Fortinet FortiGate vs. SonicWall TZ

FortiGate, from Fortinet, and SonicWall TZ are next-gen firewalls (NGFWs). They are competing solutions, however SonicWall TZ aims more at smaller companies as an entry level NGFW, while FortiGate customers include large enterprises. Both vendors are network security specialists and provide related products and services besides their firewalls; see the respective SonicWall and Fortinet vendor pages. Fortinet will tend to be deployed at larger companies and enterprise vis-a-vis SonicWall, with a correspondingly higher price tag.

Features

Both FortiGate and SonicWall TZ present certain advantages that might make them the correct solution for some networks.

FortiGate is an established vendor and the product receives frequent feedback and across the board high ratings. For a few standout features, FortiGate users say its VPN is high performing, its GUI and administrative setup are fluid and easy to understand. Users will get great results when the firewalls are properly configured, which most users say is not hard to do with proper training. Additionally, and unusually for many appliances that can be deployed in enterprise environments, users praise FortiGate for clear and straightforward pricing.

SonicWall TZ is just as highly rated for its market. Reviewers single out its excellent traffic inspection and geolocation based traffic filtering, and highly configurable network access rules controlling who and cannot access network resources. Its antivirus is also highly praised, and users point out that the SonicWall TZ appliance cost is low. 

Limitations

Though these are high rated next-gen firewalls, there are a few considerations that buyers should keep in mind before deploying either solution.

A number of users say the FortiGate GUI, while excellent, takes time getting used to. Training should help get new users up to speed and may be a necessity for many users. Also, firmware upgrades for FortiGate seem to produce an unusually high number of annoying bugs. Opposite SonicWall TZ, FortiGate users find its traffic shaping rules and setup to be less intuitive. This appears to be users’ least favorite feature.

SonicWall TZ’s weak spot appears to be its logs, alerts, and reporting. Particularly the reporting is said to be lacking in detail. And while the appliances are not terribly expensive, users find the subscription cost to be surprisingly complex. Specifically, they complain that the association of the firewall’s various potential functions to separate licenses means licenses can proliferate. The end result is that costs balloon surprisingly as each and every thing the user wants is gated behind its own little recurring fee. This a la carte approach may keep overall cost down, however. SonicWall TZ is also not liked for its interface and admin controls, which are comparatively basic.

Pricing

SonicWall’s TZ series appliances are available from the company’s former parent company Dell Technologies, among other third-party vendors. The series starts with the lower end TZ350 (available now for around $400) and rise to the TZ600 series for about $1600. To load the firewall with SonicWall Antivirus and Intrusion Prevention comes in at about $300 per year. Advanced Gateway Security, a subscription-based combo of services that adds application control & intelligence as well as content filtering among other features comes in at about $1500 yearly. Its SSL VPN license costs $375 to add.

Lower level Fortinet FortiGate firewalls come in at a meager $280 – $500 per appliance approximately, while the top of the line rack-mountable, unified threat management solution FortiGate 6500F can come in at about 250k to 1mil depending on service bundle features and duration (1-3 years). The Fortigate 2000 – 3400 series of appliances range from about 150k to half a million fully featured, with services bundled.