We mainly use Fortinet FortiMail as an anti-spam solution.
Pre Sales Engineer at Triple C
Its anti-spam and security features complement each other; it has excellent technical support and reasonable pricing
Pros and Cons
- "I like the anti-spam and security features of Fortinet FortiMail, and that its features complement each other."
- "A room for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is that it only has a hardware version. I also didn't find the solution scalable, so that's another area for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Overall, I'm satisfied with Fortinet FortiMail.
I like that it has reasonable pricing. I also like that it's very good compared to its competitors and has many features.
I like the anti-spam and security features of Fortinet FortiMail, and that its features complement each other.
What needs improvement?
A room for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is that it's hardware-based. It only has a hardware version.
I also didn't find the solution scalable, so that's another area for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
My experience with Fortinet FortiMail is ten years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiMail
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiMail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiMail is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiMail is not scalable because once you connect to a model, you're stuck with it. It isn't a good fit for enterprise companies.
How are customer service and support?
Fortinet FortiMail has excellent technical support.
How was the initial setup?
Fortinet FortiMail is easy to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy Fortinet FortiMail for customers. We have a technical team that handles the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I find Fortinet FortiMail pricing reasonable.
There's no additional cost apart from its standard licensing fees.
What other advice do I have?
My company is a reseller for Fortinet.
I primarily work with Fortinet FortiMail and Fortinet FortiGate, but with FortiADC, not so much.
My customers use Fortinet FortiMail, but my company also uses it as a Fortinet partner.
I mainly deal with sales and scoping for Fortinet FortiMail and other Fortinet products.
My rating for the solution is a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner/Reseller
Network Security Engineer at netfiniti
Highly secure, easy installation, and effective endpoint defense features
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the endpoint defense features, it is very secure."
- "The solution is user-friendly to a degree but the dashboard needs improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We are not using FortiMail as a mail server but we are using it only as a security gateway where it scans all the incoming and outgoing emails in our organization.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the granular features of antispam and strong antivirus database.
What needs improvement?
The solution is user-friendly to a degree but the dashboard needs improvement.
We would like to see in an upcoming release reports to show the amount of data a particular user has used.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiMail is very reliable and stable since the databases are very strong.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, we are able to integrate other hardware, such as FortiGate 5, or other solutions we have in our organization.
We have approximately 2,000 people using this solution in my organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have support 24/hours a day, they are helpful and responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No
How was the initial setup?
The installation was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a license required for this solution and it is on an annual basis. I am satisfied with the price.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Barracuda.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others and advise them to use the 400F series or higher because lower models do not have the DLP feature which is very important to have.
I rate Fortinet FortiMail a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiMail
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiMail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Assistant VP Solution Departments at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Comprehensive solution that's easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "FortiMail is a stable product."
- "FortiMail's dashboard is somewhat complex and could be made simpler."
What is our primary use case?
I use FortiMail for email security, ransomware and phishing protection, risk and compliance, security, and automation.
What needs improvement?
FortiMail's dashboard is somewhat complex and could be made simpler. Its integration could also be easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with FortiMail for four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiMail is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiMail is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Fortinet's support system lags behind the rest of its offerings and needs to be fine-tuned and polished.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiMail has extra charges for installation, configuration, and project management.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend FortiMail to other users and rate it eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Information Security Officer at State Audit Office
Safeguards our company's emails with minimal configuration and no stress
Pros and Cons
- "FortiMail is extremely flexible and very easy to learn. Compared to other email security products that we've tried, it is mainly the ease of configuration that makes FortiMail valuable to us."
- "I have little to say about possible improvements, but the configuration for content blocking could be better. So, for example, if the email includes the line "You have a Bitcoin", I would like it to be easier to block it before it enters an inbox. Fortinet could maybe offer better or simpler help on how to do this properly."
What is our primary use case?
We have FortiMail running on-premises on a virtual client. It is currently serving emails for about 400 employees that we have here. All this is taking place on the same server, and for the past three months it has been our main guarantee for email security.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiMail has taken good care of the deliverability and security of emails within our organization, protecting our many users from all kinds of security threats.
What is most valuable?
FortiMail is extremely flexible and very easy to learn. Compared to other email security products that we've tried, it is mainly the ease of configuration that makes FortiMail valuable to us.
It doesn't take an engineer to be able to get up and running with FortiMail, and one can get by with little more than the online documentation and YouTube, for example.
What needs improvement?
I have little to say about possible improvements, but the configuration for content blocking could be better. So, for example, if the email text and/or subject includes any kind of keyword and/or phrase, for example "You have a Bitcoin", I would like it to be easier to block it before it enters an inbox. Fortinet could maybe offer better or simpler help on how to do this properly.
