We primarily use the solution for network security and security next-generation firewalls.
Branch Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
User-friendly with an easy setup and a good user interface
Pros and Cons
- "The initial installation is very straightforward."
- "There are some cloud-based features that could be much more flexible than they currently are."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The solution is quite user-friendly.
We find that the system interface is simple to navigate.
The initial installation is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
There are some cloud-based features that could be much more flexible than they currently are.
It's my understanding that they are currently working on improving the cloud solution quite substantially.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for five years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
March 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. It doesn't have bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We find the solution to be quite scalable. If your organization needs to expand this solution out, you shouldn't have any problems doing so.
We have two or three different locations and have between 50 to 200 users amongst those locations.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good.
Most of the time, whenever a ticket is opened and we reach out to support on behalf of our customers, they offer good advice and are very responsive. We're satisfied with the level of service we're provided.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation is not complex. It's very straightforward to set up and does not take a lot of time to deploy everything.
That said, I did not handle the implementation myself, so I can't speak to more technical aspects of the job.
We had four or five resources that assist in network security and they all helped with the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't handle the pricing side of the product and therefore can't speak to anything in regards to the licensing or costs.
What other advice do I have?
Although we largely handle on-premises deployment models, we have suggested cloud versions to our clients recently.
We are a solution-providing company, and we are offering products to our customers.
Although we really enjoy the solution, there's a lot of very interesting competition in the market. The competition is huge. As a partner of the product, we get a lot of questions we have to answer, and, to be honest, this solution isn't as strong in some areas as others.
That said, we would recommend the solution to others.
Overall, I'd rate the solution 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

Consultant at WorldNet ICT Solutions Limited
Provides good security features, and generating FortiCloud reports is helpful to us
Pros and Cons
- "The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."
- "Technical support for this solution can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for our company firewall.
What is most valuable?
This solution has many good features. The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere.
I really like the fact that I am able to generate FortiCloud reports.
What needs improvement?
FortiWAN was supposed to help in doing intersite linking, but we've realized that most of the ISPs use BGP. FortiWAN supports OSPF but does not support the BGP protocol. This is a problem for us because without BGP they are not doing anything, and we've had to pack them up. I would like to see the BGP protocol supported on FortiWAN.
Technical support for this solution can be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution since 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of this solution is fantastic.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've been in contact with technical support a few times and it is good. It might be better, but as far as I'm concerned, it's good.
How was the initial setup?
The challenge for the initial setup was at the ISP level. We have the Fortinet firewall running, but between the various sites, we wanted to implement FortiWAN. It didn't work because of the BGP issue.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for this solution is good.
What other advice do I have?
This is a product that I recommend.
I would rate this solution 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
Fortinet FortiGate
March 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.
ICT Administrator at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
Enables us to bring security into compliance with our policies
Pros and Cons
- "I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."
- "Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for our company firewall. We use it for intrusion prevention and anti-virus.
How has it helped my organization?
The internet filtering feature has really benefited my organization because we have a lot of things that go on illegal sites like auto torrents sites and a lot of streaming and downloads. We've been able to minimize the impact of bandwidth by filtering out media sites. This solution has also benefited us by bringing security into compliance with our policies.
What is most valuable?
I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good.
What needs improvement?
Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area.
There is a feature that Palo Alto has called Traps. It helps to prevent attacks on the system. A feature similar to this would be worth adding.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very much stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. We have around 200 users.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex.
What about the implementation team?
We have had experience with enterprise firewalls and notably, we had experience with Fortinet, so the deployment was done in-house. We require four people for deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise someone considering this solution to learn the product. You have to get to know the product, don't just look at it from outside. Get to know the product, the ins and outs and see how you can actually use it for your scenario.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant Information Technology at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Delivers what it promises when it comes to performance, stability and security functions.
What is most valuable?
The web content filtering and application control allow us to control which websites and online applications our users can access and those they cannot, thus preventing access to pornographic sites, online gaming sites, social media and many others during office hours.
The application control reinforces the blocks, preventing, for example, users from using specific applications to bypass the web content filter blocks. An example is a user running the UltraSurf proxy, attempting to access banned sites. With the application control function, FortiGate is able to prevent the operation of this application.
