This article aims to present the leading 7 NGFW firewalls anticipated to dominate the market in 2024. Over the past decade, firewalls have undergone significant evolution, progressing into what is now termed “Next-Generation Firewalls” (NGFWs). These innovative solutions have seen notable advancements, particularly within the last five years. A recent trend among firewalls has been the rapid integration or enhancement of SD-WAN capabilities, augmenting their capacity to safeguard cloud-based workloads like Salesforce.com and Dropbox with SASE solutions. Firewall providers have been actively incorporating contextual data and policies centered around user identity, applications, content, and data.
Fortinet – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls for 2024
Fortinet FortiGate Firewalls (NGFW) Fortinet stands out as a leading choice for the best firewalls in 2024, owing to several factors, including its robust SD-WAN capabilities. Positioned as a layer-7 application firewall, Fortinet scrutinizes all layers of the OSI model, encompassing the application layer. This sets it apart from other firewalls that primarily inspect the network and transport layers (layers 3 and 4). Notably, Fortinet secured its position as a leader in the Gartner(R) Magic Quadrant(TM) for SD-WAN, marking the third consecutive year of recognition.
Fortinet also harnesses various enterprise routing features such as:
- Dynamic and Advanced static routing
- Comprehensive enterprise routing stack (BGP, OSPF, RIP)
- Traffic shaping
- High availability modes: active-passive; active-active, VRRP, and includes redundant heartbeat interfaces
Key SD-WAN Features of FortiGate:
- Multi-path control
- Application Awareness
- Dynamic application steering
- Secure SD-WAN
- Multiple link options including LTE/4G/5G connections
In addition to its enterprise routing capabilities, Fortinet’s (FortiGate) firewalls exhibit matured cybersecurity functionalities, rivaling competitors like Cisco Meraki, and aligning with established industry leaders such as Palo Alto and Check Point.
Fortinet boasts unique cybersecurity features, including:
- SSL/TLS deep packet inspection
- Capability to scan files larger than 5 MB for malware
- Security integration with mobile IPSec VPN
- Native synergies with other Fortinet products like FortiAnalyzer and FortiEDR
A significant aspect contributing to Fortinet’s SSL/TLS deep packet inspection prowess lies in offloading traffic processing to a specialized ASIC. This ASIC, purpose-built for managing such workloads, forms a crucial part of Fortinet’s technology. For more detailed insights into the native-specific features of FortiGate firewalls, refer here.
Palo Alto – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
Palo Alto’s next-generation firewalls prioritize prevention and operate as layer-7 application firewalls. The brand has secured its position as a Gartner(R) Magic Quadrant(TM) Leader for ten consecutive years. Distinctive to Palo Alto firewalls are their reliance on three core elements:
- User
- Application
- Content
Key capabilities encompass user-ID and app-ID, enabling thorough monitoring and filtering of user traffic. This facilitates answering critical questions such as identifying applications or users causing network congestion, tracking denied user access to specific destinations, and determining the most utilized applications by users.
Palo Alto’s top features encompass:
- Support for BGP, OSPF, RIPv2, Static Routing
- Traffic shaping
- High availability: active-active or active-passive
- SD-WAN (Prisma SD-WAN is an add-on subscription)
- GlobalProtect VPN (additional license required for advanced features)
- Deployment options: on-premise or in the cloud
- URL Filtering (advanced URL filtering requires subscription)
- Application Control
- Threat prevention (e.g., gateway antivirus – requires subscription)
- DNS Security (requires subscription)
CheckPoint – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
CheckPoint holds a prominent position as an industry leader and pioneer in firewall technology. Renowned for introducing stateful inspection and one of the world’s first VPN solutions, CheckPoint’s global headquarters in Tel-Aviv, Israel, was founded by Gil Schwed, a former member of Unit 8200 (Israeli Intelligence).
The current iteration of their firewall, the Quantum Security Gateway solution, operates on three core components:
- Smart Console: Management GUI
- Security Management Server: Software blade execution (modules)
- Security Gateway: Actual firewall for inspection and policy enforcement
CheckPoint firewalls offer an array of features available through software packages, some of which come in the form of ‘software blades’—modules sold separately or bundled within software packages.
