This solution is configured as our primary gateway to the internet in and out of the network.
Director, Information Systems at Ohio Art Co
Outstanding HA Failover capabilities and strong integrated protection with the security fabric
Pros and Cons
- "This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet delivers high-performance network security solutions that
protects our network, users, and data from continually evolving threats.
What is most valuable?
The features I found most valuable are the high availability rollover/fail-over capabilities. The integration with other Fortinet products is worth a look at the lineup.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about two years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
907,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would say that the scalability possibilities of this solution are first-rate.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, we have used Cisco and WatchGuard Firewalls.
How was the initial setup?
Our model of deployment is on-premises. I would say the initial setup process was complex. Integrating the security fabric with multiple firewalls, FortiClient, and FortiMail was slightly more complex than originally anticipated. The results are great.
What about the implementation team?
Our implementation strategy was to hire vendors with expertise.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
shop manager at BIL
It's easy to manage and provides solid protection against external threats
Pros and Cons
- "The interface is user-friendly, so it's easy to add policies and block traffic."
- "We also have FortiAnalyzer deployed here, so we want to enable the soft functionality of FortiGate and built-in compression for a firewall VPN use case. We want the ability to deploy a gateway for HTTPS enabled on this firewall. It is currently only for use in our headquarters."
What is our primary use case?
We use FortiGate SWG as our edge firewall for protecting on-prem traffic. It provides routing and filtering. FortiGate is only protecting abiyt 300 users at our corporate headquarters, but we have five hundred locations all over Pakistan that are not covered by this firewall policy. We're looking for a cloud-based firewall that can be deployed at remote locations and managed remotely through this FortiGate firewall.
What is most valuable?
The interface is user-friendly, so it's easy to add policies and block traffic.
What needs improvement?
We also have FortiAnalyzer deployed here, so we want to enable the soft functionality of FortiGate and built-in compression for a firewall VPN use case. We want the ability to deploy a gateway for HTTPS enabled on this firewall. It is currently only for use in our headquarters.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used FortiGate for around eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiGate SWG is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiGate SWG is scalable because it has the ability to add a SOAP module.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up FortiGate is straightforward, and deployment takes about a week, including the time needed to migrate our security policies. We took backups from our legacy firewall solution and installed them on FortiGate. It was simple because all our previous firewalls were also Fortinet.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Oh, yes. We pay we already we are already paying license. We have recently got a subscription and also description we are seeing.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG eight out of 10. I recommend FortiGate SWG as an on-prem edge device or routing solution. It is user-friendly, easy to manage, and protects us from external threats. We have had no issues with filtering or anything else so far.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
907,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head of Infrastructure Sector at Mezzo
Very stable with good network protection
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is not scalable."
What is our primary use case?
Our company uses the solution for network protection and we have 600 users.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very stable.
What needs improvement?
The solution is not scalable.
The solution is expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is low so is rated a one out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
We receive support from a local vendor so have not needed the solution's technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Juniper.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is a little bit difficult so is rated a five out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the solution with a local vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is very expensive so pricing is rated a one out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior IT specialist at SAUDIA ALIRLINES
A stable and effective solution for controlling browsing traffic
Pros and Cons
- "The solution effectively controls browsing traffic."
- "The dashboard is not user friendly so is a bit complicated."
What is our primary use case?
Our company uses the solution as a firewall for our tech network.
We just added the solution and currently only use it to control browsing traffic and block social media. We have 100 employees and IT staff using the solution.
What is most valuable?
The solution effectively controls browsing traffic.
What needs improvement?
The dashboard is not user friendly so is a bit complicated. Training is important or you will suffer when completing tasks.
We would like the ability to divide users by position and assign different rules to each position. For example, managers are allowed to browse YouTube but employees are not allowed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have not yet needed technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use another solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and took a few hours.
What about the implementation team?
A third-party company handled our setup and implementation.
Two administrators handle ongoing maintenance.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution and rate it an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has a good set of UTM features, great bandwidth shaping mechanism, and efficient algorithms
Pros and Cons
- "Has a very user-friendly interface and doesn't require any prior knowledge."
- "Fortigate can mitigate all attacks, it can handle a lot, it has a good set of UTM features, a good bandwidth shaping mechanism, and other features."
- "The system can slow down when inspections are carried out."
- "We sometimes have issues when carrying out inspections because the system slows down and our clients complain about it."
