I am primarily using FortiGate to provide a hardware VPN or an equipment base of VPN to a central office. I am only using a small fraction of its capabilities, so I'm not pushing it at the edges.
President at Integral Design Software
Reasonably-priced, intuitive, and offers a seamless VPN
Pros and Cons
- "Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."
- "The initial setup and configuration are not intuitive and require training."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it.
What is most valuable?
Once it is in use, it is intuitive to use. Once it's in place, it doesn't require any further interaction.
What needs improvement?
The initial setup and configuration are not intuitive and require training.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately four months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been rock-solid, and I haven't seen any glitches or bugs at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
With only two people in the company, we haven't needed to scale. Our roles include software development and providing technical support for various clients.
How are customer service and support?
I have not needed to contact technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the first firewall product that I have used.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is fairly technical and it's not something the untrained person would want to do. You need to know what you're doing in order to set it up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of FortiGate is reasonable. In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I purchased this product because this is the one that the central office supports.
What other advice do I have?
In summary, this is a good product, it works, it doesn't need any attention, and I'm satisfied with it. Although the initial setup is slightly complex, security is a complex question and I'm not sure that it can be simplified.
I would rate this solution a ten out of 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.
Sr. Corporate Marketing Executive at Amity Infosoft Pvt. Ltd.
Improved our organization through single pane of glass management
Pros and Cons
- "Anti-Spam web content filterinG."
What is our primary use case?
VPN Over 3 Location Across India and We Get SD-Wan + UTM from Fortinet and Final got Solution SDWAN as well as UTM for Every Location
How has it helped my organization?
- Single pane of glass management
- Easy GUI for monitors
- Logical Network Diagram from GUI
- Physical Network Diagram from GUI
What is most valuable?
FortiGate is really strong in the following:
- UTM
- IPS
- Antivirus
- App control
- AntiBotnet
- Anti-Spam
- Web content filtering
- IOC (indicator of Compromise)
- Web Application Firewall
- Vulnebarity Management
- FortiView
- L3 routing
What needs improvement?
Need to Improvement in Reporting
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it for the last nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is fine. I rebooted after 755 Days from the date of installation.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is Fine.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Partner support is very good.
Technical Support:
FortiGuard Service is also good with the push method update.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were previously using SOPHOS.
How was the initial setup?
Easy by WebGUI and also mobile app.
What about the implementation team?
We have implemented in-house.
What was our ROI?
Excellent ROI, due to virus spambot intrusion free network.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's a little bit higher than Cyberoam but the security is More higher compared to the other vendor.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Sophos, Check Point, and SonicWall.
What other advice do I have?
Buy FortiGate for a hassle free network management and excellent ROI.
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.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Firewall Engineer at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
Scalable solution with a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is scalable."
- "There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution primarily for the VPN connections in local area. In some cases, I use it at universities in order to secure the local network in the university, such as servers and backup devices.
I have also used the solution as a load balancer and the EMS functionality, which I use as a controller for wireless devices.
What needs improvement?
The PPPoE server protocol with a connection to a Radius server is used a lot by ISPs and not so much by the end user. I think it would be great to see this solution with the protocol developed for ISPs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for more than two or three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before choosing Fortigate, I was using Cisco and pfSense.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward.
The time it takes to setup the solution depends on the case. It may take less than a day or more than two months, it depends on the technology that is being used. For example, a hospital I am working with has 20 switches with two firewalls, but there are issues in the physical place and not in Fortinet. In this case, the environment limits the speed of setup.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate FortiGate a nine 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
How are these are unbiased reviews? It's Fortinet Fortinet Fortinet. There is very little concrete details. I distrust user reviews in general because they can easily be coaxed / paid. Most of these supposed reviewers demonstrate they aren't actively involved in using / managing the device. In the "Sonicwall vs Fortinet" under the guy who chose Sonicwall after looking at Fortinet talks more about what is good about Fortinet than he does about Sonicwall! It will be interesting to see if my comments here stick.
@Jeff-S Thanks for commenting. Reviews on IT Central Station are written by users with a varying range of experience, ranging from those who have daily hands-on experience to those that interact with the solution on a less regular basis. We have a strict policy whereby we do not offer gift cards or incentives in return for providing reviews.
Ensuring reviews are only written by real users is a core value of ours. We only publish reviews from users who have used the solution in the past 12 months. We prefer to err on the side of caution and not publish reviews that are suspected of being bogus unless we can confirm that the reviewer has experience with the solution.
