."

"When I start thinking about if I were to try to light up a SOC, which I've done before and I have no interest in doing, it could be a million dollars a year or more to do that, and for what I am paying them for the managed fees, it's a steal."

More CRITICALSTART pros

"We use the product for security."

"My final rating for Fortinet FortiSOAR would be 10 out of 10, where one is bad and ten is good."

"It has a quick detection and response time."

"The most valuable features are the playbooks that allow you to take action immediately after the approval of the analytics and anomalies."

"The most fascinating aspect of FortiSOAR is its modern and simple to understand and operate dashboards."

"I like that the solution is integrated with FortiAnalyzer, it's the best feature."

"The solution's most valuable feature is playbook creation, which allows us to integrate all data ingestion into the same platform."

"The good news is that FortiSOAR is not hard to maintain. If you prepared well and deployed strong initially, then maintenance will take half an hour every other week, not more than that. A single person can do it."

More Fortinet FortiSOAR pros

Cons

"Torq does extensive marketing saying that SOAR is dead and markets itself as an all-in-one solution, but this is not actually true."

"It was able to capture data but was unable to differentiate between the agent hostname we are using and the hostname that resides on the back end of the Internet."

"Additionally, the documentation for Torq is not very clear. Most of the information is presented in videos, which are not ideal for reading; there are mostly paragraphs and other text-based content."

"I wish Torq's AI assistant for building templated workflows from scratch worked better; when you start with a blank slate, asking AI to help you build or template the workflow out does not go well."

"Regarding stability, I have noticed some lagging, crashing, and downtime, which is one of my largest gripes."

"The workflow and execution-based charges seem misleading as this was not discussed initially, and creating additional workflows to achieve basic functionalities raises costs significantly, which disadvantages customers."

"The initial deployment of Torq was not easy."

"Regarding the pricing of Torq, I would say it is expensive."

More Torq cons

"There is room for improvement with the new UI, and that's about it. I would like to see a more intuitive design."

"During the six-month integration and rollout, there were some bumpy roads along the way. There were communication breakdowns between the project manager, CRITICALSTART leadership, and us (as the customer). I expressed my displeasure during the integration in their inability to effectively communicate when there were holdups or issues. They were going through some growing pains at that time, but they have been right there for us ever since."

"The updated UI is actually pretty bad. Regarding the intuitiveness, it is fairly easy to use, but the responsiveness, on a scale of one to 10, is a one. It's really poor performance."

"In terms of responsiveness, when I open up an alert, sometimes it takes a bit of time to load. However, it only happened once or twice."

"They could dig a little bit deeper into the Splunk alerts when they feel like they need to be escalated to us. For example, if a locked account shows up, they could do a little extra digging to verify that the locked account was due to a bad password on the local system. They could just do a little extra digging within the Splunk environment instead of pushing it onto us to go do that extra little digging."

"It costs a lot for what we felt comfortable to spend."

"It has frustrated us that they don't have a native Slack integration, because most things do now. That's something we've asked for, for years, and it just doesn't really seem like it's a priority."

"They just did a user interface overhaul to the website portal that you use for troubleshooting tickets. The old one was fine. The new one is not intuitive and I hate it."

More CRITICALSTART cons

"The technology and integrations are important so should continue to be enhanced."

"Fortinet's tech support overall is not great when they are at their best."

"Technical support could be improved."

"FortiSOAR needs to improve the response time for executing playbooks."

"I have found that Fortinet FortiSOAR needs a lot of improvement. The orchestration needs to be improved and most of its functionalities are yet to be operational, I have tried to click on the icons but they do not work."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"The ease of playbook creation on FortiSOAR needs improvement."

"Fortinet FortiSOAR has to be updated on the recent threats. Threats are changing, and it has to be updated to meet the AI-based threats that are out there."

More Fortinet FortiSOAR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Overall, for what I'm paying for it, and the benefit I'm getting out of it, it is right where it needs to be, if not a little bit in my favor. For what it costs me to actually have this service, I could afford one internal person to do that job, but now I have a team of 10 or more who are doing that job, and they don't sleep because they work shifts."

