Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

I used to work with Fortinet FortiGate and I am using Fortinet solutions as well. I still use Fortinet FortiGate. Everything regarding Fortinet FortiGate, I was working in a telecom operator who was a partner to Fortinet FortiGate and we were reselling Fortinet solutions to our enterprise customers. Plus, Fortinet has a lot of solutions for telecom network operators as well. So we have deployed a Fortinet solution for protecting our infrastructure as well. In my current role also, we are using Fortinet solutions as security operation center tools.

So we were using SD-WAN of Fortinet FortiGate as well and we used to sell Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN to our enterprise clients as well, and the feedback is pretty good. The box is quite good, especially on the throughput. So usually for other vendors and the market leader vendors, whenever SD-WAN is activated on the box, the throughput of the box reduces while in Fortinet FortiGate boxes, the throughput remains consistent and you can turn on and off the features as you want, and it is quite intuitive to use Fortinet FortiGate solutions.

So we use Fortinet FortiGate data center firewall and with IDPS functionality. FortiAI is the add-on on top of Fortinet FortiGate firewall. So we use those solutions which help us to protect our setup from cyber attacks and in near real time it gives a lot of visibility using machine learning and helps us remediate the incident in near real time basis.

I work with other solutions such as VMware, Cisco, and a few more SD-WAN vendors.

Fortinet FortiGate has started as a firewall solution for branch locations and protecting a smaller branch of say 50 or 100 users to start with. Then Fortinet FortiGate has enhanced their offerings and now they are offering solutions for protecting data centers, branches, head offices, cloud infrastructure and everything. So Fortinet is one of the players who is having the full bucket of solutions for protecting applications across the deployment locations, being a branch or a head office or a data center or in the cloud as well.

Regarding Fortinet FortiGate, one of the key fundamental principles they are following while creating products is affordability. Second one is a uniform software code which they use for creating products and the interoperability with the Fortinet ecosystem. So as I said, Fortinet has started as a firewall vendor and then now Fortinet is offering SD-WAN, software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, plus a lot of solutions for protecting cloud-based deployments and applications. I understand that I am using a few of the solutions which are required for running a managed security service provider setup and security operations center. So those products are also quite promising. To summarize, one is affordability and the efficacy of solutions. Plus I understand Fortinet keeps on investing high in their R&D budget. So that's where they are able to bring a lot of innovation and they make their product quite contemporary in that sense.

Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet unified SASE, it provides necessary uniform security policies across multiple locations, being in the cloud or in a branch location or in some data center or anywhere in the world actually. So that's where SASE plays a pretty important part and Fortinet has achieved that objective very well.

Regarding the experience with the unified agent in Fortinet unified SASE, it impacts our operations mostly positively. That helps us reduce our overhead for managing the endpoint deployment. With the agent, it is a single agent that does multiple jobs. And this agent signals very well with Fortinet FortiGate SASE deployments and the overall experience is pretty good. It is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and most effective.

Regarding the dynamic segmentation feature, it is a very fantastic feature and one has to have that feature for protecting the lateral movement of cyber threats or maybe when hackers are trying to orchestrate the larger cyber attacks. So this dynamic segmentation really helps us provide a segregation of the application landscape as well as ensuring that the cross talk between the applications does not go uncontrolled. Secondly, if any malware is deployed somewhere, it helps us protect those malware implications within a certain segment only and not span across the data center.

Regarding DDoS protection for managing data center traffic, I understand Fortinet has solutions for DDoS but I do not see those being used in the market. The market is controlled, rather dominated by two or three vendors, and I guess Fortinet is not a preferred vendor for having DDoS solutions.

I would say 8 out of 10 regarding the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. It requires a lot of bug fixing and what I understand, Fortinet is fast enough to provide bug fixes and patches, but usually I suggest Fortinet should do thorough testing of their releases and software releases and once probably they can reduce the frequency of new releases but make it stable. That's what my recommendation is.

As far as the core objective of Fortinet FortiGate is concerned, I think they are meeting the targets but I guess for rolling out new features and new updates, they are doing a bit of hurry just to cope with the market dynamics. But possibly, I understand that they are compromising on the quality of the software and stability. So over there they have to improve. Rest of the aspects, I guess they are doing pretty good. We are happy.

