Fortinet FortiGate Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Network Manager at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dec 1, 2013

Fortigate is Hard to Beat for the Money

Fortinet has been a darling of the stock market ever since its IPO in 2009 as its stock price has accelerated over recent years. Its stock performance has mirrored the adoration that its line of security devices consistently receive. Fortinet is the current UTM market leader, boasting a 20% market share. Fortinet is now expanding out of its core SMB strength and into the large enterprise market where the increasing performance of its solutions are making it attractively priced.

In Gartner’s latest Unified Threat Management Magic Quadrant (UTM) Fortinet is listed at the top of the leader quadrant. Says Gartner, “We believe attributes that contributed to the leadership position include Fortinet’s high awareness in the industry, in Gartner client’s short-lists and in competitive situations; Fortinet’s aggressive price/performance.”

A UTM or Unified Threat Management device is a firewall that includes other features as well. The Fortinet UTM package includes gateway firewall, anti-virus, web filter, intrusion protection, application control, VPN, email filtering and WAN optimization. Think of it as the “Everything Box.”

There line of UTM security appliances is called the Fortigate series. It offers an appliance to meet every type of network, from the home office to large enterprise networks, as well as Managed Security Service providers. Its smallest unit, the Fortigate-20C, also serves as a wireless router and offers four internal switch port in addition to a WAN port. At the top of the food chain is its new 5000 Series chassis based network appliance. It supports two, six, or fourteen FortiGate-5000 series network security blades, and allow you to scale security and customize your unique environment. These large units are ideal for virtual infrastructures as they can control up to 3,000 virtual domains.

The admin console for the Fortigate is browser based. Sometimes, browser based can have a cheesy rudimentary look but not with the Fortigate. Navigating the Fortigate is simple with its expandable menu. The admin console opens up to a Dashboard which displays a series of widgets that the administrator can populate according to their needs. It also comes with a command line interface which can be accessed through the admin console itself or through Putty.

Like all UTM appliances, the Fortigate units do some things better than others. Its web filtering is certainly more than suitable for most environments but if you are looking for super high granularity with a complicated array of user based filtering and exceptions, you probably would be better suited with a dedicated filtering appliance. The same probably holds true for its email filtering as well.

With this in mind though, what IT professionals are looking for first and foremost in a UTM device is security, and this is what Fortinet does best. Configuring the firewall of the Fortigate is a breeze. Simply create your firewall objects, consolidate them into groups if possible, and then create your policy rules. You can right click on any of your policies to view a separate context menu that will allow you to do things such as delete, move or edit the policies.

Integrating the other core components with your firewall policies is a snap. Simply apply the various UTM services you desire to the designated policies. For example, you would enable email filtering only to the rule configured for email traffic. You would then configure web filtering for the rule regarding your HTTP and HTTPS traffic while you would apply anti-virus to both rules.

Backing up and restoring your Fortigate configurations is as simple as clicking a single link and can be completed in less than a minute. Fortinet is continually releasing new builds and updates for all of its models. Simply download these firmware upgrades to any local device and click the update link and browse to the downloaded updates. You can revert back to an older firmware release at any time. Some of the more robust Fortigate models can be clustered into active-active or active-passive configuration.

Fortinet recently released version 5 which among other things includes Mobility Management. This feature does not include an additional license and is ideal for those organizations who allow BYOD devices.

If you browse some of the UTM discussion boards out there, you will find the phrase, “can’t beat it for the price” when discussing the Fortigate. The combination of its strong UTM features with a very affordable price point should certainly put Fortinet on the short list for any organization shopping for a new UTM appliance.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user3483Senior Consultant at Unify Square

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Jan 9, 2014

Great review Brad.
Only for the part related to upgrades from one version to another, I think you are a bit too optimistic :-)

Sometimes the update (and rollback) are not devoid of hassles (including parts of the configuration that not always work "as they are" in the new firmware).

Suresh Bora

IT Infrastructure Lead at iConnect IT Business Solutions DMCC

Mar 30, 2022

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Offers good protection and security

Pros and Cons

"Overall security features and performance routing is good."

"Lacks sufficient security options."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet protects us from web attacks. We also use it to connect our remote users. I'm the IT infrastructure lead.

What is most valuable?

