Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

We are selling FortiGate 60E and 200E. I mostly look after imports and finance, and my sales team and my corporate manager look after the business. Currently, we are buying renewals for our customers from a local distributor.

Customers are more inclined towards FortiGate because of application control, web filtering, and anti-spam features. The support from the FortiGate team is good, and price-wise, it is affordable.

They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. 

Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired.

I have been using this solution for almost two years.

It is 100% stable.

It is scalable. We have more than a thousand users. 

The support from the FortiGate team is good. My engineers never complained that they are facing any problem with Fortinet in terms of support.

It is very easy to install. It is way easier than Cisco.

The deployment duration varies from customer to customer. It depends on what features they want to utilize, what is their scenario for IP addressing, and what security level they want to implement. It also depends on the policy and the planning of the technical teams. My engineers and the customer's engineers sit together, and they plan the activity and take care of everything. After that, they decide what to implement and how long it will take. Sometimes there are physical, logical, or IP addressing problems, so it all depends on the customer and our implementation planning. I have three guys for deployment. 

Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive.

In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license.

We plan to keep selling this solution. Fortinet has launched new partnership levels. They have removed the silver partnership. We were a silver partner previously, and we have now become a premier partner or something like that. So, we have to improve our partnership on new levels.

I would definitely recommend this solution. We always support customers and recommend buying Fortinet. It is a better, more stable, and relatively cheaper product than Cisco. We supply Cisco only when a customer forces us to go for Cisco.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

I specify, configure and deploy firewalls  in organizations with 500 or fewer employees and 15 or fewer sites.  Primarily I choose between Cisco, Sonicwall and Fortigate small and medium sized appliances.  Occasionally I deploy virtual appliances in AWS.   I prefer to use Fortigate firewalls for several reasons- remote access is simple and the included client works with MacOS Windows and IOS devices.  The level of security works well for most clients and the authentication with AD/LDAP makes the solution easier to deploy.  I also find that the clients  appreciate the lower price point than other vendors.

We have a standard build. We give the client the laptop, and, especially with the pandemic, we send them home with the laptop or FedEx the laptop already configured, and the user is ready to go. 

I don't even need to know the client's password. I can just install the software and create a profile. The client fills the profile in with simple instructions, types in their password instructions, and connects it and they're good. It's really simple. 

That's why we have standardized recommending Fortinet. That doesn't mean that I don't support other solutions as well, however, the device that I like the best is the one that's easy to use for me and it's easy to use for the clients. The price point is not bad as well.

The ease of setting the solution up is a valuable aspect for us.

The most valuable aspect that differentiates it from other solutions is that the client (the SSL VPN client or the IP sec VPN client, the same clients) is included in the solution. We don't have to pay extra for the software and the clients. 

I have had some issues, but no more than others and I don't have to buy an expensive add-on license to do it and it's managed and it's updated automatically. That's the key thing, that the client is included and it updates itself so I don't have to do too much to manage it and it's very transparent to the end-user.

The biggest "gotcha" is that if the client purchases what they call the UTM shared bundle, which has unified threat management on both, it's not as easy to manage if you have more than one firewall. 

If I wanted a unified console, I have to pay extra. And that's the downfall. That's the only needed improvement that I would say for the Fortinet solution, is that they should have it web-based from the get-go. You should not have to buy an extra bundle or an extra device.

If I have to make an update to a web filter, and I have 12 devices, I've got to do it in 12 places. If I don't want to do that the client can pay for a pretty expensive device or virtual appliance that does that for them. It's like an expensive centralized management tool. That's the big downfall of Fortinet. It doesn't come included, you have to pay for it. Their web-based one, that's sort of just like an inventory manager. It's not really good for distributing roles. With Cisco, you don't have to do anything. The one from Aruba HD has one too. Fortinet should try to be similar to those options.

In the next release, it would be amazing if they could give a better tool for upgrading, so that if I upgrade from an older version to the other, it can read the configuration and processes it for me so that I don't have to rewrite it from scratch. In FortiConverter, they have a tool like this, however, it doesn't work well. It's really more for bringing items in from other vendors, not from one version to the other.

That was my last experience where they operated from version five to six. However, that's really the only big thing. The main thing is to include the FortiManager cloud software like Cisco does. To have one solution. If you paid $150 a year for the support, you might as well get that too so I could manage all the devices at one spot. They do have FortiCloud, however, it's not the same as the way Cisco does it. They are selling another product called FortiManager. FortiManager should be included with the support, and that would make it more of a business solution, rather than a feature request.

