

Portnox and Fortinet FortiGate are competitors in the network security solutions category. Portnox seems to have an advantage in cloud-native zero-trust security, whereas Fortinet FortiGate shines in unified threat management and integration with Fortinet products.
Features: Portnox offers comprehensive network visibility, zero-trust security, and scalability with minimal manual intervention. It makes network management efficient and is designed for automated threat response. Fortinet FortiGate provides extensive security features, such as robust unified threat management, integration with other Fortinet products, and advanced threat intelligence for protecting diverse infrastructure setups.
Room for Improvement: Portnox could improve by enhancing integration with third-party tools, opting for a usage-based licensing model, and improving user experience in areas of integration and response times. Fortinet FortiGate would benefit from addressing firmware stability issues, improving user interface intuitiveness, and ensuring seamless integration across its product range.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Portnox is praised for ease of deployment due to its cloud-native design, simplifying network access control without heavy infrastructure needs. It has strong customer service, but could improve local partner interactions. Fortinet FortiGate supports flexible deployment methodologies but requires dedicated resources for complex setups. While its customer service is generally strong, it could improve global consistency.
Pricing and ROI: Portnox offers competitive pricing for cloud network solutions, resulting in positive ROI by reducing infrastructure needs and offering flexible pricing suited to different budgets. Fortinet FortiGate markets itself as a premium product, justifying its higher price point through comprehensive capabilities and significant ROI, benefiting especially long-term enterprise deployments.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
When investing in cybersecurity with Fortinet FortiGate 200, which costs more than $10,000, companies that are growing directly can expect ROI within 1.5 to 3 years.
If I compare this to an on-premises environment using Cisco ISE or Aruba ClearPass, it would require phenomenally large teams for infrastructure management.
If you were moving from a traditional on-premise NAC that was 100% managed by the IT department, there would be great savings in going to a cloud-based NAC with Portnox.
By automating the device containment and remediation processes, we save countless hours weekly.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
The main area needing improvement is the technical knowledge of support staff.
For very high severity issues where the entire office is non-functional, response time is within 30 minutes.
In terms of support, it is usually quite impressive. I usually get support in a matter of minutes or seconds, depending on the priority of the ticket.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
The price of the subscription is tied with the size of the appliance, so you have to size it very precisely, considering the future growth of the company.
We have never had any challenge based on a customer who has 1,000 devices versus a customer who has 30,000 devices; the feel is the same.
Its infrastructure scales automatically in the background, eliminating concerns about capacity or backend upgrades.
It has a centralized cloud-based architecture, so we do not have to worry about other considerations such as local infrastructure or purchasing additional equipment.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
The product itself is available and its uptime is 100%.
In the four years that I used Portnox, if it crashed or the server crashed, that would not have been more than once.
If there is a version one and another version, the communication between the organization using it and Portnox should be firm so they can coordinate effectively.
It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.
It is how quickly each of these companies adapts to that and brings in more value to the customer.
The main area for improvement in Fortinet FortiGate is the firmware versions, as we face uncertainties regarding upgrades and frequent bugs that require self-fixing of problems.
Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts.
When I reach the technical support, they give solutions that do not help me much, so I try to search the internet for other users' experiences to find solutions.
I would definitely request a UI refresh that makes the dashboard more modern and surfaces critical logs so they are easier to access in a pinch.
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
It is about 20% cheaper.
The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost.
If you compare Portnox with all other well-known standard products, it is the cheapest.
The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe.
You are charged according to the number of users.
The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks.
The most valuable feature is the deep inspection for traffic, which is capable of identifying zero-day attacks.
The most valuable features of the FortiGate firewall include SSL inspection, VPN functionality, and threat intelligence features for preventing threats.
It's notable how Portnox has improved operational efficiency.
It is a very robust application because three teams use that part: the network team, the security team, and the support people.
It is possible to find the MAC address in the switch, but in Portnox, it is very useful to see the status of those ports, and that increases our security.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiGate | 6.5% |
| Portnox | 3.1% |
| Other | 90.4% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 373 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 139 |
| Large Enterprise | 195 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 20 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 10 |
| Large Enterprise | 15 |
Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.
Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.
What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.
Portnox NAC is a cloud-native network access control solution built for today's hybrid, distributed enterprises. Get real-time visibility into every device on your network, enforce risk-based access policies automatically, and maintain continuous compliance — all without deploying a single on-premises appliance.
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About Portnox Security
Portnox is a cloud-native enterprise access control provider that helps organizations secure every identity - human and non-human - across networks, applications, and infrastructure. As identities, devices, and workloads multiply across modern environments, Portnox enables continuous access verification based on identity context, device posture, and risk signals. Its unified platform brings together passwordless authentication, access control, continuous policy enforcement, and automated response through a single policy engine.
Portnox gives security and IT teams real-time visibility into everything connecting and the ability to quickly restrict, quarantine, or revoke non-compliant access. Today, Portnox actively manages more than one million devices worldwide, secures 40 million authentication sessions, and blocks over one million unauthorized access attempts every day. Learn more at portnox.com.
CAPABILITIES:
• Discover and assess users, devices, and identities connecting to corporate resources
• Unify continuous zero trust access control on networks, applications, and infrastructure
• Enforce identity- and context-aware access policies
• Enable secure remote work without complexity
• Deliver passwordless authentication, device posture checks, and continuous access enforcement
• Control administrative access to routers, switches, firewalls, and other network devices
• Improve audit readiness with visibility, access logs, and policy-based compliance controls
BUILT FOR:
Portnox is designed for distributed organizations that need to manage access across employees, contractors, service accounts, managed devices, unmanaged devices, IoT, network infrastructure, SaaS applications, private applications, and AI agents. The platform helps reduce reliance on on-premises appliances, legacy VPNs, and fragmented access tools by centralizing access policy enforcement from a single cloud-native policy engine.
INTEGRATIONS:
Portnox integrates with the tools you already use (including Azure AD / Entra ID, Okta) and works with your existing network appliances, (such as Meraki, Fortinet, and more), and many other identity and network infrastructure tools.
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