Besides that, I feel that we have everything we need for our company with FortiMail.
For how long have I used the solution?
Our company has been using Fortinet FortiMail for three months now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
During testing we have found FortiMail to be very stable and there have been no major incidents. It is one of the most stable Fortinet products we have used.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have successfully used FortiMail for around 400 email users so far. It is very flexible.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't have any experience with the official international support because our partners at High Tech Solutions in Georgia, with whom we have a close business relationship, are our main support channel.
They are highly professional, well-educated, and always available to help us. Even when working hours are over, they are happy to offer support from their excellent engineers. They truly stand behind Fortinet products and it shows.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For email security purposes, we previously used Barracuda Firewall. We had the firewall installed in the system which we were using for free emails. Now we are transforming our system to use FortiMail as it is more of an all-in-one solution that has everything we need.
How was the initial setup?
FortiMail is very easy to set up and configure. This is one of the main reasons why we enjoy using it.
What about the implementation team?
There is just one guy who works on the admin and configuration, and an InfoSec officer who looks into incidents by analyzing events and logs. Beyond that, we also receive input from the head of department and other management.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of licensing, we are using a virtual machine license for the single virtual server which it runs on. Doing it this way enables us to cut costs by only licensing FortiMail for our exact use case. If you need to expand in future, you can later buy extra licenses per virtual machine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We could have continued with Barracuda, but after trying out FortiMail for a short time, we now prefer it over Barracuda.
What other advice do I have?
After three months of evaluating FortiMail, it has exceeded our expectations and we will definitely continue using it.
I would rate Fortinet FortiMail a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Security Consultant at SigmaTelecom
Provides virus outbreak prevention and FortiSandbox integration
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiMail are its virus outbreak prevention and FortiSandbox integration."
- "Fortinet FortiMail should allow more flexibility with the content rules."
What is our primary use case?
I have one deployment, which is a service provider, so it's working in a multi-tenancy environment. At least ten customers are being handled by this multi-tenant Fortinet FortiMail. We use Fortinet FortiMail mainly for incoming messages and also as a server.
How has it helped my organization?
In the first presentation we did, we were able to demonstrate to our client that 98.2% of the emails they received were spam emails. Furthermore, out of the spam emails, around 2,000 messages were found to contain viruses. Fortinet FortiMail was able to block these 2,000 virus-infected messages that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Since we use Fortinet FortiMail as a multi-tenant environment in our cloud, we also save our customers' bandwidth as the spam emails are not downloaded.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiMail are its virus outbreak prevention and FortiSandbox integration.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiMail should allow more flexibility with the content rules. FortiMail does not allow users to use the content itself as a matching policy attribute. This limits the flexibility of policy configuration, and we have to adapt by using specific sources to apply specific content filtering.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiMail for the past seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Fortinet FortiMail a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Fortinet FortiMail an eight out of ten for scalability. We are expanding our customer base with Fortinet FortiMail because security is now perceived as an investment in Brazil.
How was the initial setup?
Fortinet FortiMail's deployment is straightforward. It's not like plug-and-play, but if you use the default configuration, you can enable very strict security without digging into the configurations.
What was our ROI?
Since we started offering the anti-spam with FortiMail as a service, we have moved from OpEx to CapEx.
What other advice do I have?
I am using the latest version of Fortinet FortiMail. Users need to understand the SMTP standards to configure Fortinet FortiMail properly. If you make mistakes in the configuration, you may allow users on the internet to use your email as an MTA. This was the mistake committed by one of our customers who tried to deploy the solution himself without proper knowledge. You must have some knowledge about the solution so you can internally configure it.
Overall, I rate Fortinet FortiMail an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Database/Server Specialist Computer Services at a university with 201-500 employees
Scalable, great for spam outbreaks, and offers great technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale."
- "Sometimes it takes a little bit too long to determine if an email is good or not. If they could shorten that time span, it'd be so much better. It does delay our email, which does not make users happy. That said, I would have to say we have not been blacklisted for quite a while now."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is primarily used for identifying spam, viruses, zero-day spamming, and any other kind of spam issues our organization might face.
What is most valuable?
We have several of these solutions in place. We do have, as of late, spam outbreaks. This solution has been pretty reliable in dealing with them.
The solution can scale.
The solution is mostly stable.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes it takes a little bit too long to determine if an email is good or not. If they could shorten that time span, it'd be so much better. It does delay our email, which does not make users happy. That said, I would have to say we have not been blacklisted for quite a while now.
Sometimes there are false positives.
