Fortinet FortiGate is used to secure internet gateways.
Assistant Manager - Network & Security at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Simple initial setup, mature features, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
- "Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately seven years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solutions. Other solutions, such as Palo Alto, Cisco, and Forcepoint are less stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For scalability, you must define your needs before implementing Fortinet FortiGate. You must know specifications, such as throughput, the number of sessions, and the SSL. Overall it is not scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We had some simple questions for the support and they were able to respond within a few hours. I was satisfied.
I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is extremely simple. Customers that have never used it can manage it with ease after a few days.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license.
The activation of the license and support could improve. When I order Fortinet products, I have one year to activate my license and support. If this year passed without activating this license and support, I will lose it. If I ordered three years, I will lose all of the years. I must reorder them again, which is not reasonable. For example, if I have to activate my license in six months but didn't activate it during the six months, they should activate automatically. They should not remove the license. They should activate automatically after the grace period.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager GIS at epfam
Good UI, feature-rich, and very stable
Pros and Cons
- "Its user interface is good, and it is always working fine."
- "Its filtering is sometimes too precise or strict. We sometimes have to bypass and authorize some of the sites, but they get blocked. We know that they are trusted sites, but they are blocked, and we don't know why."
What is most valuable?
Its user interface is good, and it is always working fine.
What needs improvement?
Its filtering is sometimes too precise or strict. We sometimes have to bypass and authorize some of the sites, but they get blocked. We know that they are trusted sites, but they are blocked, and we don't know why.
In terms of additional features, I don't have any requirements. It is okay for me. I do lots of things, and I still don't know everything about FortiGate. If I need something, it might already be there in FortiGate.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. We didn't have any problems in one and a half years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We just have one firewall, and we are too small to have redundancy or something like that. In the future, we would like to have a second unit. We have lots of problems locally with the internet fiber. It is not very good, and ADSL is bad. So, first, we have to stabilize and upgrade our connection, and later, we will try to have redundancy, but it is not necessary at this time.
How are customer service and support?
I never contacted them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
When I came here, Netgate was installed. My IT department and my IT subcontractor explained to me that FortiGate was better than the previous solution. We changed it one and a half years ago, and it has been working well.
What about the implementation team?
It was an IT subcontractor who did the implementation. Our experience with them was very good.
What was our ROI?
It is too early for an ROI, but I have no problems with it. Everything is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When we tried to find something better, our IT subcontractor recommended FortiGate or Stormshield. I tried to find a subcontractor at my location for both, but I could only find a subcontractor for FortiGate, so I chose FortiGate. I wanted to have a local subcontractor. There are some products for which we don't need local support, but for some of the products, such as a firewall, we prefer to have local support.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to find a local contractor. That's because it is a product that can do a lot of things. If you don't know it well, you can make mistakes. Because I learned how to use it, I can now modify or update it. I can do some of the things in FortiGate, but when starting with it, it is better to have someone locally to guide you and do the initial setup.
It is a good and very useful product for me. It is very stable, which is the only thing that I want from a firewall. I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Lead Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Scalable with good core functionality and good support
Pros and Cons
- "The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
- "The Wi-Fi controller needs a lot of improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for different reasons.
We use it for the firewall with SDWAN functionality
We use it in some use cases as a VPN Server.
We use it as a Wi-Fi controller on some sites.
We use if for internal network segregation and routing
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet FortiGate has improved the way our organization functions.
What is most valuable?
Versatile with a lot of controls and expert level customizations for advanced users
NGFW features seems to be effective are relatively easy to implement.
Fortigate DC Agent is a useful free feature to automatically detect logged on users and implement user based access policy
Basic VPN is included without extra charges
What needs improvement?
The Wi-Fi controller feature needs a lot of improvement. The function itself is not as stable as it should be in our use case which might be a problem in either the APs or the controller.
Would like to see more wizards and automation for more features such as virtual servers, SSL VPN, and others where policies, rules entries are created automatically form wizard input.
Some of the features related to load-balancing and traffic shaping are not as straightforward as they need to be.
The VPN functionality needs low-level debugging get what really going on. Log level is too detailed and requires someone who is quite experienced to analyze and solve those issues.
Zero-trust base features are lagging behind the other competition, based on what I have read. Would like to see those features in a clearly in the UI.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for four years.
We are not using the latest version, but close to it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There are some stability issues when move to a newer version. It's always good to be a couple of steps behind when you upgrade as usually the latest major releases are a not stable. We are quite cautious to update.