I would say that I have been using the solution for over 10 years. It's likely been between 10 and 15 years at this point.

Fortigate firewalls are very reliable- in the past 15 years I believe only 2 devices in a 100 have failed.  The failures were due to harsh environments (dust and water will ruin any electronic device).  The input I can give to any technology person or client looking to choose a firewall / threat management device I would highly recommend the stability / reliability of fortigate.  Once installed it will do it's job efficiently and effectively for several years.

I will tell a client not to go with Fortinet if they have no firewall or they have a very, very old firewall. If this is from scratch, I'd say let's not go with Fortinet, let's go with Meraki if you have the money. I always say create the budget for it if you have a lot of sites, as Cisco does a better job if you have a lot of sites. If you have two sites, then it's fine to go with Fortinet. It'll scale to that scale. However, if you want to go over a couple of sites, it's not the best option.

The solution's initial setup is straightforward. It's actually gotten better. I got good at doing it from scratch from the command line, or even from the GUI with all the 50 steps to set up stuff. However, now they're wizards and it's much better. It was the thing that probably a lot of people commented on initially, and they just worked hard to fix it. They updated the software from version four to five to six. They did a good job at making it easier.

If the client had a lot of downtime or a lot of issues with older equipment, or they did not like the fact that they had to pay every year just to be able to use the device, then the return on investment of spending $900 for a Fortinet 60E per site for a three-year contract will hands-down beat pretty much anybody. 

It is definitely set it and forget it. There's very little input. You'll save money on consulting. If you were to call me and you're doing Juniper or you're doing Palo Alto, there's a lot more configuring and it's a lot harder to add stuff and therefore, as a consultant, I make more money, and I'm being serious. Once I set up a Fortinet I really don't have to touch it for years.

Maybe I have to log in to check that I need to do an update, however, in that case, they usually send me an email saying hey, your license key is up and maybe you want to buy a new one. I take the old one out and put a new one in, that's when I get paid again. It's boiled down to that. 

I'm not only an authorized reseller. I am a consultant that uses their equipment and recommends them on a routine basis. I am not a Fortinet partner, however.

I use a series of FortiGate products, including the 60, the 90, and the 100. Some of them are E's, some of them are S's; it all depends. However, they have pretty much the same user interface.

If a company is considering the solution, I'd advise that they consider purchasing the FortiManager if they really like the feature set and the way that Fortinet works. For example, a company we work with has these large scale solutions, and they use FortiManager. If you're a very large implementation, definitely look into Fortinet. If you're small, for example, under 20 devices, consider joining Cisco Meraki as it's so much easier. That's what I would tell any client. 

FortiManager and FortiGate are really good. If you like the way the GUI works it's more flexible than Cisco. There are more bells and whistles, however, Cisco is going to be the way to do it if you're going to do 50 sites. If you were to do a lot of sites, consider Cisco. If not, you can do Fortinet.

At the end of the day, the solution is very flexible, and if the client has special business partners that want a special type of nailed up VPN or special configuration for the clients, it offers that. The lesson I learned using the solution was to go with the solution that's most flexible for the client and at the same time is as low touch as possible. That's why I've standardized on FortiGate, as it's low touch for me and I'd rather spend time fixing other stuff or troubleshooting the other problems for clients than this particular solution.

You want to spend less time fighting with your remote access solution or your firewall solution and work on other problems. It should not be a difficult thing, and yet, a lot of people struggle with that. Especially today with the pandemic, they have to be able to have access to their stuff and that's crucial. That's the biggest takeaway. Is it easy to manage it, is it easy to connect? If so, it's worth the investment.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. If they included FortiManager in their offering, I'd give the product a perfect ten.

We use the solution on the perimeter. We are a government entity. We have other organizations monitoring our network. We also have our own firewall to separate the DMZ and different things on our external servers.

The solution provides good threat intelligence feeds.

The advanced models are expensive.

I have been using the solution for five to six years.

The tool’s stability is good. I rate the stability a seven or eight out of ten. The stability could be improved.

The tool is very scalable. It connects to its own wireless access points. The firewall is supported by other technologies. We can add more products and extend the features and the network.

Fortinet has a tool that migrates all the policies from the previous firewall to the new one.

The vendor helped us with the setup. It was quick. We connected the new firewall first. Then, we exported the policies from the live firewall to the new one. On a weekend, we deployed the new firewall.

