Fortinet FortiClient Reviews

We are using an on-site EMS server for this product and our clients install it on their workstations. I'm a security officer and we are customers of Fortinet. 

The valuable features for us are the integration of the vulnerability scan, mobile detection, and VPN client. The advantage of FortiClient for us is the integration with FortiGate and that they support Linux, which most other solutions do not. One-third of our users have Linux workstations.

FortiClient has compatibility issues between different versions, for example, the VPN doesn't work well between FortiClient 6.4 and FortiGate. There are usability issues with vulnerability scanning and with reporting. It's often difficult to interpret and there are inadequate features in management identity. I would appreciate a better explanation of the findings of the malware scanning and of things like real-time protection. The solution is geared toward centralized single sign-on for the workstations, which is something we do not have. From that point of view, it's not a good match. I've also found the SSL VPN very sensitive to network disruptions. The anti-ransomware feature is hard to use because when it finds something, it doesn't provide adequate information and there are false positives that are hard to identify. Generally, it's difficult to access the documentation of the APIs as it requires an invitation via sponsorship from a Fortinet employee. We had some long-running issues, but that's perhaps because our configuration is not mainstream.

I've been using this solution for over a year. 

We haven't had any crashes, so the product is stable. We have problems with the stability of the VPN connection which tends to disconnect, but my impression is that it's just sensitive to network disruptions and is not related to the solution.

It's hard for me to comment on scalability because we are a company of 50 employees. We have one person who deals with maintenance for a minimal amount of time.

The technical support could be improved because it takes time to get through the first level of support, where you have to prove your case. When you get to where you need, it gets better, but just to get to someone who understands the problem can be tedious. We had some technical problems that they were never able to resolve.

The solution can be set up manually which can be quite complex on some operating systems because it requires a lot of manual settings. It can also be set up on Linux but they only support some distributions. 

I believe that licensing costs $500 per year for a 25-seat pack. It's a reasonable price although for small businesses, the disadvantage is that you have to buy a minimum 25 licenses.

I rate this solution six out of 10. 

I use the tool to connect server to an ISP Data Center. 

The product's performance and pricing could be better. 

I am using the product for three to four months. 

The product's connections drop all the time. 

The tool is scalable. We have four users in the company for the product. 

The solution's initial setup is straightforward. The product's deployment tool 20-30 minutes to complete. 

The solution is not worth the investment. 

The product's licensing is yearly and expensive. 

I would rate the product a five out of ten. We plan to discard the product and use OpenVPN. I wouldn't recommend this product to other users. 

We typically use the solution for remote access. We do not typically use any of the other features.

This solution has improved the way our organization functions.

We find the VPN features valuable.

SAML authentication was newly introduced (Post 6.2) but the free customizable version (Forticlient Configuration tool) from FNDN is still at 6.0.10. I would like to see in an upcoming release the free version of Forticlient Configuration tool supporting authentication and customizable for the customers. This is available in the FortiClient developing networks, but it is only available without SAML authentication. 

Also would like to see more descriptive error messages when authentication fails in Forticlient specially when using forticlient VPN connection from Windows Login with Fortitoken as a 2FA

I have been using the solution for three years.

There are some stability issues with the solution, compared with other solutions such as Cisco. We were having glitches, bugs, and sometimes crashes.

The bugs that I received was on a PC on the client-side, the authentication would almost never provide feedback about what the cause of failure was. This was a usability related issue, it is not built on the actual firewall. We need to look at the application level to see what is really happening on the user level.

The solution is quite scalable, there are approximately 60 people using it.

I used technical support for FortiClient and I would say that they are good. They are knowledgeable and responsive. The product quality itself or the way in which it debugs is relatively complex to other solutions. This could be the reason why support is needed.

I rate Fortinet FortiClient technical support an eight out of ten.

We've used OpenVPN and it is quite limiting. However, It is free. We wanted to have a solution that was more scalable towards high-level deployment. In some countries, where we operate as well, OpenVPN is censored. We also used Cisco Anyconnect (As clients only with our customers)

FortiClient is excelling there because they are not censored or have features blocked.

Relatively straightforward 

The install is not straightforward. It was complex and the guidelines are not straightforward. If you want to have something secure and segregated, it is advanced.

The base price should include basic VPN support in addition to Vulnerability scanning, and I think this is beneficial against other solutions. The price is reasonable compared to competitors, it is very good to upgrade to paid EMS + forticlient for the additional features covering Endpoint protection.

OpenVPN was our primary VPN solution for internal usage

I would advise looking into the EMS feature we are considering it right now, it is worth investing into. In the free base solution for FortiClient, you do not get to customize your VPN solution in the with the client. The current versions that are available for FortiClient they are quite old. If you want to use the solution to its potential, get the Enterprise Management System (EMS). Additionally, purchase the customization of the FortiClient tool, it is also beneficial.

I gave this solution a seven out of ten because I would say its stability needs serious improvements, but on the upside it is relatively cheap to implement and free for basic features also well integrated into the Fortinet solution. To get my scoring up to a ten they need to have better stability.

I rate Fortinet FortiClient a seven out of ten.

The primary use case of this solution is for antivirus, anti-malware, and endpoint protection.

From FortiClient, the EMS, the central management is easy to use. 

