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PeerSpot user
IT Security & Networks Administrator at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
Apr 11, 2025
SD-WAN feature helps with network integrity, but support needs enhancement
Pros and Cons
  • "The SD-WAN feature of Fortinet FortiGate has been most impactful in maintaining our network's integrity."
  • "They could improve the response time and quality of support."

What is most valuable?

The SD-WAN feature of Fortinet FortiGate has been most impactful in maintaining our network's integrity.

Fortinet FortiGate's threat detection capabilities are good for our use because it's an internal firewall; however, we haven't enabled some of the features that are there. We've enabled IPS and antivirus generally.

What needs improvement?

They could improve the response time and quality of support.

I'm not sure what additional features they need to have in the future to make it better. For the purpose that we use it, it is doing the job, but I haven't explored some of the features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I haven't had any issues with the stability or performance of the actual firewall. It has been fine with no bugs.

We didn't have to think about upgrading or anything; it does what we bought it for. If it wasn't for the end of support and the end of sale, we would not think about changing it. We are considering similar products for upgrading, maybe newer or bigger hardware.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,588 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. Currently, 120 people are using Fortinet FortiGate in my company.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate their technical support about six out of ten; I'm not fully satisfied. They could improve the response time and quality of support.

What was our ROI?

Fortinet FortiGate has delivered financial and operational ROI to my organization. It took about two to three years to realize ROI with Fortinet FortiGate.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

At the time we bought them, I was satisfied with their pricing; I don't know how the new pricing will be.

We have to pay additionally for maintenance or support; it is not all included.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Cognizant
Real User
Top 10
Sep 25, 2024
Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support
Pros and Cons
  • "It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place."
  • "The anti-malware engine could use an upgrade."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability.

What is most valuable?

The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in threat prevention. It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place.

What needs improvement?

The anti-malware engine could use an upgrade. It should automatically classify and sandbox malicious packets with more granular controls, including providing details like TV numbers.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Initially, we faced some issues with updates due to network factors needing to be white-listed in the proxy. These problems have since been resolved, and we are not facing any issues now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

While I don't have a clear picture of scalability, we scale up in different regions based on the number of users and the amount of load. This is typically handled by architecture teams.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support is very responsive, addressing queries in a timely manner. I would rate the customer support ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have also used Palo Alto Firewalls and Fortinet FortiGate. Fortinet FortiGate has a better UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for single-place control over all firewalls.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and easy, thanks to the support provided. I would rate the ease of setup ten out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

We had the help of the end-of-support team for the setup, which made the process quite straightforward and easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is reasonable for our company. The finance team handles the specifics regarding the license costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Palo Alto NG Firewalls before settling on Fortinet FortiGate.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,588 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Consultant at Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera
Real User
Oct 2, 2023
Nice GUI, easy to configure, and has a reasonably priced licensing model
Pros and Cons
  • "The GUI is good."
  • "Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily administrate the solution as a firewall. It's a perimeter solution. We filter content in order to ensure protection. We use it to publish services on-premises.

What is most valuable?

The GUI is good.

It's a basic firewall and it's a simple configuration. It can be ported very easily to our unit.

All of the licenses are included. We don't need to buy more licenses per pack of users. It is cost-effective. 

What needs improvement?

We'd like to see what they will do when AI attacks are generated. They will need to ensure their prevention continues to be exceptional. 

The solution isn't missing any features. Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. It is a robust unit.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. You can grow as you need. If you need more, you can use a model to upgrade to the next model. 

We don't have users per se; I provide the service to clients. 

How are customer service and support?

I very rarely contact technical support. If I need to scale, they have very knowledgeable sources and solid workbooks. The resources they offer ensure I always have a solution. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've worked with SonicWall and Cisco. Fortinet offers a good license model. It's also very clean in terms of configuration. It offers high performance. It is a bit more expensive compared to SonicWall, however, if you take everything into consideration, the pricing is quite reasonable. 

How was the initial setup?

We have a FortiGate appliance. We are using the 2000F version of FortiGate and running the license for FortiOS. 

First, we design our network, then we update policies. 

Fortinet makes the process very easy. I try to make it more efficient by replicating policies using the GUI. 

How long it takes to deploy depends on the complexity. I have 20 or so subnets and some services and I can manage the deployment in two to three hours. 

It is not difficult to maintain the solution. 

What about the implementation team?

I'm able to handle the deployment myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing model is very good. It's less expensive than Check Point. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm an independent consultant. 

