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Index › IT › Network and edge › Firewalls › Fortinet FortiGate vs SonicWall
Next-generation firewalls · November 2026 Edition

Fortinet FortiGate vs SonicWall

Twelve of fourteen models named Fortinet FortiGate first on the direct prompt; zero named SonicWall. Fortinet FortiGate was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and SonicWall by ten and Fortinet FortiGate carries 69 labels and SonicWall 20, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Fortinet FortiGate

endorsed leader

Named in three categories this edition.

SonicWall

criticized challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share71%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate13%40%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#5A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels6920A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Fortinet FortiGate reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Palo Alto Networks NGFW was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW · Fortinet FortiGate vs pfSense · Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the next-generation firewalls page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Fortinet FortiGateFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSonicWall
Direct120
Paraphrase120
Comparative30
Budget-constrained101
Scale-constrained30
Negative009 against Fortinet FortiGate · 8 against SonicWall
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall were named in the same answer thirty-three times, of the 221 answers naming Fortinet FortiGate and the 59 naming SonicWall. In those answers SonicWall took the first choice zero times and Fortinet FortiGate fourteen.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Fortinet FortiGate SonicWall first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Fortinet FortiGate on the left and SonicWall on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall stood in it.

Fortinet FortiGate first, SonicWall not the choice

12 of 14 modelsSonicWall was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
Perplexity SonarFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
Grok 4.20Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, Check Point Quantum NGFW, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall NSa Series, Sophos Firewall
Mistral SmallFortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall
DeepSeek V4 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Llama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGate
Qwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
Kimi K2Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW
GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate
MiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
GPT-6 LunaFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Muse Glimmer 30BFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox

Neither was the first choice, one was named

1 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
GPT-5.4 miniPalo Alto Networks NGFW alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate

Neither was named

1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Fortinet FortiGate leads by seventy-two points.
Fortinet FortiGate72%#1 of 9
SonicWall0%#8 of 9
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Fortinet FortiGate leads by sixty-nine points.
Fortinet FortiGate71%#1 of 9
SonicWall2%#5 of 9
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Fortinet FortiGate leads by thirty-one points.
Fortinet FortiGate31%#2 of 6
SonicWall0%#– of 6
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Fortinet FortiGate

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“Multiple critical vulnerabilities exploited in the wild (CVE-2024-21762, CVE-2023-27997)” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid if: ... due to update/vuln risks with SonicWall/Fortinet” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Fortinet has recently published incident analysis and advisories tied to FortiOS/FortiCloud-related issues” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“For most mid-sized B2B companies, Fortinet FortiGate (hardware or virtual) and Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are top recommendations” Mistral Small · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Market leader in price-to-performance ratio; exceptional hardware specs; built-in SD-WAN and ZTNA capabilities without extra licensing.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Top Hardware Appliance Recommendation: Fortinet FortiGate ... Fortinet is widely considered the "gold standard" for the mid-market.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice

What the models said about SonicWall

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of five in this category shown.

“Avoid: SonicWall devices running older firmware versions that are known to be unpatched (particularly the SMA 100 series).” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“High Concern: SonicWall ... Over 178,000 SonicWall NGFW devices were found publicly exploitable” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid if: ... due to update/vuln risks with SonicWall/Fortinet” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“The best next-generation firewall for a company with a limited budget is the SonicWall (Gen 7 / TZ & NSa) or the Untangle NG Firewall (Arista).” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“Easy management, subscription-based threat feeds | SMBs and mid-market” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · alternative
Also compared
Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGate vs pfSenseFortinet FortiGate vs Sophos FirewallPalo Alto Networks NGFW vs SonicWallpfSense vs SonicWallSophos Firewall vs SonicWallAll ten head-to-head pages and the full firewalls standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.