What is our primary use case?
We manage a university and we're dependent on Fortigate to monitor everything including our research activities. All our network related services are logged by Fortigate. I'm a network administrator and we are customers of Fortinet.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortigate has been helpful in mitigating ransomware attacks and we receive notification of threats from the cloud services.
What is most valuable?
We've found the most valuable feature to be the very user-friendly interface. The solution doesn't require any prior knowledge and that's not the case with other firewalls. Fortigate can mitigate all attacks, it can handle a lot. It has a good set of UTM features, a good bandwidth shaping mechanism, and other features. It has efficient algorithms and it competes well with Palo Alto and TechPoint. In terms of VPNs, it has an unlimited count, better than other solutions and it's included in the package.
What needs improvement?
We sometimes have issues when carrying out inspections because the system slows down and our clients complain about it. The only other drawback is that we have to manually insert certificates for our clients. Most social networking sites have dependencies and to completely block them requires a deep inspection profile. For protection, we need to put the certificates in for all of our clients. It's a major drawback not having it embedded in the system. I would very much like to see Forticlient's new TNA technology included with the original license for Fortigate. It currently requires an additional license which is quite costly for us as a middle-size organization. We could include it with VPN for our clients.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a really stable product and one of the main reasons we've stayed with it for the past eight years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is completely scalable, we have over 8,000 users. Almost half of those are students and the rest are teaching staff and researchers. We also have 500 people involved as part of the system support team, IT engineers, and software engineers. The solution requires maintenance and regular upgrades and we have a 9-person team for that.
How are customer service and support?
I'm happy with the technical support although we don't require it much.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment took us around one month back when it was a software-based solution. We had to completely migrate all existing policies to Fortigate. We didn't use any third parties for the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchase a license annually and it's a little expensive. We pay extra for SA. You need a decent budget for Fortigate but once you have that, it's completely scalable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We previously used Palo Alto and had a ransomware attack they did not detect so we switched to Fortinet. Aside from that, we preferred Fortigate because it's so user-friendly. Admin can configure all the policies easily using the graphic interface in Fortigate. Palo Alto requires a specific application for all admin aspects and some of them can only be done with command line tools. It's really tough for normal admins to do day-to-day configuration.
We also tried Salesforce but felt that we were unable to depend on it for the entire system. We've implemented it for 2,000 people but it's not as user-friendly as Fortigate and without any expertise it's difficult to use. It's mainly command-line technology. It's time-consuming and budget-wise it can't compete with Fortinet.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend this solution for a mid-level or enterprise organization and rate it nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Network & Security Team Head at Amiral
Highly reliable, effective profiles, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection."
- "In my area, this solution is recommended for many projects because it's very easy to do the implementation and troubleshoot and is highly stable."
- "Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate mostly for a data center firewall.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The coverage and scalability of Fortinet FortiGate are good.
We use the solution for daily operations in the data center. There are hundreds of users that use the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Fortinet FortiGate is great. When I have an issue with the support team, it is when I can't understand what they need and they do not understand. They then typically ask for a remote session which can help us receive the solution. Overall, the support team for Fortinet FortiGate is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very straightforward.
I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for the solution annually.
What other advice do I have?
The sizing is very important for the Fortinet FortiGate because after designing you have to choose what size and what kind of FortiGate you will implement. Sometimes you need to implement profiling and this will take from your processing.
In my area, this solution is recommended for many projects because it's very easy to do the implementation and troubleshoot and is highly stable. The integration between many devices, such as the FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager, is good and helps us. Fortinet FortiGate is recommended for any firewall design.
I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
IT at Stak
User-friendly, powerful, and has useful training certifications available
Pros and Cons
- "I love the interface."
- "The product is very user-friendly, it is quite scalable, I love the interface, the power is great, and I have a limited embedded team in IT with one man on the team for 1,000 users who can manage all the infrastructure due to the fact that the console is very easy, and the people are very happy with the results pertaining to that interface."
- "The reporting was limited."
What is our primary use case?
I rent spaces for the company. I provide the services for the internet for that company, something like coworking. I need to create policies to prevent intrusions on my clients. I create the policies for each client, and I select the company and create the policy with the specific needs. After that, I apply it for the WLAN for that client. That way, I prevent intrusions on the network.
What is most valuable?
It meets my needs.
The product is very user-friendly.
It is quite scalable.
I love the interface.
The power is great.