IPS - Intrusion Prevention System: It is the main component that detects and blocks hackers and malware attacks.
Other valuable features are SSL VPN and WAN link balancing.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides real security for business customers.
What needs improvement?
The reports provided by the equipment could be more detailed, and not so dependent on the FortiAnalyzer.
The FortiGate internal reports are good, but could have more details and options for viewing certain network data. For the client to get the richest reports, they need to buy the FortiAnalyzer appliance or hire FortiCloud service. These two aim to catch all of the FortiGate logs and turn them into friendly reports, many of which are not present in FortiGate itself.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been installing and configuring this product for at least 10 years with different companies, including other models such as the Fortigate 60D and 80C.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product has always been stable and performed quite well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not encounter any scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very good. Fortinet professionals are well trained.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For commercial UTM solutions, I have always worked with Fortinet; I had no reason to trust another third-party solution.
How was the initial setup?
It's simple: Just turn it on, access your Web console via the default IP address and then perform the settings.
What about the implementation team?
I installed and configured the 200D for one of my clients.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The full license is UTM Bundle Full Guard. The license fee varies according to the Fortigate model; prices can be low or too high.
What other advice do I have?
If you need real and effective security for your network, do not hesitate to buy a Fortigate appliance. It is no wonder that it is the best according to Gartner, for several years running. It delivers what it promises and more when it comes to performance, stability and security functions.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Project Manager at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
For price criteria, Fortinet wins over competitors. That being said, certain areas of the product need improvement
What is most valuable?
- Performances
- VDOM
- UTM
- Consolidated Management
- FortiGuard
How has it helped my organization?
- Endpoint control of mobile devices with Security Profiles compliancy checking, captive portal redirection, Antivirus, IPS and Web Filtering enabled on outgoing traffic (coupled to FortiClient solution)
- Identity-based policies used to authenticated and profile users and guests whatever the media used to access the network (ie. Wired and WiFi)
- Dynamic BGP routes injections to divert traffic requiring UTM inspection or DDOS mitigation
- Two-Factor Authentication VPN SSL for itinerant users (coupled to FortiToken solution)
- Active/Active cluster load-balancing http/https traffic
- GTP tunnels inspections over GPRS backbones for pure-player telco operators
- Distributed WiFi infrastructure with UTM enabled and managed from the central console like signatures and firmware updates
- Classical IP/IPv6 Firewall with consolidated-management
What needs improvement?
- Fix all pending bugs present in 5.0.x branch
- Improve the testing process of newly published firmware like using real and representative configurations submitted to consequent traffic load during a while
- Support SNMPv3 INFORM requests
- Uniform the scheduled backup between FortiGate, FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer
- Integrate graphical troubleshoot tools for policies based on devices or user identities
For how long have I used the solution?
4.5 years
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Some few non-blocking bugs present in the latest release and which are now solved. In the past I encountered serious bug regarding SCTP and GTP supports. Fortinet helped me to qualify the bug, implement a temporary workaround and then published appropriate patches rapidly.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No. I always used the latest qualified-stable firmware recommended by Fortinet and check by own testing methods the stability of HW and SW before deploying anything into customer premises.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
With design and dimensioning parts well achieved I never encountered scalability issue. However it happened I had to troubleshoot some slowness and latency issues on existing projects already running live. Most of the time they were due to some design issues and non-optimized configurations like for instance “in” and “out” ports not handled by the same NP, policy rules non-optimized and non-used features enabled.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Very good.
Technical Support:Very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
- CISCO ASA: Too expensive, performances issues, non-consolidated management between traditional ASA and inspection ASA CX, not the best security engines
- Checkpoint: Very expensive but good solutions, not the leader in UTM segment
- Juniper: Expensive but good solutions, not the leader in UTM segment
- Cyrberoam: Attractive prices but not yet tested, looks like promising
- Arkoon/Netasq: Obsoletes (Stormshield not yet tested)
How was the initial setup?