Regarding my experience with Fortinet FortiGate in comparison to maybe some other vendors such as CyberArk, Fortinet is in the top three and they give a lot of competition to their nearest peers in the market. But I guess Fortinet is really struggling in software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, and FortiSwitches space. So they have to make their products more affordable in Forti-switching and Forti-WiFi space. They are not able to compete effectively with the nearest competitor HP Enterprise and HP Aruba.

Around now it's almost 18 years that I've been working specifically with Fortinet FortiGate.

Regarding technical support from Fortinet, whenever the bug has been reported or stability issues are reported, we see the support provided by Fortinet is good. But again, rather than controlling damage, I guess they should be working more towards preventing the damage rather than controlling the damage.

Regarding scalability for Fortinet FortiGate, my experience says for branch networking, the product is excellent and it supports the scalability of 2X or 3X at times. But for data centers, one has to size the components and size the solution very carefully because these components are deployed one time and remain in life for at least five to seven years. So one has to keep in mind, it is not so easy to replace the boxes. For Fortinet cloud solution, I guess they have achieved the required elastic scales. One has to only upgrade the licenses and go for a higher tier of subscription and then the scalability is achieved in a very seamless way. But for hardware products, especially in data center and head office environments, one has to carefully size the products because they are not so elastic actually. One has to size it well.

I would rate them seven.

Positive

I work with HP to some extent.

Regarding deployment process, Fortinet has a component called FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer. So these two platforms are providing many templates to automate workflows and achieve zero-touch provisioning. So that way deployment is pretty straightforward and easy.

I have deployed a lot of Fortinet solutions on AWS cloud using FortiManager's FortiAnalyzer, Manager, and FortiGate virtual appliances on the AWS Marketplace.

This is clear good ROI wherever Fortinet is used as a security product, but not in the Forti-WiFi and Forti-Switching products for sure.

It's quite affordable for Fortinet FortiGate. It's quite affordable for branch networking for sure. For core security components such as firewall, IDPS, and all those things, they are pretty affordable. That's why they won the market and are now market leaders. But some solutions, such as running SOC tools, Fortinet SIM, or Forti-WiFi and Forti-switches, they are coming on a higher side. They're more expensive than their better competitors.

The key use case that we and our clients work with Fortinet FortiGate is mainly the firewall part, the management part, and monitoring. These are the three aspects on which we are using Fortinet FortiGate.

We are using SD-WAN with Fortinet FortiGate, and it works pretty well. Multiple branches are connected to the head office.

We utilize Fortinet FortiGate data center solutions in most of the data center. Most of our clients are using data centers, so we use Fortinet FortiGate in the data centers.

On a regular basis, we help our clients to deploy the security fabric because compliance governance and audit come into the picture, and responsibility has to be decided.

In my opinion, the unique or most useful functions of Fortinet FortiGate are that it has a pretty simple deployment. It does not have any complex plugins or anything. It is very straightforward for configuration purposes. All of the configuration parameters are there in a single dashboard. Depending on your licenses, you can just configure them and then they are ready to go. The testing part is pretty easy. It is not more difficult than other firewalls.

My impression of the effectiveness of Fortinet Unified SASE is that it is pretty good, and all the products of Fortinet FortiGate are available in a single dashboard. There is less complexity for that.

I have experience with the Unified Agent in Fortinet Unified SASE. Most of the time, it is used with Unified Forti. We have multiple devices which we can connect through that. Most of the time when we deploy this, we have to deploy the agent. The agent has less overhead on the systems. Performance does not degrade for the end users. That is beneficial.

In my opinion, a potential area of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate is that while it has a pretty good dashboard, which is not an issue as such, when we talk about hardware parameters, sometimes the hardware gets pretty heated up. Given the amount of traffic going through it, that is fine. However, the heat of the hardware has to be looked into. Fortinet FortiGate firewall is good, but other products like the switching part and all that fabric, in handling very audio-video traffic, sometimes it struggles on the switching part, but on the routing part, it is fine. On the firewall part, it is good; there is no issue as such up till now.