I think the overall security features and the performance routing is good.

What needs improvement?

The security features are good but I'd like to see additional security options.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution, yes.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple and took us about half an hour. We have 50 users in the company. We have one person who deals with all our maintenance and deployment issues.

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

We have a three-year license.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution and rate it eight out of 10.

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.

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reviewer1418730

Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Feb 1, 2021

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Detailed reports, amazing stability, and easy implementation

Pros and Cons

"Some of the key features of the solution is that it has good reporting, you can receive many details from the connection, for example, clients and website information."

"In the balance between links feature normally you can just choose one option to balance. It would be better for the solution to have more than one option, preferably three."

What is most valuable?

Some of the key features of the solution is that it has good reporting, you can receive many details from the connection, for example, clients and website information. Additionally, you can determine if an action has taken place such as virus scan information.

What needs improvement?

In the balance between links feature normally you can just choose one option to balance. It would be better for the solution to have more than one option, preferably three.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is amazing.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. We have approximately 50 employees using this product in our company.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is easy.

What about the implementation team?

The solution is easy to implement, it takes approximately one day for deployment.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten 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

reviewer1456182

Senior Information Technology Auditor at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 29, 2020

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User-friendly, easy to operate, reliable, and easy to set up

Pros and Cons

"It's user-friendly and easy to operate."

"The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use it as an end-server and to block traffic.

What is most valuable?

It's user-friendly and easy to operate.

What needs improvement?

The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for three years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable project. We plan to keep using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable.

We have 300 users in our organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is a local vendor. We are satisfied with the support that we have received.

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

Previously, we used a MikroTik firewall.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex, it's easy. It took 30 minutes to deploy.

It only requires one person to deploy and maintain.

What about the implementation team?

We have a vendor to support us.

What other advice do I have?

There is really nothing to complain about with this product. It's a very good product to use, and it has just started to get the top ratings for firewalls.

This is a good product and I would recommend it.

I would rate this solution a nine 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.

Rodolfo Bento Matos

CEO e confundador at Infinity Learning

Nov 15, 2020

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Good application control features and very stable and reliable

Pros and Cons

"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."

"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to protect our or our customers' full environment by using features such as IPS signatures, VPN, endpoint protection, and antivirus.

What is most valuable?

The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable.

What needs improvement?

The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been very stable and reliable. We are comfortable with its stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is good enough for us. We have about 15 employees who use this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The set up was a little complex, but the interface and the process are user friendly.

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

The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others to use the documentation. The official documentation is very comprehensive and complete. I use the Cookbook Reference Guide.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller

Panos Kre

Works at GOldair Handling

May 1, 2019

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Has a friendly GUI and CLI to access its many features

Pros and Cons

"The features that we have found most valuable are the SSL VPN and the User Portal."

"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use this solution for our firewall, Application Control, QoS, IPSec, and SSL VPN.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has a very friendly GUI and CLI as compared to other vendors.

What is most valuable?

The features that we have found most valuable are the SSL VPN and the user Portal.

What needs improvement?

This product could be improved with active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels. There are not enough recent online materials to assist in integration with Cisco for VPN, GRE, and IPSec.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Our experience with this solution is that it is stable and reliable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We found the user interface to be better than what is found in other products.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Randy Obanon

IT Manager at Soporte Antivirus Ltda

Mar 18, 2019

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Enables us to check our sites and emails for threats

Pros and Cons

"We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."

"They need to improve their technical support."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for checking sites, threat prevention, ransomware, and email check.

How has it helped my organization?

We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites.

What needs improvement?

They need to improve their technical support.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. We have 22 users.

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

We were previously using Sophos XG.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. The implementation took around two hours.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.

it_user882894

Works at Smartdev LLC

Jun 5, 2018

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The graphical interface is complete and easy to use

Pros and Cons

"The IPS is good. It protect my network from attackers."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."

"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."

What is our primary use case?

It is a UTM firewall with many features. It has helped me to control users and public multi-servers easily. It also can make the VPN connection free through advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless, simple integration into a large network.

How has it helped my organization?

It help me control users, so I could review how users access the Internet or the bandwidth, and what they use per day.

What is most valuable?

A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use.
The IPS is good. It protect my network from attackers.

What needs improvement?

One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.