Juniper NetScreen [EOL] vs KerioControl comparison

Juniper and GFI are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 100% of Juniper users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of GFI users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Juniper NetScreen [EOL] and KerioControl based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Firewalls

May 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

Featured Reviews

Joseph Koomson

IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana

Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.

Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.

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it_user701430

Network and Security Engineer

It is easy to use with access via CLI and GUI. It also has good stability.

It is easy to use with access via CLI and GUI. It also has good stability I am not able to answer this question. Features which could be improved include the search functions and the database size. From what I remember it wasn't very easy to search for specific objects or rules. One issue I…

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Constantnos Achilleos

Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean

Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security

The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…

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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

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include good functionality, though the licensing cost is a bit higher; their response time and throughput are very good advantages."

"Our company uses the solution to prevent traffic that is not supposed to be traveling through our firewalls, and when we find log issues, we easily fine tune the IPS to block that traffic so it cannot penetrate our environment."

"This product is scalable and as a service provider, we extend our usage to external customers."

"In terms of cost, features, and security, everything is top-notch."

"FortiGate SWG has helped us control what employees do on the internet because people waste a lot of time using social networks, watching videos, etc."

"The reliability of Fortinet FortiGate is through the roof, we're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently."

"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."

"Secure, user-friendly, stable, and scalable network security solution. Installation is straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"It is easy to use with access via CLI and GUI."

"Retrospectively, I would definitely recommend this product because of its functionalities, its reliability, and the good support."

"Juniper NetsScreen is a pretty straightforward firewall appliance which is certainly a good fit from mid-size organizations to big enterprises."

"What I like the most about Kerio is that I can use the software appliance as a solution, so if the hardware fails for any reason then I can quickly replace it with hardware that I have in stock."

"When one of the employees of my customers is using the VPN Client, I have created for them that they will always get a message. When the VPN Client connects to Kerio Control from the outside, they will get an email so they know when they are connected and when they are disconnected what is happening to their network."

"The installation is straightforward."

"All of the features of Kerio Control are equally good. Most valuable to us are the firewall rules, the intrusion detection system, and IP address features."

"The routing of the multiple internet physical routers I have is the most valuable feature of this solution. Instead of me physically unplugging a cable from one router to the server, if one connection goes down, it automatically switches for me. So I can have all three of them plugged in. If one goes down, it just picks up the other one automatically. There's no physical cable swapping."

"Kerio's VPN has easily saved us 50 percent, maybe more, in terms of time spent on support."

"Kerio Control gives us everything in one solution."

"In terms of the comprehensiveness of the security features, it does a great job of laying out what it does. It's fairly easy to edit and research. Some of the features were turned on by our IT company and I was able to easily find other features on my own by searching for videos on the internet. I've been able to block certain websites, and content filter, as well as manage some of our bandwidth because we live stream on Sunday. I'm able to dedicate bandwidth for the encoder that goes to the internet. It always has enough bandwidth, no matter how many people are on the network. That's really helpful."

More KerioControl pros

Cons

"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."

"There is room for improvement in pricing."

"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."

"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."

"There should be more testing before releasing software since it can be a little buggy sometimes when new features come out after updates."

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."

"The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."

"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Features which could be improved include the search functions and the database size."

"The initial setup was quite complex."

"There has been some remote accessibility issues at times with older models."

"I would like for them to add more security features."

"The trial duration of the product should be extended."

"The solution can be improved to create the capability for larger bandwidths that support our business needs."

"The comprehensiveness of the security features could be improved upon. However, for the most part, it is pretty good. They could add more logs. I would like to see more detailed reporting, custom reporting from the logs, and more of a streamlined interface for certain aspects."

"I would like it if the interface section had multiple failovers. Although I do have three connections, just in case our physical cables get disconnected, I can only set up one failover as a backup. So, if for some reason our fiber and our AFM went down together, I would have to have it search for our 4G modem. I'd love to have extra backups running."

"Kerio Control has just improved on their biggest problem, which was to introduce better support for high-availability requirements in production."

