Fortinet FortiMail Reviews

My company provides the tool to our clients or customers who want to control phishing and need a tool that offers DLP functionalities.

The most valuable feature of the solution is the tool's ability to prevent phishing attacks.

I haven't worked with Fortinet FortiMail competitors, but I feel whatever it does covers everything that is needed. I probably haven't had the chance to look at the products offered by Fortinet FortiMail's competitors. The tool fulfills the requirements of the client.

Fortinet FortiMail has certain shortcomings but can do well if it integrates with sandboxing features. The integration of tools with sandboxing features is something Fortinet can work on because it can change the way the product detects malicious activities. The sandboxing features are not well done in Fortinet FortiMail, making it an area of improvement.

I have experience with Fortinet FortiMail.

It is a stable solution. There is no requirement for users to have real-time access when using the tool. The product does a good job in the way the messages are delivered, and in the way, the emails are scanned.

It is a scalable solution.

My company caters to the needs of three or four customers of the solution.

My company's clients are mostly medium-sized enterprises.

Fortinet FortiMail office provides good support to users. Within the region where I operate, the support offered by Fortinet is good, especially considering the taken by the technical team to resolve issues.

The longest time taken by the support team to resolve an issue is a day, and it is mostly because the support depends on the time you raise a ticket with the technical team, or it may be based on the support contract that a user has opted for in the company. Support also depends on the contract a user has chosen, which may include support for twenty-four hours and seven days a week in a year or eight to five support.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

In the past, I haven't worked with any commercial tools similar to Fortinet FortiMail, but I know a few online tools that can be integrated into our company's systems. I chose to work with Fortinet FortiMail since it was strongly recommended by someone who had been using it.

With the right guidance, the product's initial setup phase is not that complicated. Fortinet FortiMail provides good documentation and a support team to help users.

The solution is deployed with the help of Open Virtual Appliance (OVA).

The time taken to deploy the solution depends on the organization, but generally, the deployment process takes around seven days to complete in SMEs.

The product has an immediate impact on its users after deployment because it lets them know how the attacks are being blocked, and it provides a good analysis of why a certain email or activity has been flagged. There is good feedback related to the product from users.

It is a fairly priced product, considering what it does. The product offers good value for the money users spend on it.

There are no tools similar to Fortinet FortiMail that are available because each product has its own way of functioning. Similar products will have many features that may be similar, so duplication of services is something a company wants to avoid. It is probably the better choice to select a product that is the easiest to use and offers a good support team.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

We are using Fortinet FortiMail as our email gateway.

Before implementing Fortinet FortiMail, our organization struggled with a high volume of spam emails. However, since deploying this product, we have seen a complete eradication of spam and have been able to function more efficiently as a result. As a utility company in the capital city of Kenya, it is crucial that we are able to communicate effectively and avoid any unnecessary distractions, and this solution has allowed us to do just that.

The key benefits of this solution are its user-friendly interface and clear instructions, as well as the wealth of online resources and helpful health community available for support. These features make it easy for users to navigate and utilize the solution effectively.

The solution's pricing is flexible and can be adjusted for African utility companies. Microsoft often offers special pricing formulas for African governments and organizations and it is similar to Fortinet FortiMail. In my country, government institutions receive discounted pricing from Fortinet FortiMail.

I have been using Fortinet FortiMail for one and a half years.

The solution is stable. It has never crashed once in and the half years we have been using it.

The solution is scalable because we were able to increase the number of emails without any issues and we can continue using the solution without any problems. We have approximately 3,500 users using this solution.

Some examples of the technical support provided for the solution include addressing my initial setup questions and helping me navigate the steep learning curve. As a result, I was able to become more proficient in using the solution and the need for further escalation decreased.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiMail a ten out of ten.

Positive

We did not use another solution prior to Fortinet FortiMail. However, our ISP did handle the anti-spamming for us.

The initial setup of the solution was easy to accomplish. The engineer took only a few hours to complete it, starting in the afternoon and finishing by 5:00 pm.

