Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

It is our primary router here in the office with all the firewall policies.

The solution has many valuable features. I like all of them.

Its stability is great. On a previous job, we set probably up to 100 FortiGates, and during the three years they were set up none of them failed.

It's a very scalable solution.

The pricing is great and very reasonable. 

The initial setup is simple. 

We use a yearly subscription for a unified protection model. I like the features that it gives me. It is actually a built-in proxy server and it allows me to use great protection and so on. In terms of application control, the built-in anti-virus is okay. One of the things that I like the most is it has a built-in SD-WAN solution - its price is included in the hardware. I don't need to buy anything else to use SD-WAN. This is the feature that I like, in Fortinet, probably the most. All other vendors sell SD-WAN as a separate solution and you must buy a separate controller which has to be installed somewhere, on-premise or on the cloud, and it costs money. Fortigate does not.

I can't think of an area of the product that needs improvement. Even the cost is okay. I have no real complaints. 

It would be good if they had fewer updates. Almost every update has bots that are either critical or something small yet valuable. Whenever I try to do an update, I always fear that something will break.

I've used the solution for a few years. I used it on a previous project and I use it now as well.

The stability has been excellent. It's very reliable and the performance is great. They have not failed in three years. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The scalability of the product is great. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.

Up to 100 people use it right now, and likely we will increase usage so that it covers 150 to 200 users. 

If our other branch offices open in other cities or other countries, I will buy another firewall for them as well.

I've contacted technical support in the past.

For example, I tried to update my firewall to 7.0.4 and there was a block with the DHCP server. Some devices did not acquire an IP address. Really, it was something about FortiGate. I asked Fortinet for technical support and I created a ticket, and the next day they replied to me they agree that this was a bug that they would work on. As far as I can see now, there is already an option of 7.0.5. While I didn't test it myself, in the changelog I can see that this bug is fixed.

So far, we have been satisfied as they have answered us by the next day typically.

I did not previously use a different solution.

It's an easy setup. Everything is very straightforward and simple to understand. It's not complex, not difficult. A company won't have any issues with the process.

The deployment might take up to one week. I don't remember exactly. I continued to add some features, however, in the instant deployment, when it came here I had another router here, it wasn't too long of a process. Later, I asked my bosses to buy a firewall and when it arrived, on a Friday in the evening, I installed it and everything was fine. It was very fast.

I handle the deployment and maintenance myself. We do not need a big team to manage everything. It's pretty low-maintenance. 

I handled the implementation myself. I did not need a consultant or an integrator.

The pricing is very fair for a firewall. There's nothing to complain about in terms of licensing.

The price model is fair. I have to pay only for the features that only Fortinet gives me. Things like routing are free. Other vendors like Cisco, make me pay for things that should be free.

I would recommend the solution to others.

Fortinet has an education platform that is named trainingfortinet.com and many courses are on there. All the video lessons are free. Users can view them to learn about the features that Fortinet has. It's an excellent resource.

I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

It does a lot for you for intrusion protection and as an antivirus. The threat management bundle is worth the money. You don't need another company to monitor your web traffic for you. You can do everything yourself on the firewall. You restrict your own black list for people on the firewall. You don't need to pay some other company for another product to do that for you. The firewall can do that for you. So, it's an easy-to-use product for people to be independent. They don't need to rely on other vendors to do what the firewall can do. They can do everything.

The GUI is good. I'm really happy with the ease of use of the firewall. Fortinet's support is also great.  

I don't really have anything negative to say as far as Fortinet firewalls are concerned. If anything, they can support a user a little bit better. They can stop being so time-sensitive about how much time the support call has taken, and they can help you do it yourself.

I've had different models of Fortinet since 2009. They all are physical appliances. I had 300As, and now I'm on 300Ds. I've got a remote site with a different model, which probably is 60F. They are great little firewalls, and for bigger size places, they have 300 models.

I don't have virtual appliances. I don't have a virtual infrastructure. I have an older virtual environment with Hyper-V, and the servers are not up-to-date. It was a money thing. So, it was better to go with the appliance itself.

I'm happy with what they got. It is a great product. Sometimes, you're going to get a lemon—the way it initially happened with FortiAuthenticator 300F—but that doesn't happen very often.

If there is a problem, the next business day, they send it and get the replacement, and they help me configure it.

In terms of its users, everybody uses the firewall because they're going out. That's our egress point. So, there are about 20 users for that. We have a dozen IPsec tunnels with which we connect to different companies. So, security is a big part of it. I also have a remote location with about 10 users who use a different firewall.