When spam goes into system quarantine, it would be ideal if there was a safe way to let the users review the email in question and release it themselves, as opposed to having to wait on an administrator, to search for it and release it. It could be done securely. I understand why the system quarantines. However, a lot of users have their financial documents or lawyer's documents get thrown into the system quarantine and they're waiting on them. They need them within the hour as they are often time-sensitive matters. Due to this, they have to contact me. They wait for a while because they don't know when it's going to come, however, eventually they have to contact me. It's a delay. People understandably get very impatient.
There are some emails that go through that should be given a login code - for example, like whenever you're signing up for Microsoft in the cloud and they have to send you a login code. These codes from well-known vendors get stuck in the spam outbreak. They get stuck in different places.
Whitelisting should be a little bit friendlier for the users. It was actually easier a few versions back. Once you logged into your Fortimail account, you could whitelist very easily. Now, you have to kind of navigate through the email to do it. We cannot turn on the auto whitelist feature on because then there are users that will download anything without thinking, so we never use the auto whitelist feature. That's why it's so important to make whitelisting individually an easy task.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is mainly good. We do occasionally get false positives, however, it's rare.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable and it does work well for what it's doing.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've been satisfied with the technical support. They always are able to help us with upgrades and implementations. We find them to be quite knowledgeable.
How was the initial setup?
For us, the setup is pretty straightforward. However, it's that way due to the fact that we use technical support to assist us. If we were to do it on our own, it may be difficult to implement. It's not something that I could just pull up and do on my own. I don't feel like I could. The knowledge of the engineers is very beneficial.
What about the implementation team?
In our use case scenario, we do have support to help us set it up. In all the scenarios, even when I migrate to another upgrade or to a different box, even though we've had this for several years, we always use support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate other options before choosing this solution.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers. We don't have a business relationship with the company.
I would rate the solution nine out of ten. If it weren't for issues surrounding quarantining emails, I'd rate it higher.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Owner at Ampec Data Service srl
Has a good anti-spam feature, competitive pricing, and easy to scale on VMs, even when there's a dramatic increase in client requirements
Pros and Cons
- "The biggest implementation my team has done for Fortinet FortiMail was for more than five thousand people, and the most valuable feature was its anti-spam feature."
- "It's difficult for me to talk about areas for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail because I'm the general manager of the company and I'm an engineer with knowledge about the solution, but I'm not deeply involved in its implementation. As I mentioned previously, Fortinet FortiMail is also being used within the company, and I'm happy with its functionality, but sometimes, attacks pass and avoid the Fortinet FortiMail filters, but those could be very sophisticated attacks. There could still be an improvement in the filtering feature of the solution, though the security of Fortinet FortiMail is okay for me because I believe you can't implement one hundred percent security in any solution. The initial setup for the solution also needs improvement. The setup is supposed to be simple, but then the customer starts to complain that some of the false positive emails are reaching quarantine, so my team has to configure it again. There have been instances when Fortinet FortiMail rejects valid emails because some of the service partners of the customer have not been configured accurately, so the system considered valid mails as attacks to be quarantined, so aside from improving the filters, there should also be an improvement in the categorization of emails in the server. My team has to modify the configuration so that valid emails could pass and for Fortinet FortiMail to correctly filter the SPAM traffic. A feature that could be added to Fortinet FortiMail in its next release is advanced AI, so it can analyze and decide accurately on which mail is valid and which mail is SPAM."
What is our primary use case?
We're using Fortinet FortiMail for general purposes. It's for analyzing mail, stopping attacks, and stopping all SPAM.
What is most valuable?
The biggest implementation my team has done for Fortinet FortiMail was for more than five thousand people, and the most valuable feature was its anti-spam feature.
What needs improvement?
It's difficult for me to talk about areas for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail because I'm the general manager of the company and I'm an engineer with knowledge about the solution, but I'm not deeply involved in its implementation. As I mentioned previously, Fortinet FortiMail is also being used within the company, and I'm happy with its functionality, but sometimes, attacks pass and avoid the Fortinet FortiMail filters, but those could be very sophisticated attacks. There could still be an improvement in the filtering feature of the solution, though the security of Fortinet FortiMail is okay for me because I believe you can't implement one hundred percent security in any solution.
The initial setup for the solution also needs improvement. The setup is supposed to be simple, but then the customer starts to complain that some of the false positive emails are reaching quarantine, so my team has to configure it again.
There have been instances when Fortinet FortiMail rejects valid emails because some of the service partners of the customer have not been configured accurately, so the system considered valid mails as attacks to be quarantined, so aside from improving the filters, there should also be an improvement in the categorization of emails in the server. My team has to modify the configuration so that valid emails could pass and for Fortinet FortiMail to correctly filter the SPAM traffic.
