Most of our clients are banking and financial institutions, so their data doesn't go to the cloud as such. Their data is on-premises only. Some of our clients can go to the cloud to save the price and do management, administration, and so on, but then most of our clients, use on-premises FortiAnalyzer.
Chief Technology Officer at Litmus
Can be used by institutions whose data needs to be on-premises and not in the cloud
Pros and Cons
- "I have found incident management and also identifying new threats, analyzing the network traffic, and finding out the issues with the network traffic such as any security issues to be valuable. I also like the compliance reports."
- "One thing we struggled with FortiAnalyzer was integration with SIEM. We also had issues with the new threats and APTs. There were false positives, so we needed to have some ratings related to false positives."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Fortianalyzer helped us to manage fortigate devices and update them from central location.
What is most valuable?
I have found incident management and also identifying new threats, analyzing the network traffic, and finding out the issues with the network traffic such as any security issues to be valuable. I also like the compliance reports.
It is a very stable and scalable solution.
What needs improvement?
One thing we struggled with FortiAnalyzer was integration with SIEM. We also had issues with the new threats and APTs. There were false positives, so we needed to have some ratings related to false positives.
It is easy to set up is you have FortiGate firewalls. We tried setting up with other devices, and I don't think it supports other firewalls or other devices. If it did, then it would have been great because we would have been able to use FortiAnalyzer for hybrid environments with different OEM firewalls.
If we can have an intelligent analysis system which will detect false positives and detect the exact problem, it would be great. If FortiAnalyzer can integrate with FortiSIEM and give us threat reports, that will also help because then I won't need to have another tool or another dashboard which I need to look out for.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable product, and we have had no issues at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale; there are no challenges.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good. Most of the time, when we escalate the tickets the second line of support, FortiGate support, has been very good. The first line might take up time, but the second line of support resolves the case quite quickly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes we used checkpoint for our organisation , but it was a complex system to manage, we expect a firewall to be a simple device to avoid complexity.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite simple with FortiGate devices. So, if you have FortiGate firewalls, it is quite easy to set up. Once Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is configured, then the only thing we need to do is to monitor it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When you compare with other firewall vendors, FortiAnalyzer is quite competitive in pricing. They are very aggressive as well.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes we did evaluate paloa alto , but it went into backburner due cost factor.
What other advice do I have?
If you have critical objects to protect or critical data to protect, then you should go for FortiAnalyzer.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Fortinet FortiAnalyzer at eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

Security Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
User-friendly and easy to set up with good logging
Pros and Cons
- "Logging is the best feature."
- "We would like to do the reporting, logging, and administration of all the public devices and all the IoT devices. We wish to add the switches, and routers from different vendors, so it's not a vendor-specific diagnostic solution."
What is our primary use case?
Most importantly, it is for the administration of Forti fabric devices and reporting of Forti fabric, and being able to generate reports. It's for logging. All 40 fabric devices are able to send logs to FortiAnalyzer. Basically, the use cases are for administration, reporting, and logging.
What is most valuable?
Logging is the best feature.
I like how everything is integrated with the FortiGate devices, FortiAuthenticator, and other fabric devices. You're able to see all the login details for the administration of FortiGate. It offers great user connectivity using that Fortinet embodiment of the user. It gives you all those login information details.
It's easy to set up.
The solution is stable.
It can scale well.
It's very user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The fact that it only works with FortiGate devices is quite unfair. We would like to do the reporting, logging, and administration of all the public devices and all the IoT devices. We wish to add the switches, and routers from different vendors, so it's not a vendor-specific diagnostic solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is 100% stable. I haven't found any issues with FortiAnalyzer. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Depending on the licenses you procure, the number of devices, and the storage space that you have, to be able to attain those logs and reports, the solution can scale.
How are customer service and support?
Support is great. Usually, when you call on them, they are right on time, and they'll be able to assign an engineer for remote session support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Setting the solution up is pretty easy. It's just a matter of integrating with the Fortinet public devices. FortiGate will start sending logs and then reports to FortiAnalyzer.
Once it is set up, the solution is easy to maintain.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not sure about the exact licensing costs.
