Is Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access better?

Neither clearly leads. Fortinet FortiGate starts at $500/year and Private Internet Access at $11.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access?

Fortinet FortiGate starts at $500/year and Private Internet Access at $11.99/month.

Does Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access run on more platforms?

Fortinet FortiGate runs on Hardware, Virtual, Cloud. Private Internet Access runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.

What is Fortinet FortiGate best used for?

Fortinet FortiGate is most often used for next-generation firewalling at data centre, campus and branch scale, secure sd-wan across distributed sites, zero trust network access to internal applications, virtual firewalls in aws, azure, google cloud and oracle. Of those, next-generation firewalling at data centre, campus and branch scale and secure sd-wan across distributed sites are not what Private Internet Access is typically brought in for.

What can Fortinet FortiGate do that Private Internet Access cannot?

Fortinet FortiGate covers Next-generation firewall, Intrusion prevention, SSL/TLS inspection, Application control. Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Kill switch, Ad and tracker blocking, Dedicated IP add-on.

Software · head to head

Fortinet FortiGate vs Private Internet Access

Fortinet FortiGate

Software

Next-generation firewall with AI-powered threat protection

From: $500/year
Rated: -

Full review Website

Private Internet Access

Software

Long-standing VPN service with a large server network and flexible multi-year plans

From: $11.99/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Fortinet FortiGate security services are sold as separate FortiGuard subscription bundles, so ATP, UTP and ENT determine which protections are actually active; Private Internet Access monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.
They diverge on capability: Fortinet FortiGate covers Next-generation firewall, Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fortinet FortiGate and Private Internet Access actually diverge.

Attributes where Fortinet FortiGate and Private Internet Access differ
Attribute	Fortinet FortiGate	Private Internet Access
Starting price	$500/year	$11.99/month
Platforms	Hardware, Virtual, Cloud	windows, mac, linux, ios, android
Founded	2000	Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fortinet FortiGate

Next-generation firewall
Intrusion prevention
SSL/TLS inspection
Application control
Web filtering
SD-WAN
Zero-trust network access
AI-powered threat detection

Only in Private Internet Access

Split tunneling
Kill switch
Ad and tracker blocking
Dedicated IP add-on
Bundled antivirus add-on

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fortinet FortiGate

Next-generation firewalling at data centre, campus and branch scalenot Private Internet Access
Secure SD-WAN across distributed sitesnot Private Internet Access
Zero trust network access to internal applicationsnot Private Internet Access
Virtual firewalls in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oraclenot Private Internet Access
Ruggedised deployments in industrial environmentsnot Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access

Encrypting traffic on public Wi-Fi with a kill switchnot Fortinet FortiGate
Blocking ads and trackers network-wide via MACEnot Fortinet FortiGate
Maintaining a consistent connection identity with a dedicated IP add-onnot Fortinet FortiGate
Committing to a long-term plan for a lower effective monthly ratenot Fortinet FortiGate

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fortinet FortiGate

Security services are sold as separate FortiGuard subscription bundles, so ATP, UTP and ENT determine which protections are actually active
Throughput is tied to the appliance model, from 500 Mbps on the FortiGate 30G to 520 Gbps on the 7121F, so capacity planning is a hardware purchase
Pricing is not published and goes through partners

Private Internet Access

Monthly plan is priced noticeably higher than the discounted multi-year commitments, penalizing short-term users.
Dedicated IP and antivirus are paid add-ons rather than included features.
Headquartered in a jurisdiction whose privacy reputation some competitors market against, despite audited no-logs claims.
App interface is less streamlined than some higher-priced premium VPN competitors.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fortinet FortiGate

$500/year

FortiGate Entry$500/year
- Basic firewall
- VPN support
- Threat protection
FortiGate Enterprise$2500/year
- Advanced threat protection
- SSL inspection
- Application control
FortiGate Ultimate$10000/year
- All Enterprise features
- Zero-trust access
- AI-powered analytics

Private Internet Access

$11.99/month

Monthly$11.99/month
- Billed month to month
- Full server network access
- 30-day money-back guarantee
1-Year$3.1/month
- Billed annually at $37.19
- Full server network access
2-Year$2.19/month
- Lowest advertised rate, billed every 2 years
- Full server network access

Which should you pick?

Choose Fortinet FortiGate if

You need next-generation firewall.
You work on Hardware, Virtual, Cloud.
You also want intrusion prevention.

Fortinet FortiGate review

Choose Private Internet Access if

You need split tunneling.
You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
You also want kill switch.

Private Internet Access review

Questions people ask

Is Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access better?: Neither clearly leads. Fortinet FortiGate starts at $500/year and Private Internet Access at $11.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access?: Fortinet FortiGate starts at $500/year and Private Internet Access at $11.99/month.
Does Fortinet FortiGate or Private Internet Access run on more platforms?: Fortinet FortiGate runs on Hardware, Virtual, Cloud. Private Internet Access runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
What is Fortinet FortiGate best used for?: Fortinet FortiGate is most often used for next-generation firewalling at data centre, campus and branch scale, secure sd-wan across distributed sites, zero trust network access to internal applications, virtual firewalls in aws, azure, google cloud and oracle. Of those, next-generation firewalling at data centre, campus and branch scale and secure sd-wan across distributed sites are not what Private Internet Access is typically brought in for.
What can Fortinet FortiGate do that Private Internet Access cannot?: Fortinet FortiGate covers Next-generation firewall, Intrusion prevention, SSL/TLS inspection, Application control. Private Internet Access covers Split tunneling, Kill switch, Ad and tracker blocking, Dedicated IP add-on.

Fortinet FortiGate vs Private Internet Access

Fortinet FortiGate

Private Internet Access

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fortinet FortiGate

Only in Private Internet Access

What people use each for

Fortinet FortiGate

Private Internet Access

Where each one falls short

Fortinet FortiGate

Private Internet Access

Pricing, plan by plan

Fortinet FortiGate

Private Internet Access

Which should you pick?

Choose Fortinet FortiGate if

Choose Private Internet Access if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on Fortinet FortiGate

More on Private Internet Access

Keep looking

Other head to heads