The profiles that you can set up centrally as well, are good. We can have different profiles for the main control versus the database server versus an end-user device, which is a good feature. 

The VPN all-in-one Endpoint Protection and VPN all-in-one client is a good feature as well.

I think it's pretty good overall, to be honest. In terms of what it does, I am really comfortable with ForitClient.

I would like to see endpoint detection and response included.

I have been working with FortiClient for approximately two years.

There are always a couple of bugs in EMS, but if you upgrade to the latest version, they normally fix them. 

The EMS console can be a little buggy, but FortiClient is fine.

We contact technical support all of the time, and for other things as well, and they are very good.

The initial setup is straightforward.

It took about one week to deploy.

I have a team of five engineers who work with us to maintain the solution.

The price point again is silver products and that is what I'm trying to work out. So I don't know if that's a bad or a good thing for Forticlient. I don't know where it's priced. 

I don't know about the price.

I have not compared it against different products.

I can recommend FortiClient to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate FortiClient an eight out of ten. Nothing ever gets a ten. That would mean that it's perfect and there is no room for improvement. That is never the case with anything in life.

There are two main use cases: the first is to deploy the security fabric environment from FortiGate to the endpoints so that there's only one policy in use. There's no need to deploy the policy in the firewall as well as the endpoint. So, if you deploy the policy in FortiGate, FortiClient can get that policy automatically.

The second is to control the endpoint, that is, to control the antiviral software and antispyware in general.

Telemetry has been valuable. Starting from FortiGate and from the EMS server, you have to begin at the endpoint, and that's the most useful thing about using FortiClient.

I haven't had to open a FortiClient support case yet with Fortinet because we have solved everything ourselves using the documentation provided. Information on deployment and that on how to solve many of the issues are well-documented in the Fortinet library.

The deployment status is not good in Mac devices and sometimes in Windows-based devices using GPO, like Active Directory, that are not on the local network. Deployment can be a painful task in these cases. 

You need to get a management console in the cloud because the EMS server must be deployed on-premises in order to connect to FortiGate. This is because the on-cloud server is not deployed well. It's not good enough yet for the customer to use. So, the deployment cases and the management console of the EMS server must be improved.

Development of a mail protection feature would be nice because there's not one present right now. Something that looks at the email that's getting into the PC or the possibility to use a monitor for the EMS server would be great.

I have been working with this solution for around one year.

Overall, the stability is okay. Ease of deployment, VPN access, and the policies are implemented well. I haven't had any need to restart the servers of the PC due to FortiClient.

The scalability is great, and you can scale it as the company grows.

In Windows 10 devices, the initial setup was okay. It is not really bad if you have access straight to the PC. Deploying unattended is a hard thing to do. Sometimes, it doesn't work using the GPO Active Directory.

Our deployment strategy is to install the solution in the lab using 10 devices, test all the policies, and after that deploy it to the whole company. The lab stage is really easy and is a nice experience. 

When you have a massive deployment, because most of the uses are not in the local area to be covered, deployment has to be done using remote access. That's a painful task. We have had to deploy 190 devices almost manually because they were not on the local network.

My clients evaluated Sophos and Intercept X. They liked the ease of deployment with Intercept X because the control comes from working in the cloud. Sophos also has the management console on the cloud. However, the clients were already using Fortigate, so they wanted to keep that level of protection.

It's a little harder to deploy on Mac devices. When I installed FortiClient, it didn't even work at the beginning. The user experience in Mac to check the antivirus and antispyware protection is not good.

In order to work with FortiClient very well, you need to deploy the VPNs through FortiGate. So those who would like to use Fortinet FortiClient would need to evaluate the bandwidth capacity and how they are going to use a feature that's called split tunneling. That's the main thing they have to consider in order to design their requirements for the person who is going to develop and implement it on the customer's side.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Fortinet FortiClient at eight.

The primary use case of this solution is to connect internal applications, as an internal data center.

Compared to other similar solutions, it is faster in connecting.

When we change our endpoint, we have to connect again, which means having to enter our credentials and permissions. Also, we are facing some connectivity issues after changing our mode of connection to a public base. It's slow in reconnecting.

I would like to see changes to the speed in the end-user connectivity improved in the next release of FortiClient.

I have been using this solution for six months.

I have contacted technical support and find they are helpful and have a quick response time.

The initial setup is not as complex as other solutions.

You can deploy it easily, and you always have the technical support available should you need it.

The pricing is reasonable.

In terms of a traditional VPN, I can recommend this product.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We use this solution with our firewall.

We have a hybrid-cloud deployment.

FortiClient is not communicating with the new version of the firewall.

This is a stable solution, although I get disconnected sometimes.

This solution is scalable.

We have approximately three hundred users.

I am satisfied with the technical support for this solution.

The initial setup of this solution is easy.

I took care of the deployment myself.

This is a solution that I recommend.

While there are some issues that need to be fixed, they are minor.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

I mainly use FortiClient to connect my laptop to my data centers.

FortiClient's most valuable features are that it's easy to install and connect and has OTP on email IDs and two-factor authentication. 

FortiClient's encryption key could be stronger so that it's not broken too easily.

I've been using FortiClient for about three years.

FortiClient is stable.

The initial setup was easy.

I would rate FortiClient nine out of ten.