FortiGuard Web Filtering Service vs. Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FortiGuard Web Filtering Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Fortinet headquartered in Sunnyvale, California offers the FortiGuard Web Filtering Service, a web content filter.N/A
Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services (formerly Blue Coat WebFilter) is a web application protection and web content filtering solution, designed to allow users to control access to web content and block web threats with advanced threat defense and real-time global threat intelligence.N/A
Pricing
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Editions & Modules
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Small Businesses

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Medium-sized Companies
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(6 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
FortiGuard Web Filtering ServiceSymantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services
Likelihood to Recommend
Fortinet
FortiGuard Web Filtering Service is well-suited for an organisation that is able to funnel all its Internet connectivity through one device, i.e., the office environment - or perhaps where WFH workers are using a remote desktop or VPN. It allows management/IT to minimise risk by blocking websites that may be harmful, as well as websites that may enable data leakage, or even are websites that people ought not to be visiting in the workplace.
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Broadcom
In a large environment, this is the perfect system. If you do not have constant changes, it easily becomes a system you drop in place and rarely have to think about. Our units have been rock solid and have never experienced any unexpected downtime, and upgrades are just a couple button clicks to deploy, or roll back. For small offices, with minimal traffic this may be using a sledgehammer to put in a push pin. It will work great, but the devices is likely over engineered for small offices (<50 people). That being said, price-wise it's still a great solution when compared to competing products and being from Symantec, you know it's going to be around and support for the long term.
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Pros
Fortinet
  • FortiGuard Web Filtering Service effectively protects websites. There is no need to install the root certificate on all PCs inside the network.
  • The database signature updates every hour, so we don't need to spend time updating the website to blacklist or whitelist.
  • It can protect very well. Whereas, some traditional proxies can not do that. For example, others can not block Youtube or Facebook.
  • It can also protect the search keyword, like in Youtube or other social media, Google, etc.
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Broadcom
  • Almost real time protection from all ongoing threats with their DLA inspection
  • Great visibility into web filtering policies using the dashboards and reports
  • No patching or downloads needed, immediate protection is provided as clients are always cloud connected
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Cons
Fortinet
  • Some websites are classified as Meaningless content, especially links used in emails to unsubscribe from lists. Luckily FortiGuard Web Filtering Service is responsive about reclassifying those quickly.
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Broadcom
  • The admin interface would be better off not using Java
  • Setting up SSL properly can be a bit challenging
  • Could really use a better source for training, like a library of how-to videos
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Usability
Fortinet
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
I really like the system, it's easy to use and mostly intuitive. I would have gone 10/10, but the management interface uses Java, and that seems to always make things a bit harder to start. Once everything is loaded and running, it's great - but it does require me to maintain a compatible version of Java on the machine I use to access the system, I'd be much happier with some kind of HTML5 interface. I also deducted 1 point for the functionality of the refer filter - it works as expected, but if the site isn't coded with the correct refer header, like Microsoft's site - then some page elements get stripped and pages only render about 98% correctly. I know that's not in Symantec's list of responsibilities, but having a filter that doesn't fully understand CDNs is worth the 1 point ding.
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Support Rating
Fortinet
Took a little longer for support to get our problem solved, but when the upper tier tech support was involved, we got excellent customer support.
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Broadcom
I've had exactly 1 problem in 8 years, I contacted support via the customer portal, less than an hour later I found myself in a screen share with a support tech who not only fixed my configuration error, but also took the time to ask about my usage and offered some great tips on changes. It was just one support incident, but I was impressed by the speed of response to a non-critical issue as well as the depth of product knowledge the support engineer had.
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Alternatives Considered
Fortinet
We selected FortiGuard Web Filtering because it came in the service bundle with our FortiGate unit. After testing the service for a couple of months, we disabled the web filtering that was running on our client machines and have not looked back. It's been easy to manage, effective, and fast. There isn't much more you can ask for from a filtering solution.
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Broadcom
Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution was a simple 1U appliance that does everything we need, compared to the Forcepoint solution which required a virtual appliance, a database server, a log server, and a management server - the licensing costs alone make the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution a clear winner. The Forcepoint solution is really good, it just requires such a big footprint without delivering much beyond what the Symantec WebFilter / Intelligence Services solution does with a single unit.
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Return on Investment
Fortinet
  • We can be confident staff cannot inadvertantly or deliberately access websites that contain porn, or other non-safe for work content
  • We can be confident staff cannot inadvertantly or deliberately access harmful and malicious websites
  • We can be confident data leakage is minimised
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Broadcom
  • Boosts business productivity with having secured systems
  • Globally available threat protection adhering to our own security policies
  • User may sometime find it difficult to deal with - so there can be a feature to make it more user friendly in terms of user experience. That is a bit of negative we have seen.
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ScreenShots