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reviewer1247301 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder, Chairman of the Board at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
MSP
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.

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.
842,690 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1238931 - PeerSpot reviewer
Junior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Stable and straightforward to deploy, but technical support needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "This is an easy solution to deploy."
  • "Technical support needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are a solution provider and FortiGate is one of the security products that we implement for our customers.

What is most valuable?

This is an easy solution to deploy.

What needs improvement?

Technical support needs to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for almost two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, FortiGate is good. We plan to continue working with it in the future.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

FortiGate is a scalable product and our customer has approximately 2,000 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

The customer support is expensive.

We have had difficulties with technical support from Fortinet.

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

I also have experience with Cisco, and FortiGate is the cheaper solution.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward and it took about two months for us to deploy for our last customer.

Some customers have this deployed on-premises, whereas others have a cloud-based deployment. The choice depends on the environment.

What about the implementation team?

We have an in-house team to deploy this product for our customers. We also give them technical support. Relationships with our customers are very important.

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

The price of FortiGate support is too expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We try to help our customers evaluate and choose the best solution for them. Sometimes, they implement Cisco products.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall product that I recommend.

I would rate this solution a seven 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.
842,690 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1462002 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
A highly-effective firewall but some evolution is required
Pros and Cons
  • "It's great for capturing the traffic and troubleshooting it."
  • "We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."

What is our primary use case?

Foremost, we mainly used it as a firewall. we also use it for low sharing between circuits.

What is most valuable?

It's great for capturing the traffic and troubleshooting it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We used Fortinet FortiGate for one year.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is both scalable and stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We used a different party for support — they were pretty good.

How was the initial setup?

Deployment was very easy.

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

I think the price of Fortinet FortiGate is very reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Fortinet FortiGate a rating of seven. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1254792 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Real User
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
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
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.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Fortinet has a strong reputation at the high end, but for midsize shops there are more affordable options

I pulled our organization off Fortinet a year ago for three reasons - the high cost, the constant bugs in code that either blocked access that should be allowed or general failures during system updates, and the killer - a poor design on their clustering which caused configuration corruption to pass from the primary to the secondary.

Oh, let's not forget the static ram exhaustion that began the cluster failure to begin with. I can understand the limitation of static ram, but the decision to solder that in place (making replacement impossible) meant that particular unit has roughly a 4 year lifespan.

I am well aware that Fortinet has a strong reputation at the high end, but for midsize shops there are more affordable options that seem to need less hand-holding.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4401 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

I agree with the drawbacks you presented in the review. I would like to ask you, can you give me some examples of other options that are more affordable for midsize shops? Thank you.

reviewer1464204 - PeerSpot reviewer
GM: Information Systems at a logistics company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Its stability is the most valuable, and it is also scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "Its stability is the most valuable."
  • "It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to create a WAN. We also use it for the UTM firewall.

We don't have the latest versions. We've got the 60Ds and 30E products.

What is most valuable?

Its stability is the most valuable.

What needs improvement?

It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We use it at five sites, and all in all, we have around 300 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't deal with Fortinet.

How was the initial setup?

It was complex for me, but it was quick.

What about the implementation team?

We had to use an outside resource to set it up.

What other advice do I have?

We are going to move over to Meraki, so we won't be using this solution. I would recommend this solution to others, but it is a matter of preference.

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
President at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Good performance, protects network perimeters against attacks

What is our primary use case?

To protect network perimeters.

How has it helped my organization?

Security. The main options feature protection and security against attacks.

What is most valuable?

Reliability and performance, those are key factors.

What needs improvement?

I have only one request and that is to have Fortinet as a market download in Azure. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

So far, so good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I'm an integrator, so I use SonicWall, Sophos, and Fortinet.

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