Fortinet FortiGate Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

it_user1296954

Senior Scientist at Ats, iNC.

Feb 28, 2020

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Good SSL-VPN, anti-virus, and anti-malware protection

Pros and Cons

"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."

"The user interface could be improved to make it less confusing and easier to set up."

What is our primary use case?

FortiGate is used as the primary firewall and malware detection device for the company.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution allows solid VPN service for access from the field, and the anti-virus/anti-malware detection works well.

What is most valuable?

SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable.

What needs improvement?

The user interface could be improved to make it less confusing and easier to set up. There are too many pull-down menus.

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

December 2024

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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate for five years.

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

reviewer981903

IT Management at a marketing services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 16, 2019

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An inexpensive answer for firewall protection

Pros and Cons

"It is a good source for firewall protection."

"The UTM filtering needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use this product as a firewall protection.

How has it helped my organization?

With Fortigate, I find fewer attacks. The console easily alerts me about possible attacks so I can prevent the malware attacks.

What is most valuable?

It is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

The UTM filtering control could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I do not have problems with the stability of the solution. It works well.

How is customer service and technical support?

We do not use a lot of tech support. It is not readily available in our area.

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

The price of the solution is not expensive. It is affordable.

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

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

December 2024

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate Reviews and More

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

DOWNLOAD NOW

824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user795288

Pre-sales Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 22, 2018

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Easy to understand licensing requirements

Pros and Cons

"It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements."
"Easy to implement, and it is also reliable."

"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."

What is our primary use case?

I use this product on AWS. FortiGate's VM GUI is slightly different than the hardware devices.

How has it helped my organization?

It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements.

What is most valuable?

I have found FortiGuard Services to be valuable.

What needs improvement?

It needs to improve its ISP load balancing.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate technical support as a seven out of 10.

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

We had a previous solution, but switch because FortiGate is a one box solution.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was not complex.

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

Easy to understand licensing requirements.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA

What other advice do I have?

Easy to implement, and it is also reliable.

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

Alan Chavira

Engineering Manager at a tech consulting company with 1-10 employees

Sep 26, 2017

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Great product with too many features at the right price

Pros and Cons

"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."

"MTBF: Hardware failure is more common when compared to SonicWall or Cisco ASA."

How has it helped my organization?

Simplifies administration and upgrades overall security.

What is most valuable?

UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome.

What needs improvement?

MTBF: Hardware failure is more common when compared to SonicWall or Cisco ASA.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No.

How is customer service and technical support?

Great support. It's quite good in Mexico.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

Great product with too many features at the right price.

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

reviewer690582COO/CTO at a pharma/biotech company with 11-50 employees

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Nov 1, 2017

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 active - 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 features off. I couldn't afford that security risk, not these days.

it_user313743

Network Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Sep 23, 2015

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Controlling and tracing with web console works nicely for windows systems, but for Linux, only IP can be obtained.

Valuable Features:

Policy control
Web filtering
Application filter works smoothly.
Controlling and tracing with web console works nicely for windows systems.
Better QoS than Checkpoint, I believe.

Improvements to My Organization:

Previously, my organization had the Checkpoint firewall solution, which has been replaced by the Fortinet Fortigate solution, which is cost effective and more manageable from a beginner's perspective.

Fine QoS and Web based filtering solution is a plus.

Room for Improvement:

Maybe Linux system monitoring can be improved by the developers of the product.
Although it has policy control and web filtering, these could be better.
Application filter needs more control options.
IP tracing works only so-so.
Controlling and tracing with web console for Linux only obtains IP addresses.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company provides tech services that include this product.

it_user241746

Software Test Engineer with 501-1,000 employees

May 20, 2015

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The product has lived up to its expectations but the web interface needs to be improved.

What is most valuable?

Anti-virus
NAT
VPN

How has it helped my organization?

It's the only security product in place that is responsible for guarding the network infrastructure deployed within the premises. The product has lived up to its expectation with no issues whatsoever.

What needs improvement?

The web interface could be made better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for eight years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have managed to maintain the device without getting in touch with technical support. Credit can be given to the documentation provided.

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

This was the first security device that was deployed.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was straightforward and the documentation was very clear which meant that there were no issues during the initial setup.

What about the implementation team?

We had a vendor assist us who had decent knowledge about the product.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at pfSense.

What other advice do I have?

The product has reached its end of life.

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

it_user234774

IP Core & Security Supervisor at a comms service provider

May 7, 2015

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Web filtering is good but I can't allow traffic from outside to inside using a NAT pool.

What is most valuable?

IPS
Web filtering

How has it helped my organization?

We are making use of the VDOM feature to segregate the traffic, and apply policy to control that traffic.

What needs improvement?

This product can't show the NAT status or NAT logs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using ForitGate for over two years alongside FortiManager 300D.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have an issue with NAT only, in that I can't allow traffic from outside to inside using a NAT pool.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There was a bug related to device stability with HA configuration. We face many attacks on the network which causes the CPU usage to become high and, with the older device, we started losing the heartbeat and control messages, causing HA split-brain and lag flapping.This issue has been fixed in the new release.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

They're good.

Technical Support:

They're very good.

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

No previous solution used.

How was the initial setup?

It was complex to setup.

What about the implementation team?

We used a vendor, ALU to help implement it.

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

Truc Ngo

Sales engineer/Technical support engineer at Vietnet

Nov 29, 2020

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Offers SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device

Pros and Cons

"The SD-WAN function is very developed. It has SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device. We can manage from one single console SD-WAN and the security policy."

"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."

What is our primary use case?

I deploy SD-WAN and we use it for a next-gen firewall.

What is most valuable?

The SD-WAN function is very developed. It has SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device. We can manage from one single console SD-WAN and the security policy. You don't need to buy two separate devices for two functionalities.

You don't need to spend your time on both devices for an SD-WAN and a security firewall device. You only need to manage in one console

What needs improvement?

The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate for five years.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their support is good. They are experts.

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

I think the pricing is fair.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate FortiGate an eight out of ten. They should improve the SD-WAN and central data management center.

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