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Darktrace vs Fortinet FortiOS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Darktrace enhances security with threat detection and vulnerability exposure, providing financial benefits despite deployment challenges.
Sentiment score
8.0
Fortinet FortiOS offers competitive pricing, easy scalability, and reliable security, resulting in solid ROI and reduced upgrade costs.
Other NDR solutions provide virtual appliances that can be deployed on virtualization servers to get up and running quickly.
Technical Consultant - Unix Platform Services at BITS AND BYTE IT CONSULTING PVT LTD
Using this solution provides financial benefits by securing from server attacks, which offers indirect savings.
Systems Specialist/ Administrator at ALFA International Company Limited.
Once it is deployed, I do not have to revisit or replace the hardware.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The pricing of FortiOS is competitive and reasonable compared to other leading products such as Palo Alto and Check Point.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
Fortinet is strong in terms of cost and compatibility with other vendors.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Darktrace customer service is responsive and helpful, praised for efficient issue resolutions and proactive engagement with users.
Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiOS support is helpful but inconsistent, with quick basic solutions, delays on complex issues, and documentation needing improvement.
The technical support from Darktrace is of high quality.
Network & Security Section Head/Digital Transformation at City Edge
Darktrace provides excellent technical support with a monthly meeting to review platform incidents, ensuring the system functions as expected.
Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group
The challenge lies in waiting for a response after logging a ticket.
Group Cybersecurity Administrator at Tharisa
I would rate them nine or ten out of ten.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
Fortinet technical support is very responsive and helpful.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
Support engineers sometimes lack eagerness to assist with issues such as the memory problem.
Director, IT Infrastructure Department at Zemen Bank S.C.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Darktrace is praised for its scalability, seamless expansion, robust architecture, and capacity to manage increasing demands effectively.
Sentiment score
8.6
Fortinet FortiOS offers scalable solutions for varying business sizes, though some hardware upgrades may be needed for expansion.
Darktrace has high scalability, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Network & Security Section Head/Digital Transformation at City Edge
Since it's cloud-based, it expands easily.
Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group
There is still a gap in terms of storage, and we are trying to figure out how to increase that capacity for regulated environments, which require data retention for 5 to 6 years.
Technical Consultant - Unix Platform Services at BITS AND BYTE IT CONSULTING PVT LTD
When customers' networks grow and needs expand, we can easily switch between models to trade up devices.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
It allows for the expansion of users and devices without additional licensing costs.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
Fortinet FortiOS is scalable, allowing the addition of users and firewalls as required.
Director, IT Infrastructure Department at Zemen Bank S.C.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Darktrace is praised for its reliability and stability, offering seamless performance and quick resolutions to occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.5
Fortinet FortiOS is stable and reliable, outperforming alternatives, with any issues mainly due to configuration challenges.
The stability of Darktrace is excellent, rated ten out of ten.
Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group
The appliance itself has never let me down.
Group Cybersecurity Administrator at Tharisa
For stability, I would rate Darktrace an eight out of ten.
Security Analyst at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
While the product is largely stable, it sometimes faces memory issues in specific versions like 11 OE, which can be disruptive.
Director, IT Infrastructure Department at Zemen Bank S.C.
Stability is a seven out of ten because during version migrations, and sometimes with new versions, Fortinet is not as good.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
I would rate the stability of FortiOS as an eight out of ten.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek better SIEM integration, improved automation, user-friendly interfaces, and enhanced protection with more intuitive reports and dashboards.
Fortinet FortiOS users want improved usability, better management, enhanced security features, and more efficient support, especially for 60D models.
There is no dedicated salesperson in Egypt, and having one would help to improve focus on this market.
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
They say they can integrate with most firewalls, but when we did an integration with Meraki MX firewalls, that integration didn't work and still doesn't work to this day.
Security Analyst at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
We need Darktrace on each branch to get the data out, and I suggest having some kind of a centralized product that gets data from multiple sources to aggregate and provide the data.
Technical Consultant - Unix Platform Services at BITS AND BYTE IT CONSULTING PVT LTD
Fortinet FortiOS faces memory issues, which can lead to unexpected downtimes.
Director, IT Infrastructure Department at Zemen Bank S.C.
There should be more documentation on how to use the CLI or how to perform CLI versions of tasks that can be done through the GUI.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Compared to other market leaders like Palo Alto and Check Point, FortiOS has many bugs in its initial releases.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Darktrace offers flexible payment options but is costly, especially for small businesses, justified by its advanced features.
Fortinet FortiOS pricing is moderate and scalable, with renewal costs potentially high despite competitive initial bundling offers.
The product is considered expensive compared to others.
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The pricing is costly in USD, and they charge based on device counts.
Group Cybersecurity Administrator at Tharisa
The licensing cost is approximately eight dollars a year.
Security Information & Incident Analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is an affordable solution for us.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
Fortinet products are somewhat pricey, similar to Cisco equivalents, however, they have justified their price point.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
I am satisfied with the pricing, licensing, and setup costs of FortiOS, rating it nine out of ten compared to other familiar leading firewalls.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
 