Users have to understand the size of the network. That would dictate the model you need. You also need a qualified technician to configure the unit. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It's very easy to use.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
PeerSpot user
Mostafa Alsharif - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at a recruiting/HR firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
Jul 23, 2025
Has simplified connectivity and configuration management across multiple sites
Pros and Cons
  • "The benefits Fortinet FortiGate provides include easy connectivity, user-friendliness, scalability, and easy configuration management."
  • "I believe Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiGate better with reduced costs, free certification, and improved security."

What is our primary use case?

The main work for Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN solution. They have a good SD WAN solution with the FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager. The company has more than one site, forty-five sites, so we need to connect it altogether.

What is most valuable?

The main feature in Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN functionality. Based on my experience, it was very easy to integrate Fortinet FortiGate with SD WAN. The benefits Fortinet FortiGate provides include easy connectivity, user-friendliness, scalability, and easy configuration management.

What needs improvement?

I believe Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiGate better with reduced costs, free certification, and improved security.

For how long have I used the solution?

My experience with Fortinet FortiGate is approximately five to six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate as eight because there are other solutions that are more secure and more capable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

When talking about scalability for Fortinet FortiGate, I would rate it as nine or higher.

How are customer service and support?

We have not needed technical support from Fortinet until now.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We moved to another vendor. We first moved to Cisco firewall, and then about six months ago, we moved to Fortinet FortiGate.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate was simple. We worked with another vendor, and it was easy to configure and migrate with our current infrastructure.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented through a vendor, through a third party.

What was our ROI?

There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The Sophos XG was only for one branch. We mainly have a HQ Cisco Firepower FMC. I believe Fortinet FortiGate is easier.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.

What other advice do I have?

It is acceptable for my feedback about Fortinet FortiGate on PeerSpot to be with my personal name as a personal opinion without contact details or company name.

I am interested in being a reference for the vendor for Fortinet FortiGate, and it would be fine if the vendor contacts me with questions about my review.

In the future, I might have colleagues who can provide reviews about Fortinet FortiGate.

We plan to work with Fortinet Unified Sassy. I can recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten overall.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
JaimeVasquez - PeerSpot reviewer
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Jul 12, 2025
Monitors systems effectively and integrates security devices seamlessly
Pros and Cons
  • "The main benefits of Fortinet FortiGate are security and the ability to manage all information throughout the company, including managing all data inside the company to prevent intrusions from outside."
  • "They could enhance their support in different ways, such as having technical support available during night hours."

What is our primary use case?

The main use case for Fortinet FortiGate is to monitor different systems of our customers. The solution handles the security of the company, manages VPNs, handles inside security, and integrates with NAC solutions while integrating every security device inside the company to ensure data protection. We are utilizing Fortinet FortiGate's SD-WAN capabilities. The network performance is handled effectively by the Fortinet FortiGate solution, and depending on the capacity of the solution, it can manage all traffic inside the company.

What is most valuable?

The main benefits of Fortinet FortiGate are security and the ability to manage all information throughout the company. This includes managing all data inside the company to prevent intrusions from outside.

What needs improvement?

There is always room for improvement. They could enhance their support in different ways, such as having technical support available during night hours.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used the Fortinet FortiGate solution for about seven to eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is very stable. We have experienced no problems with the hardware, updated software, or management of the solution, with stability over 99%, making it a very good solution for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The Fortinet FortiGate service is very good in Chile, making it difficult to improve upon.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use both Fortinet solutions and Cisco solutions, depending on customer needs. The primary difference between Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco's firewall is pricing, with Cisco being more expensive.

How was the initial setup?

It is a medium-sized deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is competitive at this moment, and customers recognize that Fortinet solutions offer good pricing while providing a very good product. The stability is excellent for customers, and the capacity to integrate different solutions of the same brand is also very good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

They use other products to integrate information with different brands, including the NAC solution, which can be used for every brand in the market since it's based on the SNMP protocol.

What other advice do I have?

We are not currently using the Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution. We are not using any AI or machine learning enhanced services at this moment as it's very new in Chile. Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Suraska Sanjaya - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
Real User
Top 5
Jun 20, 2025
Straightforward implementation and good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls."
  • "In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked. I don't know why this happened. The firewall of a bank in Sri Lanka rebooted yesterday, and after that, FortiGuard servers did not connect properly, blocking all customer environment websites."

What is our primary use case?

I am a network engineer implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. We have implemented this firewall for various government departments, small organizations, and hotels.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance.

What needs improvement?

In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked. I don't know why this happened. The firewall of a bank in Sri Lanka rebooted yesterday, and after that, FortiGuard servers did not connect properly, blocking all customer environment websites.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for around three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not faced any other issues with Fortinet FortiGate. The performance for Fortinet FortiGate is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good.

