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IT Manager at Hadef & Partners
Real User
Simple, intuitive interface, with good support
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."
  • "The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is as a firewall and UTM machine.

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain.

The UTM configuration on-premises is straightforward and simple to use.

Support is good and the interface is simple and intuitive.

What needs improvement?

It's good, and I feel that there is nothing more that can be added.

The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for more than five years.

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Fortinet FortiGate
March 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution. I have not had any issues with it during the time that I have been using it.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is quite good. They have helped me with all of my requests.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

It took approximately one day to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of.

We had to pay a large amount for the first year contract and support.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight 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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1425057 - PeerSpot reviewer
Documentation Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
MSP
User-friendly, stable, and the functionality is logically designed
Pros and Cons
  • "The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
  • "The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."

What is our primary use case?

I used FortiGate only for the firewall.

What is most valuable?

The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much.

The functions are designed very logically.

What needs improvement?

The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for about one month.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not experienced any bugs or glitches.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, I haven't had any problems. Because of the price, I would say that this product is better for large enterprises.

What about the implementation team?

My colleague set up FortiGate.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Fortinet bundles FortiGate with other products and because of this, the price is a little expensive to some SMB enterprises. 

What other advice do I have?

FortiGate is the number one solution, both in the global market and the Chinese market. Most of the Chinese market follows FortiGate's news and its roadmap is very popular. I would recommend people buy it.

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.
PeerSpot user
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.
it_user275226 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Director with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
I don't need to have a cluster because it's stable, but rules are not intuitive and the admin UI needs improvement.

What is most valuable?

It offers a proxy and a firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

It has a better processor than CheckPoint.

What needs improvement?

It's not intuitive, as the rules will be in the last place you look. You can look for a report for an hour, eventually getting a blank page. User experience for the administrator is basically not good as it needs to be more proficient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for two years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have five ISPs, and it was hard to connect the LAN to the WAN. It did not go well and I had do to a roll-back.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is so stable I don't need to have a cluster.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I use a service given by the integrator and it's better than Fortigate’s. The integrator gives me a guarantee that they will immediately replace my machine if a problem occurs.

Technical Support:

I use a service given by the integrator and it's better than Fortigate’s. The integrator gives me a guarantee that they will immediately replace my machine if a problem occurs.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used an open-source product name Squid.

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward, and was transparent for the users.

What about the implementation team?

We did it in-house.

What was our ROI?

It costs $200,000 and is only a bit better than the open source solution, which was free.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You don’t have to buy the Fortigate analyzer, as you can also get the reports using Fortinet.

What other advice do I have?

It's fine as a firewall and as a proxy. You need to configure the rules right or else it will be hard to keep up with the logs.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Andrew S. Baker (ASB) - PeerSpot reviewer
Andrew S. Baker (ASB)Cybersecurity & IT Operations Professional (VirtualCxO) at BrainWave Consulting Company, LLC
Consultant

The v5.6 GUI is much improved, IMO. Very happy to see the changes there. Some things are still a little hard to find, but not as many.

See all 5 comments
Senior System Engineer at Effvision
Real User
Secure, simple implementation, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having a frequent ask questions(FAQ) area for people to receive quick answers to popular questions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have an SMS notification feature. For example, if you cannot access your email you could receive an SMS message."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate can be deployed on the cloud, on-premise, or hybrid setups.

Our clients use Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall for their business.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having a frequent ask questions(FAQ) area for people to receive quick answers to popular questions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have an SMS notification feature. For example, if you cannot access your email you could receive an SMS message.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable.

We have approximately 25 people that are using this solution. We do not plan to increase usage.

How are customer service and support?

If we have an issue we can contact support. We have had good experiences with the support from Fortinet FortiGate.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used Azure firewalls.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is simple. It is not complex. The whole process took us one day.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solutions ourselves.

We have approximately five engineers that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Other firewalls are more expensive than Fortinet FortiGate, such as the Azure firewall.

We are on an annual license and it is approximately 6,000 Egyptian Pound(EGP). 

What other advice do I have?

I advise others Fortinet FortiGate has an easy configuration and it does not take much time to learn about the rules that you will need to apply for your company.  When you connect to the main server you have high security.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Security Engineer at Eguardian lanka
Reseller
Initial implementation straightforward, helpful support, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
  • "The reporting in Fortinet FortiGate could improve. Customers are having to purchase additional reporting components. When I have used the Sophos solution it is a complete solution, in Fortinet FortiGate you have to use additional tools to have the features needed."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate as a network firewall.