You can learn more about our guidelines here:
www.itcentralstation.com/guidelines
Mgr. IT Infrastructure and Network Operations at a media company with 11-50 employees
Centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances allow us to take control over our public and private infrastructure
Pros and Cons
- "Centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances allow us to take control over our public and private infrastructure."
- "Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
What is our primary use case?
- Security
- Monitoring and controlling
- VPN
- Active Directory integration
- Servers
- All components related to an enterprise environment.
How has it helped my organization?
We replaced Sophos with FortiGate and found it better than the Sophos product. It has better control, insights, and prevention from crypto malware and other threats.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances so we can have control over public and private Infrastructure.
What needs improvement?
Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products are future proof and offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability.
IT is continuously evolving, and every few days or months, there is something new. Whoever evolves first will take the lead over the competition. Adopting and evolving is the key to success.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
These products are solid and stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not had any issues with scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our experience with support has been fine. No trouble or hassle.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Sophos: It was good for small businesses, who are evolving and improving. Though, I found Cisco Meraki to be much better.
How was the initial setup?
Part of the setup was straightforward and other parts were complex. They need to work on feature placements and menus.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation through a vendor, who had good experience.
What was our ROI?
Two to three years, depending on usage type, number of users, and organizational size.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes, we did, Palo Alto and other solutions, but we found FortiGate to be the best solution at that point in time.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Consultant at a tech consulting company
I can delegate more simple and routine tasks to other administrators and I don’t have to be the “Firewall” guy all the time, but the graphical interface always has room for improvement.
What is most valuable?
I enjoy the combination of an intuitive graphical interface and also a traditional shell command line environment for more advanced administration. The option to configure policies in a graphical environment is very easy to understand and also simple to teach someone else unfamiliar with the product.
How has it helped my organization?
It’s much easier to share administration tasks with more people. Due to the flexibility and ease of certain features, I can delegate more simple and routine tasks to other administrators and I don’t have to be the “Firewall” guy all the time.
What needs improvement?
I think the graphical interface always has room for improvement. I would like to see more attention put towards the logging functions as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I worked with this solution daily for over 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I encountered several strange issues in v5.0 (and earlier) OS versions. Strange anomalies like random reloads, VPN instability and unexplained policy changes. However, all of these issues were resolved in v5.2.
How are customer service and technical support?
I always had great experiences with Fortinet. I worked with them several times to resolve configuration issues and process RMA’s on failed equipment, which was rare.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I’ve personally used Cisco ASA and PIX architecture and after using Fortinet, I always prefer FortiGate products in terms of functionality and ease of use. I recommend these to clients looking for a firewall solution.
How was the initial setup?
Usually always simple and straight forward. I can get a client up and running with most standard policies and inbound/outbound control in a single day and make adjustments as needed. I can usually preconfigure Fortinet products and send them out for install.
What about the implementation team?
I always implemented via in-house. I think the most important advice is to always test new configurations in the lab especially, when upgrading firmware.
What was our ROI?
From my experience, FortiGate products are affordable and worth the investment.
What other advice do I have?
I think for almost any small to mid-size business this is a great solution. Fortigate should definitely be considered before choosing a more expensive and complicated product.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IP Senior Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
It offers stability, scalability and plenty of security features. Enjoy fast and effective troubleshooting as everything is organized in a very understandable way.
What is most valuable?
- High Availability clustering
- SNAT/DNAT
- Policies section view
- Virtual Domains
- Logging and Reporting
- IPS
How has it helped my organization?
It has made our daily operations easier, as well as adding security, and stability to them. Adding or removing security policies is simplified through its web interface, or CLI. Additionally, troubleshooting is fast and effective, as everything is organized in a very understandable way.
What needs improvement?
Its web interface needs to be more stable, and more functional, through the variety of browsers. Additionally a nice add-on would be a “diagnostic sniffer” capability in the web interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for six years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
With different browsers, the web interface crashes. On newer versions of Fortios the problem has been minimized.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Not at all, it is as stable as it should be.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I believe that it is a little complex adding new firewalls in an existing cluster.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
8/10.
Technical Support:9/10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are using different firewall solutions, in parallel with the Fortigate ones.
How was the initial setup?
It was straightforward. Taking control of the device for first time is easy, and the cookbook manual is very helpful.
What about the implementation team?
A vendor team offered five day training but the implementation was in-house.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other solutions, but I was not responsible for taking the final decision.
What other advice do I have?
