Fortinet FortiGate vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway comparison

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway

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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Secure Web Gateways (SWG) category, the mindshare of iboss is 3.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 6.7%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Secure Web Gateway is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	6.7%
iboss	3.4%
Symantec Secure Web Gateway	1.4%
Other	88.5%

Secure Web Gateways (SWG)

Featured Reviews

Ashok Ananthula

Senior Consultant Proxy Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Cloud gateway has strengthened remote web security and now needs better Mac and ISP support

The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent for the Mac agents. That is where in 2025, we had to migrate to the Palo Alto-based platform. If your use case is for just Windows laptops,you can consider this platform as an option One issue is the data center resiliency part. In India especially, they are not tied up with the Tier 1 ISPs like Tata or Airtel; they were having Tier 2 ISPs and encountered many issues reaching few major sites that my organization depends on, and they were having problems that they could not fix quickly. They also lack a mechanism to route that traffic within their data center; rather, they ask customers to make a pac file change to route it to Singapore explicitly. It would be better if they route from their backend , i mean even if I send it to India DC, they should be able to route it internally to make that work; however, they fail to do that and ask the customer to route it in the pac file. Another suggestion is that in China, they do not have the proper setup; they used to have numerous problems with slowness and lack of premium circuits in China as well. That leads to multiple sites working slowly with latency-related issues. So the main issue is the ISP-related problems that need to be solved.

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

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at airtel

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.

Monitors traffic effectively but struggles with integration challenges

Kedar-Kulkarni

Principal Consultant at CSaaS

I find that the technical support is mediocre, at least for the Middle East. I frequently face challenges when contacting OpenStack through the distribution channel. It should be more straightforward. I notice that customers work with partners, not directly with Symantec, relying on local company integrators for support. Symantec becomes the level two or level three support, which requires navigating through a supply chain that is quite extensive.

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"I would say iboss is a very good product; its scalability is very good, and it's seamless for the user."

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

"I would rate the technical support of iboss a solid 10 without a shadow of a doubt."

"It was a very easy product to install. It can be deployed very fast."

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

"Valuable features: Within the filter: Controls (Web categories, applications, and Allow/Block list) and Network (local Subnets). Within the reporter: Logs (Event Log) and Reports."

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

More iboss pros

"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include the simple user interface."

"My company never had any complaints about the tool in terms of performance or stability."

"The solution provides good threat intelligence feeds."

"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."

"Fortinet FortiGate has reasonable pricing and is easy to operate; it is efficient and represents the future for security, including cloud security and branch-to-cloud security."

"I love the interface."

"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."

"In terms of most valuable features, I like the ICAP capability and URL filtering the most."

"It's nice to have it in the cloud where we can pull the reporting together for it so we can see what's happening in machines at different locations."

"I find the product to be very straightforward."

"In terms of stability, it's fine, as we have never had downtime because availability is AWS' responsibility since it is hosted on their servers, so availability is not an issue."

"Scalability is not really any major issue, it is quite scalable and if we need to do more deployments, we just add them."

"As a proxy, there are many features available that benefit the customers, including caching, the security appliance, the cloud of service, and many other features."

"Typically, Symantec is more or less like any other platform that performs proxy functions."

"It has a faster implementation process compared to other products."

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway pros

Cons

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

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

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

"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."

"It is stable, but due to growth, it can sometimes be less stable than wanted."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"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."

More iboss cons

"It does not have key authentication for admin access."

"We faced difficulties with the configuration because there are many features we could optimize using Fortinet FortiGate, but our reseller didn't have a good understanding of it. So, we just use it on a basic level, not with the best practice for using FortiGate."

"The support package being an additional extra, even with an enterprise package purchase, is pathetic. Though I haven't had direct experience with support, the fact that it doesn't come by default, which is very misleading compared to other brands, warrants a rating of two out of ten."

"FortiGate should have a better way of detecting and managing the system memory because otherwise if the memory is too low, a system restart is required."

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

"The solution’s pricing is high."

"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."

"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"It needs to be easier to set up rules for what sites it should allow or not allow us in certain areas of our computer for programs. It would also be nice really nice to have it give you better information about what it's finding. A lot of the alerts we get are very difficult to understand what it's actually telling you. It's too generic."

"The problem with Complete Website Security is with the dot com transition and dealing with Symantec is becoming a problem right now."

"The cost has risen and it is more expensive than it used to be."

