Fortinet FortiGate vs IPFire comparison

Fortinet and IPFire Project are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while IPFire Project is ranked #35 with an average rating of 8.0. Fortinet holds a 20.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to IPFire Project’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IPFire Project users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 574 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

72,802 Views
58,242 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IPFire

Read 2 IPFire reviews

3,152 Views
3,120 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

IPFire

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2025

Fortinet FortiGate and IPFire are competing products in the network security arena. Fortinet FortiGate is favored for its robust security features, positioning itself as a leader in this segment.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate is known for its comprehensive threat protection, integrated SD-WAN capabilities, and robust enterprise-level security solutions. IPFire provides customizable firewall capabilities, an effective intrusion detection and prevention system, and flexibility with various add-ons, appealing to those seeking customizable solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate offers a streamlined deployment process with extensive professional support, making it appealing for organizations requiring quick implementation. IPFire, with its open-source and community-driven model, demands more technical expertise but allows greater customization, suitable for tech-savvy users.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate typically involves higher initial costs due to its enterprise-level features and professional support, achieving significant ROI for large organizations. IPFire follows an open-source model, offering minimal setup costs and substantial ROI, ideal for those looking for scalable security within a budget.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. IPFire Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. IPFire

September 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

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in Firewalls

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

574

Ranking in other categories

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

IPFire

Ranking in Firewalls

35th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.4%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IPFire is 2.1%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	20.4%
IPFire	2.1%
Other	77.5%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Amr Fouad

Vice President of Technology Development at SCADA Innovations

Prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements

We use the solution for firewall, intrusion prevention and detection. We installed it in order to comply with customers requirements IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements. Accessing the internet was a bit complicated. We opted for this…

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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

"FortiGate is more feature-rich and has a broader range of hardware. T"

"The VPN is the most valuable feature."

"We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."

"Good anti-malware and web filtering features."

"I have found the decryption of Fortinet FortiGate IPS very good. It's called SSL deep inspection, it's working very well. This is how you decrypt access and traffic, and it is through the IPS antivirus center. Additionally, the UI is user-friendly."

"The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations. Additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the analytics."

"One of the valuable features is a standardized OS."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."

"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."

Cons

"FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack."

"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."

"We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG."

"To stay ahead of the competition Fortinet FortiGate IPS needs to think about how to adjust pricing."

"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."

"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."

"We understand that FortiGate cannot be standalone without others, such as FortiManager, so for small businesses, if FortiGate can provide something similar to FortiManager, it will be better."

"One drawback of Fortinet FortiGate is that they provide two types of models: one with a hard disk and another without. The model without a hard disk has very low ROM where you can store very few logs, after which you need to upload it to the cloud or purchase a firewall with SSD."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."

"The graphical interface could be much better."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is better compared to other solutions like Check Point, Arista, or Cisco."

"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."

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

"Pricing for this product is comparatively lower than other products. It's an affordable solution, but when expanding the number of users, they'll ask you to replace the model, so that's an added cost."

"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."

"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."

"The licensing cost is at the intermediate level."

"The licensing costs are very competitive."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

No data available

Questions from the Community

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...

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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...

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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...

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What needs improvement with IPFire?

The graphical interface could be much better.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IPFire?

I use IPFire ( /products/ipfire-reviews ) to protect my home.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?

Sometimes configuring IPFire is challenging. Overall, I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 82% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs IPFire

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

Untangle NG Firewall vs IPFire

Compared 2% of the time

Sophos XGS vs IPFire

Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2025

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Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

IPFire enhances network security and protects against cyber threats. It provides a secure firewall, secure remote access, and customizable options. Users praise its ease of use, flexibility, and reliability for network monitoring and traffic shaping. Its valuable features include efficient firewall capabilities, a user-friendly interface, and reliable network performance.

IPFire Project

Sample Customers

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

1. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. IPFire

September 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate vs. IPFire

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. IPFire and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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