Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL] comparison

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Fortinet and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 98% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Read 151 Fortinet FortiGate-VM reviews

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12,640 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Read 34 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and WatchGuard XTM [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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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

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

151

Ranking in other categories

Firewalls (9th)

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Ehab Ali

Senior Presales Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Unified security fabric has simplified multi-country deployments and strengthened threat response

FortiGate VM delivers exceptional performance and security with no degradation of service or protection (same features as the HW option). As part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, it extends across clouds and distributed locations, mitigating blind spots in virtual infrastructures. FortiGate VM can be rapidly deployed, managed through a centralized platform, and offers a range of purchasing options to suit every need. Also, FortiGate VM offers versatile deployment options across both public and private clouds, supporting all major public clouds including AWS, Azure, and Google as well as most hypervisors such as VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM. These deployments enable organizations to create scalable, high-performance firewalls that can be tailored to different virtualized environments and hyper-scale public cloud infrastructures. FortiGate VM integrates seamlessly with various infrastructure as code (IaC) tools such as Jenkins and GitLab, supporting security as code practices.

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Generalm4545

General Manager- IT & Automation - Serum at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Protects from attack software and hacking but it doesn't provide the reports in a readable format

In my opinion, image clarity is very important, because I don't get the proper image product on reports. This means that functionality is not there. My engineer does not know how he can replace an order. We attach a log after any kind of keys using a utility instead. For the internet policies that we are implementing, the policy should be based on proper protocols. We use the default policies and there are a number of third-party protocols that appear here. Management with WatchGuard XTM means that out of policy is the problem from our side. In this way, we can not do effective services for people with this one. The policy definition with WatchGuard XTM is not proper for all use case requirements. I've got weekly business reports that I am expecting attachments with from WatchGuard XTM that display data for all kinds of consideration which should be required. Main User Functionality Level Order must adhere to using the admin functionality on the registry, or else our users publish their own name. Maybe these recommendations are irrelevant, but I say that the issue to improve most with WatchGuard XTM is the Main User Function.

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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

"Fortinet FortiGate-VM has positively impacted our organization by improving both security and productivity."

"Apart from the firewall, it comes with antivirus, IPS, and Web Application Firewall, and it has a lot of integration with external connectors, such as Teams, that are protected from threats that come from external sources."

"I would recommend a company to use Fortinet, because it is an attractive solution, with no bugs, a very easy installation guide, and also the support and the customer care are very important."

"The features, in general, have been so great."

"We like FortiGate-VM's IPS features and its ability to create multiple virtual firewalls."

"The combination of SD-WAN and VPN capabilities is the most valuable feature."

"We use it to ensure that our network is properly protected from viruses and malware."

"The tool improved the security in our company's virtualized environment, as it was helpful in creating an additional layer of security for the organization and for the use of the internet."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pros

"We switched because WatchGuard offered better value for money without sacrificing security."

"Flawless. I have had my firebox for 3 years now and never had an issue with it."

"We have used technical support for WatchGuard many times and overall, we are satisfied with it. They are always listening and there is a good reaction time to our findings. When there are issues, they really try to resolve them."

"Simply, give this tool a try; it will generate great benefits in terms of the scalability and environment."

"It configures in all-in-one place."

"The VPN to link my system to my clients, the gateway security features as my first defense layer to my client’s networks, and the firewall/NAT policy are excellent, and I also love the alias feature as it allows me to configure items by common names instead of IP address."

"The most valuable features of the WatchGuard product line that we appreciate and leverage the most is the UTM security suite."

"Application Control is fantastic with over 2,500 applications and the granularity that we can either allow people to view but not be able to log on to Facebook; or view it and log onto it if they're in the marketing department, but not play Facebook games. There are all sorts of different options like that. So it's highly granular."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet FortiGate-VM in providing high-level security for high-level customers, we have some visibility issues, so it doesn't seem high level; there's definitely room for enhancement."

"Pricing is complex."

"In one of my previous deployments, I experienced a delay in Fortinet Security Fabric’s real-time threat response. During an attack, the malicious file was not immediately detected by FortiGuard and was able to pass through both the firewall and FortiMail."

"They could enhance the product's functionality for more comprehensive threat detection and mitigation, especially for large-scale deployments."

"FortiGate should be more customer friendly and budgeted better."

