Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs Skyhigh Security comparison

Fortinet and Skyhigh Security are both solutions in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category. Fortinet is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.7, while Skyhigh Security is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.0. Fortinet holds a 6.4% mindshare in WSG, compared to Skyhigh Security’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Skyhigh Security users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

In the competitive field of cloud security and network security, Skyhigh Security and Fortinet FortiGate SWG offer distinct solutions. Based on this comparison, Skyhigh Security tends to have the upper hand in deployment flexibility and threat detection features, while Fortinet FortiGate SWG is commendable for its robust integration and network security features.

Features: Skyhigh Security stands out for its ability to identify shadow IT, perform risk assessments, and ensure compliance through its Cloud Registry. It employs advanced threat prevention to detect abnormalities like suspicious login attempts. Fortinet FortiGate SWG excels in URL categorization, antivirus filtering, and application control, with strong SSL decryption and integration across diverse environments.

Room for Improvement: Skyhigh Security users mention challenges with console performance, report generation, and integration for unsanctioned applications. Fortinet FortiGate SWG could benefit from an improved user interface and easier deployment while needing enhancements in reporting features and pricing models.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Skyhigh Security offers flexible deployment options, including hybrid, on-premises, and cloud, catering to varied user needs and maintaining good customer service, though support quality varies. Fortinet FortiGate SWG primarily supports on-premises deployment, praised for its reliable support, yet desires for deployment flexibility remain.

Pricing and ROI: Skyhigh Security offers cost-effective pricing based on API integrations, slightly premium but justified by its comprehensive features. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is generally viewed as expensive, with a pricing model more suited to larger enterprises rather than smaller businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

April 2025

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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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.1%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is 6.4%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skyhigh Security is 3.2%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Matt Crockford

Head of Cybersecurity at SES Water

It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless

One aspect we value about iboss is its simplicity. Their customer service is brilliant, and they are super responsive and knowledgeable. It's easy to roll out, and their understanding of our business made it seamless. We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times. The user interface is highly intuitive. Our IT team picked it up with minimal training. It's arranged so that it's easy to find where things are. Another advantage is the single pane of glass console, which gives you visibility into what's happening. We're not fully there yet because we haven't implemented zero trust, but we're excited about the possibilities from the demos we've seen. We launched a POC of iboss' ChatGPT Risk Protection feature two weeks ago. AI is a great tool, but you need to be careful what you put into it. My biggest fear is employees inputting sensitive corporate information or customer PII data into one of these chatbots. I was impressed by our trial of the feature. It's exactly what we wanted. Now, when a user goes to ChatGPT, there's a banner warning them not to share information, and we can block conversations containing customer data like bank details and email addresses. I don't want to stop people from using it, but we need visibility. We've only tried it on a test group of 15 people. You can configure it to look for specific keywords or integrate it with your DLP policy if you have that configured

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Ayman Said

Infrastructure System's Manager at ICAPP (Americana Group)

Enables seamless traffic handling and effective network protection

We are using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for web filtering, application control, and IDPS. Additionally, we utilize it for VPN and the main features of a firewall Web filtering is very good, as well as IDPS. SD-WAN is a perfect feature. Additionally, the VPN is stable and very good. These features…

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Santiago Gomez

Cio at a security firm with 11-50 employees

Has improved the organization's PCI compliance with data loss prevention

I use the solution on a Macintosh computer and it has issues and does not work when I try to log in from the Safari Browser, but it works fine when I log in from the Google Chrome browser. The console has issues when the login is done through a Safari Browser. The console has to be more competitive and the compatibility of the browser needs to be better. I want to know about Skyhigh's competitiveness with other brands and about the vulnerability assessment and micro segmentations. I know Skyhigh has other products, but right now, I am studying what this new product is about. They only have English support, so I would like for them to add some Spanish support.

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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

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"We were impressed by the solution's mental health function, which can detect if someone needs help. It scans what users are browsing and flags warning signs so we can check to see if they are okay. We've had to use it a couple of times."

"iboss is pretty scalable. They provide good support. The case managers you work with to coordinate what you need are pretty good."

"Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss."

"iboss is easy to use despite its complexity. Multiple engineers manage it, but it's significantly more straightforward to administer than traditional VPNs and web proxies."

"The console is cloud-based, which is something I really appreciate."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

More iboss pros

"I rate this solution a nine out of ten."

"Web filtering is the most useful feature."

"The response from the technical support team has always been excellent."

"The product is highly stable."

"It is simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG. It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."

"The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is inspection."

"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pros

"Without Skyhigh, we had zero visibility, but now we are aware of so much more."

"Overall, the performance is good."

"The other products that I have evaluated do not have the scalability options that McAfee has."

"The threat protection capabilities are very strong."

"What's most valuable in Skyhigh Security is its level of security. Another valuable feature of the solution is threat analysis."

"The support is excellent."

"The solution provides great security, higher availability, and policy granularity."

"We have gained a deep insight into our Shadow IT usage as well as the different activities involved in Office 365."

More Skyhigh Security pros

Cons

"File integrity monitoring would be very advantageous as an additional feature."

"Its pricing could be better."

"SSL decryption: We had issues with learners using apps instead of using web browsers. This type of encryption is tough for any appliance in a BYOD environment."

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."

"For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company ExxonMobil."

"Iboss is growing so fast that it is often hard for them to keep up with the challenges."

"Sometimes when you call in support, you get someone who is just following a sheet. It feels like a runaround. You feel that you are running into that support wall."

"The reporting feature needs improvement. It doesn't give you the expected results. It is quite difficult to get the specific reports needed, and it is not as intuitive as the rest of the platform."

More iboss cons

"We can't identify which users are causing challenges when we have issues."

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"They have not yet extended to the cloud."

"Support could be improved."

"Fortinet needs to continue to improve network traceability. Other than that, we haven't run into anything that would give me any concern."

"The UI/UX experience can be a little better."

"It could always be more secure."

"FortiGate needs to be elastic to the market's trends. It should be easy for SMBs to get the solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG cons

"I think that the User Interface could be improved."

"Though the Skyhigh Dashboard is processing large amounts of data, the speed of the Dashboard could be improved."

"It would be nice to be able to get more advanced search functions to filter out data and quickly obtain the data that we need."

"The secure gateway could be improved."

"MVISION Cloud is not well known and there should be more information about the solution. There could be integration to local applications."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The solution is hard to configure, our team does not have specific training requirements for McAfee making it difficult."

"One thing that can be improved is their ability to integrate with other web proxies to discover unsanctioned IP apps."

More Skyhigh Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"While slightly more affordable than competitors, it remains relatively expensive due to its inclusive subscription."

"The solution is cheap."

"The cost has increased since the update so I would rate it eight out of ten."

"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a seven and a half out of ten since it is not a cheap solution, though I feel it is a good product for the money one pays."

"I rate FortiGate's pricing a five out of ten."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."

"The product is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG pricing and cost advice

"It's an expensive solution."

"There is an annual licensing cost to use McAfee Web Gateway. The purchasing of licensing can be difficult for the government sector."

"Pricing is not out of reach."

"They definitely charge a huge amount. All the security service providers charge a huge amount."

"Pricing for Skyhigh Security is okay, though there's always a scope for price improvements. Its pricing is okay compared to other products because other products have very expensive licensing costs. Along with the licensing, support is also provided for Skyhigh Security, so pricing is reasonable, but if there's proactive or better support, that will justify the pricing. I haven't interacted with the Skyhigh Security technical support team yet, so I'd give pricing a four out of five rating for now."

"Commercially, I find Skyhigh Security a little costlier, compared to other products such as SentinelOne or Cybereason which are really novelty products. I'm not comparing Skyhigh Security with Trend Micro, but with other products, in particular the new, next-generation products. The price for Skyhigh Security is high in terms of value and ROI. I would rate the product price combined with product efficacy a six out of ten."

"There is a license required to use this solution and it is paid annually. The price is reasonable."

"Have a risk-based approach towards pricing."

More Skyhigh Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

48%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iboss?