What needs improvement?

The reporting in Fortinet FortiGate could improve. Customers are having to purchase additional reporting components. in  Fortinet FortiGate you have to use additional tools to have the features needed.

We need to use FortiAuthenticator to have additional bandwidth. Fortinet should include more features in the solution instead of having separate tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution from my experience.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is 24 hours a day seven days a week, and 365 days a year. The support is good from Fortinet, and local distributor partner support has been helpful, we highly recommend them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used pfSense, Sophos Firewall, and other endpoint solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial implementation of Fortinet FortiGate is not complex because the GUI environment is easy to use. We can do a lot of things in the GUI. If the configurations engineer, network administrator, or network engineer has knowledge about firewalls, the process will not be complex. It can easily be managed.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of Fortinet FortiGate when compared to other solutions is high. However, my knowledge of the price is from third parties and I am not sure how accurate it is. I typically work in the technical area of my organization.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Works at Aeon Mall Indonesia
Real User
Easy to install, stable but security features could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable."
  • "We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."

How has it helped my organization?

We use the solution for security but we are planning on upgrading to another product.

What is most valuable?

We currently are using the basic features of the product but one of the features we use is for blocking traffic.

What needs improvement?

We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable. Also, the security could improve on some features that are available.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support is they provide is good.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing for the product is alright. Our organization has not yet provided an end budget for this area.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are not yet certain if we need a different solution in the future. We are evaluating our options. We have looked at Cisco and Barracuda solutions but I believe Cisco is very expensive and Barracuda might be the one we choose. It is too early to tell, we are still evaluating these options and others.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet Fortigate a six out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head Of IT Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Has a good payment function for applications but configuring and management is not easy
Pros and Cons
  • "The payment function for applications is good."
  • "Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for a data center firewall. I've been using Fortigate but I'm also currently evaluating Cisco and Check Point. We are customers of Fortinet and I'm in IT infrastructure. 

What is most valuable?

I like the payment function for applications.

What needs improvement?

It's difficult to add or define, and it's not that easy to configure and manage. We're looking for something more flexible for the long term. I also find that the performance is limited in comparison to other solutions. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable but when you do scale, it limits the performance. We have over 1,000 users in our company and four people who deal with the maintenance of all our solutions. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is acceptable, and they're good in terms of local support and global support. If they cannot resolve the issue they will pass us to another level of support. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously had experience with CheckPoint, Cisco, and Palo Alto. I would rate Palo Alto as the best firewall in the world. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is relatively straightforward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This product could be a little cheaper although compared to other similar solutions, it's more reasonably priced. 

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.
PeerSpot user
IT & PPN Coordinator at a manufacturing company
Real User
Highly rated, easy to manage, and pretty easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
  • "The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."

What is our primary use case?

Our organization has 45 branches. We use the Fortigate 200 models at our data centers and have centralized connectivity between our different branches and our data centers.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex.

The product is user-friendly and easy to manage.

Fortigate overall has a very high security rating in Gartner. We feel safe under their security features. It has extended options as well, if you would like even more security for your organization.

What needs improvement?

The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity. While in general, it's pretty good, this is always a concern as the landscape shifts constantly. They need to ensure they stay on top of things so that their security and integrations stay constantly up to date in order to protect our company. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for seven to eight years. It's been quite a while. We have lots of experience with it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. We don't have issues with the product freezing or crashing. We don't deal with glitches or bugs or anything of that nature. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale if you need it to. That's not a problem at all.

We do plan on continuing to use the service going forward.

How was the initial setup?

The solution overall is very easy to understand. Therefore, the initial setup is not complex. It's straightforward. Even the configurations are good. An organization shouldn't have too much trouble with it.

How long it takes to deploy depends on  what you want to configure on a firewall. It depends on the policies being implemented. That definitely takes time depending on the company and what is being done. If you are familiar with all features and all the steps regarding how to create a policy and how to implement a policy, it is pretty easy and won't take too long. 

What about the implementation team?

I've handled the initial implementation myself many times. I don't necessarily need any outside assistance.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would recommend this solution. I'd rate it ten out of ten. We've enjoyed using the product and we appreciate its security features.

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.