The stability of VPN connection phase is can be enhanced
Wifi AP/Controller stability is an issue for us
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's quite scalable. The scalability and the migration are okay as well. Licensing model is also stright forword and certain features such as basic SSL VPN requires no to min additional cost per user.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical service is quite good. The application notes and the help on the web are quite good.
I would rate technical support an eight out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
By the time I joined a Fortigate was selected against pfsense.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is intermediate in complexity but support and online documentation covers for it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you're a small-medium size business:
- Size your use case carefully as licensing price jumps significantly with HW changes.
- Customizable Forticilent SW can be downloaded for free with FNDN membership
- If you have multi sites and require Fortigate based 2FA then consider getting a dedicated fortiauthenticator (VM) with fortiokens acting a central RADIUS server which can be cheaper than cloud tokens an with additional authentication flexibilities.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
pfsense; was decided against based required features (mainly VPN which is based in OpenVPN)
Paloalto; is a more expensive with comparable security features based on a recent NSS LABs report
What other advice do I have?
Follow the instructions on the application manual carefully. Otherwise, certain features would not be running quite as they need them to without clear errors reported.
Contact technical support, they're responsive and have solutions for most of the problems.
Chose/size the HW carefully based on your use case as certain features are HW accelerated in higher variants but takes a huge toll on CPU/ memory when running on lower variants.
Consider using Fortigate DC Agent which is useful free feature to automatically detect logged on users and implement user based access policy
Consider segregating functions on different units instead of having all features on a Fortigate (i.e avoid having wifi controller + firewall + VPN on a single unit specially for lower variants)
Because of the flexibility, the advanced user features, the high level of security controls, and the tweaks that are available for the user, I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Deputy Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Good stability and fair pricing with an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
- "The customization potential is quite impressive."
- "The ease of use could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for the firewall for the most part. It's to help us with security on our network.
What is most valuable?
The solution has a very good set of rules.
The customization potential is quite impressive. It can be customized based on our licensing contracts.
The initial setup was pretty simple. We didn't find it to be overly difficult to execute on.
Technical support is rather helpful.
We find the stability to be pretty good.
We didn't have any trouble setting up the solution.
We find the pricing to be fairly good.
What needs improvement?
The ease of use could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for about five years. We have been continuously working with FortiGate itself throughout that time. It's been a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, the stability has been pretty good for us. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. I'd describe the stability as reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I can't really speak to the scalability of the solution, as it isn't as aspect I handle. I've never tried to do it, so I'm not sure how it works.
We have about 50 users on the solution. About one third have access to it.
How are customer service and technical support?
We only really had one issue in the past where we had to deal with technical support. We needed some restoration of some data. It wasn't a bad experience. We were satisfied with their level of service. They seem to be knowledgeable and responsive.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of the initial setup, the process was not complex at all. We found it to be very straightforward and easy. We didn't run into any issues setting everything up.
We have one engineer that handles ongoing maintenance for us when we need it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is fair. I don't feel that it is too expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I've been good with using Fortinet. It's a fine tool.
Overall, I would recommend the solution to other organizations.
I would rate it a nine on a scale from one to ten.
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.
I.T. Manager at Pacific Cigarette Company
Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic
Pros and Cons
- "With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."
- "Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic."
- "It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."
What is our primary use case?
When we looking for a device, we wanted to control incoming and outgoing traffic into our network to protect our organization, like have a barrier before anyone could send something in or anyone could send something out. We also use this for our DHCP.
How has it helped my organization?
The greatest improvement was on security. If you put rules that will not allow certain traffic, it won't happen. You can close the traffic that you don't want in your network, because of malware and people fishing and spamming.
What is most valuable?
- DHCP functionality: The object tab where we manage our IP addresses and static. The DHCP monitors them.
- FortiClient: You can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong.
What needs improvement?
It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is excellent. It is so stable that it is the best in the market. I would rate the stability as a 10 out of 10.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It has the capacity to change in size. It comes in different sizes. E.g., for a smaller organization, you buy smaller package, then for bigger entities, you buy the bigger one. If you have fewer users in a certain entity, they would get a package of 50 each. If it's a head office, then you'd get something like 201. So, it accommodates for all sizes.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been great. We have used it before because sometimes you get issues that you can't handle, then you have to call it in, send emails, and they assist you.
We also work through our partners, which has been good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were previously using Netgear, which was smaller. It didn't have the advanced technology in terms of what we wanted it to do. It was an older version. We thought that if we were going to change the firewall, then we should make a good, future investment. Thus, our partners advised us that FortiGate was one of the best, so we invested in them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not straightforward. You need some training and to learn some of these things through the experience of using it.
What about the implementation team?