Additionally, I suggest that Fortinet can add software which is in a controlled way, particularly regarding AI and ML. It should not happen that the AI/ML takes certain decisions which are not beneficial for the organization. The control should remain with the team members who are responsible for configuring this firewall.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for more than 10 years, probably around 13 years.

For Fortinet FortiGate stability, I can say nine. It is pretty stable.

Positive

Regarding scalability, the ability to expand, I also rate it as nine. It is easily scalable.

Positive

Regarding technical support from Fortinet vendor support, I would place it at nine.

Positive

I have been with Fortinet for a pretty long time and with Sophos, as I mentioned previously. If I compare Sophos and Fortinet, I would consider Fortinet FortiGate for critical segments and Sophos for small and medium segments.

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is pretty simple.

We are partners with Fortinet, and I can confirm that we are not just integrators, but we are also resellers for Fortinet.

We sell the product directly for the vendor, not through some marketplaces; we sell directly to our end users.

In my opinion, the main benefits that end users receive from Fortinet FortiGate are that the return on investment is good. Whatever money we invest in Fortinet FortiGate product, we get it back in two years' time. It is pretty secure, having very robust hardware and software. Updates are pretty good, and in the event of an issue, updates are pretty quick. It is a pretty solid product, with the amount of money we are paying out there.

The dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is working fine. We have used it, and it is pretty good. The configuration timelines have reduced because of this particular product.

In terms of pricing, I would say it is pretty good, so we can say ten for that.

I confirm that it is reasonable money for that solution.

Regarding the integration of SD-WAN with Fortinet SASE on application performance for remote users, right now we are not using SASE from Fortinet FortiGate.

We will recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users. It is totally up to the client requirements. I rate this review overall as nine.

I mainly use Fortinet FortiGate to implement it as a perimetral firewall solution because Fortinet FortiGate are next-generation firewalls. I use it to protect internal network customers and configure remote access, firewall policies, internal access websites, web filtering solutions, IPS, and IDS configurations.

I implemented it approximately one year ago in an Italian manufacturer producer. My perspective on the effectiveness of the unified SASE in providing consistent security policies across multiple locations is that it is very similar to Fortinet FortiGate, so if you know how to manage Fortinet FortiGate firewalls, it is easier and very easy to implement and configure FortiSASE.

For Fortinet FortiGate, it is very easy because it is very near to zero-touch provisioning. You need to install the box and if we speak about hardware appliances, you just need to install the boxes on the infrastructure and connect the cables to connect Fortinet FortiGate firewalls to the internet routers or MPLS routers, and configure basically the main IP address to have the connectivity. Next, you configure policy firewalls and it is very easy and very fast.

You can implement Fortinet FortiGate for small, medium, and large enterprise because it is very suitable for small and medium enterprise. For one to five or six firewalls on different branches or different sites, you can manage it manually and independently. But if you need to scale or have a large enterprise deployment, you can manage all Fortinet FortiGates directly in one panel with the FortiManager solution. There is a dedicated orchestrator delivered by Fortinet in hardware or VM solution, and with FortiManager you can manage all Fortinet FortiGates in one platform. For example, two years ago, I used to manage around 500 Fortinet FortiGates with FortiManager. It is very scalable with the correct solution and the other things you need to manage large deployments.

What I appreciate the most about Fortinet FortiGate is that it has a very large integration using Fabric, which they call Fabric Connectors. With Fortinet FortiGate firewalls, you can manage not only the perimetral firewalls but also all the internal infrastructure. For example, you can connect access points of Fortinet for wireless and Wi-Fi and manage them directly on Fortinet FortiGate. The same applies for switches and other Fortinet appliances that can be managed directly from one single dashboard.

Fortinet has developed the firmware for Fortinet FortiGate extensively. They change the operating system continuously and very often. Sometimes they introduce many features or new features or change the commands or the method you need to use to implement something or some configuration. The fact is if you develop always or very often the firmware, you need to study every release to see if there is a new feature or something changed. Sometimes it is difficult to remain aligned with the new firmware and the features.