"One of the problems with using Symantec is that it's widely known and the people who are making malware have designed to circumvent it."

"There's a need for increased firewall functionality and capabilities. I'm not seeing a competitive Symantec cloud product. Specifically, functionalities with security as filtering from the cloud. I am aware that there is a product, a proxy in the cloud but I have compared it with other vendors and I don't find it that powerful. I think the worst thing that we're experiencing is very poor and inadequate technical support. It seems to me that tech support engineers aren't qualified to fulfill their job duties."

"Depending on the severity of the issue, I think they can be a bit slow - a few days for the low severity cases, but for the severe cases normally they contact you back in a couple of hours."

"I find that the technical support is mediocre, at least for the Middle East. I frequently face challenges when contacting OpenStack through the distribution channel."

"But that it causes catastrophic issues is unacceptable."

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"We pay about $4,000 for a yearly license, and there aren't any additional fees."

"The price of FortiGate is reasonable as I plan to buy new switches. The initial gadgets are already booted, and the pricing seems normal on the market. As for additional costs, I haven't subscribed to many extra features, so I'm only using what I need. Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us."

"I would rate pricing to be about four or five out of ten, it is reasonable."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

"The price could be lower."

"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."

"On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Pricing and licensing is stunted and licensing is expensive. We have many customers who are now thinking about other solutions due to the cost."

"Symantec Secure Web Gateway is less expensive than one of its competitors."

"There is an additional charge for advanced security features."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Web Gateways (SWG) 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…

What needs improvement with iboss?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	8

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

The problem our organization had is that iboss failed for the Mac devices. It is not able to give a successful agent ...

What is your primary use case for iboss?

We used iBoss mainly for Internet Access by having an Agent on Windows laptops Primarily because when we try to use i...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

I am not involved in pricing, but as per the information I have, during that time, the Blue Coat proxies we were usin...

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 a...

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...

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 ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

I believe that pricing is on par with peers. Symantec and other vendors offer discounts when cutting a deal with a cu...

What needs improvement with Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

AI-driven security could be helpful, yet how effective it will be remains unclear. I plan to evaluate whatever new fe...

What is your primary use case for Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

I find the product to be very straightforward. I just install it and forget it as it continuously monitors traffic. I...

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Comparisons

Compared 10% of the time

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 9% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 6% of the time

Zscaler Internet Access vs iboss

Compared 5% of the time

More iboss 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

Zscaler Internet Access vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 15% of the time

Fortra's Clearswift Secure Web Gateway vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 11% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 7% of the time

Cloudflare One vs Symantec Secure Web Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

More Symantec Secure Web Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

iboss

Download iboss product report

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Symantec Secure Web Gateway

May 2026

Download Symantec Secure Web Gateway product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Symantec Complete Website Security

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

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

Symantec Secure Web Gateway provides robust endpoint security, offering seamless management, website blocking, and advanced threat protection, with cloud hosting and SSL interception.

Symantec Secure Web Gateway is designed to enhance web security through its endpoint security integration, effective website blocking, and SSL interception capabilities. Supporting numerous platforms, it allows swift deployment and comprehensive reporting, making it a preferred choice for companies seeking reliable antivirus protection and controlled internet access. Despite facing challenges with technical assistance and firewall functionalities, it stands out with its efficient threat-handling processes and user-friendly management features. Administrators benefit from straightforward URL filtering and a consistently active web-based cloud proxy, ideal for reducing infrastructure management issues.

What are the key features of Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

User-friendly interfaces and easy management allow for intuitive operation and administration.
Strong endpoint security integrates seamlessly with antivirus features and content filtering.
Website blocking offers controlled access to ensure safe browsing environments.
SSL interception ensures data protection and secure communication channels.
ICAP capability supports enhanced integration with other security appliances.
URL filtering applies customizable policies for secure, role-based internet access.

What benefits or ROI can be expected from Symantec Secure Web Gateway?

Streamlined deployment and management reduce time and resource investments.
Cloud hosting decreases infrastructure costs and maintenance requirements.
Caching boosts performance with faster load times and reduced bandwidth usage.
Easy initial setup minimizes configuration efforts and operational disruptions.

In industries where web security integration is vital, Symantec Secure Web Gateway manages client traffic, ensures seamless access control, and filters URLs with ease. Its capabilities, similar to Blue Coat's proxy services, offer less infrastructure management, making it ideal for sectors needing constant data protection.

Broadcom

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.

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

Information Not Available

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Symantec Secure Web Gateway