We use this product to improve our security, as part of our overall solution that includes antivirus, IPS, and other products.
Program Manager at iONE IT Solutions
Good performance, centrally managed, and scales well
Pros and Cons
- "This is a good product and I have already recommended it to one of my friends that is now implementing it in the educational sector."
- "The security features need to be improved."
- "The security features need to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The centralized management is very good.
Performance is a good point.
What needs improvement?
The security features need to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall for a few months.
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Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall
May 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution scales well and the performance is not degraded. We have 35 registered users in the organization.
How are customer service and support?
We are satisfied with the support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to this solution, we were using SonicWall. We switched because we wanted to have a centralized management platform, and we also wanted to increase diversity in our firewall products.
How was the initial setup?
This firewall is easy to install, as well as configure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing should be more competitive against other vendors in the market. We are looking at putting firewalls across all of our locations and want to get a better price so that we can do so. This would be great because we would like to have the same firewall at all of our locations.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and I have already recommended it to one of my friends that is now implementing it in the educational sector.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Team Lead Network Infrastructure at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Security works well, reasonably priced but difficult to configure
Pros and Cons
- "It is a scalable product. I know a customer who has deployed more than 4,000 firewalls in a single deployment."
- "It is a scalable product; I know a customer who has deployed more than 4,000 firewalls in a single deployment."
- "Forcepoint is a little difficult to configure compared to its competitors."
- "I would probably not recommend the product to customers because it is not top of the line."
What is our primary use case?
The solution has the ability to stop the latest malware threats and any exploits to computer systems.
What is most valuable?
It does well in security, for data security, and it ranks on the top of NSS Lab.
What needs improvement?
Forcepoint is a little difficult to configure compared to its competitors.
The product could be more user friendly. Firewalls are getting better in graphical user interfaces. If there is an issue with the appliances then the engineering team can work on the command line controls. A cheaper way is a graphical user interface for any users to be able to quickly configuration and implement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable product. I know a customer who has deployed more than 4,000 firewalls in a single deployment.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The installation can take a little while depending on the number of sites that someone has. Usually, for single deployment, it takes one or two days.
What about the implementation team?
In our deployment team, we have over 2000 users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of the solution is normally competitive with other products.
What other advice do I have?
I would probably not recommend the product to customers because it is not top of the line. It depends on the customer though, their usage, budget, etc. If they have the budget I would probably recommend Palo Alto Networks, not Forcepoint.
I rate Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
Buyer's Guide
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
A stable solution that has improved a lot
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution, and there are no issues so far."
- "We are a platinum partner of Forcepoint, and it is a stable solution with no issues so far."
- "Its management center should be easier to use. The management interface of Forcepoint is unique and a little bit different from some of the firewall solutions on which people might have worked before. Sometimes, the customers say that it is not very friendly, and we help them with how to use this management interface. It just takes a little bit of time, and after some time, it gets easy to manage or use. It is quite similar to Palo Alto, Fortinet, and legacy Juniper solutions. Their support should be faster. We have received complaints that they are not responding fast, which is not good for the vendor and us."
- "Their support should be faster. We have received complaints that they are not responding fast, which is not good for the vendor and us."
What is our primary use case?
We are a platinum partner of Forcepoint. We work on most of the Forcepoint portfolio, such as web security, event security, and DLP at the endpoint level as well as at the laptop level.
This solution can be used for different use cases. You can deploy it as an IPS near the data center zone. You can also put it in-line, which is recommended most of the time not only for Forcepoint but also for many other next-generation firewall vendors. Otherwise, you need to deploy it as a normal next-generation firewall and enable some specific IPS policies on the firewall itself. One of our customers needed encryption between remote sites.
We have a professional services team that handles the implementation of these solutions. We install the latest version of this solution. Most of the customers ask for an on-premises deployment. There are some customers who ask for a private cloud deployment.
What is most valuable?
It is a stable solution, and there are no issues so far.
What needs improvement?
Its management center should be easier to use. The management interface of Forcepoint is unique and a little bit different from some of the firewall solutions on which people might have worked before. Sometimes, the customers say that it is not very friendly, and we help them with how to use this management interface. It just takes a little bit of time, and after some time, it gets easy to manage or use. It is quite similar to Palo Alto, Fortinet, and legacy Juniper solutions.
Their support should be faster. We have received complaints that they are not responding fast, which is not good for the vendor and us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with this solution for almost five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around 50 users of this solution in our company.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is not bad, but it is also not good at the same time. It should be faster, especially for the RMA. We understand the situation related to the pandemic, but their response wasn't good even prior to that. I believe it is something related to logistics.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is of medium complexity. It is neither straightforward nor complex. If you want to implement a new firewall, you need to connect it to something called SMC or security management center, which is the main thing. It is the brain of the firewall, and without that, you cannot manage the firewalls. There are certain steps that need to be done on the SMC to do the configuration of the firewall.
What about the implementation team?