We probably won't be increasing its usage. Now that I got Authenticator, it nicely compliments the Fortinet firewall. The size of the company isn't going to grow any more than what it is. So, we're good.

Their support is great, but it also depends on who you get for support. From the support perspective, they can help you do it yourself, which is always more beneficial to both parties. They can stop being so time-sensitive about the call duration and let a user help himself a little bit more.

It takes time to study this stuff, and I don't always have time to do it. So, I'm looking for a quick answer because I get interrupted all the time during work. I don't always have the time to study something and figure it out. So, I have to call them, but I don't always get somebody who really knows what they are doing. They don't know deep enough to help you. They're troubleshooting with you, and that's the difference between Level 1 and Level 2 support.

When I first got here in this job in 2007, they had Cisco ASA Firewall, but it was too cryptic. You had to enter all these CLI commands for a configuration. It also didn't do everything that Fortinet could do. It was very limited, and it wasn't easy to use. I know what I want to do, and I don't have to learn a special language in order to do it. I just want to be able to use some basic programming code that they have put into the firewall and use the GUI interface with it to actually visualize what I am looking at. Some of the Cisco products are not visual enough. That was one of the reasons I stayed away from it. Cisco is also very high-priced. They price themselves out of business a lot of times for equipment, but Fortinet is just great.

I've also used SonicWall before. It was okay, but it is better for bigger places. I was looking for a midrange-size firewall for a couple of hundred users, and I felt Fortinet was the right fit.

Its deployment and maintenance are easy. 

I pretty much used the support from Fortinet to do it. They're good about their support. I did it myself by being a nuisance to Fortinet. I kept calling them to ask questions. They had to remote on to it and see you do something you don't know how to do.

It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive.

Fortinet has got great firewalls. They do everything. They do FortiTokens for two-factor. They do the IPsec VPNs, SSL VPNs. They have a great GUI for you to know, but you still got to know the CLI commands. 

I would rate it a 10 out of 10. It does its job, and it is easy to use. The support is great.

Our primary use case is for social network blocking and for unusual applications in our network as well as for intrusion prevention. We are a department store. 

This product has made it easier to secure our network. 

The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature. The hardware processors are also very impressive. In general, this is an easy-to-use application, with a user-friendly interface. If you have any issues, Fortinet has a support library where you can search for videos and documentation. If you want to configure anything and you're unsure about it, the solution is in the videos. If a single link fails, it automatically connects to a secondary one and that's saved me a lot of time as I would have previously had to deal with it manually. Fortigate blocks unusual traffic and therefore secures our network. Third-party integrations are good.

The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable. We have to check everything thoroughly before any upgrade.

We've been using this solution for seven years. 

The solution is very scalable. The processor, the microprocessor and the security processors are very intelligent so they can scale significantly and manage that well. 

The initial setup is straightforward and easy to manage. There is no maintenance required. 

We've seen a return on our investment. 

This is a very comprehensive solution but the cost is quite high. 

We evaluated several options before going with Fortinet. 

I think this is the best solution of its kind on the market and I rate it nine out of 10. 

This solution is configured as our primary gateway to the internet in and out of the network.

Fortinet delivers high-performance network security solutions that
protects our network, users, and data from continually evolving threats.

The features I found most valuable are the high availability rollover/fail-over capabilities. The integration with other Fortinet products is worth a look at the lineup.

I have been using this solution for about two years.

I would say that the scalability possibilities of this solution are first-rate.

In the past, we have used Cisco and WatchGuard Firewalls.

Our model of deployment is on-premises. I would say the initial setup process was complex. Integrating the security fabric with multiple firewalls, FortiClient, and FortiMail was slightly more complex than originally anticipated. The results are great.

Our implementation strategy was to hire vendors with expertise. 

We use Fortinet FortiGate mostly for a data center firewall.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately seven years.

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box.

The coverage and scalability of Fortinet FortiGate are good.

We use the solution for daily operations in the data center. There are hundreds of users that use the solution.

The support from Fortinet FortiGate is great. When I have an issue with the support team, it is when I can't understand what they need and they do not understand. They then typically ask for a remote session which can help us receive the solution. Overall, the support team for Fortinet FortiGate is very good.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very straightforward.

I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.

We pay for the solution annually.

The sizing is very important for the Fortinet FortiGate because after designing you have to choose what size and what kind of FortiGate you will implement. Sometimes you need to implement profiling and this will take from your processing.

In my area, this solution is recommended for many projects because it's very easy to do the implementation and troubleshoot and is highly stable. The integration between many devices, such as the FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager, is good and helps us. Fortinet FortiGate is recommended for any firewall design.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a central firewall for our ministry, but nowadays we are preparing to join every site we have to our main data center. Fortinet FortiGate firewall will not satisfy our needs.

Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution.

The main challenge to IT is hacking, and damaging the network software. Anything that can make a threat to our servers,  accounts, VC, from an email or internet connection. We need all companies to make investments to improve the facilities of these devices in order to provide a one-package solution to protect our servers, and systems from any hacking, ransomware, virus, any command, or any other threats. They need to improve all the security features.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately two years.

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. The main risk was the devices and systems that the end-users are using, whether inside or outside the network. The VC was not secure enough. This causes some threats to our headquarters servers.

Fortinet FortiGate has limited scalability capabilities. You can't expand these devices. For example, if I was to go from 150 users to approximately 5,000, the CBU capability of the device would not suffice.

The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was very complex because our connection to other sites that were using different network topology and ISP providers. We have faced a very complex situation. The company takes approximately three to four months in order to make our system stable. Nowadays, we are going to make our provider and network with one subnet to make it easier to maintain, manage, and monitor any attack and threats from any device anywhere. This will allow us to access devices, ports, and switches to be able to take the right action.

Our network was very complicated and we are using different operating systems, databases, applications, and video.

We used Fortinet's local partners that helped maintain our financial and management systems.

We have one to two people that do the maintenance of Fortinet FortiGate.

I have not seen a return on investment using Fortinet FortiGate.

We have the full version of Fortinet FortiGate and we are on a three-year contract with a commitment of five years.

We will be replacing two of our Fortinet FortiGate devices and will move to a solution with better specifications.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten.

It controls the inflow and outflow of all the communication between different sites and so on. 

We are using its latest version.

We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs.

It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified.

When there is a change in the IP address from the ISP, there is some disruption in the service. So, we try to do it when we have the least number of people working, which means very late at night. So, for the time being, it is working fine.

We have been using this solution for nearly a year.

Apart from the disruption in the service because of the IP address change, it has been quite stable.

We are implementing it phase by phase. Initially, we had one VLAN, and then we added more. So, it is quite scalable, and we haven't had issues with it so far. It has been recommended by the vendor that the model that we have would meet our requirements for the time being. In two or three years, depending on how we expand and how many more resources are required, we might have to look at another version of the device.

It was the vendor who did the initial setup. It was done within the time range that was allocated for the setup. My guess is that it was straightforward.

We are still in the process of implementing the solution. The commissioning has not yet been done. What we had previously is now changed to a new solution and a new way of doing things, and this is still in the implementation phase. Our implementation is being done phase-wise. We do things and tune it until we are happy with it, and then we go to the next phase. So far, it's working fine. 

We have a relationship with the vendor. We discussed what we wanted to do and finally, we selected the product, and after that, it was installed and configured on our premises. 

We have a small team of three or four people for deployment and maintenance.

Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee.

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 12 years.

Whenever we install a new release of an OS we should expect lots of bugs on the system that could break the system. Something that is working fine in the previous system, if we upgrade it, it could break it. Fortinet should work a lot on this to remediate it before releasing any OS. This includes any update and upgrade of FortiOS because I have seen issues when I upgraded, such as the memory and CPU jumping to 100 percent, and some or all functions were not operational. These bugs should be fixed in the firmware.

If there is a need for some upgrade or update on an existing system then I will plan ahead, but if it is not stable I will not do it. We have new releases being tested now and once they are rated stable I will upgrade.

I have found the support from Fortinet FortiGate very poor. I do not use them anymore because they are not very good. This is based on the support I have received from South Africa and India. However, the support from France I have heard was excellent. I only open support tickets for bugs.

I would rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a two out of five.

I have previously used SonicWall, Sophos, Juniper, and Cisco Meraki.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward.

The time it takes to implement a firewall a large and small firewall is the same. It does not matter the size of the firewall. The complexity comes from the network and the scope of work that we need to do for the customer on the network.

If it is a large network, it will take us more time to deploy it, because there is more to configure. If it is a small network, it will take less time, but configuration-wise, it's likely the same.

I have deployed Fortinet FortiGate on my own. I have never needed help from any third-party consultant, or integrator. I work as a consultant and integrator for other companies. I provide my service as a consultant.

Fortinet FortiGate doesn't require a lot of maintenance if you deploy the system correctly, it will run well. However, you do need to have some security checks, auditing, and cleanup of the system, every month. It depends on the company policies. 

If you already deployed the solution correctly you should not have an issue. Maintenance is required, we do have some customers that are doing morning checks on memory and CPU, it does not take much time.

The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.