Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL] comparison

Netgate and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 94% of Netgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard XTM [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls.

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

April 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

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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Juan-Arias

Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control

What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.

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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

"The interface is very good."

"It is easy to use, and there are a lot of security features right out of the box."

"Great product with too many features at the right price."

"I never encountered any stability issues; it is a very stable product."

"We have never stopped to calculate it, but we cannot describe how good we feel since we no longer face issues with the internet."

"Generally, every aspect of it being a next-generation firewall provides good value."

"Fortinet FortiGate has saved me both money and time."

"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I like how easy it is to access VPNs and stuff like that. It's so simple to set up a site-to-site VPN."

"If you haven't invested a lot of money, you will definitely see the return on investment with pfSense because you hardly spend anything, except for the hardware."

"The stability is good. I haven't had any issues with the firewall crashing spontaneously."

"The initial setup is not complex."

"It is easy to use and has integrity with other systems, such as proxies and quality of service."

"I like how affordable and flexible pfSense is. I can achieve the protection I need in a flexible manner. I enjoy using pfSense. It's effective and solid."

"I like that there's a community edition that I can install on my own virtual machines or hardware. I can test things without messing with them in production, which is incredibly useful. If you have a Juniper or Cisco, you can typically only afford one. You're forced to make changes in production and hope they don't break anything because there's no easy way to have a testing environment. The free version of pfSense offers load balancing or failover WAN, which is also helpful. Most commercial firewalls don't have that in the cheapest iteration of the hardware."

"The most valuable feature is the routing capability. We're primarily using the appliance as a router to provide DNS and multi-WAN routing."

More Netgate pfSense pros

"After it is installed, you will have plenty of time to do something else, because it is stable and does not require you to reboot all the time."

"There is a site-to-site VPN configuration between others people."

"Today, however, with the 11.9.4 version, our environment is very stable."

"This product helped facilitate and protect our environment from the inside out, with features like DLP (data loss prevention) to content filtering all the way to port filtering and traffic shaping."

"I like the hostwatch because I can see what traffic uses the most bandwidth and I can block that site."

"The multi-WAN feature allows us to configure multiple external interfaces."

"XTM is more effective and friendly to use than our previous solution, and it also provides me with very good VPN tunnel stability."

"A WatchGuard creates new ways to secure your network."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"I haven't had a single issue since using Fortinet."

"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."

"I could not configure sFlow from the FortiGate graphical user interface. I realized that the sFlow configuration is available only from the CLI, and discovered that sFlow is not supported on virtual interfaces, such as VDOM links, IPsec, or GRE."

"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format."

"There are some license issues. Not every feature must have a separate license."

"When we cluster the two Fortinet FortiGate boxes together we have some issues."

"There is one big configuration file with no separations for the unique VDOMs. Maybe they could separate individual VDOM configuration files with the root VDOM configuration file referencing the individual VDOM config files."

"The interface could be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"It could use a little bit of improvement in the reporting."

"They could improve their commercial stance and be more agile when it comes to the commercial pricing of enterprise deals."

"Their UI could have hidden some of the complexity better so that it was easy to understand or more general. They could have given some more clarification on the markings on the outside of the machine."

"Snort or Suricata don't block things they should out of the box. It's always been a pain point of pfSense. If you turn on Snort or Suricata for IPS or IDS, no setting is effectively set and forget. Turning any commercial firewall to the lowest setting will provide you with a decent amount of security with almost zero false positives, but pfSense is not that way. You've got a babysit Snort and Suricata to the point where sometimes you turn it off."

"There could be a way to remote to it through a mobile app. You can always browse through your browser on your mobile phone or tablet, but it would be good to have a dedicated app. I understand that iOS and Android developers are expensive, but there should be a mobile app."

"Their support could be better in terms of the response time."

"Lacks instructional videos."

"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."

More Netgate pfSense cons

"Sometimes the local firebox management tool is flaky."

"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."

"Sometimes we have had issues with stability of the product."

"Initially WatchGuard assured us regarding endpoint security, but we are not sure that the product provides endpoint security features to its full extent."

"I would like them to improve the product's overall protections. This would be good for all product users."

"The setting policies need improvement. It needs an easier way to do static NAT and check on what policy is being used for that specific traffic."

"WatchGuard doesn't have a product that allows them to get into the data center. And that's just because there is no hardware to do the job."

"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."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is offered as an annual license."

"The main reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was that the price was better than the competition."

"I'll rate FortiGate's pricing a five out of ten since it is moderately priced."

"There is only a standard license cost to use the solution."

"We are currently evaluating a Palo Alto solution, and the pricing could be a reason for going for Palo Alto."

"The licensing costs are very competitive."

"FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint."

"I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall a five out of ten for pricing."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"They have a free community version and a paid version. The free version works if you are a home user who needs a fixed cost, but that's not my use case."

"Looking at what it does, I think that it is fairly priced."

"All costs are low compared to other solutions. The hardware is stable and cheap."

"pfSense offers a surprisingly affordable enterprise-grade solution for small businesses."

"If you need to buy hardware onto which to install PfSense, go with their boxes on their website, they are great."

"The solution is free. However, you need to pay for support."

"The price of pfSense is on par with everything else. It depends on how big an appliance you buy and whether you're purchasing it directly from Netgate. Some rack-mounted systems are expensive—a couple thousand bucks. The one that I use at my house was $700."

"Netgate pfSense is competitively priced."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"The licensing and renewal is very expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Marketing Services Firm

14%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Performing Arts

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	171
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	29

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

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% 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

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 56% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

KerioControl vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 23% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

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

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 10% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

April 2026

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

April 2026

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] 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

Netgate pfSense is an open-source firewall and router software known for scalability, cost-effectiveness, and community support. It includes customizable packages for varied network management needs, offering solid performance and straightforward management for diverse setups.

Netgate pfSense provides an impressive range of functionalities including firewall capabilities, VPN options, and extensive customization through packages. Its low resource usage and high availability make it viable for businesses of all sizes, especially when dealing with tailored network demands. Despite its strengths, users suggest improvements in ease of use, mobile compatibility, and support for plug-ins. Enhanced centralized management, better documentation, and additional security features are frequent requests.

What are the key features of Netgate pfSense?

Scalability: Suits any network size from small home setups to large enterprises.
Open-source: Offers transparency and flexibility, allowing for community-driven development.
Firewall Capabilities: Provides robust protection against unauthorized access.
VPN Options: Supports secure remote connectivity with various VPN protocols.
Customizable Packages: Allows users to personalize functionalities to fit network needs.
High Availability: Ensures continuous network operations with redundancy features.
Load Balancing: Distributes traffic efficiently across multiple paths or connections.
Traffic Shaping: Manages bandwidth allocation to optimize network performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Significant savings due to low operational costs and open-source nature.
Performance: Reliable service delivery with minimal hardware demands.
User-friendly Interface: Intuitive design that simplifies complex network management.
Community Support: Access to extensive community resources for troubleshooting and advice.
Comprehensive Documentation: Detailed guides and tutorials to facilitate installation and configuration.

In education and healthcare, Netgate pfSense is employed for secure connectivity and efficient traffic management, accommodating distinct demands of remote access and content filtering. Organizations in these sectors often utilize features such as load balancing and VPNs to maintain secure and reliable network operations while integrating with services like Active Directory for streamlined identity management. Small to medium-sized enterprises benefit from its affordability and robust functionality, making it a go-to choice for managed service environments requiring effective network security and control.

Netgate

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

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

Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring

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

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

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