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reviewer1651302 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Of Technology at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Sep 29, 2021
Flexible pricing, versatile, scalable, stable, and the support is good
Pros and Cons
  • "It is very versatile."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very scalable because you can use Fortinet FortiManager."
  • "More monitoring should be included with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, in my opinion. It has a monitoring tool, but it could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM may be installed on Azure or AWS.

You can either install it in your data center alongside your virtual applications or put it in the public cloud to secure it.

What is most valuable?

It is very versatile.

What needs improvement?

More monitoring should be included with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, in my opinion.

It has a monitoring tool, but it could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been selling Fortinet FortiGate VM for at least 12 years. It could be 15 years because it has been exclusive since the beginning.

It's available both on-premises and in the cloud.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very scalable because you can use Fortinet FortiManager.

We have a big team of many people.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good.

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

With Fortinet FortiGate-VM you can bring your own licensing, or it can be paid on a yearly basis.

Pricing is very flexible.

What other advice do I have?

Definitely, I would recommend this solution to others.

FortiGate Cloud and FortiGate-VM are the same product.

FortiOS is the operating system on FortiGate.

Fortinet has a very large product portfolio. You have the VM, and you have physical appliances for Firewalls.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Creative Head/Director at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Sep 13, 2021
A stable solution with good technical support, easy installation and ease of use, but the GUI features could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support is very good."
  • "The solution should provide more useful GUI features."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for creating IPsec tunnels and web and application filters. We use it for monitoring virtual traffic on platforms including VMware solutions. 

What is most valuable?

I only know a little bit about the solution's firmware.

This said, the solution is stable and user-friendly. 

What needs improvement?

The solution should provide more useful GUI features. This would prevent us from having to resort to CLI or certain basic commands. 

There should be an IPsec failover. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for around four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good. It does not need to be improved. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very easy and user-friendly. 

What about the implementation team?

We have two teams, involving PLM managers, whose sole job is to support the customers. 

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

We pay for a yearly license. 

What other advice do I have?

We deployed the solution in a vCenter, using VMware. We do so solely on cloud. 

We have around 10 clients who are making use of on-premises deployment. 

We usually recommend SonicWall and Sophos in place of the solution since, with this IPsec solution, if one configures to an HPE with the IPsec failover, it fails to work. 

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM as a seven 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. Implementer
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
904,146 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Navin Rehnius - PeerSpot reviewer
SOC Analyst at Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd
Real User
Jul 16, 2021
Good dashboards and simple deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "The dashboards are a good feature."
  • "Fortinet is competitively priced, it's cheaper than Palo Alto and Check Point."
  • "The technical support could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this product is as a firewall. We are partners of Fortinet and I'm a security engineer. 

How has it helped my organization?

In our organization, Fortinet is one of the trusted partners. We have offered the solution for a medium-size entrepreneur 

What is most valuable?

The dashboards are a good feature and the deployment is simple. 

What needs improvement?

The technical support could be improved. I'd like to see the security platform upgraded.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have Started learning and deploying FortiGate for 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is looking stable as per knowledge

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is flexible and scalable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

They need to improve the technical support. 

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

I have worked with checkpoint. And that solution is also good. 

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward for deployment

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

Fortinet is competitively priced, it's cheaper than Palo Alto and Check Point. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are the technologies partner so we have recommended the solution by customer dependence upon their use cases

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution and would rate it a seven out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
PeerSpot user
IT Specialist at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jul 10, 2021
Stable, with great technical support and excellent firewall capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "Overall, it's an excellent solution."
  • "The key activation is very complicated at times."

What is our primary use case?

You can use the balance of FortiGate for an HTTP server, for example. It's not a total solution like a firewall, however, you have a lot of structure within it for normal firewalls or next-generation firewalls. FortiGate is the firewall for Fortinet.

What is most valuable?

Overall, it's an excellent solution.

The solution is largely very stable. 

Technical support has been good.

The firewall capabilities are very good.

What needs improvement?

The key activation is very complicated at times. For example, when you use it for different customers, due to the fact that they are linked with one customer or another, you need an account. Sometimes the customer doesn't have the account, or they confuse the key. It derails the process a bit. It would be ideal if they could simplify or streamline the process.

The internal logs could be easier to manage. When you handle debugging sometimes you have some trouble seeing the whole of a packet that crossed the firewall. Luckily, I have a lot of expertise and therefore can work within these shortcomings. However, it would be easier if there was more visibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for five years at this point. I've used it for a while. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable. I remember only one case in which we had issues with a routing protocol. This was the big problem that I had with FortiGate, as they had some issues and they reduced the equipment. However, in the last five years, it was the one lone situation that I opened a case for and they took a lot of time to get to the solution, which was an SBS and BGP routing protocol into the FortiGate. That said, that issue was on an appliance, not a VM solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

One of the primary clients we have that uses the solution is a bank. They utilize it for internal services.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. For me, it's a simple process in that you open a case, and, depending on your contract, normally they respond quickly and their help normally is good. I would say I am satisfied with the level of support they offer to clients. 

What other advice do I have?