"There are contractual penalties if their SLAs are not met. This commitment was very important in our decision to go with this service, because not having downtime is extremely important to us. The providers has not missed an SLA in the 18 months that I have worked with them."

"The pricing of other services was so insane that they weren't even an option."

"It costs a lot for what we felt comfortable to spend."

"As far as the expense goes, it's very competitive pricing and the services you get are almost like you have a person on your team."

"I've told CRITICALSTART that I think the managed service they provide is cheaper than it should be. It's a really good deal."

"The pricing has always been competitive. They have always been good to us. They will make it a fight. They don't try to hide anything; it's always been fully transparent and well-worth what we pay for it."

"Fortinet FortiSOAR is expensive."

"Pricing is fine compared to other solutions."

"Since Africa is struggling with foreign exchange, the solution is pretty expensive there."

"Considering all the features of Fortinet FortiSOAR, I think it has a good price."

"The price of the product should be lower. The brand value that Fortinet has, it has the reputation of being a reasonably priced product, and they have an enormous customer base in India. Most of the SME market is covered by FortiGate firewalls. It becomes an easy way for consultants, such as us, or even system integrators, to open the door with the Fortinet product lines."

"Fortinet FortiSOAR is an expensive solution."

"The solution offers both licensing and subscription models that are similar in price to other products."

"If you compare Fortinet FortiSOAR's price with the prices of the market leader, Palo Alto, then it can be considered a cheaper product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Torq?

I do not dislike anything about Torq because it has satisfied all of our use cases and requirements. We contacted sup...

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What is your primary use case for Torq?

Initially, we were using Slack for small automations, such as creating pipelines or shutting down servers. For exampl...

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What advice do you have for others considering Torq?

I have been working for five years with experience in the IT field. Torq is very good. It manages everything. I would...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSOAR?

The product is expensive, but it is a value-for-money product. It is a good product to invest in, eventually securing...

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What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSOAR?

Fortinet FortiSOAR has to be updated on the recent threats. Threats are changing, and it has to be updated to meet th...

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What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiSOAR?

I have been working in my field for almost four years, but right now I am not using it because my current company is ...

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Comparisons

Tines vs Torq

Compared 27% of the time

Splunk SOAR vs Torq

Compared 14% of the time

Blink Ops vs Torq

Compared 11% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Torq

Compared 10% of the time

Google Security Operations vs Torq

Compared 3% of the time

More Torq Competitors

ServiceNow Security Operations vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 12% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 9% of the time

SentinelOne Wayfinder Threat Detection and Response vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 8% of the time

Binary Defense MDR vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 7% of the time

Expel vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 6% of the time

More CRITICALSTART Competitors

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Fortinet FortiSOAR

Compared 21% of the time

Splunk SOAR vs Fortinet FortiSOAR

Compared 18% of the time

Securonix SOAR vs Fortinet FortiSOAR

Compared 8% of the time

D3 Security vs Fortinet FortiSOAR

Compared 6% of the time

Google Security Operations vs Fortinet FortiSOAR

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiSOAR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Torq

May 2026

Download Torq product report

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART

June 2026

Download CRITICALSTART product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiSOAR

June 2026

Download Fortinet FortiSOAR product report

Also Known As

No data available

Critical Start, CriticalStart

CyberSponse, FortiSOAR

Overview

Torq is the enterprise AI SOC solution that effectively combines adaptive insights and automation to handle critical threats efficiently. It manages threat lifecycles, swiftly moving from triage to response, ensuring effective risk management.

Torq is designed to streamline security operations by aggregating telemetry across your security stack. It investigates significant risks and manages threats from triage to containment and remediation. This AI-driven tool enhances the capabilities of your SecOps team, allowing them to achieve more impactful results without introducing complicated processes.

What are the key features of Torq?

Adaptive Agentic Insights: Provides real-time threat intelligence tailored to specific security challenges.
Automation: Automates responses to security incidents, minimizing manual intervention requirements.
Threat Lifecycle Management: Comprehensive handling of threats from detection to remediation.
Telemetry Aggregation: Integrates data across platforms for a unified security overview.

