Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

I am working with Fortinet FortiGate and FortiMail.

I assess Fortinet FortiGate firewall as a one-stop shop that helps me secure and protect mission-critical data. Fortinet FortiGate also has products for protecting the edge. Everything can be managed through one dashboard, so I cannot quantify the time saved. Fortinet FortiGate has helped me remediate threats more quickly.

At the moment, I cannot think of any areas where Fortinet FortiGate could be improved. In future updates, I would like to see more RAM and lower prices.

I have probably been using Fortinet FortiGate for eight years.

I would rate support from Fortinet as a nine.

I did previously use other software before Fortinet FortiGate. I was using Cisco and Sophos.

The installation of Fortinet FortiGate was very easy.

In the scenarios coming from Cisco, Fortinet FortiGate has helped reduce my total cost of ownership. In the scenarios coming from Sophos, it has not.

I would say I am average in my satisfaction with the licensing cost for Fortinet FortiGate. I am satisfied with the price-to-performance ratio that I get from using Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

I switched from Cisco and Sophos to Fortinet FortiGate because it is easier to manage.

I have been using the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for a significant time and I am very happy with it. I have seen a lot of time saved for my company from using Fortinet FortiGate. Fortinet FortiGate has helped me reduce Mean Time To Respond, or MTTR. Fortinet FortiGate helped my organization consolidate all of the tools in one application. This product does not require any maintenance from my side. I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other organizations because it is a one-stop shop for all security features in Fortinet, and I can manage everything on the same dashboard. The vendor can contact me in case they have questions regarding my review. I wish to be anonymous at the moment.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate in general as a nine.

We use Fortinet's intrusion prevention feature to ensure network security. This involves actively monitoring network activity for any suspicious behavior using predefined signatures and other detection methods. The goal is to proactively identify and block known threats to prevent any unauthorized or malicious activity on the network. The majority of our clients operate within the financial and retail sectors.

It seamlessly integrates with the existing network infrastructure, particularly from a firewall standpoint. This integration involves thorough inspection across all interfaces and segmentation layers via the firewall. IPS is utilized for both intercommunication and breakout communications, where it effectively detects and prevents outbreaks through its IP signature-checking capabilities.

It has enhanced the network security posture of our customers.

The performance and accuracy of FortiGate IPS have positively influenced security operations.

The most significant aspect of IPS is self-explanatory as it primarily focuses on intrusion prevention, which is crucial for Fortinet's internal outbreak prevention efforts and ensuring compliance on endpoint devices.

There is room for improvement in being proactive about identifying and integrating new signatures.

I have been working with it for ten years.

It offers excellent stability. I would rate it ten out of ten.

I have a diverse clientele, ranging from international enterprises to several private companies.

I would rate customer service and support eight out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward. I would rate it ten out of ten.

We haven't faced any challenges with IPS regarding its deployment or management, it is straightforward. You simply add it to the policy where you want IPS inspection applied and roll it out centrally. This process is quick and can take between minutes to a maximum of an hour, depending on the number of sites involved.

When evaluating ROI based on exposures, it's challenging to quantify. However, there are definite improvements in enhancements and proactive isolation capabilities, particularly in outbreak prevention. These improvements could potentially lead to reductions in downtime, technical service requirements, and other associated costs.

The pricing is reasonable.

My first recommendation for any deployment is always to enable IPS. Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentation and assessing their support is necessary.

Its interface user-friendliness is good. When we present this interface to customers, they find it easy to understand and manage.

Support for courses available on the platform

I rate FortiGate's NGFW's stability a ten out of ten. 

The tool's scalability is good and it has helped our company. I rate it a ten out of ten. We have around 3 customers and 500~800 users. 

There has been a delay in support where I had to wait for a day to receive a response. I believe I might not have used the correct procedure, leading to inaccurate information. Consequently, I did not receive the prompt answer that I was expecting.

Positive

The Cisco Firepower is less stable compared to FortiGate NGFW. Cisco Firepower has a complex interface. 

