Fortinet FortiGate vs Fortinet FortiOS comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Fortinet Logo
123,063 views|89,961 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
Fortinet Logo
4,261 views|3,667 comparisons
98% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared Fortinet FortiGate and Fortinet FortiOS based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

Overall, based on user reviews, it is evident that both Fortinet FortiGate and Fortinet FortiOS offer strong security measures, reliable performance, and comprehensive reporting functionalities. While Fortinet FortiGate stands out for its effective firewall capabilities, intuitive interface, and excellent customer service, Fortinet FortiOS excels in areas such as efficient VPN capabilities, robust authentication options, and ease of use. The user feedback also indicates that both products provide good value for money and deliver a positive return on investment. However, there are areas for improvement with each product, such as the complexity of the user interface for Fortinet FortiGate and the need for enhancements in certain aspects of Fortinet FortiOS.

Features: The valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate include strong security measures, effective firewall capabilities, intuitive interface, reliable performance, and comprehensive reporting functionalities. On the other hand, Fortinet FortiOS offers reliable security measures, ease of use, comprehensive reporting capabilities, efficient VPN capabilities, and robust authentication options.

Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Fortinet FortiGate is described as minimal and straightforward, allowing for easy deployment. On the other hand, Fortinet FortiOS has received positive remarks for its affordable pricing and hassle-free setup cost. Users find the licensing process seamless for both products., Users praised Fortinet FortiGate for its effectiveness in enhancing network security and protecting against cyber threats. They commended its robust features, ease of use, reliability, and cost savings. On the other hand, Fortinet FortiOS received feedback on significant improvements in network security and reliability, comprehensive features, ease of use, deployment, and long-term cost savings. Overall, both products offer a positive ROI.

Room for Improvement: The Fortinet FortiGate product needs improvement in areas such as user interface complexity, challenging setup process, performance issues, and occasional downtime. On the other hand, users have identified certain aspects of Fortinet FortiOS that need to be enhanced for effectiveness.

Deployment and customer support: The user reviews indicate that the deployment, setup, and implementation phases for Fortinet FortiGate are generally considered as one timeframe. The reviews mention varying timeframes for these phases. On the other hand, for Fortinet FortiOS, the duration required for establishing a new tech solution varies among users, with some requiring three months for deployment and an additional week for setup, while others needing only a week for both. However, it's essential to consider the context in which these terms are used, as they may refer to the same period of time., Fortinet FortiGate is known for its strong customer service, with prompt and effective support. Technical issues are resolved efficiently, demonstrating reliability. On the other hand, Fortinet FortiOS has excellent customer service, praised for its promptness, efficiency, knowledge, and helpfulness in addressing needs and resolving issues.

The summary above is based on 154 interviews we conducted recently with Fortinet FortiGate and Fortinet FortiOS users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Fortinet FortiOS Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
Answer: Hi PaloAlto is better when working on app control feature and special virtual wire links. Execpt that specific point, Fortinet is above. Best Regards, Damien
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job.""Initial setup is easy to configure.""The user interface (UI) is very, very good.""The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well.""The scalability is good in Fortinet FortiGate.""Customers are more inclined towards FortiGate because of application control, web filtering, and anti-spam features. The support from the FortiGate team is good, and price-wise, it is affordable.""We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box.""Fortigate's most valuable feature is that it doesn't need a push policy when writing rules."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"We found the initial setup to be straightforward.""The user experience is great. The graphical user interface is also good.""The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are the SD-WAN, SSL inspection, and IDS/IPS functions.""I personally think the site-to-site VPN is the most useful feature. A lot of firewalls have that, but to me, that's one of the features that's essential.""The most valuable features are the intrusion prevention system and the anti-virus.""The most valuable feature of this solution would be the caching feature.""The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiOS network segregation, UTM, and antivirus, freight management protection, such as DDoS. Additionally, the CLI and the GUI are easy to use. The architecture makes sense, and the command in the CLI are organized well. They have quite a lot of features are easy to use, and are user-friendly. Any novice can use Fortinet FortiOS without an issue.""The classification of the websites is helpful."