The solution was implemented by a third-party engineer from Fortinet FortiMail East Africa. After setting it up, he trained me on how to support it. In case of any issues, he was always available to provide assistance.

The solution's ROI can be seen in the decrease in spam emails, which previously caused the exchange server to shut down and disrupted communication with customers. This led to a decrease in monthly collections, but the implementation of the solution allowed for 24/7 communication and stabilized the end-of-month collections.

We paid approximately $30,000 for the solution. It is less expensive than some other solutions. We have one license that carries all the features that we wanted.

We evaluated Checkpoint. We chose Fortinet FortiMail because of its cost-effective pricing and ease of deployment and maintenance. The technical maintenance and troubleshooting were also simpler compared to Checkpoint.

I do the maintenance of the solution. It requires updates every few months.

If somebody wants a good solution that is cost-effective and works well, I would recommend Fortinet FortiMail.

I rate Fortinet FortiMail a nine out of ten.

The solution provides security for our mail system. We're a group of companies, mainly dealing with car importation and distribution, and I'm the CIO.

This solution has a very clean user interface. It's agnostic to whatever environment you're using behind it. My email servers are HCL Domino servers now and it's easy to implement - they have very good sandbox for checking email without the danger of opening them.

I think their statistics and the BI in general could be improved. By that I mean the feedback the admin can take from the reporting. We're in the process of moving to Microsoft 365. We have discussed employing the Fortinet cloud solution with them, because right now we're using the on-premise solution. I don't know how it's going to play out in the cloud version.

I've been using this solution for five years. 

It does the job that it needs to do, it's quite stable. 

I haven't checked the scalability, because we have bought the larger version, which is the 32 VMs. I think it's pretty scalable. We have around 400 users, basically everybody in the company and we use it as a gateway. It gets all the email and takes it from our mail servers. We have two people in the company maintaining the solution and two others monitoring things. 

We have a contract with a partner for technical support, not Fortinet Greece. We used to use Fortinet Greece, but they're mainly sales engineers so we took on a partner. We're satisfied with them. 

We used another solution several years back. The trigger to move to Fortinet was a virus, a ransomware and that's when we switched to Forti products. We're happy with things. 

The initial setup was pretty straightforward, it was easy to implement. 

We're using two products, the FortiSandbox, which is actually the sandbox environment of FortiMail and FortiMail. We're paying about 9,000 Euros per year for those two products. It is pretty cost-effective for Greece. Fortinet is very aggressive with their pricing.

The other options we looked at were Check Point perhaps or Barracuda. Either they didn't have the sandbox solution or it wasn't as centralized as we wanted and they were more expensive. 

It's important to know what you're aiming for beforehand and what your environment needs in terms of implementation. It requires being very explicit so you can know what to set up with it. Things such as rules and domains that you can work with. You have to know your environment well. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

Our primary use case for this solution is securing mail releases, as it serves as our central server. For example, multiple domains have multiple mail services. To authenticate the request coming from the mail service, we require security to implement Fortinet FortiMail and establish the mail request. All domains are added to Fortinet FortiMail, and the primary protection for all domains is done with Fortinet FortiMail. We deploy the solution on a private cloud.

In some of our research facilities, research teams use multiple mail services to research mail servers. This solution can be used in the local domains since Fortinet FortiMail can authenticate every mail server, thereby solving blacklisting issues. Typically this global blocklisting happens when our unauthenticated emails come from our domain and public APs. So, when unauthenticated emails come from the public AP, they blacklist the public AP. Through Fortinet FortiMail, we can perfectly authenticate each local mail service and mail release so that only authenticated mail goes out from our domain.

The anti-spam feature is very valuable. For example, recently, some recent spam mails were correctly blocked by Fortinet FortiMail. Additionally, the solution has an excellent user interface.

The solution could be improved by providing a virtual machine facility with a complete set of options in the VM setup and by enhancing the clarity of the information supplied for content filtering. Additionally, in the next release, we would suggest that Fortinet FortiMail be added as an add-on to Fortinet Firewall itself. It can be included as a module and added to the Fortinet Firewall.