I work with a service provider and he sells service in cloud and FortiGate products, including FortiGate VMs. With this, he sells services, and I work with him on support and initial configurations or deactivations for customers. 

I work with various versions of the solution, the latest being 7.7.

We use a variety of deployments, including on-premise and in public clouds. Not an American public cloud, however. Rather, it's a public cloud here in South America.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. the product is excellent and I am very happy with it overall.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1054542 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Jul 7, 2021
A solid product that could benefit from more traffic shaping
Pros and Cons
  • "I really like that it's internationally deployable."
  • "It improves an organization because it's a single vendor solution for edge management."
  • "There should be more options to use lower-end models in a high availability configuration."

What is our primary use case?

It's an edge firewall that provides failover and redundancy management with the SD-WAN. We also use it for its traffic shaping capabilities and visibility through a central orchestrator.

How has it helped my organization?

It improves an organization because it's a single vendor solution for edge management.

It allows us to handle multiple types of connections at the edge and provide the proper routing and firewall services.

What is most valuable?

I really like that it's internationally deployable.

What needs improvement?

There should be more options to use lower-end models in a high availability configuration.

They should continue to improve the traffic shaping; they should add some AI to the traffic shaping. They should also consider learning from other organizations as opposed to just internally. They should follow patterns instead of everyone having to recognize patterns and make adjustments on their own. Instead, they should add some form of intelligence to guide administrators in best practices with traffic shaping. I think this will become very important as we move more toward a SaaS-type world. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for the past three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is also high to very high. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'd say scalability is somewhere between high to very high.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup depends on the types of connections that you're bringing into it and the complexity of the business requirements for individual networks. It depends on how you want to route across the company. Overall, I'd say it's less complex than Cisco but it really depends on who's doing it. 

What other advice do I have?

My advice would be to look to the anticipated growth of the network before starting the implementation so that you are appropriately sizing the scope and size of the equipment.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven — it's a solid product. Depending on the solution you need, some of the appliances can be a little cost-prohibitive at the high end, but at the low end, they're very cost-effective. Plus, the interface is simple to use. For the right customer, I think it's a solid play.

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
reviewer1602627 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jun 17, 2021
A simple solution with very fast response time
Pros and Cons
  • "I find the simplicity to be most valuable."
  • "The graphical user interface should be enhanced."

What is our primary use case?

The majority of the government sector prefers using the solution as an external firewall and most of the customers prefer that it be one layer. It's good for use as a preemptive firewall.

What is most valuable?

I find the simplicity to be most valuable. The solution is very simple to manage and to use effectively. It has a very fast response time. There is no need to make improvements to it whatsoever. 

What needs improvement?

The graphical user interface should be enhanced. While the antivirus profile can be implemented very easily with the graphic user interface, there are many important features that cannot be undertaken without the CLI command like signature, such as extending a  database. One cannot do a graphical user interface for this and CLI command must be employed instead. 

All hidden features related to CLI should appear as a graphical user interface.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been an integrator for Fortinet FortiGate-VM for a couple of years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is really stable and the connection with FortiGate is very good, as is the solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Fortigate has its own systems and provides the services that are related to the priority of the ticket. They provide the tickets for groups, say... one through four and have their own metrics for how they manage these tickets. As such, I consider Palo Alto to be faster and more professional. 

How was the initial setup?

Template or marketplace on Azure can be employed. The credentials one will select while doing the deployment can be used in respect of VM with Fortigate. 

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

Similar to Palo Alto, we have our own license and we're working on this. The customer must buy his own license. 

What other advice do I have?

Just like with Palo Alto, all products are deployed on the cloud.

We have a large number of customers who are making use of the solution, south of 30. Those in Qatar opt for the solution because of its comparative cost effectiveness. It is not only cheaper but also good.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jun 16, 2021
Good security and fair pricing but require knowledge of command line coding
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing of the solution is good."
  • "The features, in general, have been so great."
  • "The block, the clarity, the quarantine command, is not very user-friendly. You would have to do everything through the command line and I would have preferred if it wasn't a CLI."

What is our primary use case?

Originally, I used the solution for a graduation project. I'll soon be using it in a new context.

What is most valuable?

My favorite feature that I enjoyed using is the SD-WAN, the application control, the IPS&IDS, and Security Fabric (which I enjoyed the most because of the visibility it offers of your whole Network) . 

It's less complicated than other firewalls. FortiGate is less complicated and it's guaranteed. By guarantee I mean better control against the attack surface because no firewall 100% guarantee that you won't be attacked.

With security Fabric, I was able to see everything that was going on. The visibility it provided was excellent. 

The pricing of the solution is good.

We've found the solution to be relatively stable.

What needs improvement?

There's this command in the email of service policy that you add for the email of service policy. It's hard to do in reality. It could be made easier.

The block, the clarity, the quarantine command, is not very user-friendly. You would have to do everything through the command line and I would have preferred if it wasn't a CLI. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I used it for a few months to a year ago and am beginning to use it again.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. In security, we handle shortouts and blackouts. Never in my time have we had a blackout, however, if you lose power, you do lose the whole firewall, which is bad.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never dealt with technical support. I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are.