If we buy licenses for a longer duration, we get discounts.

Fortinet has better models, but we are using the one within our budget. It's a good product. Besides Fortinet, we're using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Defender, as well as the safety features that come with these products. There are many products in the market. The monitoring team is using Palo Alto. Palo Alto is better than Fortinet, but it's more expensive.

We use Fortinet for VPN, too. We have not faced any major issues with the tool. It has a lot of capabilities that enable us to customize tunnels and allow traffic from certain countries or regions. The vendor provides cloud-based models, but we do not use them because they are subscription-based models that are not within our budget.

The vendor has a lot of free and paid training courses. It is the best way to learn about the product. It is similar to Palo Alto. All the good companies have a lot of training materials and training courses to understand the product. The initial versions are free of cost. The certifications will help people understand the process and make administration easier. The cloud version has AI features.

Overall, I rate the product a seven or eight out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate for end-to-end advanced firewall protection.

Fortinet FortiGate is deployed both on-premises and in the AWS and Azure clouds.

Fortinet FortiGate makes it extremely easy to manage the entire security system independently of our enterprise. In our company, we operate multiple networks, each with its own distinct layers of networking. Whether it is a small or large company, each network will consist of various layers, including the first, second, and third layers, as well as Wi-Fi access points. Additionally, we have different access switches, distribution switches, and core switches. FortiGate allows for direct management of all these options, which is one of its core advantages.

FortiGate is highly user-friendly and promptly addresses security threats and vulnerabilities commonly found in the modern technology world. Additionally, Fortinet offers the latest versions to cater to the needs of enterprises. They provide a range of firewalls, suitable for both small-scale businesses and larger enterprises. Overall, we are quite satisfied with their performance, and it has been working well for us so far.

Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer. Currently, these multiple products often confuse users and clients. It would be beneficial if Fortinet could offer a comprehensive integrated solution instead of separate products that cause user confusion. By providing an integrated solution, users would have access to all features and functionalities within a single window, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple windows. This approach would greatly improve the user experience.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for three years.

Fortinet FortiGate is extremely stable.

Fortinet FortiGate can easily scale using the cloud firewall option.

The technical support team is exceptional. They are consistently available and prompt in their responses, regardless of the region from which we open the ticket.

Positive

I used Cisco at my previous company and my new company uses FortiGate. FortiGate is better than Cisco. Where Cisco requires a person with great networking or programming knowledge, FortiGate does not. We can manage everything from its user interface. It provides comprehensive security fabric management, including Forti switches and access points. Additionally, FortiGate serves as a gate for our home, allowing us to monitor who enters and exits. Therefore, if we compare it to Cisco, monitoring the entire traffic becomes much easier.

The initial setup is straightforward. Fortinet provides step-by-step instructions in its documentation. The Fortinet engineers and support team are always available to assist, but even for a non-technical person, the deployment is easy.

The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars. We are using the FortiGate 600E, and its price falls within the midrange. The most expensive part is the renewal of the license subscription.

I give Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a cloud trial that organizations can use in a test environment to evaluate the solution before making a purchase.

We use it for the network security operations of our customers. We've many different use cases, such as client security, server security, or DMZ sites. 

The secure web gateway module and the application control module are valuable. HA operations are very easy.

It's a very easy and simple solution for implementation and integration. I don't have any problems with this solution.

Web security solutions can be improved.

I've been using this solution for 10 years.

It's stable.

Its scalability is good. It's generally used in only one place as a standalone, but sometimes, it's used at multiple locations. 

Their support is good. I'd rate it an eight out of ten.

Positive

I've used Palo Alto, which is a good solution for a firewall, and their application signatures are very good. 

I was sometimes involved in its deployment. Its deployment was simple for me. It was very simple and easy. It took five to six hours.

It does require maintenance. There are probably one to two people required for its maintenance. 

Its price is normal. If I compare it with other vendors, such as Palo Alto, it's normal. Palo Alto is expensive. 

I'd recommend it to other people. It's good, and in our country, this product is very popular in our sector. It's easy and cheapest.

Overall, I'd rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate to prevent intruder connections to our internal network.

Fortinet FortiGate's unified view around network operations and security operations is good.

The solution is easy to integrate and configure with our ERP and other applications. I am satisfied with the integrated application protection provided by Fortinet FortiGate.