We have been using this solution for eight years and are currently using the latest version.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable. We have between 5,000 and 10,000 users using the solution in our organization.

Our experience with customer service and support has been moderate. I rate it a six out of ten.

Neutral

The initial setup was difficult so we used Fortinet support to guide us through implementation. Deployment took three days.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the exact licensing price as the accounting department handles it, but it is more expensive than most competitors.

I rate this solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good but can be improved by including a virtual machine facility with a complete set of options in the VM setup and enhancing the content filtering feature. My advice to new users of this solution would be to use Fortinet and FortiMail together because they are super tools when combined.

The tool needs to improve its pricing policy. Also, it needs to be more user-friendly. I would want it to improve email security as well. 

I have been using the solution for two years. 

I would rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

I would rate the solution's scalability an eight out of ten. 

The support takes one to two days to respond. 

Positive

The tool's distributor supported us with the deployment. The solution's deployment took around one day to complete. 

You need to pay additional fees for premium support. 

I would rate the tool a nine out of ten. This solution is good for small and medium enterprise companies. 

The primary use case for this solution is for filtering emails, internally and for external emails. We have part with Office 365 and the other is hosted inside. We have monitoring and certain policies regarding emails, both in sending and receiving them. 

The deployment Model is on-premises using a virtual machine.

This a user-friendly solution.

Troubleshooting is very simple because you can see where the email was not delivered and why it would be considered as spam. For the IT team, it is important, because when they are asked by management why their email was not sent or why was this email that was sent to me was considered as spam, they have the details that are needed to explain why. 

It is much better than IronPort for Cisco and Websense. 

For now, as per our experience with FortiMail in handling a large number of emails and spams as well, in the past three years, we have been protected and saved from any attacks from the outside. This is one of the main reasons we will continue to use FortiMail.

The dashboard is small, it doesn't have a huge dashboard that you can rely on, you need another application to work with it, which is why they created FortiAnalyzer. This allows you to dig deeper if you want details. For example, it would tell you from which domain, to what domain, and what are the triggers that have been used to classify this email. These are all extra features, it is not an all in one.

Some of the dashboards found in the FortiAnalyzer could be improved. For the basics, the solution covers it. 

An additional feature that could be added is a pop-up screen notifying you that an email has been blocked, without having to double click on it to take you there it could provide you with a summary explaining why it was on hold or why was it spam when you hover over it with your cursor.

I have been using this solution for three years.

This solution is very stable. I don't remember the last time that I had to restart the server.

This is the main mail filter, for our entire company.

They are different, not of the same email. One for Office 365 and the other is Lotus and other mail services.

Not only one service in our system, but it is configured on that one main filter using different platforms, acting as the main suitor for FortiMail.

There are approximately five hundred users, with two administrators and three at the help desk. They can do minor duties such as releasing emails, but not going into why were the emails blocked. They help to release emails that are blocked for users, who cannot release them on their own. We do, however, have limited system privileges for the administrators.

The administrators maintain the solution. The administrators will search for new firmware, find the new releases, and whether it is beneficial or not needed.

This solution is scalable at the start. You don't have any boundaries for upgrading or downgrading.

The Virtual Machine can hold as much as you want, but of course, every Virtual Machine has its capacity. You cannot take the capacity that is needed now, but rather, you have to think forward. For example, maybe now you have twenty emails, but next year we're going to have fifty emails more, and you end up with seventy, so now you reach one hundred.

While every Virtual Machine has its limitations, the limitation of every Virtual Machine is large.

We do not plan to increase usage.

The technical support was good. They are perfect.

The support is open and support is with FortiGate. They always reply and they are always there to support you within an hour, at the maximum. 

Everything will be shown in your inbox. 

We develop our products, and we do our troubleshooting without relying on the support.

If we reach a stage where we can't do anything more, then we contact support. It has been approximately two years since we last contacted them.

Previously we used a different solution. We switched to FortiMail because our old solution was not good, or stable.