Content filtering is the most useful feature of iboss.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iboss?

I have a couple of thoughts for improvement, but usually when I address them with my rep, they put it into the featur...

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What is your primary use case for iboss?

We use it primarily for simpler filtering because we're a K12 entity.

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What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

The interface and other reports are all user-friendly.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the pricing for FortiGate AWG as nine, which is perfect.

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What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate SWG?

I would rate the technical support of Fortinet a six or seven out of ten. It is not very helpful. I would like to see...

See all answers

What do you like most about McAfee Web Gateway?

Data loss prevention and user behavior analysis are two valuable features.

See all answers

What needs improvement with McAfee Web Gateway?

The solution has room for improvement in its DDoS protection. Additionally, the documentation needs enhancement to pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for McAfee Web Gateway?

The typical use case for our clients is cloud security.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 19% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 15% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense vs iboss

Compared 5% of the time

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Fortinet FortiProxy vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 48% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 20% of the time

Sangfor Internet Access Gateway (IAG) vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 6% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 4% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Fortinet FortiGate SWG

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate SWG Competitors

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 16% of the time

Netskope vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 13% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 5% of the time

Blue Coat Secure Web Gateway Virtual Appliance vs Skyhigh Security

Compared 3% of the time

More Skyhigh Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

May 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG

May 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate SWG product report

Buyer's Guide

Skyhigh Security

April 2025

Download Skyhigh Security product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

FortiGate SWG, FortiGate Secure Web Gateway

McAfee MVISION Cloud, McAfee MVISION Unified Cloud Edge, McAfee Web Gateway, McAfee MVISION CNAPP, and Skyhigh Networks, McAfee Web Gateway

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

iboss

Demo not available

Fortinet

Skyhigh Security

Overview

iboss offers a comprehensive security platform designed for diverse use cases such as web filtering, data loss protection, corporate proxy services, and URL filtering.

iboss integrates advanced features to address dynamic security needs, leveraging its strength in SASE, ZTNA, AI initiatives, and cloud integration, while ensuring seamless operations for remote work. It excels in historical forensics, malware protection, and flexible cloud deployments. Users benefit from comprehensive traffic scanning, robust malware detection, and PaaS capabilities that reduce hardware management. An intuitive admin console ensures efficient management with content filtering and low false positives. SSL decryption enhances security, while DLP protects data in AI conversations. Deployment is rapid and scalable, allowing effortless integration with emerging technologies.

What features does iboss offer?

Granular Web Filtering: Provides precise control over web content access.
Traffic Scanning: Monitors data through multiple ports for security breaches.
Malware Detection: Ensures superior protection against malware threats.
PaaS Capabilities: Eliminates need for hardware management.
SSL Decryption: Enhances data protection by decrypting secure connections.
DLP Capabilities: Safeguards data during AI interactions.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Scalability: Adapts quickly to growing demands and emerging tech integration.
Rapid Deployment: Reduces time to implement security measures.
User-Friendly Admin Console: Facilitates efficient operations management.
Low False Positives: Increases accuracy of threat detection systems.

iboss finds significant application in sectors such as education, where web filtering for K-12 is crucial, and in corporate environments requiring robust proxy services and URL filtering for network security. Its adaptability is essential in scenarios demanding flexible, decentralized security frameworks, particularly for remote work setups.

iboss

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a comprehensive web security solution provided by Fortinet. FortiGate SWG combines web filtering, malware protection, data loss prevention (DLP), and application control capabilities into a single integrated platform. It is designed to protect organizations from web-based threats, enforce compliance policies, and provide secure access to web resources.