I have a limited embedded team in IT. I have one man on the team for 1,000 users. And this person can manage all the infrastructure due to the fact that the console is very easy, and the people are very happy with the results pertaining to that interface.
Also, I have created VPNs for all my users to work from their homes.
What needs improvement?
It is very complex.
There are a variety of improvements that can be made.
The reporting was limited. I had to use FortiAnalyzer to obtain a complete solution. The reports are very limited with the solution, basically. Once you implement FortiAnalyzer, you can create very, very detailed reports for all the networks.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for two years now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution scales well. It's not an issue at all if you need to expand.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good. I have additional support from my provider. My provider is a Platinum partner, and half of the technicians have Level 7 or 8 in Fortinet certifications.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, I was working with Cisco and Aruba, however, this was more power and the cost was great.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is a bit complex. However, I only need three weeks to create the machines' settings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For two firewalls with IPS and two access points, FortiAnalyzer, with maybe ten switches, we pay maybe $4,000 a year.
We don't pay any additional costs.
What other advice do I have?
I use a lot of Fortinet devices.
I'm a customer and end-user.
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Everything is good. The support is very, very expert. When you need help, all the people are ready to assist - and that is great. Only I recommended new users to take maybe the certification basics, NSE 1, NSE 2. It's free in the academy for Fortinet. Most problems you can fix with that information and that education, so it's very helpful to be knowledgable.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Team Leader Network & Security at Rogers Capital
Straightforward implementation and affordable
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward."
- "Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."
- "I have found the support from Fortinet FortiGate very poor. I do not use them anymore because they are not very good."
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Whenever we install a new release of an OS we should expect lots of bugs on the system that could break the system. Something that is working fine in the previous system, if we upgrade it, it could break it. Fortinet should work a lot on this to remediate it before releasing any OS. This includes any update and upgrade of FortiOS because I have seen issues when I upgraded, such as the memory and CPU jumping to 100 percent, and some or all functions were not operational. These bugs should be fixed in the firmware.
If there is a need for some upgrade or update on an existing system then I will plan ahead, but if it is not stable I will not do it. We have new releases being tested now and once they are rated stable I will upgrade.
How are customer service and support?
I have found the support from Fortinet FortiGate very poor. I do not use them anymore because they are not very good. This is based on the support I have received from South Africa and India. However, the support from France I have heard was excellent. I only open support tickets for bugs.
I would rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a two out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used SonicWall, Sophos, Juniper, and Cisco Meraki.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward.
The time it takes to implement a firewall a large and small firewall is the same. It does not matter the size of the firewall. The complexity comes from the network and the scope of work that we need to do for the customer on the network.
If it is a large network, it will take us more time to deploy it, because there is more to configure. If it is a small network, it will take less time, but configuration-wise, it's likely the same.
What about the implementation team?
I have deployed Fortinet FortiGate on my own. I have never needed help from any third-party consultant, or integrator. I work as a consultant and integrator for other companies. I provide my service as a consultant.
Fortinet FortiGate doesn't require a lot of maintenance if you deploy the system correctly, it will run well. However, you do need to have some security checks, auditing, and cleanup of the system, every month. It depends on the company policies.
If you already deployed the solution correctly you should not have an issue. Maintenance is required, we do have some customers that are doing morning checks on memory and CPU, it does not take much time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate 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
Network Engineer at Thunder Software Technology Co., Ltd.
Reasonably priced with many great features and excellent reliability
Pros and Cons
- "The pricing is great and very reasonable."
- "One of the things that I like the most is it has a built-in SD-WAN solution - its price is included in the hardware."
- "It would be good if they had fewer updates."
What is our primary use case?
It is our primary router here in the office with all the firewall policies.
What is most valuable?
The solution has many valuable features. I like all of them.
Its stability is great. On a previous job, we set probably up to 100 FortiGates, and during the three years they were set up none of them failed.
It's a very scalable solution.
The pricing is great and very reasonable.
The initial setup is simple.
We use a yearly subscription for a unified protection model. I like the features that it gives me. It is actually a built-in proxy server and it allows me to use great protection and so on. In terms of application control, the built-in anti-virus is okay. One of the things that I like the most is it has a built-in SD-WAN solution - its price is included in the hardware. I don't need to buy anything else to use SD-WAN. This is the feature that I like, in Fortinet, probably the most. All other vendors sell SD-WAN as a separate solution and you must buy a separate controller which has to be installed somewhere, on-premise or on the cloud, and it costs money. Fortigate does not.