We used many solutions before, including Sophos Email, and when you have a good experience with a product you will not go back to the old products or switch to other products unless there are big advantages.

Emails were not accurate, some emails on the first day were in your inbox and another day, they are quarantined, and then other days they were not being delivered.

There were limitations in the configuration and troubleshooting. 

We have always had SLAs, but not with the company, it was with the brand. For example, we had support from Cisco and Sophos between one and three years.

We directly open cases with them. Two cases were not closed. I had completed my troubleshooting and solved the issue, while they were not able to solve it. 

Cisco was too complicated, not user-friendly, and not designed for emails in that complex environment. For an easier environment, they were fine, but, not for a complex environment, with different main servers, and different platforms.

Cisco is also more expensive than others. I don't know why, especially now, with technology in the hands of every brand.

Cisco is not the one and only, but now, it is the last and only.

This is why we are no longer using Cisco. We did have a good experience with Cisco. Everything was tested. I asked the suppliers, the brand owners in the region, to come over to see us. I didn't just go to Fortinet FortiMail directly.

The initial setup was straightforward.

The deployment time varies depending on if you are doing research, or if you are going to post on your site regarding FortiMail. If it is one domain it will take one day, or if it is for ten domains that have to be checked on to see the main flow and to see everything, it can take anywhere from one to three days.

We had only one staff member for the deployment of this solution.

To have it fully deployed and for fine-tuning, it will need ten working days. At some points, there is mail that you receive and not able to detect them, for example, all of the mail you are getting are spam or are getting quarantined or they are not quarantined, they are just trespassing in, you need approximately ten days. It's similar to machine learning, where you can learn your emails and how they flow. 

Simply put, the implementation is one to three days and for fine-tuning, it is ten days.

We used the reseller and the technical people to work with us, but the configurations and the policies are from my recommendation.

The resellers are awesome!

The time needed for troubleshooting before was reduced by at least 80%. This allowed us to focus on other applications as well, not only the web filter, email filter, and applications for the firewall. 

We have taken away some applications that we used to monitor our network with, as they were offered in FortiGate, so we no longer needed them.

Many areas helped us in reduced costs, not only in the administration in these areas, but in replacing other services that we used to buy. For example, If you want to have wireless access points so that people can access on their mobiles, we would have had to purchase a radio-server and an expensive wireless access point which was needed together. 

Access points that would cost between sixty and eighty dollars, you can have them with FortiGate on a switch, allowing you to monitor all of these from the FortiGate. 

You have all of the security, you can create your policies and you can do all the measurement and shaping and applications of vision monitoring. Everything can be done through FortiGate.

These are some of the advantages that FortiGate have over all the others. 

It's multi-platform. 

As long as you work more on the configuration and you dig deep inside the policies, you can reach huge worlds, and the security layers, not seven, layer eight and nine because intelligence and security are there. 

You have all it backs-up with the company. So yes, several things have been changed and replaced.

We are satisfied with the pricing of this solution.

Licenses are based on everyone's needs. If you don't need the full bundle that includes everything, you have options for the small or medium enterprise environments.

I was doing both the evaluating and testing. 

I had researched the internet for the leaders.

I did not go with Gartner as they pay to gain leadership. I went to other sources. I went to reviews, and I opened cases in everyone. I evaluated Barracuda, IronPort Cisco, Sophos, FortiMail and Websense.

I evaluated every one of the five brands and it took five months of testing all brands before we made the decision to go with FortiMail. We chose FortiMail because they passed all of the tests. The POC was for one month.

Emails are dangerous to deal with. You need backdoors for all people, You don't have any control over it because you are not the person who's dealing with emails for the employees.

Everyone is dealing with their own emails. In order to secure your emails, you need to secure your employees and the emails that are trespassing into your environment.

You need to find a solution that not only scans emails, but you also need to have some artificial intelligence for the machine learning for emails.

That's what FortiMail is doing. 

FortiMail is flexible, straightforward, and easy to troubleshoot. This is key, for  IT, they need to troubleshoot easily, and need to know why and how this was done. 