You need to maintain alignment with Fortinet FortiGate. For example, in Europe, we have many policies and regulations, so you need to check, tune, and configure your firewall in the correct manner and maintain alignment with the policy of the European Union. You need to always check, improve, and maintain the firmware of Fortinet FortiGate up to date.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for seven to eight years.

Sometimes I experience stability issues, but sometimes they are related to hardware not functioning properly or related to a software bug. Sometimes I have encountered this type of situation using Fortinet FortiGate. But in those specific cases, I opened a ticket and worked directly with Fortinet to resolve the issue for the customer.

I have worked with the technical assistance of Fortinet for my seven to eight years of career with Fortinet, and I have opened tickets with different departments of the TAC. For example, the FortiSASE team is very effective. If you open a ticket, you have very good engineers to interact with, and they help in a correct manner. The flow is very clear to understand and resolve the issue. The only problem I have encountered in the last years with Fortinet is that if you open a support ticket for the main solution of Fortinet, for example, Fortinet FortiGate, FortiManager, or FortiAnalyzer, the support is not delivered directly from Fortinet but from partners of Fortinet. If you need to speak directly with the main core solution of Fortinet and you open a ticket, initially you are followed by a partner of Fortinet. But if you escalate to a more specific support, next you can go through a real Fortinet engineer. But sometimes this step extends the duration of the ticket and the analysis. I would give a score of 7.5 to 8 for the support of Fortinet FortiGate.

Positive

The first time that I deployed Fortinet FortiGate depends on the size of the customer. For a small to medium customer, I think three days for the initial setup and to configure some firewall rules is appropriate.

If you are a junior network engineer, you need to be followed by a middle or senior engineer in the backend that helps the junior to implement and test the solution. But for a middle or senior engineer, one person is adequate for deploying Fortinet FortiGate.

I do not follow the finance perspective directly, but what I know about Fortinet FortiGate pricing is that it is very affordable compared to, for example, Palo Alto Networks. I have observed that some people see and speak about the price of the Fortinet solution as very convenient.

I am a system integrator in Italy. Previously, until three months ago, I worked for one of the main partners in Italy called Maticmind SPA. Now I work for another system integrator, and we are a lower partnership, but we manage and install Fortinet FortiGate appliances for our customers. My overall review rating for this product is 8 out of 10.

My main use case for Fortinet FortiGate is that I use it as the primary security gateway for protecting our branch and data center network. It is responsible for traffic inspection, application control, site-to-site VPN, connectivity, internet access control and threat prevention.

A quick specific example of how I use Fortinet FortiGate in my daily operations is that I monitor security events, manage VPN connectivity, and review internet usage and implement the security policies. The centralized visibility helps me to quickly identify suspicious traffic and respond before it affects business operations.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by strengthening our overall security posture while simplifying network management. It has helped us gain better visibility into network traffic, secure remote access for users and reduce the time required to identify and respond to security incidents.

A specific outcome from using Fortinet FortiGate is that we have reduced VPN-related incidents by approximately 40% and improved visibility into network traffic. Troubleshooting connectivity issues is also significantly faster than before, around 50 to 60% faster.

Fortinet FortiGate has reduced the amount of manual troubleshooting required; security policy and VPN management and threat monitoring are handled through a single platform, making operations more efficient and easy to manage.

The best features Fortinet FortiGate offers for me are SD-WAN, SSL VPN, application control, web filtering and security fabric integration. Together they provide strong security while keeping network management straightforward.

The SD-WAN feature helps my organization specifically by optimizing traffic across multiple internet links, improving application performance and reducing dependency on a single ISP connection.

Overall, I am very satisfied with Fortinet FortiGate. If I had to suggest one improvement, it would be to have more flexible reporting and dashboard customization. While the existing features are good, additional customization options would make monitoring and reporting even more efficient for the administrator.

My suggestion is to customize the dashboard and have more advanced reporting.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for more than one year.

Fortinet FortiGate is stable.

Fortinet FortiGate performs smoothly under heavy network loads or during peak traffic periods.

Fortinet FortiGate is highly scalable. It scales effectively from small branch deployments to larger enterprise environments, accommodating our growth without requiring major architecture changes.

Customer support for Fortinet FortiGate is very good. They are humble and knowledgeable, especially during complex deployment and troubleshooting scenarios.