What other advice do I have?
I'm working with the latest version of the solution.
We've done on-premises and cloud deployments.
Usually, clients who don't have SIEM or Nag solutions find FortiAnalyzer quite effective as it's going to give them identification of the user activity reports on different IO devices and the usage of devices. It gives you visibility of your entire infrastructure.
I'd recommend the solution. It's very user-friendly.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer
April 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Vice President of Innovation and Customer Solutions at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Useful reports, scalable, and priced well
Pros and Cons
- "The solution does what it is supposed to. I want it to do reports for Fortinet and it does it well."
- "The FortiAnalyzer is not good at managing multi-version environments. If all your FortiGate are at different versions in the field, that's difficult. The one thing we didn't like is the fact you have to have 100% of your environment at the same release, which is not pleasant, to have it fully functional. You can have a different release, but to have it fully functional 100% of your environment has to be the same release."
What is our primary use case?
We're a managed service provider and we use Fortinet FortiAnalyzer to generate reports for our customers. We manage our customer's Fortinet environment and FortiAnalyzer allows us to send a monthly report or on-demand report to our customers.
What is most valuable?
The solution does what it is supposed to. I want it to do reports for Fortinet and it does it well.
What needs improvement?
The FortiAnalyzer is not good at managing multi-version environments. If all your FortiGate are at different versions in the field, that's difficult. The one thing we didn't like is the fact you have to have 100% of your environment at the same release, which is not pleasant, to have it fully functional. You can have a different release, but to have it fully functional 100% of your environment has to be the same release.
In a future release, if they could turn they could turn Fortinet FortiAnalyzer into a multi-vendor supporting tool it would be awesome. However, I do not think this will happen.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used Fortinet FortiAnalyzer for approximately two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is scalable.
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is easy to scale. We have approximately 50-100 employees using this solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have other log analyzers, but we have found with Fortinet FortiAnalyzerwhen you have a Fortinet environment, it's fully integrated. This was what we were looking for, we were not looking for multi-vendor solutions, we were looking for the best log analysis tool for Fortinet.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is easy to set up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We found the price of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer to be reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise those wanting to use Fortinet FortiAnalyzer to use an MSP, to use a managed service provider, they can call us.
I rate Fortinet FortiAnalyzer an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Group IT Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Great dashboard with customizable reporting and excellent logs
Pros and Cons
- "There are customizable workflows that you can work with. You can automate certain tasks in FortiAnaylzer in the incidents and events sections."
- "It's possible that they could add some advanced analytics and some proactive controls for logging analytics. That will help a lot."
What is our primary use case?
The Primary case is to collect & monitor logs & events from all of our firewalls and appliances in one single interface with analysis
How has it helped my organization?
Our work has been more focused and efficient due to the automatic notifications and reports
What is most valuable?
You can monitor all appliances from a centralized location.
You have a front dashboard for all our operations and all the logs. If you need to search for anything you can just dig deep into the logs.
For example, if you are searching for an email to find out why it is blocked, you will be able to see the policy that blocked it, which logs were triggered, etc... It gives you all the information you need right there, from the dashboard.
The solution offers excellent customizable reports. In our case, we needed a monthly report of all internet consumption, and we were able to easily create this.
There are pre-defined templates. The logs cover any question or need that we populate within these templates. However, you can also build your own template.
There is great analytics that can be used in different departments. For example, our marketing department can go more into media patterns and not just into browsing patterns.
Everything is easily visible and can be tracked and studied.
SOC is very helpful. It shows which IPs are targeting your environments. It shows you the threat levels of all the threats you're facing - including the locations, which policy was triggered et cetera. It will even tell you if the system blocked the threat or not.
FortiAnaylzer is compatible with all of our web browsers.
There are customizable workflows that you can work with. You can automate certain tasks in FortiAnaylzer in the incidents and events sections.
What needs improvement?
It is a pretty big software package. It has a lot of features which maybe aren't that useful.
It's possible that they could add some advanced analytics and some proactive controls for logging analytics. That will help a lot.