"They don't provide content filtering when it comes to search engine results. We had an incident on the network where a blocked site was showing up in search results. We are in a school environment, so we have blocked a site with some of the explicit content so that kids wouldn't see it. When one of them did a search, the results came on the search engine part. When you try to drill down to the website, it blocks, but when you search by image, it brings up all the images. That's one of the reasons why we are looking at Juniper."

"Effectively, I can't use the WiFi facility in the appliance and had to purchase a separate web that supports VLANs."

More KerioControl cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."

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

"The price range is quite acceptable and normal."

"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten"

"The product is expensive."

"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."

"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable for an SME."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"There is a yearly upkeep fee."

"Its initial cost is less as compared to other products. It becomes a bit costly when you pay for the products that you don't use. We paid for almost all the products through subscription, but we are using only a few products. We use EndPointSecurity, Kerio Connect, WebMonitor, and LanGuard. We don't use the rest of the products."

"Its price is fair. There are no additional costs."

"It's too expensive. The license, in the last year or so, has gone up by over a £100. We're almost being out-priced by the annual license at the minute."

"The price of Kerio Control could be better, it is a bit overpriced compared to other solutions."

"My advice is to use your own hardware, and do not use theirs."

"Licensing is easier with Kerio Control. With FortiGate, we realized the licensing is really hectic, because if you skip one year, you have to back pay that year. If you skip two years, you have to back pay two years. With Kerio Control, if a license expires, one year later you can just reactivate and go on."

"It's pretty expensive in licensing costs, especially if you use the product longer than one or two years. The licensing costs are still high, which I don't think is reasonable for a product like this."

More KerioControl pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Construction Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	369
Midsize Enterprise	139
Large Enterprise	195

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?

KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the p...

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What needs improvement with KerioControl?

Regarding KerioControl's application awareness and control feature, I have not used it much.

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What is your primary use case for KerioControl?

With KerioControl, we usually use them for site-to-site VPNs for most of our clients. With multiple offices, we use K...

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Comparisons

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

No data available

Netgate pfSense vs KerioControl

Compared 10% of the time

OPNsense vs KerioControl

Compared 9% of the time

Sophos UTM vs KerioControl

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs KerioControl

Compared 4% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs KerioControl

Compared 4% of the time

More KerioControl Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

June 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

May 2026

Download Juniper NetScreen [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

KerioControl

June 2026

Download KerioControl product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

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

The Juniper Networks NetScreen Series is a line of purpose-built, high-performance security systems designed for large enterprise, carrier, and data center networks. Architected with both existing and future network design in mind, the NetScreen Series consists of two platforms: the 2-slot NetScreen-5200 and the 4-slot NetScreen-5400. Integrating firewall, VPN, traffic management functionality, Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection in a low profile modular chassis, the NetScreen Series delivers scalable performance for the most demanding network environments.

Juniper

KerioControl is a comprehensive network security solution integrating firewall, antivirus, and VPN in an easy-to-use interface for small to medium businesses seeking robust protection.

KerioControl offers a blend of essential security features wrapped in a user-friendly graphical interface that enables effective network management. It supports firewall protection, intrusion detection, real-time monitoring, and flexible VPN capabilities ensuring high reliability and productivity. Despite being suitable for small to medium enterprises, improvements could enhance its overall performance, such as better GUI updates, stronger connectivity, and advanced VPN functionality. Common uses include unified threat management, bandwidth management, remote access, and web filtering.

What are the important features of KerioControl?

Ease of Use: Intuitive interface for effortless security management.
Firewall and VPN Integration: Combines essential security tools seamlessly.
Real-time Monitoring: Offers constant insight into network activities.
Intrusion Detection: Advanced system for prevention and alerts.
Bandwidth Management: Efficient allocation for optimized network usage.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Cost Savings: Economical security solution for smaller businesses.
Productivity Gains: Simplified management increases operational efficiency.
Enhanced Security: Comprehensive coverage with antivirus and malware protection.
Remote Access: Streamlined management of multiple sites and networks.

KerioControl is effectively implemented in industries needing strong security measures, supporting small to medium businesses in sectors like IT services, retail, and education. It's particularly well-suited for companies requiring efficient threat management and convenient internet service management across various sites.

GFI

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

LIME, Telecom Italia

Triton Technical, McDonald's

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