I did not previously use a different solution; from the start, we have been using Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

Managing and configuring Fortinet FortiGate for my team is easy because the UI is user-friendly, which makes management and integration straightforward.

I have seen a return on investment with Fortinet FortiGate. Faster incident response, reduced downtime and simplified management have improved operational efficiency. The solution has helped save both time and administrative effort.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is that the pricing is competitive compared to many enterprise firewall vendors. Initial deployment was straightforward and the licensing options provide flexibility based on business requirements.

Before choosing Fortinet FortiGate, I evaluated other options including Sophos, Palo Alto, and Check Point. Fortinet FortiGate is the best fit for my organization regarding price and advanced features.

Fortinet FortiGate is deployed in my organization on-premises.

I would describe Fortinet FortiGate's integration capabilities with other security tools or platforms as effective since I am using Fortinet FortiGate on-premises.

Regarding Fortinet FortiGate's AI capabilities, I think its governance and security are enhanced by the AI-driven security insights, which are useful for identifying abnormal behavior and prioritizing potential threats. While human validation is still important, the recommendations help speed up the investigation.

I find that the accuracy and reliability of its output are generally good. The threat intelligence and security detection have been accurate, though false positives occur occasionally, but overall, the alerts are reliable and actionable.

My advice for others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate is that if you are looking for a security platform that combines firewalling, VPN, SD-WAN, and threat protection in a single solution, Fortinet FortiGate is definitely worth evaluating. Proper sizing and planning during deployment will help you get the best results from the platform. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate's pricing is reasonable for small, medium, and large enterprises compared to other vendors. I give this solution a rating of 9 out of 10.

Fortinet FortiGate is used to secure the organization's network perimeter, manage site-to-site and remote access VPN, control application traffic, and protect users from cyber threats through IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and application control features.

In my day-to-day work, I use Fortinet FortiGate for ongoing checks on online traffic from the user to the internet and from outside to inside to access the server. One example was when Fortinet FortiGate IPS detected and blocked suspicious traffic targeting internal servers, allowing our team to investigate before any impact occurred.

All the features Fortinet FortiGate offers are the best, but the standout feature for me is its next-generation firewall capability, which includes IPS, SSL VPN, SD-WAN for ISP load balancing, web filtering, application control, and centralized security management. Site-to-site VPN is the best feature for me because we use it for our branch connectivity.

Fortinet FortiGate's site-to-site VPN configuration is very user-friendly, allowing even new users to configure it easily. The troubleshooting is also excellent, and the logs provide valuable details.

The application control feature from Fortinet FortiGate is also valuable because we can manage user access. For example, we can allow users to access Facebook while restricting commenting, downloading, or uploading. Application control has many features, including controlling download, upload, and commenting.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by strengthening our security posture, improving visibility into network traffic, simplifying security management, and providing reliable connectivity for both users and the branch office.

Although Fortinet FortiGate is excellent and comprehensive, I feel that reporting needs to be more customizable, with options for further simplification of some advanced configuration workflows. The main concern is reporting, as without FortiAnalyzer, we have limited reports and cannot customize them.

I have no major concerns regarding the needed improvements, as overall, the solution is mature, reliable, and meets our requirements well.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for more than three years.

Fortinet FortiGate has been very stable and reliable in our environment.

Fortinet FortiGate scales very well and supports growing network requirements without significant performance concerns.

Customer support for Fortinet FortiGate is knowledgeable, responsive, and helpful during troubleshooting and implementation activities. I would rate customer support for Fortinet FortiGate a 10 out of 10.

Before Fortinet FortiGate, we were using Cisco ASA, but we switched because Fortinet FortiGate has better pricing and is a next-generation firewall compared to the older Cisco ASA solution.

We have seen a positive return on investment through improved operational efficiency, reduced incident response time, and simplified management, with security operations being approximately 40 to 50 percent more efficient.

Our experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate has been positive as the setup process was straightforward, the UI is user-friendly, and the license options provided flexibility based on organizational requirements. The overall value justifies the investment.

Before choosing Fortinet FortiGate, we evaluated other options such as Sophos firewall, SonicWall, and Check Point firewall, but Fortinet FortiGate fit better in our organization.