The could be more automation and more artificial intelligence integrated into the solution.
It was a service model application originally. It needs to have some artificial intelligence in dealing with the analysis of the nodes, and not just showing the nodes. I'm one version behind the latest version, so I don't know if they added it yet, however, if they haven't it would be a good thing to put into their roadmap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My solution is based on VM ova image which is predefined by Fortinet. I don't remember when was the last time I restarted the machine which shows no matter what is the size of logs collected the system doesn't crash.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is pretty good. It's only limited in the log size. You can buy five gigs or 10 gigs if you need to. It depends on how you're going to handle/store the logs.
That said, it is scalable since you are only billed with the size of logs you are using as per the packages and you don't need to modify the cpu/ram. I have it installed on a VM environment and it's connecting to data all over my sites that are both inside and outside Lebanon.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is perfect whether from the vendor or from the online support. I'm lucky to have a partner in Lebanon who is a preferred platinum partner with Fortinet. Whenever we open a case with them we always get a clear response. They are professional. We're quite satisfied with the level of support we are getting.
How was the initial setup?
It is very straight forward, the only thing that you might do some customization in the report and the event management. Other than this everything is predefined and based on templates, so you are able to add your touch on the reports as well.
What about the implementation team?
I have implemented it with a vendor who is the leader in our region working with Fortinet Solutions.
What other advice do I have?
We're Fortinet end-users.
I was on older versions and now I'm with a newer version. People have faced many issues after downloading the latest update so I tend to keep one update back from the newest one to avoid issues.
I'd advise other potential users that, first of all, if they have Fortinet products in their environment, they should consider FortiAnaylzer. If they don't have it, they shouldn't consider it. They need to have Fortinet appliances.
Secondly, it is a very easy configuration, so companies will not have any problems configuring the FortiAnaylzer. It doesn't require a lot of resources.
We're going to bring a dedicated server for our FortiAnaylzer due to the fact that it is a bit of a predefined virtual machine that we can download from Fortinet's side. If you don't want to go deep in the reports and logs, it can rely on the built-in reporting tools in your appliances.
If you happen to have three Fortinet solutions in your environment then you need to have a FortiAnaylzer as it helps a lot in troubleshooting. It helps a lot with predicting everything that you might see happening on a lot on your network. You will need to have FortiAnaylzer due to the fact that the reporting is not that advanced in the appliances.
Overall, I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If it was more automated and added in some AI elements, I would rate it higher.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Assistant Manager - Cloud Planning and Development at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Very good log analysis and reporting with a straightforward deployment
Pros and Cons
- "The log analysis and reporting are both quite good."
- "The solution lacks business intelligence features. It's much too basic."
What is our primary use case?
We're a service provider. Our clients use the solution for log management.
We are using physical and virtual end ware. We have a physical and logical virtual environment for using this platform, which we provide to our customers.
What is most valuable?
We are utilizing the previous site end dividers and the IPS, IDS DDoS features.
The log analysis and reporting are both quite good.
What needs improvement?
The solution doesn't have online analysis. We can't analyze certain parts of the logs. For example, we can't analyze current logs.
It would be helpful if we could use the system we use to monitor everything to also check the live traffic or live logs.
The solution lacks business intelligence features. It's much too basic.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for two or three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. We've never faced issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution does not scale easily. It's a hardware solution. We have FortiAnalyzer hardware, and since it has a hardware agent on the storage ware, it requires Forti capacity for analyzing purposes. There's only a finite amount of space in the hardware itself. It isn't infinite.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've dealt with technical support in the past and we've been very satisfied at the level of support we've received so far.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup varies from company to company. Some are straightforward, some are complex.
Deployment is a simple task. FortiAnalyzer comes with the hardware version and a virtual agent. We just deploy and integrate it with the other Fortinet products.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There is a lot of competition for Fortinet in this area, including USM and Palo Alto.
What other advice do I have?
We are Fortinet partners.
For those organizations that need to use a product for reporting or some analysis of logs, this is a good solution.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. The features are basic, and there's not too much business intelligence behind them. If it offered more of that, I'd rate it higher.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Network Architect at NTT Global Networks Incorporated
Stable, but the initial setup is complex
Pros and Cons
- "The analyzer is the most valuable feature."
