I'm looking for suggestions on alternative firewalls since we have a bunch of Meraki devices reaching their end of life, and we've had some dissatisfaction with Meraki lately. We've already ruled out several options like Meter, Juniper, Sophos, Barracuda, and Sonicwall due to previous experiences. Fortigate is a concern for me because I think it might be too complicated to configure, even though we use it at our main office. I've heard positive things about WatchGuard and Forcepoint, but price is a major factor for us. I don't want to spend more than we currently do on Meraki MX devices.
We appreciate Meraki for its easy setup and management, cloud-based controls that prevent unauthorized resets, centralized monitoring, and overall straightforward threat management. However, we're not happy with their rising costs, licensing headaches, performance limitations, declining support, and issues with configuration templates.
5 Answers
Overall, I've been happy with Fortigate firewalls. They have a wide range of products, and I’ve found their customer support to be decent as well, unlike some of the others you mentioned.
What specific models have you had positive experiences with?
If you want to avoid expensive licensing, check out Ubiquiti. Their UniFi Cloud Gateway is solid and pretty much plug-and-play, which might be exactly what you need.
I agree with that! I've had good experiences with Ubiquiti gear; it’s simple and reliable for most setups.
Just be mindful that their support can be hit-or-miss, but if performance is key, you should be fine.
Why not give Sophos a shot? Their small firewalls are straightforward for basic setups and can handle more complex tasks if needed. We switched to Sophos and haven't looked back.
I’m interested as well—why did you move away from WatchGuard if you liked it?
Great point! Sophos is pretty user-friendly, and their pricing seems reasonable too.
You should definitely consider Ubiquiti products; they’re quite versatile. If you need something inexpensive, their UniFi line is worth exploring.
Totally agree. UniFi has served us well, and the Site-to-Site VPN setup is super easy.
Always found them reliable and cost-effective compared to Meraki.
Fortigate can be straightforward once you get the hang of it. It’s a solid choice with good offerings for smaller installations, though it might seem overwhelming at first.
That’s good to hear! We’re always looking for reliable support.