Fortinet FortiGate Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

reviewer1255635

Head of the Satellite Infrastructure and Operation System Department at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jan 14, 2021

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A user-friendly firewall solution with a valuable domains feature

Pros and Cons

"What's most important is the ease of use."

"Backup can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate mainly for firewall and VPN purposes.

What is most valuable?

The virtual domains feature and the ease of use.

What needs improvement?

The Fortinet support needs improvement and also the quality control of the firmware (there are a lot of bugs)

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for about 10 years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate offer a good value for money solution

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable. We don't have any constraints that create a problem for us except the support.

How are customer service and support?

The major problem with Fortinet is the support. We have often hardware malfunctions and software bugs and the support is slow.

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

We also use another firewall vendor product

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was through a international integrator team

What was our ROI?

Fair

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

The price is fair compared to the other competitors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

What other advice do I have?

They have many features

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Fortinet FortiGate an eight.

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

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

November 2024

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Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.

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11820_DevOps Engineer

Dëvóps Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Jan 22, 2017

Fortigate is only cheap if you don't value your time or product quality

I have had the displeasure of having to support SOHO Fortigate offerings (Fortigate/Fortiwifi). in almost any measure, I have found these products inferior to respective solutions from cisco and juniper (two examples i've had experience with).

I'll start with the most egregious and disturbing: the product is unstable. the VPN client is crash prone and the VPN daemon is crash prone. if you want to enjoy having to drive to the office when the roads are iced because the VPN daemon just gave up the ghost again, just to reboot a unit, by all means - choose Fortigate.

I'll continue with support - pretty much a joke, although being fair here, it is similar in other respective products. by the time a competent engineer reviews your case, you may have to wade through more than a month of back and forth with t1/t2 support who offer very little usable assistance.

And final insult to injury - aggressive and clueless resellers. Fortigate tries to distance themselves from customers via resellers (as if support filtering wasn't enough). getting the wrong product or wrong configuration is very common, especially with unneeded packages.

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

Everyone writes basing on his own experience.
In this specific case (and I hope that it does not disturb you) would divide your review in two parts.

I agree with your complains regarding support.
My impression is that Fortinet prefers to delegate a big part of the problems to its reseller channel.
From then on, it is a simple matter of luck to find a company that is competent and able to help or not (I have found more often the second kind).

As you pointed out, it is not a different scenario from the one you have with other vendors, but it did NOT constitute a justification.

I do not use SOHO appliances (or not as often as you) so maybe they are not good as you noticed.
Again, probably the SOHO market, based on low prices - low quality is full of products that are not worth our time, not only the Fortinet's one.

Said so, I disagree from you about the Fortigate family of products to be not good as a whole. Their medium/high level appliances are so good (and so rich in features) that is really hard to find something like it on the market.

We are talking about UTM devices, able to replace what other vendors do with a lot of different pieces. They are not hard to configure (of course, it is not something for "newbies") and reliable.

I keep up networks with thousands of geographically dispersed users with no issue at all, and using only FortiGate appliances.

So, let me add (based on my experience, this time): support is not good. The high-end appliances from the FortiGate family are really good.

it_user460626

IT Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Aug 31, 2016

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We were able to prevent the use of torrent applications. They need to improve the alert and event logs.

What is most valuable?

With the application and web filters, we were able to block social network websites and any other websites that could lead staff being less productive. We were able to stop use of VPN applications on the school’s network. We were able to prevent the use of torrent applications.

How has it helped my organization?

It was used in a school network, so it kind of helped in preventing staff and students from getting carried away with their browsing.

What needs improvement?

I feel they need to work on the alert and event logs. We were not able to get anything much out of it when we were facing issues. Not sure if it was a configuration issue; we were, in fact, not able to see any system-related logs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I used it for two years. I had to replace it as the number of staff increased to beyond its limit.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did have an issue with it hanging occasionally. But then later, we figured out that it was handling traffic beyond its limit.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is average.

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

This was the first device we used.

How was the initial setup?

It was installed by the IT solution provider while setting up the school.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good device for a medium-sized company. But if you have over 150 staff/devices, I wouldn’t advise using this.

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

reviewer1247301

Founder, Chairman of the Board at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Feb 26, 2022

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Complete, stable, and easy to use

Pros and Cons

"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."

"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."

What is our primary use case?

I use FortiGate for perimeter security, web filtering, and antivirus purposes.

I use two different models. I use 90D and 200E.

What is most valuable?

I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use.

What needs improvement?

It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future.

In terms of new features, it is a complete product. I don't expect any new features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is not very good for such an expensive product. I expect better support. You can find a lot of documentation on Fortinet's website, but their technical support is not very good.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to deploy and use. It didn't take more than a day.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed it ourselves. We have our own team. There are three people in our organization who directly use this product.

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

It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it an 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.

reviewer1254792

Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2020

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Good performance and web filter capability

Pros and Cons

"The most valuable feature is the web filter."

"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."

What is our primary use case?

This firewall is an antivirus, protects against spam, and is an IPS.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the web filter.

The performance is fine.

What needs improvement?

Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface. We have problems with that.

Log retention should be greater than 24 hours.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate for about eight years.

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of the initial setup depends on the implementation. There are some that are very simple, whereas others are complex.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 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

it_user69804

Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Apr 18, 2014

I've been with Fortinet for 8 years now. Even when not considering anything else, I still consider other vendors

I'm obviously a fan of the FGTs - I'm aware of the solutions to the "problems" many newcomers experience. I'm comfortable.

But maybe too comfortable. Though I've just introduced my new employer to Fortinet, you must always be objective in your search for proper hardware. Do your homework, cross the T's and dot your I's.

Even when not considering anything other than a FGT, I still consider other vendors - that doubt, nagging or gnawing at the back of my brain. And even when I force myself to be unbiased, the FGT line always wins. I WANT to move on; it's time - I've been with Fortinet for 8 years now. But they somehow keep winning my loyalty. And it's not with unending bugs. The Hardware is legit; it's tight. It's fast. It's pretty - LOOK! They come in WHITE now! How Apple. The point is, FGTs are just doing it and doing it and doing it well. I continue to get creative with design and implementation, and they continue to flex and perform. Unique configurations not possible with other Vendors I've worked with. They have their shortcomings in areas; ALL vendors have their shortcomings - aware or not. But which shortcomings mean nothing to you?

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

it_user69351

Network Engineer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 18, 2013

Fortinet vs. Palo Alto

I work with both Fortinet and Palo Alto.  For me, the advantage of Palo is visibility, reporting and user authentication. Fortinet is easier and faster to configure.  A commit on a Palo Alto is very long when we are used to have a direct modification of Fortinet.  Virtual wire on Palo Alto is much more easier than transparent mode of Fortinet, it's really useful to prepare an integration or a demo in real situation and the tap mode is cool for that too.

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