We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and OPNsense based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Fortinet FortiGate-VM is highly regarded for its robust security features, including geofencing, firewalling, IPS, and antivirus. Users also appreciate its user-friendly interface. OPNsense is notable for its scalability and ability to accommodate guest access. Its dashboards, IDS and IPS capabilities, and availability of a free version are also highlighted as valuable features.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM could benefit from enhancements in key activation, log management, IPsec failover, monitoring tools, hardening, availability, VPN connectivity, operating system stability, data center clustering, throughput, web application firewall integration, pricing model, troubleshooting forum, and guidance. OPNsense requires improvements in interface simplification, integration, DNS blocking, peer-blocking, installation, deployment, reporting, SSL inspection, and learning curve.
Service and Support: Fortinet FortiGate-VM's customer service has received both positive and negative feedback. Some customers appreciate the support team's quick response times and expertise. However, others have faced challenges in obtaining prompt assistance and finding information easily. OPNsense has been commended for its exceptional support, rapid response times, and helpful guidance. Nonetheless, a few users have noted the lack of easy accessibility to the support service and have recommended the addition of an associated support service.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is typically simple. OPNsense is not overly complicated or difficult. FortiGate-VM may take more time for larger deployments, however, it provides a user-friendly installation and configuration experience. Clients can perform the OPNsense setup themselves, and it can be completed within a few hours.
Pricing: Fortinet FortiGate-VM requires licensing fees with no extra expenses. OPNsense, being open-source, doesn't require a license, however, hardware costs are involved.
ROI: Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers enhanced security and stability. Users consider its ROI to be highly satisfactory. OPNsense delivers a quick return on investment, typically within three months, and eliminates the need for ongoing fees.
Comparison Results: The analysis of user feedback indicates that Fortinet FortiGate-VM outperforms OPNsense in various aspects. Users highly value Fortinet FortiGate-VM for its robust security capabilities, user-friendly interface, effortless deployment, scalability, and extensive filtering options. Moreover, users appreciate the availability of support from Fortinet.
"Unified Threat Management (UTM) features."
"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"It has improved our security capabilities."
"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."
"The web filtering feature and the intrusion protection system are the most valuable. It is a resilient appliance. I never had an issue with it in terms of any security breaches."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. With FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access."
"One of the valuable features is a standardized OS."
"I have worked on some of the largest and smallest solutions that Fortinet sells and they all scale really well."
"FortiGate integrates well."
"In terms of specific features, I like FortiGate's load balancing, interface, and priority on the network."
"The most valuables features are the ease of use and deployment."
"The interface is decent."
"The performance overall is very good."
"It's a relatively simple product that is easy to use. It's not overly complex."
"The most valuable feature is that its IPsec works perfectly."
"The most valuable features in OPNsense are reporting and visibility."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"It's open source."
"We have been operating here in our lab for several months, and everything appears to be extremely stable."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"It has an open license. It works very well, and there is an update every month."
"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."
"What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control."
"The Wi-Fi controller needs a lot of improvement."
"The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are."
"With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support."
"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"We haven't attempted to scale the solution just yet. If we want to scale this solution we may have to look at other models. With certain requirements, we probably wouldn't be able to scale it so well as it is right now."
"I have worked on some of the largest and smallest solutions that Fortinet sells and they all scale really well."
"The product may not be as robust as Palo Alto. However, unless you are a big bank, you probably won't need it to be."
"We have experience stability issues, when the product sizing is wrong or on configuration errors."
"The product's initial setup phase is a bit complex."
"It is difficult to size the VM in terms of machine resources, and for this reason, clients prefer the appliance."
"In the next release, I would like to see integration capability with SIEM tools, such as QRadar, and LogRhythm."
"The pricing is expensive."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"The only thing that I would like to see improved is the Insight or the NetFlow analysis part. It would be good to have the possibility to dig down on the Insight platform. Right now, we can easily do only a few analyses. If this page becomes more powerful, it surely will be a well-adopted platform."
"They should improve IPEs for security in the future."
"While they do have paid options that actually gives better features, for most of the clients, if they tend to take a paid option will instead opt for Fortinet."
"The ability to set the VPN IP address would be a welcome addition."
"In terms of improvement, the performance could be enhanced."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"There is room for improvement in SSL inspection."
Fortinet FortiGate-VM is ranked 9th in Firewalls with 113 reviews while OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is rated 8.4, while OPNsense is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate-VM writes "An easy-to-manage and configure tool that provides ample documentation to help with the setup phase". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". Fortinet FortiGate-VM is most compared with Azure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Fortinet FortiOS, Cisco Secure Firewall and Netgate pfSense, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire. See our Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. OPNsense report.
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