The solution's deployment is easy. 

The tool's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive. Overall, I find it to be competitive in the market.

I recommend FortiGate NGFW because its interface is easy to understand, making firewall deployment and management straightforward. It has a good market reputation and offers information on cybersecurity, including news, threats, etc. I rate it a ten out of ten. 

The product provides a good user experience.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG's costs need improvement. Also, there could be an efficient feature for solution consulting to answer queries related to architecture design.

The product is highly stable.

The product is suitable for enterprise customers. The solution architecture takes a bit of time to scale as it is a new product in the market. The customers need more experience working with it. I rate its scalability a five out of ten.

FortiGate provides the technical support services. However, customers have an SLA agreement with us, and we have an SLA agreement with FortiGate. Thus, it takes longer to establish efficient communication between them.

Neutral

The platform requires a few months to design the architecture.

The product is expensive compared to Cisco.

I recommend Fortinet FortiGate SWG and rate it an eight out of ten.

We use the product for our customers. We use it for security.

We can use the URL filtering and antivirus features. We can also configure rules and protocols from source to destination.

The technical support is good.

The solution is expensive.

I have used the solution in the past twelve months.

The stability is not the same as WatchGuard. If we have a power problem, we can lose configurations, VPN, SSL, and other things. Other products do not have these issues. The tool is stable when there are no power outages. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten. It has high scalability. We integrate the solution for our customers. Some customers have 15 to 50 users, while others have 300 to 1000 users. Our customers are small and medium enterprises.

The initial setup is easy. It was not complex.

I rate the pricing an eight out of ten on a scale where one is cheap and ten is expensive. We need to pay for additional features.

The product could provide SD-WAN and VPN features. People can use the tool. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We use the solution at the Internet edge to provide a security boundary between the public network and the private network.

The most useful features are application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN.

Support could be improved like Sophos. Some clients don't have the expertise to manage their environment. If they have a problem with Fortinet, they should have easy access to support. Secondly, the process of evaluation as a partner with Cisco should give you the ability to deploy access as a partner. You can do team labs and a lot of things.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for five years.

We never had any problem with stability. I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

The scalability depends on the client's size. We have clients with as few as 500 users, as many as 800 users, and clients with just 100 users. We cater to small and medium businesses. I rate the solution’s scalability a seven out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment time depends on the client's requirements. Some clients may agree to a monthly deployment, while others may require a different team. If you sell a new environment, the deployment time may increase. The basic setup takes one to two hours. Deployment is a continuous process, as you will need to refine the policies and settings to meet the client's specific business needs. I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten.

The solution is cheap. Fortinet FortiGate SWG licenses are based on features, so you can choose the license that best meets your needs. This is especially beneficial for enterprise environments with different use cases. However, it can be costly for other segments, such as small businesses. I rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a good solution that meets your security requirements and is an excellent alternative to more expensive security products like Cisco and Palo Alto. If budget is a concern, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is a good choice for a security product. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

The most valuable features we found are the SD-WAN, FortiGate SD-WAN, and the standard UTM protection, among others.

If someone doesn't have a certified or skilled technician/engineer, certain configurations, like setting up VLANs and SD-WANs, might not be difficult but can be simplified within FortiGate. The areas that might require more expertise are related to setting up VLANs and configuring SD-WANs, among others.

Therefore, the setup process could be made simpler. 

I've been working with FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall for three years. We are currently working with its latest version.

I would rate it as a nine. It is a stable solution.

I would rate the scalability a five out of ten. It is not very scalable because scalability depends on the model. For instance, the FortiEdge, which is the entry-level model (the smallest model), supports up to about 15 users. Then the next model supports up to around 30 to 40 users, and the following one supports a hundred users. The price increases significantly with more users, which can be a concern.

If I make a guesstimate, I'd say about 20 to 30 of our clients, but they all have multiple branches. So, in total, we have about 200 FortiGate firewalls deployed for our customers, spread across 20 to 30 clients.