- "The deployment is complex and has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for log analysis.
What is most valuable?
The analyzer is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The deployment is complex and has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is complex. The deployment took a few hours.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed with an integrator.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for an annual license.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a six out of ten.
I do not recommend the solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Consultant at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of the solution is reporting."
- "The solution can improve the incident response function to provide more detailed information on where the incident is originating."
What is our primary use case?
The customer purchased a Fortinet Firewall in order to run it as a decentralized block and collect amazing security logs from their internet usage or other data from the box. The benefit of having an on-premise firewall is that they don't have to worry about any subscription, and the storage space it consumes is minimal due to the internal hard drive of the FortiAnalyzer. Furthermore, the firewall does not consume a lot of traffic from the internet due to it being on-premise.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution is reporting. The report that accompanies the solution includes the top 10 usages, threats to be aware of, and any highlights. Additionally, the API can be connected to other systems to receive more notifications.
What needs improvement?
The solution can improve the incident response function to provide more detailed information on where the incident is originating.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and we have never experienced downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I give the scalability of the solution an eight out of ten.
This solution is suitable for enterprise customers with a large number of devices and logs. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer enables the compilation of log files over a period of time, such as 90 days in Thailand. This is especially useful for gathering and analyzing data.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is an out-of-the-box solution, so we can start customizing as soon as we finish the installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I give the cost a seven out of ten. I believe that Fortinet is a cost-effective brand, making it a competitive option in terms of pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
An alternative solution is SolarWinds, which analyzes server performance, and could be a competitor's CM solution or a managed service that sends data from sensors on the site to their facility. The primary distinguishing feature of SolarWinds is its form factor. SolarWinds must be installed on a server and requires server resources. In the past, a large amount of OS and other resources were necessary, but the form factor has remained the same.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
Due to the high cost, Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is not feasible to use for certain office or branch office environments. A possible compromise could be to use a combination of two solutions: for banks, the file-based solution may be beneficial, but for on-premises locations, it could be worthwhile to make use of the existing value and use it to centrally control and manage the data.
I recommend utilizing the FortiAnalyzer if our log volume is sufficient and we have a FortiGate.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Senior Manager (Engineering Department) at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
User-friendly, easy to deploy and simple to create reports
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is quite easy to deploy."
- "The solution should be more price competitive."
How has it helped my organization?
The clients using this solution have wifi for their guests and for their own users. They want to know which user has used their wifi to access the internet, and probably use this knowledge for a kind of security management purpose.
What is most valuable?
The solution is quite easy to deploy. For the user, they don't need to have a lot of technical know-how. It is easy to generate the report for review by the management.
The solution is stable and reliable.
We have not faced any scalability issues.
What needs improvement?
The solution should be more price competitive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for one or two years. I used it on a recent project.
However, the first time I used this product was in 2006 for our own infrastructure. We are not using it in our infrastructure anymore.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, it really depends. For our customer, the SME customer, not that many people need it. If you talk about scalability around analysis, related to the hub and space, the hub disk size, and the capacity of the box, for the on-prem model, we need to choose it with some buffer. We can't foresee any scalability issue for that customer.
We only have one client on the solution.
How are customer service and support?
While I haven't directly dealt with technical support, I have not heard any complaints from my colleagues that may have. I would say that the support has been satisfactory for the moment.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. That said, I didn't handle it directly. We had an internal team that did the implementation.
Most of the time, one engineer is sufficient for a small deployment, just two AP, one firewall, and one analyzer.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation work was done by my engineers. We did not need any outside assistance from any integrators or consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't remember if they have a new license for software maintenance. They have maintenance that is charged annually. Unlike a firewall, they have a UTM license you need to pay annually and then only an annual maintenance cost for the hardware, for FortiAnalyzer.
I'm not sure what the exact price is at the moment. However, my understanding is the pricing could be better.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution to others. We have been happy with its overall capabilities. I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

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Updated: April 2025
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