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Fortinet FortiGate vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

Fortinet and Zscaler are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zscaler is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.3. Fortinet holds a 20.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Zscaler’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.
Fortinet FortiGate
Read 574 Fortinet FortiGate reviews
  • 72,802 Views
  • 58,242 Comparison Views
92% willing to recommend
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Read 19 Zscaler Cloud Firewall reviews
  • 1,123 Views
  • 1,089 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2025

Fortinet FortiGate and Zscaler Cloud Firewall are competing in the network security space. Fortinet FortiGate leads in cost-effectiveness and well-rounded support, whereas Zscaler Cloud Firewall holds the upper hand with its cloud-native properties and advanced features.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate delivers an advanced security suite including next-generation firewalls, VPN support, and a range of threat protection services. Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers a cloud-native architecture, seamless integration with other Zscaler tools, and a robust suite without on-premise hardware requirements.

Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiGate can enhance cloud integration and automation processes to meet evolving IT demands. Its user interface could be more modernized, and better real-time analytics could improve usability. Zscaler Cloud Firewall could benefit from more transparent pricing models, enhancements in offline operations, and increased customizability of security rules to fit diverse enterprise needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate provides flexible deployment, supporting both on-premise and cloud solutions, paired with effective customer support. Zscaler Cloud Firewall's SaaS model facilitates straightforward deployment and a seamless cloud transition, supported by expert guidance during cloud migrations.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate is budget-friendly, presenting a strong ROI with competitive pricing and extensive features. Zscaler Cloud Firewall may incur higher initial costs, but offers an improved ROI over time through enhanced operational efficiency and reduced need for hardware management.

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To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall
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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective security with quick deployment, improving efficiency, reducing downtime, and providing a strong return on investment.
Sentiment score
1.0
Users experienced cost reductions, improved security, enhanced performance, easier scalability, better threat protection, simplified management, and efficient resource utilization.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewerBart Homblé - PeerSpot reviewerBernard Samontanes - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiGate support is mostly praised for responsiveness and knowledge, though inconsistencies exist in complex cases or regions.
Sentiment score
5.0
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers responsive and knowledgeable support, though occasional escalations might cause delays, with room for improvement.
They offer very accurate solutions.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
The response and support are sometimes inadequate, which detracts from the overall experience of an otherwise impressive solution.
The technical support from Zscaler was excellent.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
Taimoor Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
AM
AK
Carlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
KG
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Fortinet FortiGate offers scalability and easy integration for diverse environments, catering to businesses from small to large enterprises.
Sentiment score
5.3
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is scalable and easy to manage, praised for performance and user satisfaction across various regions.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
In this case, Twingate will be very easy compared to Zscaler.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
IM
reviewer2667480 - PeerSpot reviewer
FS
reviewer2641644 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Fortinet FortiGate is highly stable and reliable, excelling in continuous operation with effective network management, despite occasional update issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is stable, reliable, and well-rated, with minor performance issues and redundancy minimizing outages.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
There were some stability issues due to occasional latency and lags, particularly with the GUI and report generation.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
RB
AK
Juan Frias - PeerSpot reviewer
KG
 

Room For Improvement

Users express concern over Fortinet FortiGate's interface stability, functionality, performance issues, and call for improved support and features.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall needs improved features, better integration, enhanced support, wider coverage, affordable pricing, and a modernized interface.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security.
When considering Sophos XG, which we also use, the logging and reporting functionality is notably more efficient.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
For now, there is no dashboard or network management system available for Twingate.
The reverse proxy feature for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is missing.
I believe the integration of AI could improve the dashboard by making it more agile and effective in monitoring and predicting threats.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
Jose Gisbert - PeerSpot reviewerMOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewerTaha Turkestani - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2641644 - PeerSpot reviewer
KG
Carlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers high initial costs but competitive pricing, valued features, and flexible licensing compared to competitors.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is flexible yet expensive, valued for tiered packages, with prices affected by user count and features.
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.
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
It is about 20% cheaper.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
AK
NP
MithatBulut - PeerSpot reviewer
KG
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers robust, affordable security with user-friendly interface, centralized management, and efficient SD-WAN capabilities.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers advanced threat protection, simplified management, and seamless integration, enhancing security with flexible policy customization and traffic control.
In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable.
FortiGate has helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that might disrupt our client's production.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
It is really customized, a security policy that can be applied to the users so they can access only the resources I enable them.
Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants.
The biggest advantage of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is its consolidation of products.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zscaler Cloud Firewall report
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewerTaimoor Khan - PeerSpot reviewerSyed Ali Waqas - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2641644 - PeerSpot reviewerCarlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
KG
 

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)
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
23rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
19
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 Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate20.4%
Zscaler Cloud Firewall0.5%
Other79.1%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Read full review
Carlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
Has streamlined secure deployments across large enterprises while offering reliable protection and intuitive management
The centralized management console, also referred to as the Zscaler dashboard, impacts the ability of my customers to respond to security incidents significantly. I see it as user-friendly, and clients are really happy with using it, which motivates them to keep using Zscaler Cloud Firewall because they enjoy the GUI. It's very intuitive, making it easy to navigate alerts and incidents. My clients rarely have questions about where to find specific information once Zscaler Cloud Firewall is running. The interface speaks for itself, requiring little to no additional training, which is a major plus. Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants. Unfortunately, it is an option and not included in the basic package. Clients need to pay for the next higher bundle to access it, but practically all clients I have dealt with want this feature 100%. Regarding visibility, I can confirm that Zscaler Cloud Firewall indeed includes a feature for application layer visibility embedded in the service. It provides visibility into what you're doing, which is especially interesting nowadays when discussing AI tools, as companies do not want their employees to copy-paste sensitive information into AI systems. We have seen cases such as Samsung's chip design where sensitive info got exposed. The visibility of applications, including cloud applications and AI tools, is significant for compliance with data policies, and you can also run reports and alerts on it.
Read full review
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business350
Midsize Enterprise130
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
 

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...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?
Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datacenter and endpoint. In between you have branch office. So blending EPP and firew...
See all answers
What do you like most about Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors. However, it offered moderate value for money.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 17% of the time
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 11% of the time
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 9% of the time
OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 4% of the time
Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 4% of the time
More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall Logo
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Compared 11% of the time
Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall Logo
Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Compared 11% of the time
Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall Logo
Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Compared 10% of the time
OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall Logo
OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Compared 8% of the time
Sangfor NGAF vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall Logo
Sangfor NGAF vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Compared 6% of the time
More Zscaler Cloud Firewall Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
September 2025
Fortinet FortiGate reportDownload Fortinet FortiGate product report
Buyer's Guide
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
September 2025
Zscaler Cloud Firewall reportDownload Zscaler Cloud Firewall product report
 

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

Zscaler enables the world’s leading organizations to securely transform their networks and applications for a mobile and cloud first world. Its flagship services, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access, create fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Zscaler services are 100% cloud-delivered and offer the simplicity, enhanced security, and improved user experience that traditional appliances or hybrid solutions are unable to match. Used in more than 185 countries, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting thousands of enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.

Check more details: https://www.zscaler.com/produc...

Zscaler
 

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
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall
September 2025
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