What needs improvement?
I can't think of an area of the product that needs improvement. Even the cost is okay. I have no real complaints.
It would be good if they had fewer updates. Almost every update has bots that are either critical or something small yet valuable. Whenever I try to do an update, I always fear that something will break.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a few years. I used it on a previous project and I use it now as well.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been excellent. It's very reliable and the performance is great. They have not failed in three years. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the product is great. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.
Up to 100 people use it right now, and likely we will increase usage so that it covers 150 to 200 users.
If our other branch offices open in other cities or other countries, I will buy another firewall for them as well.
How are customer service and support?
I've contacted technical support in the past.
For example, I tried to update my firewall to 7.0.4 and there was a block with the DHCP server. Some devices did not acquire an IP address. Really, it was something about FortiGate. I asked Fortinet for technical support and I created a ticket, and the next day they replied to me they agree that this was a bug that they would work on. As far as I can see now, there is already an option of 7.0.5. While I didn't test it myself, in the changelog I can see that this bug is fixed.
So far, we have been satisfied as they have answered us by the next day typically.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
It's an easy setup. Everything is very straightforward and simple to understand. It's not complex, not difficult. A company won't have any issues with the process.
The deployment might take up to one week. I don't remember exactly. I continued to add some features, however, in the instant deployment, when it came here I had another router here, it wasn't too long of a process. Later, I asked my bosses to buy a firewall and when it arrived, on a Friday in the evening, I installed it and everything was fine. It was very fast.
I handle the deployment and maintenance myself. We do not need a big team to manage everything. It's pretty low-maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the implementation myself. I did not need a consultant or an integrator.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very fair for a firewall. There's nothing to complain about in terms of licensing.
The price model is fair. I have to pay only for the features that only Fortinet gives me. Things like routing are free. Other vendors like Cisco, make me pay for things that should be free.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution to others.
Fortinet has an education platform that is named trainingfortinet.com and many courses are on there. All the video lessons are free. Users can view them to learn about the features that Fortinet has. It's an excellent resource.
I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Strategic Development Manager at Arrow Electronics
Simple to use and manage, helpful VPN and application control features, and it's constantly evolving
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."
- "With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."
What is our primary use case?
I am a project manager and I have implemented this product in several different projects. The deployments are for enterprise clients, government agencies, and several universities.
How has it helped my organization?
This is a complete security solution that we can offer to our clients.
It provides security EOT (Encryption of Things).
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving.
Different modules offer different functionality including the facility for web application control, VPN, and complete security integration.
It is easy to integrate FortiGate with other products.
What needs improvement?
With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FortiGate for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiGate is a very stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have implemented FortiGate in approximately 200 projects, and it is a scalable solution.
It is primarily used by medium-sized and enterprise companies. Medium-sized companies normally have between 10 and 50 users whereas an enterprise will have more than 5,000.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Fortinet is very nice.
I would rate them a five out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I work with several products from Fortinet including FortiGate, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiSIEM. The selection of which products to use depends on the company.
We work with what we refer to as the Fortinet fabric.
We also have experience with products from Check Point and Palo Alto.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet is competitive price-wise.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
One of our clients in space evaluated FortiGate in terms of pricing and integration, and they chose FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: August 2026
Product Categories
Firewalls Secure Web Gateways (SWG) Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions WAN Edge ZTNA Unified Threat Management (UTM)Popular Comparisons
Cloudflare One
Darktrace
Netgate pfSense
OPNsense
Cisco Secure Firewall
Sophos Firewall
Cisco Umbrella
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks
Zscaler Internet Access
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls
WatchGuard Firebox
Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Check Point Harmony SASE (formerly Perimeter 81)
Cisco Meraki MX
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Comparison of Barracuda F800, SonicWall 5600 and Fortinet
- Sophos XG 210 vs Fortigate FG 100E
- Looking Into Implementing a Web Security Solution.
- Cyberoam or Fortinet?
- Fortinet, Palo Alto or Check Point?
- Which would you recommend to your boss, Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos UTM?
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between Cisco ASA And Fortinet FortiGate?
- Cisco Firepower vs. FortiGate
- We're trying to choose between Fortinet or Checkpoint UTM firewalls. Can you help?
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX Firewalls?





