The Fortinet FortiGate 60E Series resolved the bottleneck problem and CPU usage that was previously experienced with the 60D Series. Now, our employees can check their emails without encountering any bottleneck issues, and the CPU usage remains stable at around 50 percent.

We are satisfied with the ability to remediate threats more quickly.

We are pleased with the amount of time saved in detecting our mean time.

The signature database and zero-day detection are Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features.

The Fortinet FortiGate 60D Series poses a problem by causing a bottleneck when several users access their emails simultaneously, as the device consistently consumes 90 percent of the CPU resources.

The reporting could be improved. Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting. However, reporting is crucial for network security, and it should be included as a standard feature.

The price and technical support have room for improvement.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for three years.

The local vendor support needs improvement.

Neutral

Previously, I have utilized few other brands of NG Firewalls, which offer certain advantages. However, when comparing their price and performance to that of Fortinet FortiGate, Fortinet proves to be a strong competitor.

The time required for a basic deployment is roughly three weeks, whereas a full deployment involving customizations and optimization of rules and policies may take up to two and a half months.

We experienced a return on our investment, however, when it comes to security, it is challenging to determine a precise value.

The price is high compared to some of the other solutions.

I give Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

We saw time to value within the first month of using Fortinet FortiGate.

We deployed Fortinet FortiGate in one location and the maintenance was mostly handled by internally and sometimes a third party.

Fortinet FortiGate is used as a network firewall.

Fortinet has been a Perimeter Security which defends our network from Internet attackers, armed with zero-day exploits of common Internet services like HTTP and SMTP. We applied access-control lists to limit classes of VPN users' access to only what they need as a support team or solution deployers. We Shut off unused network services and defended critical resources first. We Build Internet-style perimeters for partner extranets. We also built secured wireless access.

Fortinet FortiGate UTM has many valuable features, such as application control, advanced persistent threat protection, Web and content filtering, IP reputation, integrated WLAN controller, intrusion prevention system, data loss prevention, and antimalware, antivirus, and antispam. It has security features that are in level with the Firewall technologies that are available in the market.

One of the features that I would like to have is endpoint protection, this should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 6 years.

Fortinet FortiGate has high availability, which means that we have deployed two firewalls. In case of any failure of a device, the other one will continue to work. Our university stays online 100% of the time.

Fortinet FortiGate is quite robust. I haven't had any kind of hardware issue. The system has been running very smoothly with all the upgrades as far as I have continued my support with Fortinet. We keep renewing the support every year, which gives us the eligibility for all the updates.

I used the Fortinet FortiGate support a long time ago. There was a small feature that was not functioning as per the documentation. When they released the latest firmware and the issue was resolved. They provide prompt support.

I would rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.

Positive

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward we had an right person in-house for deploying it. Moreover, If required, Fortinet has its support extended to us. We can approach them anytime and they can assist us with any kind of complicated configuration.

We implemented the Fortinet using an in-house Technical support team.

There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support.

The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable compared to other solutions.

I have evaluated many other solutions, such as Sophos. If you look at Sophos, it has its own endpoint protection. It keeps a record of each client, what are the threats that have happened on each client level, and if there is a ransomware attack. It blocks it and notifies the firewall. I would be able to see a single dashboard view of what kind of threat has happened and how to mitigate them all.

Fortinet FortiGate is a good solution overall. It is very user-friendly and all the policies are very easy to deploy. I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to any new users who want to have a secure infrastructure.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

There are some better industry-standard solutions out there in the market, and compared to them, Fortinet FortiGate has to be more flexible enough with their solution to be more competitive.

Fortinet FortiGate is being used in our company.

The interface is very good.

There are limited features.

Scalability could be improved.

The issues with the IOS are that they occasionally hang. They are not as reliable as they once were. 

When there is an issue with IOS, new updates are introduced, but the updates also have a lot of issues.

Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution.

When compared to Cisco ISE, the device administration is not very good.

Fortinet is not very good at firewalls when compared to Cisco. Cisco offers full administration control, TripleA, SQT, they use TACACS security protocols, and they have much more control. Cisco's approach is superior.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for four or five years.

This year, we're removing the Fortinet and switching to Cisco ISE to cut security.

There are issues with the stability of this solution.

There are limitations to scalability.

When compared with Cisco, the technical support is not very impressive.

The initial setup is very easy. It is not complex.

When compared to Cisco, it is very easy.

Pricing is lower than Cisco.

Fortinet FortiGate is not a bad option.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a five out of ten.