More Fortinet FortiOS Pros →

Cons
"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future.""The Web-filter in this solution is not very good.""With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support.""I feel that the reporting needs to be improved.""The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement.""The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement.""The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on.""It does not have key authentication for admin access."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"The central management can improve in Fortinet FortiOS. It is sometimes difficult to manage all the devices.""The implementation could be simplified.""The reporting for this solution could be improved. It could also be more stable and offer better pricing.""The GUI could be improved to make it more usable, easier to administer, and easier to configure.""The technical support is good. However, during the holidays they can get a little slow to respond.""Fortinet FortiOS is stable. However, last month we had an issue with a released patch. We had to receive another update to fix the firewall issue consuming all of the resources. The patches should be tested more before going into circulation.""The solution could improve by making the dashboard easier to use.""Fortinet's central management needs to be improved. FortiManager's technical tool provider ability should manage all Fortinet security products. Right now, FortiManager only manages the configuration of FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiOS Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The program is expensive."
  • "We pay an annual license fee. It is rather expensive so I would like to perhaps see a drop in price in the future."
  • "Be sure to choose a licensing plan that leaves a little headroom so performance is not an issue."
  • "We pay $100,000. That covers the cost of the hardware that we run the VN's on. That also includes any SGNA costs for the internal support tech."
  • "Pricing depends on implementation and licensing choices and is usually not a practical budget choice for small businesses."
  • "The support contracts are usually about $100 - $200 a device."
  • "The software costs roughly half what the hardware costs. Overall, the product is expensive."
  • "The price of Fortinet FortiOS has been reasonable."
  • More Fortinet FortiOS Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main hang-ups will be with the VIP/load balancing and SSL. For some reason that completely escapes me, both of these vendors make getting valid certificates onto their boxes unnecessarily difficult -- the Fortinet appliances more so than the Sophos UTM appliances. At one point a Fortinet engineer had to write an entire manual on how to get an SSL certificate uploaded successfully on the 4.x firmware Sophos: The one feature that is missing (and this makes some amount of sense) from the Sophos appliance is BITS caching for updates. Other than that, Sophos offers a full replacement for TMG on UTM9. The XG platform also offers a replacement for the TMG; however, some of the rumblings about upcoming releases suggests that Sophos is going to give XG the Apple iOS treatment and "streamline" the interface...potentially cutting out/hiding some functionality. On the effectiveness of the NGFW, Sophos is mostly good but has a few issues blocking all pieces of an application. For instance, we had to build custom blocking rules for OpenVPN (the vpn was being used to bypass the content filter) because the default Application Control wasn't effectively blocking the application. Fortinet: If it… Read more →
    Answers from the Community
    Donny Lee
    ABHILASH TH - PeerSpot reviewerABHILASH TH
    Reseller

    Hi,


    Both FT and PA have compelling features for large Enterprises. I would like to add a few good points about Fortinetwhich might be helpful ( from my 13 years of engagement with them as Distributor and Partner)


    Fortinet: 


    Have higher throughput; which comes with competitive rates


    Wide range of models to select to meet your requirement, without spending heavliy


    Outstanding customer support and very active customer care team


    Easly available skilled resources from the channel for deployment and post-implementation support 


    Regards


    Abhilash



    Alexander Denisenko - PeerSpot reviewerAlexander Denisenko
    User

    Hello. The question is what you are going to have as a result of application

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too.… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I would… more »
    Top Answer: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 and… more »
    Top Answer:The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.
    Top Answer:The solution is cost effective. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten.
    Ranking
    2nd
    out of 59 in Firewalls
    Views
    123,063
    Comparisons
    89,961
    Reviews
    48
    Average Words per Review
    661
    Rating
    8.4
    15th
    out of 59 in Firewalls
    Views
    4,261
    Comparisons
    3,667
    Reviews
    36
    Average Words per Review
    404
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    Fortinet FortiOS is a comprehensive security operating system that powers Fortinet's network security solutions. It provides advanced threat protection, network visibility, and centralized management for organizations of all sizes. With its robust features and intuitive interface, FortiOS enables businesses to secure their networks, applications, and data from cyber threats. 

    One of the key features of FortiOS is its advanced threat protection capabilities. It incorporates multiple security technologies, including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention system (IPS), and web filtering, to detect and block a wide range of threats. This ensures that organizations are protected against malware, ransomware, and other malicious activities. FortiOS also offers extensive network visibility, allowing organizations to monitor and analyze network traffic in real-time. This visibility enables businesses to identify potential security risks, detect anomalies, and take proactive measures to mitigate threats. 

    Additionally, FortiOS provides detailed reports and analytics, helping organizations gain insights into their network security posture. Centralized management is another crucial aspect of FortiOS. It allows businesses to manage and configure their security policies, devices, and users from a single console. This simplifies the management process and ensures consistent security across the entire network infrastructure. 

    Moreover, FortiOS supports integration with other Fortinet products, enabling seamless security orchestration and automation. FortiOS is designed to be scalable and flexible, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. It offers a range of deployment options, including physical appliances, virtual machines, and cloud-based solutions. This flexibility allows businesses to choose the deployment model that best fits their requirements and easily scale their security infrastructure as their needs evolve. 

    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Transportation Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business53%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise34%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise56%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiGate vs. Fortinet FortiOS
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. Fortinet FortiOS and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while Fortinet FortiOS is ranked 15th in Firewalls with 73 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Fortinet FortiOS is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiOS writes "Provides effective filtering features, good stability but initial setup is moderately challenging". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX and OPNsense, whereas Fortinet FortiOS is most compared with Fortinet FortiManager, Fortinet FortiWeb, Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection and Darktrace. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. Fortinet FortiOS report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.