How are customer service and support?

We are able to resolve most issues on our own. We raise a case through a partner portal. If the local distributor cannot resolve it, it's routed to another country. The response time for their technical support is not always good. It also depends on the license that the customer has.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are partners with both Sophos and SonicWall. I have implemented Sophos firewall myself, but not SonicWall. Our other engineers handle SonicWall implementations. I implemented Sophos SG and recently migrated from SG to SGS, all the firewalls.

How was the initial setup?

The implementation process for Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. We don't get much error with FortiGate because it's straightforward. We can implement it easily. Sometimes, when we implement through the portal, there are some errors, but we can manage it.

I have implemented 900D firewall and 400D firewall clusters, and many Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. I have also implemented FortiADC once, following step-by-step guides.

What about the implementation team?

We are a partner of Fortinet.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate.

What other advice do I have?

I mostly recommend Fortinet FortiGate when it fits the customer's budget. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Operations Manager at astron computers limited
Reseller
Top 20
Apr 13, 2025
Effective threat prevention speeds up response but maintenance can be challenging
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate brings numerous benefits to my company."
  • "The good things aside, there are improvements needed in the Fortinet FortiGate."

What is our primary use case?

My customers use Fortinet FortiGate for various purposes. The security services provided by Fortinet FortiGate are quite strong. 

I have had use cases where FortiGate helped to protect the mission-critical data for my customers. 

FortiGate is effective at protecting the data at the edge.

What is most valuable?

What I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is its effectiveness. The feature that I find the most effective is threat prevention. 

The mean time to respond and the remediation process is sped up. FortiGate has also helped to consolidate tools and applications for my customers.

The firewall has indeed helped customers to consolidate tools and applications. Once everything is set and done, maintaining FortiGate can have its challenges.

Fortinet FortiGate brings numerous benefits to my company.

What needs improvement?

The good things aside, there are improvements needed in the Fortinet FortiGate. My customers requested specific features to be included in the Fortinet FortiGate.

For how long have I used the solution?

My experience with the Fortinet FortiGate is recent, as I worked with it less than a year ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

My impression of the stability of FortiGate is that it is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

When it comes to scalability, I find it scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I have escalated questions to Fortinet's tech support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We need to compare different firewalls, including Fortinet FortiGate and Hillstone, and then suggest the better one to our clients.

How was the initial setup?

The initial implementation part is straightforward, but it has some complexities. My implementation strategy involves several steps that I take when deploying it.

What about the implementation team?

I do have hands-on experience working with the products, and I do the POCs and implementation part.

What was our ROI?

When it comes to the ROI, the return on investment of FortiGate can be a bit hard to estimate, but based on my experience, I find it to be quite favorable. Overall, Fortinet FortiGate has indeed helped to reduce the total cost of ownership for my customers.

What other advice do I have?

My impression of the firewall's ability to provide network and security coverage is positive. 

When it comes to sustainability, my impressions of the firewall are favorable.

The size of the environment with Fortinet FortiGate was significant, including many endpoints and users, and it involved enterprise-level business.

Based on my experience, I would say to someone considering purchasing Fortinet FortiGate's data center firewall is that it's a good choice. I would give Fortinet a solid score.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
Fabricio Nonato - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Nov 14, 2024
Robust user management and bandwidth control with an easy setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The common valuable feature for FortiGate is its UTM functionality, which includes various features under a license that is commonly implemented."
  • "Improvements could be made when companies expand and need better equipment and more licenses."

What is our primary use case?

The company uses FortiGate to offer protection for clients transitioning from MPLS to Internet, ensuring security for this new type of connection. In Brazil, clients typically seek protection, and FortiGate is used to offer such solutions. We start with this new kind of connection, explaining and training clients about the product.

How has it helped my organization?

With the FortiGate solutions, I see a benefit in controlling the bandwidth and managing users' access. It's important for leading the market and helping IT managers use the solution.

What is most valuable?

The common valuable feature for FortiGate is its UTM functionality, which includes various features under a license that is commonly implemented. FortiGate is widely used across fifty percent of the solutions in Brazil, making it a prevalent choice for many clients. It's beneficial because it allows the orchestration of networks with multiple vendors like Huawei, Cisco, and Juniper.

What needs improvement?

Improvements could be made when companies expand and need better equipment and more licenses. Additionally, a way to upgrade equipment when increasing Internet bandwidth is necessary. Companies often have to quickly close negotiations due to exchange rate changes affecting budgets.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have had about five years of experience with FortiGate.

How are customer service and support?

