Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG) vs Aruba (HPE) Aruba 9106 Gateway: Specs & Price Comparison

Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG)

★ 4.9 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 23.5 Gbps (routing, iPerf3, DHCP WAN)
Threat Prevention Throughput: 12.5 Gbps (IDS/IPS)
IPsec VPN Throughput: 580 Mbps (site-to-site, single tunnel)
Max Sessions: 1,000,000 concurrent
New Sessions/sec: 71,000 (listed under general capacity; not specific to VPN or IPsec)
Interfaces: 2x 2.5GbE RJ45, 2x 25G SFP28, 2x 10G SFP+ (some listings show 2x RJ45 + 4x SFP28; verify against the Ubiquiti datasheet)
Form Factor: 1U rack-mount, dual hot-swappable PSUs
SSL/TLS Inspection Concurrent Sessions: 10,000 (5,000 recommended under heavy traffic)
CPU / Memory: 18-core ARM v8.2 @ 2 GHz, 16 GB DDR4
UniFi Capacity: 500+ UniFi devices, 5,000+ clients

✔ Pros: 25G SFP28 and 10G SFP+ uplinks at a gateway price point; 23.5 Gbps routing throughput; 1 million concurrent sessions; 18-core ARM CPU with 16 GB RAM; hot-swappable redundant PSUs; supports 500+ UniFi devices and 5,000+ clients; manages through UniFi Network controller with a single pane of glass
✘ Cons: IPsec VPN throughput of 580 Mbps is low for a gateway at this price; IDS/IPS throughput of 12.5 Gbps halves routing performance when threat inspection is enabled; SSL/TLS inspection is limited to about 10,000 concurrent sessions; port configuration differs across listings and should be verified; frequently out of stock at major US retailers, with a $170 memory surcharge at some resellers; no built-in Wi-Fi, so it depends on separate UniFi APs and switches; reviewers cite a steeper learning curve than consumer-grade routers
Est. Price: $1,999 - $2,892

Aruba (HPE) Aruba 9106 Gateway

★ 4.3 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 10 Gbps (HPE QuickSpecs, via reseller-cited sources; 9114 is rated 20 Gbps)
Threat Prevention Throughput: Not published in sources found
IPsec VPN Throughput: 10 Gbps encrypted throughput (AES-CBC, AES-GCM, GRE); one reseller lists 5 Gbps
Max Sessions: 2,000,000 datapath/firewall sessions
New Sessions/sec: Not published in sources found
Interfaces: Desktop SKU (S0B85A): 6 ports incl. 2x 10GbE SFP+ and 2x 1GbE RJ-45/SFP combo, plus console. Rack SKU (S5H01A, RW): 2x 10GbE SFP+, 2x 1GbE combo (SFP/RJ-45), 2x GbE PoE
Form Factor: 1U rack-mount (RW/S5H01A) or desktop (S0B85A); cloud-managed hybrid gateway
IPsec Tunnels: Up to 8K concurrent IPsec sessions per QuickSpecs; one datasheet excerpt lists 16K concurrent / 20K total; one reseller lists 1K (outlier)
PoE Budget: 2x 60W 802.3bt-class PoE ports on RW SKU; no system-wide budget found
Max Clients/Devices: Up to 2,000 APs per gateway; up to 8,000 client MACs (reseller listings)
Product Status: Listed as end of life by at least one reseller; verify availability before purchase

✔ Pros: Carrier-class 10GbE uplinks (SFP+) for branch and campus WAN or core aggregation; Integrated SD-WAN and cloud management via Aruba Central; 2 million firewall sessions suits busy branch or campus edge; Built-in PoE ports on RW model can power APs or cameras without a separate injector; Works as both branch gateway and Aruba Mobility controller in one 1U box; Strong IPsec and GRE support for site-to-site VPN
✘ Cons: Firewall throughput of 10 Gbps is well below 9114 (20 Gbps); Threat prevention throughput is not published, so IPS/URL-filter performance is hard to size; Conflicting IPsec tunnel and VPN throughput figures across sources; Sessions-per-second rate not published; Listed as end of life by some resellers, which raises support and roadmap risk; Price is high relative to competing branch firewalls with similar throughput; SKU variants (desktop vs rack, RW vs US) differ in ports and price, which complicates comparisons
Est. Price: $5,720 - $8,095

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