A feature that could be added to Fortinet FortiMail in its next release is advanced AI, so it can analyze and decide accurately on which mail is valid and which mail is SPAM.
For how long have I used the solution?
My company has two projects with Fortinet FortiMail. One project is three years, and the other is a big project that's been running for one year now. The solution is also being used in-house within my company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiMail is a stable product, particularly based on functionality.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of the scalability of Fortinet FortiMail, it depends on the implementation because you have two types of implementation, the virtual machine, and the appliance.
If you're using the appliance, you have to think about the future, for example, maybe now the customer needs a certain level of traffic to be filtered, then in two or three years, the level of traffic needs to increase, so you have to propose a bigger machine that can handle the evolution in traffic.
In the VM implementation, you also need to take some steps, for example, you have to figure out the server type, number of CPUs, RAMs, and OPS requirements, based on the level of traffic and request level.
It's easier to upgrade or scale on VMs, even if the client requirements increase dramatically.
How are customer service and support?
Fortinet FortiMail offers two types of support, standard and elite. Standard support is paid annually. My company has the elite type of support which means there's a dedicated person to solve issues.
The standard support team usually recommends upgrades to solve the problem instead of doing a deep dive into it, even if you give them sufficient information about the problem.
The elite support team responds quickly and gives you higher-level and more professional support, but you have to pay extra for it, on top of the standard fees.
On a scale of one to five, with one being the worst, and five being the best, my rating for Fortinet FortiMail support is a four.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Fortinet FortiMail was complex. It was complex because you have to collect all the right information from the customer, then you need to put it into the equipment as rules, so it's complex. The solution also evolves, and from time to time, you have to fine-tune it to implement the new features and increase the level of security.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have no information on pricing for the competition because right now, my company is working only with Fortinet, but I can say that in general, the price for Fortinet FortiMail was accepted by the customers easily. The POC is also important when a customer is buying a solution. The customer wants to see how the product runs, and as Fortinet FortiMail is a stable product that runs without big issues, it has a bigger chance of getting chosen by customers over its competitors, even if its price may be a little higher. Pricing for the solution is competitive. Sometimes it's less, sometimes it's a little bit higher, but it isn't far from what other solutions charge.
What other advice do I have?
The Fortinet products I have experience with include FortiGate and FortiAnalyzer, and I especially work with Fortinet FortiMail.
My company is a partner and integrator for Fortinet FortiMail.
My rating for Fortinet FortiMail, on a scale of one to ten, is a nine.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner / Integrator
The reporting and various tools that protect our mail domain are very valuable
Pros and Cons
- "I think the spamming feature is very valuable."
- "Online support sometimes takes up to a week to get back to you."
What is our primary use case?
We have implemented this solution in our VMware environment to host our own mail domain. So when the mails come in, we use the security profile and all the features of the FortiMail very efficiently - all the blacklists, safe lists, block lists, and other securities that are there to change and contain. We use spamming and content filtering and attachment filtering.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution provides different tools and reporting so now one can prevent malicious spam coming through. You can put that on the blacklist, white list or accordingly. Based on the IP repetition score, there are so many things the developers have improved which weren't available in the earlier versions. there. Now the filtering is really effective to protect any mail environment of any company.
What is most valuable?
I think the spamming feature is very valuable. One of the features of FortiMail is the sandbox. If any suspicious or malicious thing is detected, it uploads to the FortiMail, and then to the database, and then it's checked. Once it's confirmed that the mail is good content, then it's moved inside and forwarded to its destination. So the sandboxing is a really valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
FortiMail is currently available in the appliance mode so I believe the technology can be improved a little. There are a lot of viruses and malicious things out there that can damage your environment. So I think they need to be analytical in their quiet mode implementation so that these things get updated constantly. If anything new is in the market, it should be blocked by the FortiMail immediately.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Fortinet FortiMail for a year now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution. We rarely get any complaint from the users getting spam. Even my own finance head and managing directors are satisfied.
How are customer service and technical support?
I will not give good marks on their support team. The support is not good at all. If you call in with an emergency thing, they will send you some PDF to read rather than sending it to their technical team. We therefore use our own expertise team who then uses Google to search for a solution. Online support sometimes takes up to a week to get back to you.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Trend Micro Gateway and another McAfee gateway, but Fortinet is a good product. We were using McAfee, the email gateway security filtering, anti-spam filtering.
What other advice do I have?
The filtering is really effective to protect any mail environment of any company. I can definitely recommend this solution and my rating is a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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