Fortinet FortiGate vs. Zscaler Internet Access

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FortiGate
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
FortiNet FortiGate is a firewall option with high integrability. It offers a variety of deployment options and next-gen firewall capabilities, including integration with IaaS cloud platforms and public cloud environments.N/A
Zscaler Internet Access
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Zscaler Internet Access™ (ZIA) is a secure web gateway (SWG), delivering cloud native cyberthreat protection and zero trust access to the internet and SaaS apps.N/A
Pricing
Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFortiGate pricing starts at $250 for home office use, up to $300,000 for large enterprise appliances. Must contact sales team for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Considered Both Products
FortiGate

No answer on this topic

Zscaler Internet Access
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
It will take us into full Zero Trust with out deploying another client, is efficient.
Chose Zscaler Internet Access
Fortinet's hosted solution is not really supported in my opinion. Opening a ticket for hosted firewall is a pain and even during the POC phase we had to work with engineers who really didn't understand our use case and we were not really happy with the way they presented the …
Features
Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
8.7
53 Ratings
1% above category average
Zscaler Internet Access
-
Ratings
Identification Technologies8.951 Ratings00 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.351 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Inspection8.852 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.953 Ratings00 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.750 Ratings00 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.752 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging8.253 Ratings00 Ratings
VPN9.052 Ratings00 Ratings
High Availability9.348 Ratings00 Ratings
Stateful Inspection9.251 Ratings00 Ratings
Proxy Server8.539 Ratings00 Ratings
Identity Management
Comparison of Identity Management features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
5.0
2 Ratings
56% below category average
Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
10.0
2 Ratings
10% above category average
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Threat Intelligence
Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
8.4
137 Ratings
8% above category average
Network Analytics00 Ratings8.4137 Ratings
Threat Recognition00 Ratings8.2134 Ratings
Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings8.4120 Ratings
Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings8.4130 Ratings
Threat Analysis00 Ratings8.8128 Ratings
Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings8.6127 Ratings
Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings8.5124 Ratings
Zero Trust Security
Comparison of Zero Trust Security features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
8.9
160 Ratings
2% above category average
Continuous Verification00 Ratings8.6147 Ratings
Secure Web Gateways00 Ratings8.9142 Ratings
Network Flow Control00 Ratings8.8132 Ratings
Network Traffic Analysis00 Ratings8.6133 Ratings
Segmentation Leveraging00 Ratings8.2119 Ratings
Admin Access Control00 Ratings9.0141 Ratings
Network Data Encryption00 Ratings8.9129 Ratings
Network Topology Mapping00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
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Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
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User Ratings
Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(79 ratings)
8.9
(183 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(5 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(21 ratings)
8.4
(167 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(3 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(2 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(27 ratings)
8.2
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(5 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(2 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(3 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(2 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(2 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Fortinet FortiGateZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
Fortinet
Fortinet FortiGate addressed an immediate security issue we had a few years ago. The device gave us a much clearer picture of the activities on our network and also more importantly, increased our awareness of threats from the internet as a whole. Fortinet FortiGate helps us to mitigate these threats with regular signature updates from Fortiguard labs, identifying certain characteristics which, once recognised by Fortinet FortiGate, can be harnessed to deploy powerful 'playbooks'.
Read full review
Zscaler
It's best suited for a distributed remote workforce, securing internet access for users from anywhere. Suitable for highly regulated industries, such as banking and Healthcare. Not a good fit for an organisation where most of its legacy is in an on-premises environment. Bandwidth-intensive industries like media/entertainment firms.
Read full review
Pros
Fortinet
  • SD-WAN - Load balancing of Internet traffic is a USP of Fortigate and makes it stand tall in the competition. Be it 3 or more Internet Links, multiple Subnets/segments of users to distribute and bandwidth load balancing for links and users. SLA based monitoring of Internet Links / MPLS links, makes it even better to choose the links on the basis of performance (Latency, packet loss, Jitter etc).
  • SSL VPN configuration - As we all have WFH force (to some extend or all employee) during Covid-19, it is impossible to plan BCP without having a SSL VPN. In Fortigate, the SSL VPN configuration is very easy with the help of wizard. The deep CLI-level debugging is also very helpful in troubleshooting. Type of tunnel can be easily configured - Full Tunnel or Split Tunnel for SSL.
  • Explicit Proxy - This is also a great feature to shape and re-route the traffic, configuring the Proxy on the Firewall itself. We are using this feature in Pilot for now, and planned to rollout in few weeks looking at the success rate of the POC.
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Zscaler
  • Single Pane of Glass Management - Everything is very easy to access and monitor the entire environment from an internet security perspective.
  • Install Flexibility - We can and do install Zscaler Internet Access on both our client devices as well as our SD-WAN appliances and servers. This allows us to control internet security even on devices without an agent in our networks.
Read full review
Cons
Fortinet
  • Documentation is missing a great deal of detail and assumes the customer and just guess and fill in the blanks themselves
  • Fortinet has lots and lots of video guides on topics that only a small percentage of customers would ever need