We are not a big company. We have two post-sales people who provide professional service. We have two to three pre-sales people as well as technicians.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution in general. We have collected a lot of feedback from customers related to the management, which we will forward to Forcepoint, and then after some time, they will take action on that.
They have improved a lot since they were acquired from McAfee. Earlier, if you wanted to access SMC, you needed remote desktop access to the server or you had to install a small software from the SMC as a client to control the firewall. Customers used to ask us about why they cannot access the firewall management by UI or browser when most of the other firewalls already have such access. We received a lot of such feedback from customers, and when we escalated this to Forcepoint, they took a serious note of it. After some time, they released that option. You can now access the management center through UI, which is a good improvement.
I would rate Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior Manager - ICT Technical at CNS Engineering
Excellent customer service, good reporting and user management and easy to use overall
Pros and Cons
- "When comparing this solution to others this one has better reporting, user management, and is easy to use."
- "When comparing this solution to others this one has better reporting, user management, and is easy to use."
- "They need to work on stability, it has not been the best in our experience."
- "They need to work on stability, it has not been the best in our experience."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution in a data center for security.
What is most valuable?
When comparing this solution to others this one has better reporting, user management, and is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
No firewall is perfect but they could improve on the detections of threats.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
They need to work on stability, it has not been the best in our experience.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have been very satisfied with the customer service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used other solutions in the past.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was not easy at first but then after a while of doing installations, it became easy.
What about the implementation team?
We do the implementation of the solutions, we have a team that does it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have found the price could be reduced. It is a little expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend this solution, we are going to continue using it.
I rate Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
IT Director at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Straightforward to install and has good local support, but the throughput and integration with other products should be improved
Pros and Cons
- "The people we deal with is a local partner in Cambodia and we can get good support from them."
- "Forcepoint is stable and we plan to continue using it in the future."
- "My team is looking for more throughput and better integration with our security framework."
- "My team is looking for more throughput and better integration with our security framework."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this solution as our corporate firewall.
What is most valuable?
This solution is quite good.
What needs improvement?
It's a good firewall but we are looking for features that are available in Palo Alto.
My team is looking for more throughput and better integration with our security framework. Better integration with other platforms would be an improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall for one year.
We are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Forcepoint is stable and we plan to continue using it in the future.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product. We have approximately 300 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
We can get local support, which has been okay so far.
The people we deal with is a local partner in Cambodia and we can get good support from them.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was not an issue for us.
What about the implementation team?
Our in-house team did it with the help of our local partner.
We have three or four IT people who take care of deployment and maintenance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are still evaluating other products such as Palo Alto.
One of our goals is to minimize the number of different vendors that we have. Ideally, we would like to have a firewall and security solution with good performance from a single vendor, with a single management console.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Managing Director at FORESEC
Stable, scalable, and great support
Pros and Cons
- "It is stable and scalable. In addition, their support is great. When you ask them for something, they provide support, and if required, they also involve the R&D team to help you to resolve the issues in your configuration."
- "Forcepoint is a very big company with a very good product line, and it fulfills most of the needs of the customers, especially enterprise customers in the financial sector."
- "They need to increase the local support here. There are also some bugs or fixes on which they need to work. They very well know about these bugs. In terms of licensing, I would like them to either increase the number of features in a single license or make licensing more flexible."
- "They need to increase the local support here. There are also some bugs or fixes on which they need to work."
What is most valuable?
It is stable and scalable. In addition, their support is great. When you ask them for something, they provide support, and if required, they also involve the R&D team to help you to resolve the issues in your configuration.
What needs improvement?
They need to increase the local support here. There are also some bugs or fixes on which they need to work. They very well know about these bugs.
In terms of licensing, I would like them to either increase the number of features in a single license or make licensing more flexible.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We have many customers, and some of them have from 500 to 1,000 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their support is great.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup is easy, but it also depends on the size of the implementation.
The implementation of email security and web security is also easy, but the implementation of DLP is very complicated and can take six to eight months. You can install the software in an hour, but there are a lot of configuration changes, and some critical information must be gathered from the customer for implementation and configuration, which takes time.
What about the implementation team?
The number of people required to deploy and implement this solution varies. We have four or five technical staff members who can do the implementation. We have the same number of people for its support after the implementation. From the customer side, a local team is required to work with and manage this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Everything in Forcepoint comes with an individual license, which is kind of a problem. In our last meeting, they said that it may change at the beginning of 2021, and they will try to merge some licenses together. Customers will get more features than what they got previously. We will wait and see.
What other advice do I have?
Forcepoint is a very big company with a very good product line. It fulfills most of the needs of the customers, especially enterprise customers in the financial sector. I use Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall as well as the DLP, web, and email solutions from Forcepoint. No other solution can compete with Forcepoint's DLP solution. We are going to keep using Forcepoint products. Some of our customers are only interested in Forcepoint.