Valuable Features

Darktrace provides AI-driven security with fast responses, real-time monitoring, and autonomous threat management, minimizing false positives efficiently.
Fortinet FortiOS offers ease of use, robust security features, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, ideal for large-scale deployments.
It is capable of responding to lateral movement and ransomware deployment within environments where there is data exfiltration.
Group Cybersecurity Administrator at Tharisa
I do not need to manually process incidents as Darktrace provides an incident summary, potential detection paths, and other details, all exportable with just a click.
Security Information & Incident Analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
If I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.
Security Analyst at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
It is user-friendly when it comes to turning on features, and it has been reliable and effective.
Network Administrator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The threat intelligence in FortiOS is very high, and the system is scalable without additional licensing costs.
Senior Manager at ITX360 (Pvt) Ltd
The solution offers good threat intelligence, which is crucial for our customers' security purposes.
Technology Consultant at 1ware
 

Categories and Ranking

Darktrace
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (9th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (13th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (11th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th), AI Observability (7th)
Fortinet FortiOS
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (21st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Darktrace is designed for Network Detection and Response (NDR) and holds a mindshare of 18.0%, down 25.2% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiOS, on the other hand, focuses on Firewalls, holds 1.1% mindshare, up 0.8% since last year.
Network Detection and Response (NDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Darktrace18.0%
Vectra AI13.3%
ExtraHop Reveal(x)7.0%
Other61.7%
Network Detection and Response (NDR)
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiOS1.1%
Fortinet FortiGate18.7%
OPNsense11.2%
Other69.0%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Technical Consultant - Unix Platform Services at BITS AND BYTE IT CONSULTING PVT LTD
Consistent threat hunting and anomaly detection deliver valuable insights for network security management
In terms of improvement for Darktrace, pricing is the main concern. Pricing bothers me and this is one of the major factors when choosing a solution. When we get feedback from customers, that's the only felt need. When we factor in Darktrace, we do it only limited. We put it on where the perimeters and connections are, but still, some gray areas are left out, especially if we have multiple branches. We need Darktrace on each branch to get the data out, and I suggest having some kind of a centralized product that gets data from multiple sources to aggregate and provide the data.
MB
Director, IT Infrastructure Department at Zemen Bank S.C.
Seamless upgrades ensure uninterrupted service
In some specific products, Fortinet FortiOS faces memory issues, which can lead to unexpected downtimes. This is particularly true for a version like 11 OE, which has a problem at the software level concerning memory, causing it to get stuck in production. Support quality and eagerness to resolve issues, such as the memory issues, could improve.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What do you like most about Darktrace?
A very useful feature in Darktrace for real-time threat analysis is the packet inspection that analyzes the packet traffic in real time.
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiOS?
The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?
I rate the pricing for FortiOS as eight or nine out of ten. It is an affordable solution for us.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace, Vectra AI, Trend Micro and others in Network Detection and Response (NDR). Updated: December 2025.
879,477 professionals have used our research since 2012.