Why consider Torq based on reviews?

Efficiency: Users notice significant reductions in time spent managing threats.
Risk Reduction: Enhanced ability to identify and address critical threats promptly.
Resource Optimization: Allows teams to allocate effort to other critical tasks by reducing manual security operations.
Scalability: Adaptable to meet the demands of growing or changing infrastructures.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Torq shows effectiveness by adapting to specific risk scenarios often encountered in these fields. Its integration with existing infrastructures makes it a valuable asset for maintaining stringent security standards, essential for protecting critical data and operations in diverse high-stakes environments.

Torq

CRITICALSTART enhances cybersecurity through advanced alert management, expert guidance, and a user-friendly interface. It promotes efficient monitoring and response to alerts, utilizing a Zero Trust model for heightened security.

CRITICALSTART is designed for organizations seeking to manage security alerts and streamline monitoring processes. Known for its quick response times and efficient alert filtering, it integrates tools like Cylance and Carbon Black to offer managed detection and response services. Users experience enhanced security by focusing on critical threats while the platform's easy navigation aids in efficiently responding to alerts. Improvement areas include better alert prioritization, enhanced compliance disclosure, and smoother integration with third-party communication tools.

What are the key features of CRITICALSTART?

Alert Management: Efficient handling and filtering of alerts to minimize noise.
Expert Guidance: Insights for integrating SIEM and optimizing response strategies.
Mobile Access: Easy access through a mobile app to manage alerts on the go.
Zero Trust Model: Enhances security by minimizing unnecessary access and noise.
User-Friendly Interface: Seamless navigation enhances user interaction and response times.

What advantages and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Confidence: Advanced alert handling promotes a secure environment.
Increased Efficiency: Streamlined monitoring allows focus on critical threats.
Expert Insight: Professional guidance enhances security strategies and operations.
Quick Response Times: Rapid handling of threats reduces potential impacts.

In industry applications, organizations use CRITICALSTART to bolster cybersecurity measures across finance, healthcare, and technology sectors. Managed detection services and third-party integration make it suitable for enterprises looking to optimize security operations and minimize alert fatigue while ensuring 24/7 monitoring and protection.

Critical Start

Fortinet FortiSOAR offers a comprehensive platform for automating and managing security operations. It streamlines cyber incident response and integrates with existing security systems for effective threat detection and remediation.

FortiSOAR is designed to enhance security operations through its automation capabilities and seamless platform integration. Its playbooks allow for quick response and efficient policy application, simplifying incident management and network security tasks. The centralized analytics and intuitive dashboards support threat intelligence management and workflow automation. Despite its benefits, FortiSOAR has areas for improvement, such as third-party integration, user-friendliness, and a high learning curve which affects playbook creation. Documentation and technical support need enhancement to facilitate better user experience, along with refining its pricing model and improving orchestration with network devices.

What are the top features of Fortinet FortiSOAR?

Playbooks: Enable rapid response and streamlined policy application.
Centralized Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights for effective threat management.
Automation Support: Simplifies incident management and network security tasks.
Integration: Offers seamless connectivity with diverse platforms via built-in connectors.
User-Friendly Dashboards: Facilitates intuitive navigation and display of essential data.

What benefits or ROI should users look for in reviews?

Reduced Human Error: Automates tasks like incident validation and IP blocking.
Enhanced Threat Intelligence: Improves security through SIEM compatibility and comprehensive monitoring.
Streamlined Workflows: Automates processes like ticket processing and system isolation.

Fortinet FortiSOAR is utilized across industries for its ability to manage security operations and case management efficiently. In sectors such as finance and healthcare, FortiSOAR automates responses to cyber threats, aiding in compliance and data protection. Its integration with security technologies supports robust threat intelligence, vital for sectors that process sensitive information.

Fortinet

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART vs. Fortinet FortiSOAR

June 2026

Free Report: CRITICALSTART vs. Fortinet FortiSOAR

Find out what your peers are saying about CRITICALSTART vs. Fortinet FortiSOAR and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

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