Throughout the last six years we have been using Fortigate firewalls, and the experience we gained is only positive. These devices are easy to manage, operate and troubleshoot any issues that might rise. The use of virtual domains has added more security presence by only having one physical device, and it’s easy to create them. Also, by enabling other security features on the VDoms, the physical performance will not be affected.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Systems Engineer at Vernity
Flexible, integrates well, and offers good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "It's an easy solution to set up."
- "The stability could be a bit better."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is mostly used for the connection with VPN clients. We use the solution for network security and network segmentation.
What is most valuable?
It's a flexible solution. The security that it's providing is a valuable aspect of the product.
FortiGate integrates well with other equipment such as FortiSwitch, FortiIB, and more, and delivers one pane of glass for the management of those devices.
It's an easy solution to set up.
Technical support has been good.
What needs improvement?
The configuration option availability is not 100% from the website of the FortiGate web management site. When we log on to the web interface on FortiGate, we do not have everything under this web solution. If we need some specific configuration or need to do some specific configuration, we need to do additional things on the CLI.
The stability could be a bit better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for at least the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, there are some areas in which they need to improve. There are different versions and we understand from past implementations which will work best according to our client's needs. The wrong one may not be as stable as they would like.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Some clients may increase usage in the future. FortiGate is fast becoming a very popular solution and its use will likely grow in general.
How are customer service and support?
In general, technical support is helpful. We are quite happy with the level of support on offer.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is pretty simple and straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult.
The length of time it takes to deploy really depends on the size of the project.
While we do assist the client with the implementation, they tend to handle the maintenance on their end.
What about the implementation team?
Typically we, as integrators, will assist the client with the initial setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The overall costs are pretty typical. It's not overly cheap or overly expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I work as an integrator and maybe 60% of my work is around FortiGate. My company is a Fortinet partner and integrator.
If companies are thinking about the security of their network, they should consider FortiGate as a gate to the internet. I would highly recommend it to others.
For small or mid-size businesses, 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
Project Manager at renaissance group
User-friendly with good integrations on offer and a variety of great features
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
- "The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for security - for the firewall.
What is most valuable?
The solution has a variety of excellent features.
The cloud base that they have on offer is great.
Overall, the solution is very good and we've been very happy with it.
The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice.
The integration is great.
What needs improvement?
The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for one year so far.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, the stability has been very good. We haven't had any issues at all. I haven't had issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's great.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't run into any issues when it comes to scaling. If a company needs to scale it should be able to do so without much of a problem.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't really dealt directly with technical support. Once, when I ran into an issue, I spoke with my local partner. Other than that, you can find the answers you need via the help navigation.
Therefore, I can't speak to the helpfulness of technical support. I can't speak to whether or not they are responsive or knowledgable.
I have been satisfied with the help I've received from my local partner, however. They've been quite good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We do use other solutions as well, such as Cisco. We find this solution to be better in general, and more user-friendly. That said, Cisco does do customization better.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward. We found it to be quite simple.
When I bought it, I found that the user interface made everything pretty easy from the start. They also have very good help features that can assist you if you get stuck. It was pretty easy to configure the items I needed to.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is pretty much standard with the competition. It's not overly expensive.
That said, if you want to have a good security VPN or firewall, then you should invest more than money and pay interest in local devices. If you want a better network structure and better security, then you need more local devices.
What other advice do I have?
I use FortiGate quite a bit. I'm just a customer and end-user. I don't have a business relationship with the company.
On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at an eight. I've been pretty happy with it so far.
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.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
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I have used Fortigates for 6 years. Like you, similar experiences augmented by an additional support subscription due to my early learning curves. What I did not realize was the speed compromises with all the security apps acivie - if I have a Verizon FiOS true Gig subscription, my speed was tapered down to 100 Mbps or less. That is a 90% reduction. With 6 users multiplied by cell phones accessing the same WiFi, you can imagine the data speeds we were actually working with.
So, I picked WatchGuard, the T70 specifically. The data speeds with everything turned on remains near the subscription (1 Gig) and I have the same types of protections as the Fortigate. It is too early to report the reliability and other specs since this has changed only in the last week, but the specs tell me a lot that helped me to understand what I missed on my first go-around with Fortigate. Don't get me wrong, I had zero issues over the last 6 years to Fortigate's credit. However, that speed compromise doesn't work for me. Perhaps I missed something, but my support knows the product and there were no adjustments available, other than turning certain feature off. I couldn't afford that security risk, not these days.