FortiMail is one of the important applications that can provide us what we require, as well as, being able to delegate your troubleshooting and your administration with many players or many, team members in IT. There are some that can do it while others cannot.

You should test before you decide to own a product. Don't rely on people saying, that it's the best product I have. You should know what your business is working with. There are no best practices in IT. There is what the business needs in IT.

The best practices that are there, are by the books, but the business may require different paths than the books and the best practices they tell you. So, always test. Know why and what you need the services for and don't buy everything, because you will not have time to be working on all of them.

If you have things set up straightforwardly, and it is fast to configure, then, yes, these products are good for you. The differences are, the experience and stability of these products, and how far you can go with the policies. This is what I have learned, not only from FortiMail but from all the solutions we're working with.

Never put your business and IT aside. They should collaborate and align together.

Overall, this is a good and reliable application.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case of this solution is for its anti-spam properties. In order to protect our mail server in our data center from spams, we need an anti-spam program. 

The solution helps me to do internal routing and to configure interfaces. FortiMail works on the profile.

I would like it if the solution could be more affordable.

The solution is very, very stable. We've had only one problem with FortiMail in the past when our internal hard-disk broke down due to a bad sector on the disk. My colleague contacted FortiMail's technical team, and they replaced it for us. This was bad for us because our systems were down for three days. But up to now, that was our only issue with this solution.

We have about 300 users and we plan to increase our usage by opening new branches and new factories. So I believe the program is scalable. 

The technical team was very helpful. Our only issue was that, because we are in Egypt, Fortinet had to use their distributors in Egypt to fix our problem, and that is why it took three days to get the hard disk, install it and reconfigure it. Luckily our last configuration didn't take up much time, only about one hour, thanks to a backup of the last configuration that was available online. But if it has to be shipped from the distributors, it will take three days at least.

My company previously used a software but when using an anti-spam solution as a hardware, it's better than an application, because an application could be corrupted.

My company pays around 28.000 Egyptian Pounds per year for this program. It is rather expensive in my opinion.

We compared it to Sophos, but it is more for users that aren't IT experts. It is so easy that anyone can use it - even my young child can configure Sophos. But for Fortinet, you need an IT expert. This is why we chose Fortinet, and we found that it is a very good solution.

I've also been using Cisco and it's a very good firewall. It's an old program, but it's doing its job for me. I use it for deviant connections and for publishing my internal server to the internet. So the Cisco firewall is also doing its job very well.

I rate this program a ten out of ten, because it's configured right. The person who configured it actually knows what the real function of anti-spam is. It protects me from cryptography. I do see some connection delay from time to time, but I believe it is because of the Sandbox check. 

Fortinet FortiMail is sufficient for our use cases.

The user quarantine feature in the solution is good. Not all the solutions have user quarantine features since they mostly have system quarantine features. The integration with Active Directory is great. The solution's antispam is really very efficient, especially the greylisting. Recently, the protection against impersonation is doing a great job.

The solution lacks to provide more visibility when there is a problem, and it needs to be tracked. The solution should provide users with more visibility so that they can track a problem.

It has been only a very short time since I started using Fortinet FortiMail. I use it for my company and for our customers. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

It is a stable solution.

Regarding scalability, we did not receive any case where we had to expand. I recommend the solution to businesses that range from small to medium, including those who do not have a very large environment. It is possible to scale it more since we have one enterprise where it is deployed at a large scale.

Fortinet's technical support is great. Usually, we do the first level of support. And when there is a really difficult problem, we raise tickets, and they are very good at handling such problems. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

It is easy to deploy.

Regarding the time taken for deployment, If it is in gateway mode, then it will not take more than two to three hours. If such necessities are not there in place, it will take more time.

We do the implementation. Also, we provide professional services since we sell the product with professional services.

The pricing is reasonable, and this is why small to medium enterprises are adopting it. Price-wise, the solution is not far from Microsoft ATP. So, it is affordable.

In fact, some vendors tried to work with us, but we found Fortinet to be very good.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.