  • The documentation and video guides do not get updated so most is only relevant to older software versions
Read full review
Zscaler
  • The logs feel kind of lack luster
  • When issues are arising with SSL Inspection, logs show everything working despite end user experience
  • Could use some kind of global find functionality or something that would allow you to search the entire configuration for matching URLs and the like
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Likelihood to Renew
Fortinet
Fortinet's products have kept improving with new software releases and they continue to deliver great value. Their support is also very good. I believe that as a small enterprise, their products have given us competitive advantage delivering features and functionality that enable us to innovate and do things better. They also continue to be a leader in the markets they serve.
Read full review
Zscaler
While Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) delivers critical value in cloud security and RBI compliance, I rate renewal likelihood 7/10 due to evolving needs versus platform limitations. Below is my rationale:
Key Gaps:
1. Advanced Threat Costs:
ZIA’s add-ons (e.g., Advanced DLP, Sandboxing) incur 35%+ cost premiums – straining budgets as transaction volumes (UPI/iMobile) grow 50% YoY.
2. API Banking Scalability:
ZIA’s API rate limits throttle real-time policy sync during UPI peaks (10K+ TPS), forcing workarounds for finacle integrations.
3. RBI Future-Proofing:
Limited native support for upcoming digital rupee (CBDC) security rules requires custom development, increasing compliance overhead.
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Usability
Fortinet
The firewall runs very well, firmware updates are fairly quick but you must follow the upgrade path. Neglecting this step will cause a lot of pain. If you decide to go with Fortinet FortiGate switches and/or access points, they can be managed within the firewall which is great. We're also using the FortiAnalyzer which easily plugs into the firewall for any reporting you may require.
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Zscaler
The application is easy to install and configure on all Windows devices. To troubleshoot any internet issue, we can easily collect all the relevant logs from Zscaler and check the exact issue. The only problem is with the uninstall, as a dedicated crew needs to provide the password.
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Reliability and Availability
Fortinet
We had didn't any hardware failures at our two main office locations and upgraded our units last year after using them for about 5-6 years
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Performance
Fortinet
Good performance and really good integration. We have integration with Microsoft AD.
Read full review
Zscaler
There are often performance issues reported
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Support Rating
Fortinet
The Support team at Fortinet is excellent. They can not only help you configure the device for what you are trying to do, they offer suggestions on improving rules, and troubleshooting issues. Their response time is fast, ensuring you are up and running immediately with no questions asked. We had a hard drive failure in one of our Fortinet Fortigate appliances. The tech answered immediately, and started rebuilding the drive after some preliminary investigations. After rebuilding, there were still errors and issues, so they dispatched a brand new Fortinet Fortigate appliance. The tech then backed up the configurations for when the new device came in, which showed up in a few hours. A restore of the configuration took less than a minute, and there were no more errors or issues.
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Zscaler
Zscaler's ZIA support is quick and knowledgable. They respond within 1-2 hours of you submitting your ticket. They are very thorough and are typically ready to jump on a live troubleshooting session. Our ZIA platform and how we use is it unique so at times tickets can be open for weeks but we alway get quality support compared to other unrelated product support in our enterprise
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In-Person Training
Fortinet
I received it a couple years afters use it and it was just to confirm my knowledge about the tool.
Read full review
Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Fortinet
Make sure that you have the most current version of FortiOS. Make sure all Fortigates are on the same version
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Fortinet
[Fortinet] FortiGate is not only cost effective but it gives the comprehensive security against the APT attacks and gives the complete traffic visibility and granular control. You can easily create the VDOMs (Virtual firewall) within a Fortigate firewall and customize the dashboard as per your requirement if you have multiple VDOMs within a single firewall.
Read full review
Zscaler
Zscaler Intenet Access outperformed the competition due to its lightning-fast policy delivery and cross-compatibility. It is easy to track employee usage and block unnecessary websites, reducing company internet usage. Zscalar installed on every system increases cloud-based software bandwidth, decreasing user turnaround time and increasing efficiency.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Fortinet
No changes needed to terms and conditions.
Read full review
Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Fortinet
My environments are pretty small (less than 100 users per location) so no issues here.
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Fortinet
  • The pricing given to us for our firewall was well within what we were already spending for other vendors solutions and had the added value of eliminating a separate expense for a dedicated web filtering appliance.
  • We have also adopted Fortinet's security fabric approach and thus changed vendors for our switch and AP devices. These devices have come at reduced prices as compared to another previous vendor we were using, particularly in relation to ongoing annual maintenance costs.
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Zscaler
  • Has allowed us to remove other products that were suboptimal
  • Saved us money overall by stacking it with other Zscaler products
  • Created a more secure work environment for our users through intelligent internet policies that are not needlessly restrictive while still maintaining security best practices
Read full review
ScreenShots

Zscaler Internet Access Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), a cloud native security service edge (SSE) solution that builds on a decade of secure web gateway leadership. Offered as a scalable SaaS platform through Zscaler's security cloud, it replaces legacy network security solutions, preventing advanced attacks and data loss with a comprehensive zero trust approach. ZIA is integrated into the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ to provide superior defense-in-depth, secure connectivity, end user experience, and administrative visibility and control.