My advice for others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate is to properly plan your security policy and architecture before deployment, as an organization that fully utilizes Fortinet FortiGate's integrated security features can achieve excellent visibility and security. I give this product a rating of 9 out of 10.

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution, specifically the FortiGuard service, which is included in every Fortinet FortiGate deployment. In the data center, we use Fortinet FortiGate to block server farms from the internal LAN due to its performance, which is higher than other products. We consistently use it in server farm environments.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is its SD-WAN capability, which is included and differs from other products that require an additional license.

With SD-WAN capabilities, I notice a significant impact on network performance. The E series offers good performance, double that of the D series. If a new series is released, it always performs well. For example, if my customer uses the 200D model, the new 100E model can serve as an upgrade.

My experience in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate indicates that the integration is not difficult. We simply incorporate user ID and user account, and we have not encountered other challenges.

The main benefits that my customers see from Fortinet FortiGate include low cost and the integration of switches, APs, and Fortinet FortiGate, which reduces management overhead.

I have not used the Unified SASE capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate.

I do not have the AI or ML enhanced FortiGuard with machine learning or AI.

My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for approximately twenty years.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

I would evaluate Fortinet's customer service and technical support teams with a rating of nine.

Positive

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is not difficult for me.

I have a business relationship with Fortinet as a reseller and system integrator.

I am aware of investment regarding ROI, but I need clarification on what type of investment you mean. The cost is the main concern of my customers, and Fortinet FortiGate offers the future we need.

I use Fortinet FortiGate primarily as a physical appliance; the VM deployment is minimal. My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally. I would rate this review with an overall score of nine.

Fortinet FortiGate serves as my gateway device where I manage all my security. I use Fortinet FortiGate as a gateway for the NATing part for LAN to WAN communication. Along with that, I manage security profiles from the gateway only, and all my switches and Wi-Fi also work with Fortinet FortiGate.

I work on RE VPN and SSL RE VPN on Fortinet FortiGate.

In my opinion, the best features Fortinet FortiGate offers are monitoring and troubleshooting. Along with that, its security services are also a key point for me. For example, I need to manage features including IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and application control via Fortinet FortiGate only.

I appreciate the security feature of Fortinet FortiGate. For example, I can take real-time logs and session monitoring along with VPN, event logs, data usage monitoring, and related features.

I have noticed faster troubleshooting and reduced downtime of around fifty percent. My operational efficiency has improved. For a real example, a client experienced frequent internet drops, and this was resolved more efficiently.

One suggested improvement I would recommend is more simplified troubleshooting. Although logs are powerful, troubleshooting can sometimes be complex for new users. A more guided or AI-based troubleshooting feature would help reduce resolution time. Fortinet FortiGate should incorporate AI-based solutions to improve the troubleshooting experience.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for two years.

Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It demonstrates excellent stability in various terms including network utilization.

Fortinet FortiGate offers strong scalability and can support environments ranging from small businesses to large businesses. There is a wide range of models from entry level to high end levels. Flexible deployment options include physical appliances, virtual, and cloud deployments, which is beneficial.

Customer support needs improvement. I have had to take the direct internal sources, such as sales contacts, and after that I rarely see support response.

I would rate the customer support at a six out of ten.

I have used Sophos before, and several of my criteria were missing with that solution. Fortinet FortiGate achieved the features I was looking for, which is why I shifted to Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

My experience is very positive regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate. The pricing is also competitive compared to other vendors in the market. Along with that, setup is very easy. I implemented it in my network myself. For the licensing part, it is somewhat confusing, but overall it is good.

Fortinet FortiGate has saved me both money and time. It is easy to manage and the troubleshooting part is also very easy, making it more time-saving than money-saving.

In terms of cost savings, it has reduced the need for multiple tools. Fortinet FortiGate combines firewall, VPN, IPS, web filtering, and SD-WAN into a single device, which has given me lower operational overhead.

Before choosing Fortinet FortiGate, I tried various options. I obtained the POC from Palo Alto as well as Check Point. After that, I switched to Fortinet FortiGate because it was the best option for my network.