I would rate Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Head of Infrastructure & Cloud Section at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It comes with functionalities to simplify operations and management
Pros and Cons
- "The feature that we like the most about Forcepoint is that we know the technology and have confidence in it. We can have several functionalities to simplify operations and management. We can combine functionalities like log ownership to review the number of devices in the infrastructure."
- "The feature that we like the most about Forcepoint is that we know the technology and have confidence in it."
- "Its interface is complex when compared with a firewall like FortiGate. Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall needs a management console, whereas FortiGate doesn't need any console. When you have a few devices, a console is not really necessary. It's good to have a private console only when you have a lot of devices."
- "However, we did have a horrible experience with Forcepoint in the past."
What is our primary use case?
We give consultancy and propose technology based on the customer's design. We also do long-term deployments. Normally, our solutions are deployed on-premises. We have some key projects where almost everything is deployed on-premises. We also manage the solutions and infrastructures with firewalls, network devices, etc. We have a great experience with different technologies, and Forcepoint is one of them.
What is most valuable?
The feature that we like the most about Forcepoint is that we know the technology and have confidence in it.
We can have several functionalities to simplify operations and management. We can combine functionalities like log ownership to review the number of devices in the infrastructure.
What needs improvement?
Its interface is complex when compared with a firewall like FortiGate. Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall needs a management console, whereas FortiGate doesn't need any console. When you have a few devices, a console is not really necessary. It's good to have a private console only when you have a lot of devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
We began to work with Forcepoint when they got Stonesoft several years ago.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our projects are not very demanding in terms of performance. Therefore, we don't have any special requirements for scalability. We have some customers for whom we manage this kind of technology, and the scalability or performance is achieved by deploying a greater data appliance.
How are customer service and technical support?
I might have contacted them for some questions related to managing instances. We sometimes had problems with registering or activating licenses on the manufacturer portal. I haven't opened any ticket personally. My colleagues have contacted them for technical support, that is, for problems that go beyond the basics of the Forcepoint configuration, such as for replacing some faulty components. Their experience was good in general.
How was the initial setup?
I'm not in the technical part right now, but based on what I have learned from my technical colleagues, the initial setup is not very difficult. When you have experience in setting up or working with these technologies, it's not difficult to set up a firewall.
What about the implementation team?
We have certified people to manage this technology. We manage the infrastructure for our clients.
What other advice do I have?
We are managing a customer's infrastructure where we have two pairs of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall working without any major problem.
I would recommend Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall based on your needs. It's very useful for us to mix several technologies on the same platform to increase its security level. We have experience with Check Point, FortiGate, Palo Alto, and StrongGate (which became McAfee and then Forcepoint). Many times, we combine two or three technologies into the same platform without any problem. However, we did have a horrible experience with Forcepoint in the past. Some of the project deployments were not very great, specifically for applications offering very specific services to users.
I would rate Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Managing Director at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Good blocking and very stable but needs better network functionality
Pros and Cons
- "The blocking, based on the signal provided, is the solution's most valuable aspect."
- "Forcepoint has great security functionality."
- "The solution needs to build upon its network functionality. It needs to be a bit smarter."
- "However, one downside that I see is that they need to improve some network functionality."
What is our primary use case?
I provide Forcepoint services to my clients.
What is most valuable?
The blocking, based on the signal provided, is the solution's most valuable aspect.
From my perspective, the user interface is decent.
What needs improvement?
Decryption needs improvement. It could be better in terms of the bandwidth and in terms of the speed of the tasks.
The solution needs to build upon its network functionality. It needs to be a bit smarter.
Communication with the cloud will be integral to the future of this solution. It needs to be easily deployed with the cloud going forward.
The solution would also benefit from working within a multi-cloud environment. It should work with everything from Google to Azure to Salesforce. They need to have a more complex API to be able to successfully connect with other clouds and stations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about one year now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It's reliable. We have no issues there. We don't see any bugs or glitches. The solution doesn't crash.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
A company would have absolutely no problem scaling this solution. If a team needs to build it out, they can do so quite easily.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've contacted technical support in the past. They are decent. They provide enough support services to cover our needs. We are satisfied with the level of service they've provided us so far.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy to get started and the deployment itself is pretty simple.
The customer's infrastructure can really be diverse, however, and that will affect deployment. There are different complexities involved in the setup from the client's side. That's where complexity can really come in. The infrastructure, routines, and network traffic all vary and bring in their own unique challenges.
Typically, deployment takes about a week to complete.
What other advice do I have?
We're a developing company that works with a lot of legacy suppliers that offer clients security solutions. From my perspective, such legacy supplier companies such as McAfee, Checkpoint, and Forcepoint. We help our clients implement certain solutions.
I would absolutely recommend the solution. When it comes to the ease of deployment of the functionality, I would strongly recommend it. Forcepoint has great security functionality.
However, one downside that is I see is that they need to improve some network functionality. This is very important due to the fact that network functionality is very crucial when it comes to deploying the solution.
I would rate the solution seven out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: May 2026
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