Key CheckPoint Features:
- Advanced Routing (includes BGP, OSPF, RIP)
- IPS
- VPN and VPN Client
- Alerting and Reporting for fine-tuning configuration settings to bolster security posture
- Deployment options: on-premise or in the cloud
- URL Filtering
- Anti-spam (based on analyzing known and emerging distribution patterns, IP reputation, and user-defined criteria)
- Identity Awareness (requires additional software blade) for user identification and user-based policies
- ISP Redundancy (load sharing or primary/backup; note this is not SD-WAN)
- Application Control (software blade that identifies, allows, or blocks applications based on a library list of ~4,500)
- Data Loss Prevention (software blade)
- High availability – Software-based cluster that provides High availability (load sharing or primary/backup – requires additional software blade and appliance)
Cisco FirePower – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
Cisco FirePower firewalls evolved from the Sourcefire acquisition in 2013, representing the current upgrade path for customers using Cisco ASA firewalls (Meraki is another available option). Regarded as enterprise-grade firewalls, FirePower supports all expected enterprise routing features such as BGP, OSPF, among others. The FirePower solution can be designed with High Availability in an Active-Standby configuration, as Active-Active setup is unsupported. All management is centralized through the FireSight Management Console (FMC). Site-level configurations are not independently implementable and must be managed through FMC. Notably, FirePower does not natively support SD-WAN; an additional third-party solution like Cisco SD-WAN is required.
Key Features of Cisco FirePower:
- Supports routing protocols BGP, OSPF, RIPv2
- Supports Active-passive High-Availability mode
- AnyConnect VPN (requires additional licensing)
- Content Restriction
- Integration with Cisco ISE (Cisco ISE sold separately)
- Deep Packet Inspection
- On-Premise Sandbox (requires additional appliance)
- Malware Defense (requires additional license)
- IPS
- Sensitive Data Protection (DLP, up to five sensitive data types plus custom patterns)
Sophos – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
Sophos XG / UTM Sophos, headquartered in Abingdon, England, operates as a firewall and security product company under the ownership of Private Equity firm Thoma Bravo. The Sophos firewalls offer an array of enterprise-grade features expected from a firewall solution, accompanied by a user-friendly web-based management interface and extensive public-facing documentation.
Key Sophos Features:
- Enterprise routing features (BGP, OSPF, RIP, IPv6 support, Static and Dynamic Routing)
- Content and application filtering, visibility, and control
- Deep packet inspection
- Cloud sandbox
- Gateway antivirus
- Web protection
- User-based policies
- IPS
- Native SD-WAN integration
- Policy-based data loss prevention (DLP)
- Web application firewall
- High availability in active-active and active-passive modes
- Integration with Sophos Intercept-X (antivirus)
WatchGuard – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
WatchGuard Established in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, WatchGuard, presently owned by a Private Equity firm, has undergone multiple acquisitions over the past decade. This expansion has broadened their product line to encompass Wi-Fi, MFA, and endpoint security, catering to small businesses with fewer than 50 users and meeting some mid-market and enterprise requirements.
Key WatchGuard Features:
- Enterprise routing features (BGP, OSPF, RIP, IPv6 support, Static and Dynamic Routing)
- SSL/TLS Deep packet inspection
- VPN
- SD-WAN
- IPS
- Application control
- Web content filtering
- Anti-spam
- Gateway antivirus
- DNSWatch
- Threat Detection and Response
- APT Blocker
- Network Discovery
- WatchGuard Cloud Visibility and Data Retention
- High availability modes include active-active and active-passive
WatchGuard firewalls are acknowledged for their functional prowess within the firewall space, catering to diverse business scales. However, they may lack some advanced SD-WAN functionalities such as dynamic path selection and application steering, present in other firewall solutions.
SonicWall – Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in 2024
SonicWall Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Milipitas, California, SonicWall has made significant strides in the firewall industry. Acquired by Dell in 2013 and later sold in 2016 to Francisco Partners, SonicWall predominantly serves the SMB and Mid-market sectors, with some enterprise deployments.
Managed through Network Security Manager (NSM), SonicWall firewalls offer:
- Enterprise routing stack (BGP, OSPF, RIP)
- Static and dynamic routing
- High availability: active-active and active-passive
- SD-WAN
- Gateway antivirus
- Content Filtering
- Anti-spam
- IPS
- VPN
Conclusion: Top 7 NGFW Firewalls in Review
This article sought to outline the key features of each firewall and provide contextual insights into their delivery mechanisms (e.g., modules versus native inclusion). Efforts were made to enumerate features available as subscriptions or separate licenses.
Each firewall exhibits its unique strengths and potential shortcomings. Common issues in the firewall landscape include bugs, support queues, and documentation challenges, prevalent across all vendors. User preferences regarding administration and user-interface can significantly impact experiences, often necessitating firsthand experience to form an opinion. A positive experience with a firewall solution is often contingent on adequate training.
Furthermore, the occurrence of a security incident or vulnerability with a firewall vendor doesn’t necessarily render their product ineffective. It’s crucial to acknowledge that vulnerabilities or security incidents can affect all firewall vendors and solutions. The manner in which these incidents are handled and how vendors prioritize customer satisfaction becomes paramount in evaluating their reliability and resilience.