Most of our clients fall under the medium to enterprise category. We have clients from financial institutions and big corporate organizations. It's not an entry-level solution, as it might be challenging for small businesses to afford.

Based on the support we receive from our supplier, who is a reseller or vendor of FortiGate, I would rate it at about six. Because it takes time to get support from the vendor. So it is not very fast.

Neutral

I rate my experience with the initial setup six on a scale of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy. The initial setup of the solution is not difficult; if you have an engineer with certification and experience on other firewalls. For them, it's relatively easy. However, someone without certification and experience with other firewalls might find it a bit more challenging to grasp the FortiGate format and its platform layout.

FortiGate is primarily deployed on-premises. We also have a cloud option for certain referrals with tier-three engineers. We have it in our own data center in our cloud, and we also provide it to some of our customers. However, most of the ones I sell are for end customers, and they typically choose the hardware for on-site deployment.

The duration of the deployment can vary depending on different factors. The timeline can involve various stages, such as ordering from overseas, ensuring stock availability, and finally, setting it up for a specific project. As such, the duration can differ based on these factors. 

Eventually, once we have the stock, we can set up the firewall within about an hour.

I would rate the pricing in the middle, around five out of ten. It also depends on how you sell it. If you want to sell it as a one-time purchase, then I'd put it at a seven. But if you amortize it, it can go down to a four because some customers prefer to pay it off over thirty-six months, as the licensing is for that duration.

There are additional costs to the standard license. While the standard licensing fees include UTM and a few other features, for additional features like FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, and other PCs that you might need, there are additional costs. For features like FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, the additional costs do add up. So, while getting the entry-level firewall with basic UTM protection and web filtering is not too bad if you want to add features like analyzer reporting, cloud managers, and FortiManager, the costs can become significantly higher.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Organizations with about 50 to 100 employees use the solution for VPN, ZTNA, and remote connectivity between branch offices and site-to-site VPN. The solution acts as a gateway-level firewall that secures the office infrastructure against threats in mid-size enterprise organizations.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a good solution because it has a range of options and a clear ecosystem. It has good availability of solutions that complement the next-generation firewall. For example, it has a good range of switches and access points. The solution also has a good ecosystem where cloud services like FortiMail complement the whole solution. The solution has a better ecosystem for community support.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall could be made a little less expensive.

I have been working with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for around three years.

Bugs appear whenever a new firmware or operating system is uploaded into the device for certain modules. These bugs might cause certain services not to work, which has been the case in the past. There have been certain things that were resolved with the new firmware update. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall comes with a six version or a seven version.

The 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 versions would have bugs, but the 6.4 version would be pretty stable and precise without any issues. Hence, I generally prefer to go ahead with the later version of a particular generation. For example, instead of going with the first version of the sixth generation, I would go in for a third or a fourth version. These things are there in most vendors, but I've noticed these, particularly in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a pretty scalable solution, and mostly, small and medium companies use the solution.

Although FortiGate Next Generation Firewall's customer support is spontaneous in responding, their actual responses are a little slow. They take time. When I say spontaneous, I mean the case ticket gets logged immediately, but the response from Fortinet doesn't come so fast. You have to follow up and then get things done.

Neutral

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall’s initial setup is straightforward.

The solution’s deployment takes one hour. Two to three engineers are required for the deployment of the solution. One or two people maintain the solution by monitoring and fixing breakdowns, which rarely happens.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution. I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten for pricing. The solution has a yearly license, and you have to pay additionally for the deployment and partner-led services.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall charges additionally for migration. Suppose you're upgrading from an older appliance to a newer appliance. In that case, the partner has to buy a FortiConverter Service or a FortiConverter tool on a per-incident basis, which is charged. On the other hand, partners can use the tools available in SonicWall. Compared to FortiGate Next Generation Firewall, SonicWall is better in terms of support and pricing.

We work with the latest version of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall.

Overall, I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall a nine and a half or ten out of ten.