FortiGate SWG Benefits:

Comprehensive web filtering and security features
Ease of use and management
Integration with other Fortinet products
Strong threat detection capabilities
Scalability and flexibility
Granular control over user access and activity

FortiGate SWG Features:

Web Filtering: FortiGate SWG employs URL filtering and content categorization to control and enforce web access policies.
Malware Protection: The solution provides real-time protection against web-borne threats, such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): FortiGate SWG helps prevent sensitive data from being leaked or exfiltrated through web channels.
SSL Inspection: The solution supports SSL/TLS decryption and inspection, allowing organizations to examine encrypted web traffic for threats and enforce security policies.
Application Control: FortiGate SWG enables granular control over web applications and protocols.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: FortiGate SWG leverages Fortinet's threat intelligence services to provide up-to-date information about emerging threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
User Authentication and Access Control: The solution supports various authentication methods, including single sign-on (SSO) and integration with identity providers, to ensure secure user authentication and access control for web resources.
Reporting and Analytics: FortiGate SWG provides comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

FortiGate SWG is typically deployed as a hardware appliance or as a virtual appliance in on-premises environments, but it may also be available as a cloud-based service. It is part of Fortinet's broader security fabric ecosystem, allowing integration with other Fortinet products to provide a unified and coordinated security infrastructure.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by FortiGate SWG users.

David Carlson, CIO at Camco Mfg., says that "Non-IT people could plug it in, connect it to the fiber, and get it running without IT help".

Suresh Vijayen, Product Manager at IX Telecom, writes that FortiGate SWG "Provides helpful technical support, but its dashboard needs to be more user-friendly".

Chandan Munshi, Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, states that "The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."

Fortinet

Skyhigh Security protects organizations with cloud-based Zero Trust security solutions that are both data-aware and simple to use. Skyhigh’s Security Service Edge portfolio goes beyond data access and focuses on data use, allowing organizations to collaborate from any device and from anywhere without sacrificing security, while providing the visibility and control required to monitor and mitigate security risks.

The Skyhigh Security Service Edge portfolio includes Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway, Skyhigh Cloud Access Security Broker, Skyhigh Private Access, and Skyhigh Cloud Native Application Protection Platform. All solutions form a fully converged, consolidated platform, and are managed from the same single console.

Skyhigh Cloud Access Security Broker protects data and stops threats in the cloud across SaaS, and PaaS, and IaaS environments from a single, cloud-native enforcement point. It enables organizations to accelerate their business by giving them visibility and control over their data in the cloud and protection from threats with a frictionless deployment model.
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway connects and secures your workforce from malicious websites and cloud apps from anywhere, any application, and any device. It protects users from threats and data loss with integrated Remote Browser Isolation, Cloud Access Security Broker and Data Loss Prevention capabilities while providing the ability to access the web and cloud.
Skyhigh Private Access is the data centric Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution that provides integrated Data Loss Prevention scanning and seamless Remote Browser Isolation integration for robust data protection, using Zero Trust principles. Apply a unified policy across web, SaaS, and private apps.
Skyhigh Cloud Native Application Protection Platform is the industry’s first platform to extend Cloud Access Security Broker, bringing application and data context to converge Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) with IaaS Data Loss Prevention for IaaS public clouds. Skyhigh CNAPP provides consistent data protection, threat prevention, governance, and compliance throughout the cloud-native application development lifecycle.

Skyhigh Security Benefits

Modern Data Protection. Extensible data protection policies to determine what can be accessed, shared, and how it can be used.
Zero Trust for the Cloud. Extend zero trust to the cloud ensuring that your sensitive data is accessed, shared, and stored appropriately.
Actionable Insights. Unified view of data and risk, regardless of where and how the policy is enforced.

Skyhigh Security Features

99.999% Uptime. Connects users seamlessly and without disruption through Hyperscale Service Edge with cloud-native web security that operates with ultra-low latency and 99.999% uptime.
Remote Browser Isolation. Prevents threats of a web page from reaching endpoints with intelligent, multi-layer remote browser isolation technology that provides secure web browsing through robust machine learning analysis on real-time telemetry.
Cloud Registry. The world’s largest and most accurate registry of cloud services based on a customizable 261-point risk assessment to support risk-aware cloud governance.

Skyhigh Security

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Salt Lake County, Catholic College Bendigo, Azienda Unita Sanitaria

Western Union.Aetna.DirecTV.Adventist.Equinix.Perrigo.Goodyear.HP.Cargill.Sony.Bank of the West.Prudential.

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

April 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate SWG vs. Skyhigh Security

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