"The graphical user interface should be enhanced."

"Data backup functionality could be included in the product."

"They could simplify the troubleshooting process."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM cons

"I feel that paying a yearly maintenance fee for firmware updates is not worth it in my opinion."

"One huge issue with WatchGuard XTM is that I'm not getting reports in a readable format. Readable means, I don't want Excel online. We repeat auditing when we trigger the report or setup calendar. That functionality is what we are looking for from WatchGuard XTM here."

"Early models of the XTM2 (e.g. 21, 22, 23) line lacked sufficient memory, and caused a number of issues that required frequent reboots."

"Wireless throughput needs to be improved."

"Sometimes the local firebox management tool is flaky."

"Tech support is sometimes a little bit slow."

"I’m not in favor having to setup security proxy settings instead of just turning them on like you do with the SonicWALL enhanced OS."

"Using the SSL VPN remote feature is great, but we additionally needed two-factor authentication, and employed a third-party product."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of this product is too high."

"Our license is yearly, but we're thinking of going monthly. I think it's somewhere around 100,000 for VM04. Nowadays, everyone wants to be a hacker, so we believe in security. That's why we also have third-party people that we involve to make sure that we're secure. I don't think the costs are too bad. You still want to get advice from people who worked in security for many years, so you add a third party. The third party also said they would give their share like 100K, or 200K or something like that, so I don't think it's too expensive for security. I think it just adds more trust."

"I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM's pricing a six out of ten."

"Licensing is pretty standard. It's approximately 15% of the total cost per year as a subscription cost."

"On a scale of one to ten, where ten is very expensive, I rate the solution around two or three. I think the solution's prices are okay, considering the services and features they offer."

"The price is similar to Symantec Endpoint, but it's more expensive than Forcepoint solutions. Fortinet is better than Forcepoint."

"It's not a cheap solution but it comes with its benefits."

"This solution is very expensive."

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM pricing and cost advice

"Get at least a maintenance contract for the updates and take a larger WatchGuard than you need. A WatchGuard creates new ways to secure your network."

"Like all other manufacturers, there are a lot of features and different pricing. The best is to talk to a representative."

"It costs less than the SO works and others (like SonicWall, Cisco, and Barracuda) without increasing so much CPU use."

"The licensing and renewal is very expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	74
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	43

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls

In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...

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Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?

Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...

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

I am not involved in the pricing and costs associated with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, as those are handled by the CFO. We are in operations, and we just access the product as it is and take care of the...

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Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 9% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 7% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate-VM Competitors

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

Hillstone X-Series Data Center Firewalls vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 4% of the time

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate-VM

October 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate-VM product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

October 2026

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] product report

Also Known As

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate-VM delivers robust security services and advanced network management suitable for cloud environments, providing solutions like firewall and SD-WAN, with seamless integration across Fortinet devices.

FortiGate-VM is designed for enterprise security, offering comprehensive features like intrusion prevention and application filtering. It's known for its scalability and flexibility, supporting cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS. It enhances threat response and network management efficiency, thanks to real-time threat response, intuitive integration with existing systems, and cost-effectiveness.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

Strong Security: Offers firewall, intrusion prevention, and application filtering.
SD-WAN Capability: Improves network connectivity and performance.
Scalability: Efficient scaling in cloud environments.
Integration: Seamlessly connects with other Fortinet devices.

What benefits can users expect from Fortinet FortiGate-VM?

Enhanced Network Management: Simplifies deployment with real-time threat response.
Cost-Effectiveness: Optimal for managing network protocols at reasonable costs.
Flexibility in Deployment: Suitable for secure virtual machine operations on platforms like Azure or AWS.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is predominantly employed in industries requiring stringent data center security, enabling network segmentation and VPN services. It's particularly favored by organizations using virtual and cloud networks due to its Unified Threat Management capabilities, making it an efficient solution for protecting virtual environments from threats.

Fortinet

Small businesses need big security, too, and the WatchGuard XTM Series firewall/VPN appliances deliver that strong protection, but without the hefty price tag. Enterprise-grade security includes full HTTPS content inspection, VoIP support, and optional security subscriptions like Application Control and Intrusion Prevention Service.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

Security7 Networks, COOPENAE

AVG, Cyren, Kaspersky Lab, Lastline, NCP engineering, Trend Micro, Websense

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

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