I have, however, used their tech demonstrations to learn about the product. That's helpful in terms of understanding, however, dealing with support directly has never come up.

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

While I typically work with Fortigate, I'm still learning to work with Cisco Firepower.

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

The pricing is fairly reasonable. Compared to the pricing of other firewalls, it is very good. We have no complaints.

What other advice do I have?

We used to be just a customer, however, it's my understanding that now the company has partnered with Fortinet.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.

I always recommend Fortigate to other users. It's quite good. As long as you know, or learn the command line, you're probably going to be okay. Any problems we've had have been relatively insignificant in nature. The features, in general, have been so great. It's really been a very good product.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
PeerSpot user
Associate Pre Sales at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
Jun 16, 2021
High visibility, great overall support, and has plenty of features
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are locking applications from in and out of my test network and testing malware on different devices. I use malware detection, antivirus, and basic firewall policies to check for different types of security breaches. The UI is really nice and easy to use."
  • "I have had a data issue with physical devices that could improve."

What is our primary use case?

I am using this solution for testing the protection, but not in a production environment.

How has it helped my organization?

The Security Fabric feature is beneficial allowing us to have centralized visibility of all our devices and traffic on our network in one place. This is not typically offered on traditional firewalls.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are locking applications from in and out of my test network and testing malware on different devices. I use malware detection, antivirus, and basic firewall policies to check for different types of security breaches. The UI is really nice and easy to use.

What needs improvement?

I have had a data issue with physical devices that could improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a few months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable in terms of performance, but I have faced some issues with memory. The solution does not use the creation memory approach, that other vendors do, or what you would normally find in these kinds of devices. I think it is because the memory gets over-utilized a lot is why I am having the issue with the memory.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In my previous employment, I used to work with approximately six people, and we were responsible to monitor and manage FortiGate itself. I most recently switched my employment and in this particular role, there are approximately five other testers using this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

I am satisfied with all of the support for this solution. They have great documentation that is well written of everything that you need to know, such as UI functionality. There are different guides for many things that are really helpful. The technical support is really good.

How was the initial setup?

Before installation, you are able to download the solution online based on the platform you are planning to use it on. For example, if you are going to use it on ESXi, Hyper-V, or AWS, you will have a separate specific installer file for each. The installer is based on the platform you are trying to install it on.

If you have some experience with using virtual technologies or virtualizing software, it is not that complicated to do the installation. For beginners, it might get a little complex or complicated because you have to replicate the properties of a physical device in a virtual container.

What other advice do I have?

For firewall devices, Fortinet is very good. They can improve on other solutions, I have used some solutions in the past that did not have a good UI. There are other things that Fortinet as a whole can focus on.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
VINAY GUJARATHI - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions
Reseller
Jun 8, 2021
A scalable security solution with a valuable network security feature
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are network security, VLAN, network protection, and encryption are very valuable to us."
  • "Integration could be better. Whatever devices I'm using with FortiGate are all compatible. The access points and switches are also FortiGate, so I can easily integrate them. But it would be better if we could embed other devices as well. There are compatibility issues with other brands, and we need that. We can only integrate universal brands with FortiGate. The initial setup could also be easier."
  • "Integration could be better. There are compatibility issues with other brands, and we need that."

What is our primary use case?

We installed Fortinet FortiGate-VM for security purposes. Our main motivation is for security reasons and improving networking.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are network security, VLAN, network protection, and encryption are very valuable to us.

What needs improvement?

Integration could be better. Whatever devices I'm using with FortiGate are all compatible. The access points and switches are also FortiGate, so I can easily integrate them. But it would be better if we could embed other devices as well. There are compatibility issues with other brands, and we need that. We can only integrate universal brands with FortiGate. The initial setup could also be easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable, and our customers aren't giving us much of a problem.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our customers are very happy with its scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good. However, we're not satisfied with partner support, and we're looking to diversify. We have signed up, and we're training our engineers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a little complex. Not too complex, but it's good because we like to work. It takes half an hour at most to install and deploy this solution.

What about the implementation team?

We're a reseller, and we implement this solution.

What other advice do I have?

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

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. Integrator, reseller
PeerSpot user
Network Security Engineer at a consumer goods company with 201-500 employees
Real User
May 19, 2021
Overall simple to use, reliable, and useful VPN tool
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features we have found to be the VPN, ease of use, and overall simplicity."
  • "Web filtering is a feature that needs some improvement. There should be some additional features to allow active users to change their own passwords."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for IPS, internal segmentation, inspections, and VPN.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features we have found to be the VPN, ease of use, and overall simplicity.

What needs improvement?

Web filtering is a feature that needs some improvement. There should be some additional features to allow active users to change their own passwords.

Additionally, the secure web gateway and the inspection feature need more security improvement in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been reliable in my experience.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 250 users using the solution in my organization and we plan to increase usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support has been good.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to install.

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

We are on an annual license for this solution and it could be cheaper.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Previously we evaluated other solutions, such as Check Point and the Palo Alto firewalls. This solution is easier to understand than the others.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. Especially if they are new to these types of solutions, it is easy to understand.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight 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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: July 2026
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.