FortiGate offers good support, especially for telcos that have engineers inside the SOC to provide solutions to problems.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I worked with FortiGate. Now, I am studying to use Huawei. My current company has various solutions, though their firewall is not as developed. FortiGate is known for its firewall solutions, however, with Huawei, it’s a hard work to establish the offering.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for FortiGate is straightforward and easy. The company frequently conducts meetings to present their solutions in Brazil, helping to streamline the process.

What was our ROI?

Using FortiGate has enabled us to increase security, control user access, manage bandwidth, and enhance the ability to provide a variety of operations solutions to clients.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We work with a price list that changes every three or six months, however, we purchase in dollars. The exchange rate between the local currency and dollars affects the budget of our clients, so we need to quickly close negotiations.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The clients in Brazil often use Fortinet, given its familiarity and integration with existing networks comprising vendors such as Huawei, Cisco, and sometimes Juniper.

What other advice do I have?

It’s crucial to understand the client’s necessity first and implement only the solutions needed initially, expanding later with more solutions as required.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
PeerSpot user
Taha Turkestani - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT specialist at SAUDIA ALIRLINES
Real User
Top 5
Sep 29, 2024
Enhanced threat prevention with very good support and valuable behavior reports
Pros and Cons
  • "The reporting on employee behavior and the prevention of new viruses are essential features."
  • "The AI part needs improvement to enhance its functionality."

What is our primary use case?

We use FortiGate as a firewall. We have a FortiGate 201 model.

How has it helped my organization?

It's good that we didn't get hacked or attacked, indicating strong threat prevention.

What is most valuable?

The reporting on employee behavior and the prevention of new viruses are essential features. Additionally, we have found it convenient for monitoring if users download documents from unknown websites.

What needs improvement?

The AI part needs improvement to enhance its functionality.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for almost three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is very stable. We have not faced any delays or issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. We haven't faced any issues, and it supports our organization well.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use FortiGate for our data center firewall and Sophos for our internet firewall. We find FortiGate to be more stable than Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and did not present any issues.

What about the implementation team?

The installation was performed by a product's partner. I supervised the process.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, the stability of FortiGate IPS is impressive, and I would recommend it to others because of its stability.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
JavedHashmi - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at Future Point Technologies
Reseller
Top 5
Jun 27, 2023
Easy to configure, has a robust OS, and offers a lot of features at a very good price
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."
  • "From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They're providing FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement."

What is our primary use case?

The majority of use cases have been around UTM. Initially, they were famous for their UTM solution because nobody was offering what Fortinet was offering. 

We most probably use the latest version.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet has a very strong OS. They have a single OS through which they integrate all the networks and security operations. Our experience has been very good. Fortinet gives us a single fabric for the security and network teams. This unification has helped us a lot in providing Secure SD-WAN and other solutions, such as network switches, wireless controllers, FortiNAC, FortiAuthenticator, etc. They have a single pane of glass for all these from the monitoring and visibility aspect.

The integrated application protection provided by Secure SD-WAN is very good. Fortinet is a security-focused company. The features related to application recognition and how to enhance the performance and security of applications are pretty good.

The customers for whom we deployed FortiGate have become long-term customers of Fortinet. Even when they compare the solution with some of the other vendors, they're more comfortable with going with Fortinet and upgrading and refreshing the hardware and the software. It's a very good product, and the customer satisfaction is pretty good.

It impacts operational efficiency because we can quickly make the changes. For example, Cisco has some limitations in terms of the time it takes for any change to take effect, which impacts the operational efficiency, whereas in the case of Fortinet, they've got a very quick way of doing the changes and reverting them, which eliminates any downtimes because of the configurations. Their method for configuring and applying policies is very simple and easy. Because of that, it's very easy to do complex changes, and in the case of misconfiguration, revert those changes without much of an impact. Overall, Fortinet FortiGate brings a lot of operational improvements because of the strength of FortiOS.

Secure SD-WAN has helped us remediate threats more quickly. Normally, with the WAN solutions or the simple SD-WAN solutions, security is done on the hub side. With the Secure SD-WAN solution, we can apply security at the branch level, so unnecessary or malicious traffic doesn't reach the data centers or the hub site, which helps in improving the overall security posture. Also, we can tighten and apply a single security policy across all the branches or different segments of the WAN, which improves overall security. Fortinet offers different security measures for blocking malicious traffic and having a uniform policy across the entire organization. 

Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce our mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR). Applying a central security policy at the branch level immediately helps us to detect any malicious traffic and block it there, so the chances of anything reaching the hub or the data center side are less. It improves MTTD and MTTR because it has a very good interface where we can easily respond to all the attacks and manipulate things. Applying security with the help of Secure SD-WAN helps to mitigate attacks from where they are originating, which improves MTTD and MTTR.

Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce help desk tickets. Because of the operational efficiency and security, there are not many issues that impact the number of tickets.

With the help of Secure SD-WAN, we can provide operational efficiency because we can apply policies on an application-level basis. With Secure SD-WAN, we can apply a security policy per application. The central security application structure helps to apply all the measures from one central place and from the cloud. Because it's connected to many intelligence centers, it future-proofs a business and improves it overall. 

What is most valuable?

Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility.

What needs improvement?

From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They provide FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement. Recently, a customer had a requirement of getting some reports on their internet usage. Palo Alto has a bit better reporting than the Cisco and Fortinet firewalls, but we cannot get granular details about the user-level security, usage, etc.

Their support also needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with this solution for around ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For small and mid-level enterprises, it has been a very good solution, and that's why they captured that market. Our experience with it has been very good. It's easy to configure and deploy. In our country, their main market is small and big enterprises, but they are gradually focusing on the performance aspect. It's being used in large enterprises as well as a firewall solution.

It's scalable. There were some performance issues a few years ago, but they've fixed them for better performance, optimization, and high throughput. Performance-wise, it's very good.

How are customer service and support?

Support is one of the areas that they need to look into because as compared to some of the other companies, Fortinet's support is not that responsive. The product is very stable, but their support needs to be improved. I'd rate their support a six out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used Cisco and Juniper. We switched to FortiGate because it offers a lot of features at a very good price point. Unlike some of the other vendors, you don't have many license restrictions. For large and medium enterprises, they provide a wireless controller, authenticator, and mail features. There are so many features integrated within FortiOS, whereas, with many vendors, you have to work with different products. It's very helpful for small organizations with tighter budgets. There's also the ease of configuration that helps to bring things online as quickly as possible as compared to some of the other solutions that have a learning curve and that take some time.

How was the initial setup?

I mostly work on the pre-sales side. I discuss all the features, and then I work with the deployment team. They do the installation.

Its installation is easy. Normally, we get the scope and have the high-level design. After that, we go to the low-level design where we manage all the configuration templates. We have discussions with the customer and finalize all the policies that need to be applied at the site. We segment sites by size, traffic, application usage, etc. We apply the policies on a group basis, and then we apply the configurations on the controllers or the sites.

In our area, people are mostly interested in on-prem setup instead of cloud because not many controllers are located within the country, so the traffic has to be traversed outside the country. For banks and financial sectors, on-prem is more suitable, but small organizations can have it on the cloud.

What about the implementation team?

We implement it ourselves. For small projects, one or two people are good enough because we majorly find all the things at the LLD stage. We have a team that works on the LLD and configurations, and then we've got an on-field team that takes those configurations and applies the changes. Normally, if the implementation isn't distributed across the country, not many resources are required. Two or three resources are good enough, but if it's distributed across different regions, then a larger team is required. Once we have the templates, things are posted automatically, so not much to be done at the sites. We just have to do connectivity and configure the policies. As compared to other deployments, we require much less staff for the deployment tasks.

It requires maintenance, but generally, the product is very stable and doesn't require much maintenance. Normally, there aren't many changes. If there are any issues, we definitely need to monitor and check. Most of the issues aren't related to the solution itself if you have implemented it in the right manner, so planning needs to be done in the right manner.

What was our ROI?

There's definitely an ROI. Having a centralized way of managing and applying policies across the entire organization always helps. The time to manage, operate, and resolve issues is much lower. When you have a central place to manage and do the changes, you get efficiency and time savings.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously.

What other advice do I have?

It's a very good product. It has all the features required for operations. We strongly recommend using Fortinet for your edge or data center security or for your SD-WAN. FortiGate is doing very well. Fortinet has been capturing the security market, and now they're capturing the market for SD-WAN as well. They're a leader in Gartner's Quadrant. Their FortiMail and FortiWeb solutions are also very good. They provide all these solutions, and we have deployed all these solutions in the market. They're working perfectly, and customers have minor complaints about them.

Currently, no SD-WAN solution is interoperable with other vendors. Every SD-WAN vendor has its own solution. There's no standardization, so there isn't much interoperability. For example, we need a controller and branch-level software or hardware. Hardware is agnostic for some vendors, but normally, vendors also have their hardware. There are a few vendors that provide hardware-agnostic SD-WAN solutions, but Fortinet has its own hardware on which the complete SD-WAN solution runs.

Overall, I'd rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.