My advice for others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate is that focusing on proper planning, sizing, and understanding of features before deployment will be a good approach.

Integrating SD-WAN with Fortinet FortiGate has allowed me to create an SLA according to which my ISPs define the traffic and the best path utilized.

I would rate this product a ten out of ten overall.

We use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN as well as the switches for renewable plants and energy sector power plants.

All the features needed to protect the digital landscape are available. The enterprise-level support is excellent, and we receive quick assistance from Fortinet FortiGate.

With the SD-WAN network, the connectivity is seamless. The dependency on bandwidth and MPLS connectivity is expensive compared to SD-WAN. Currently, there is seamless connectivity between all plants and corporate offices. The implementation is straightforward and not complex to execute.

The SD-WAN connects all sites, as we have many regional offices in different locations. The Fortinet FortiGate devices are very useful and easy to configure, and we are benefiting from their features.

In the utilities and electrical generation sector, we use various models. In IT security, we have different models, and for sites, we use 40F, 460F, and various others. While my part is limited to India, Fortinet FortiGate is used worldwide across our group.

There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available. These would help understand the new product line and the existing product line features. 

Additionally, it would be helpful to have comparisons between competitors such as Cisco, Juniper, and others with Fortinet FortiGate.

I have been using the solution for three years.

The system is very stable.

The system is very easy to scale.

We receive quick support from Fortinet FortiGate. When we raise a ticket, we get support via email reply promptly. The experience has been perfect, and we are satisfied with it.

The initial setup is easy. I'd rate it nine out of ten.

This is handled by my team. I am in leadership and do not handle the technical aspects directly.

While we haven't calculated specific ROI numbers, most devices are very stable and seamless. We don't typically consider money since this is an infrastructure requirement. Fortinet FortiGate support is available, annual maintenance contracts are in place, and the devices haven't failed in three years. The product quality is good, eliminating the need to reinvest in the same devices or setup.

Fortinet FortiGate has an excellent portfolio including firewalls, switches, and access points. I would recommend it to anyone. We are using FortiSwitches as part of our implementation.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

The primary use case for Fortinet FortiGate is to secure the organization and network perimeters. I use it to control the inbound and outbound traffic and implement firewall policies, providing secure VPN access to remote users and protecting the network from cyber threats using features such as IPS and antivirus, web filtering, and application controls. It also helps me with segmenting the network and centrally managing the security policies, making day-to-day administration more efficient.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by improving the overall security posture while simplifying network management. It has helped us reduce security incidents by blocking malicious traffic and enforcing security policies. It has also improved operational effectiveness because the IT team can manage firewall rules, VPN access, and security monitoring from a single platform. This has reduced manual effort, improved visibility into the network, and enabled us to respond to security events much more easily.

The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are its security fabric integration. It brings multiple security functions together, including firewall, IPS, antivirus, web filtering, VPN, and application controls, into a single platform, making security management much simpler. I also appreciate the centralized dashboard because it provides excellent visibility into the network traffic, security events, and user activity in real-time. It helps me identify and respond to potential threats quickly without switching between multiple tools.

The feature I rely on most is the real-time monitoring dashboard. It gives me a clear view of network traffic, active users, security events, VPN status, and blocked threats all in one place. I also frequently use the log and traffic analysis sections for troubleshooting and investigating security incidents. It makes it easier to identify unusual activity, check which firewall policy was triggered, and quickly determine the root cause of connectivity and security issues. This saves considerable time during day-to-day operations.

For user management, Fortinet FortiGate has also made things much easier. I integrated it with my Active Directory, so access policies are applied based on user groups instead of configuring each user individually. Whenever a new employee joins or changes departments, I simply update the AD group members and the correct network access is applied automatically. This has reduced my manual effort and minimized configuration errors.

Overall, Fortinet FortiGate is a strong secure solution, but there are a few areas that could be improved. The user interface can be overwhelming for new administrators because of the large number of configuration options. A more organized layout and simplified navigation would improve the overall experience. Another area is reporting and logging analysis. While the built-in reports are used, more customizable reports and dashboards would make it easier to generate management and compliance reports without relying on additional tools. Firmware upgrades could also be made smoother with fewer compatibility concerns across different versions. Additionally, the analyzer could be much better so that I can stop using third-party tools for analyzing logs for unused rules specifically.