It was quite simple if you have at least a minimum of experiment with Firewalls integration. It is now even simpler thanks to the FortiExplorer application.
What about the implementation team?
In-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Taking into account the price criteria, nowadays Fortinet always wins offers in front of competitors like CISCO and Checkpoint. Mixing this key-point with other success keys like UTM features and performances.
What other advice do I have?
Contact Fortinet or Fortinet’s partner and ask for a POC.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
It offers unlimited VPN licensing but it needs a real-time log viewer in the GUI.
What is most valuable?
The unlimited VPN licensing. All of our remote locations (1000+) used IPSec VPN and SSL to connect to the cluster.
How has it helped my organization?
We went from being terrified about our firewalls screwing up to completely forgetting we had firewalls. I slept better and so did my manager.
What needs improvement?
A real-time log viewer in the GUI with the capability to filter traffic displayed. Cisco ASA's have this and it's fantastic.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used it for four years. We had two devices that were clustered together in a high availability pair as the front end of an country wide, high visibility solution.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Customer service was decent with Fortinet - they were helpful and got the product to our doorstep quickly.
Technical Support:This is where Fortinet stumbles. The support is farmed out overseas to techs that are not very knowledgeable about the Fortinet products. The response time for a critical priority one issue was over four hours and they only responded because we threatened legal action for them violating our support contract.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
They used to have Juniper products, which are terrible. The enterprise class firewalls do not support any sort of packetflow gathering such as netflow, and the devices didn't even support Juniper's proprietary jflow. Their SRX series routers, meant for home office use, had more features and capabilities.
How was the initial setup?
It was very straightforward and we encountered very little problems. Fail-over occurred within a second with zero outages or anyone actually taking notice. Firmware updates were easy to apply in a live environment if required, and the GUI was very easy to understand.
What about the implementation team?
I deployed it - I'm FCNSA certified.
What was our ROI?
If we used a similar solution that required a "per seat" license per VPN, we would have literally spent over 100x what the solution cost us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We implemented the clustered firewalls for around $30,000, and each office had another Fortigate device at a cost of around $1,000.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Cisco was evaluated but we didn't want to pay for the VPN licensing.
What other advice do I have?
It's an absolutely fantastic product. Just get your support contract clarified, and confirm the response times.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior NetOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Security has been increased but the licensing fees could be lower.
What is most valuable?
- GUI
- Flexibility
- Easy to configure
- UTM
How has it helped my organization?
- Option to control application = increased productivity
- Data leak prevention = increased security
- Anti-virus & IPS = increased security
What needs improvement?
I'm happy with the product, however the licensing fees could be lower.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There is a specific way of deploying a Fortigate product, and the scalability is related to the new unit deployment so there are no problems here. If you need more power/space, you just have to add a new box.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
It's very good, I've never had any problems with customer service.
Technical Support:It's very good, I've never had any problems with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was using Cisco ASA, and I switched due to a lack of features (e.g. poor SSL VPN support).
How was the initial setup?
It's a very simple setup as everything is well documented online and via the Fortigate channel on YouTube. Also, I posses a large amount of knowledge gained during the years that has helped me to deploy all my solutions. Even from the the beginning, it was easy as Fortigate has a great GUI and good online help,
What about the implementation team?
We did an in-house implementation, with no third party involvement.
What was our ROI?
The product is deployed as part of, and an add-on to, the MPLS solution for the majority of my customers. There is no ROI as this is not the major expectation, as the ROI is coming from the whole solution, not just this product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
All the costs are for the annual licenses. The cost of the original deployment fell below £5,000, and licenses are priced at around £3,000.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We considered Cisco, however we decided to go with Fortigate as it provides a good set of the features for the price paid,
What other advice do I have?
Enjoy it. The product is easy to implement, easy to manage, and easy to develop and grow.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sales project manager at Saraha
Simple implementation, reliable, but security could improve
Pros and Cons
- "All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
- "The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiGate is used for the overall protection of companies.
What is most valuable?
All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good.
What needs improvement?
The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We have 11 clients using this solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Cisco solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others, it is a good solution.
I rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven 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: Reseller

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Updated: March 2025
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