We were guided by our partner, so we worked on our devices with our partners. They were the ones who helped us and who have been working with us, even for upgrades, and it has not been straightforward.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Cisco, Netgear, and Cyberoam.
What other advice do I have?
You don't need to reinvent the wheel, as FortiGate is the best solution.
Most important criteria when selecting a vendor:
- The ability of the brand
- Best of breed
- Reliability
- After hours sales service, because we know technology comes with renewals, upgrades, and support. This is quite critical to our functionality and efficiency.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Operation Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Promptly addresses security threats and vulnerabilities commonly found in the modern technology world
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet offers the latest versions to cater to the needs of enterprises."
- "Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate for end-to-end advanced firewall protection.
Fortinet FortiGate is deployed both on-premises and in the AWS and Azure clouds.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet FortiGate makes it extremely easy to manage the entire security system independently of our enterprise. In our company, we operate multiple networks, each with its own distinct layers of networking. Whether it is a small or large company, each network will consist of various layers, including the first, second, and third layers, as well as Wi-Fi access points. Additionally, we have different access switches, distribution switches, and core switches. FortiGate allows for direct management of all these options, which is one of its core advantages.
What is most valuable?
FortiGate is highly user-friendly and promptly addresses security threats and vulnerabilities commonly found in the modern technology world. Additionally, Fortinet offers the latest versions to cater to the needs of enterprises. They provide a range of firewalls, suitable for both small-scale businesses and larger enterprises. Overall, we are quite satisfied with their performance, and it has been working well for us so far.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer. Currently, these multiple products often confuse users and clients. It would be beneficial if Fortinet could offer a comprehensive integrated solution instead of separate products that cause user confusion. By providing an integrated solution, users would have access to all features and functionalities within a single window, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple windows. This approach would greatly improve the user experience.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate can easily scale using the cloud firewall option.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team is exceptional. They are consistently available and prompt in their responses, regardless of the region from which we open the ticket.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Cisco at my previous company and my new company uses FortiGate. FortiGate is better than Cisco. Where Cisco requires a person with great networking or programming knowledge, FortiGate does not. We can manage everything from its user interface. It provides comprehensive security fabric management, including Forti switches and access points. Additionally, FortiGate serves as a gate for our home, allowing us to monitor who enters and exits. Therefore, if we compare it to Cisco, monitoring the entire traffic becomes much easier.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. Fortinet provides step-by-step instructions in its documentation. The Fortinet engineers and support team are always available to assist, but even for a non-technical person, the deployment is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars. We are using the FortiGate 600E, and its price falls within the midrange. The most expensive part is the renewal of the license subscription.
What other advice do I have?
I give Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Fortinet FortiGate offers a cloud trial that organizations can use in a test environment to evaluate the solution before making a purchase.
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.
Engineer at Cyber Sea
Is affordable and easy to deploy, and has good license management features
Pros and Cons
- "The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
- "The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
What is our primary use case?
The use case for this product has to do with security and visibility. When you are inside the business and when there are different departments and branches, it is used for the visibility of some packets. It can also be used for SSL inspections, to check if the SSL is right and that it is not phishing.
What is most valuable?
The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE.
The simplicity of the deployment and the digitization of risk are other valuable features that Fortinet provides.
The cost is low.
What needs improvement?
The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment.
All the development of the firmware should be fixed before the update at the page level.
API tokens need to be improved, particularly with regard to integration with other cloud solutions. In other words, proxy flow and API integration need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't had any problem with the stability of the product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is good. You can merge other Fortinet products well with this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
The deployment and maintenance can be done by one person.
What about the implementation team?
I did it myself. To create all the policies and configurations needed by the customers, it usually takes me two days or a week at the most if the project is harder.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is really low. It's cheap in comparison to the cost of Cisco or CheckPoint, for example.
What other advice do I have?
If you want to get this product, first you must evaluate the number of people who will use it, and then choose the product that will best fit your needs.
I would rate this solution at eight on a scale from one to ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Information Technology Solutions Manager at UBG
Beneficial user interface, provides multiple engines, and high availability
Pros and Cons
- "The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations. Additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good."
- "Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiGate can be deployed on the cloud, hybrid, and on-premise. We use a combination of private and hybrid for the deployment.
We are using Fortinet FortiGate for parameter security, network isolation, and web filtering.
What is most valuable?
The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations. Additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is highly stable. It has high availability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is very good.
We have customers with 1,000 users using this solution and others with 100.
Engineers use this solution and all the end-users are connected to it. The whole organization is using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very helpful. We had a very good experience with them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial installation is straightforward, and the full process takes one to two days.
What about the implementation team?
We have our own team that does the implementation of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
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