If Fortinet FortiGate can offer such improvements in the dashboard and if I can get the unused rules that I submit to compliance and regulatory requirements from the Fortinet FortiGate dashboard itself, I would not need to rely on third-party tools. This could be improved.

If I had to add one more point, it would be better AI-driven reports and automations. More intelligent recommendations for policies, optimization, and automatic response to common security events would make day-to-day administration even more effective.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for more than three to four years.

From my experience, Fortinet FortiGate's AI capability has good governance and security. The AI-driven threats, detections, and analysis help in identifying suspicious activity faster and reduce the manual effort required by my security team. I also appreciate that the AI features are integrated into the existing security framework rather than operating as a separate tool. This allows me to maintain consistent security policies and gives me better visibility into potential threats, while keeping administrator controls in the hands of security teams. Overall, I find the AI capability useful, but there is still room for improvement.

My advice is to spend time planning the deployment and firewall policies before implementing. A well-designed network architecture and proper configuration of security policies make a significant difference in getting the best performance and protection from Fortinet FortiGate. I would also recommend enabling features such as IPS, web filtering, application control, and VPN, and keeping the firmware up-to-date. Additionally, make sure that administrators are properly trained, as Fortinet FortiGate offers many advanced features that can provide significant value when configured correctly. Overall, it is a solid choice for an organization looking for a competitive network security solution. I rate this product a 9 out of 10.

My main use case for Fortinet FortiGate is as a UTM to distribute our IP DHCP, to segment our VLAN, and to manage our network infrastructure.

I also use Fortinet FortiGate as a VPN and for site-to-site connection between our multiple sites, such as my head office, our developer office, and data center. It acts as a network security tool where we use an IPS to filter attacks from the outside public to our server.

Regarding my main use cases, I would like to add that it has quite a good GUI and dashboard, making it easy to use. Additionally, we use DNS filtering and application filtering to filter the applications that users can access to the internet.

The best features Fortinet FortiGate offers include reliability and a good user interface and user experience.

The user interface is the most valuable to me because it is easy to use, easy to manage, and quite easy for a newcomer to operate. The features are quite good for filtering applications and for addressing our needs, such as blocking social media or other unwanted content.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by improving our security workflow and network security, as it is quite reliable compared to traditional routers or traditional switch cores from MikroTik or Cisco.

A specific example of how my workflow and network security has improved is that because we have multiple sites, Fortinet FortiGate has a multitude of signature-based features and multiple default policies, so we only have to add that to the profile. It is quite simple and easy to manage.

I think Fortinet FortiGate is quite good for now, though it could improve with the virtual IP, as it occasionally has a bug. They have a lot of CVE and updates to their system, and they need to be more concerned about their security.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for about one year.

In my experience, Fortinet FortiGate is quite stable.

When the RAM or memory reaches 70% or 80%, the firewall is more likely unstable and may struggle to forward traffic. I think that is one of the areas where Fortinet FortiGate has room for improvement.

Fortinet FortiGate's scalability is limited because it is on-premises, so we would have to change the type of Fortinet FortiGate as we grow.

The customer support is really helpful for their principle, but they lack technical competency at layer one, as they tend to only look for logs before promoting issues to layer two for resolution.

Previously, we used Aruba as a firewall and switch core, but it lacked security features, so we had to move to the next-generation firewall.

I am afraid I cannot say that I have seen a return on investment.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think the price is quite good besides the leader in Gartner's next-generation firewall.

Before choosing Fortinet FortiGate, we evaluated a lot of competitors at that moment, and we chose Fortinet FortiGate.

My advice to others looking into using Fortinet FortiGate is that you need to think carefully about your usage and calculate your business needs. If you miscalculate, you might end up buying a Fortinet FortiGate that cannot meet your needs, leading to potential downtimes or failures.

I have no additional thoughts about Fortinet FortiGate except that I mentioned the easy user interface and experience for beginners. However, I noted that when the memory reaches up to 80%, the firewall does not function as well. I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.