This solution is configured as our primary gateway to the internet in and out of the network.
Director, Information Systems at Ohio Art Co
Outstanding HA Failover capabilities and strong integrated protection with the security fabric
Pros and Cons
- "This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet delivers high-performance network security solutions that
protects our network, users, and data from continually evolving threats.
What is most valuable?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about two years.
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Fortinet FortiGate
June 2025

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would say that the scalability possibilities of this solution are first-rate.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, we have used Cisco and WatchGuard Firewalls.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
Our implementation strategy was to hire vendors with expertise.
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.

Network & Security Team Head at Amiral
Highly reliable, effective profiles, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate mostly for a data center firewall.
What is most valuable?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very straightforward.
I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for the solution annually.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Team Leader Network & Security at Rogers Capital
Straightforward implementation and affordable
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward."
- "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."
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used SonicWall, Sophos, Juniper, and Cisco Meraki.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight 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
Strategic Development Manager at Arrow Electronics
Simple to use and manage, helpful VPN and application control features, and it's constantly evolving
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."
- "With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."
What is our primary use case?
I am a project manager and I have implemented this product in several different projects. The deployments are for enterprise clients, government agencies, and several universities.
How has it helped my organization?
This is a complete security solution that we can offer to our clients.
It provides security EOT (Encryption of Things).
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving.
Different modules offer different functionality including the facility for web application control, VPN, and complete security integration.
It is easy to integrate FortiGate with other products.
What needs improvement?
With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FortiGate for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiGate is a very stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have implemented FortiGate in approximately 200 projects, and it is a scalable solution.
It is primarily used by medium-sized and enterprise companies. Medium-sized companies normally have between 10 and 50 users whereas an enterprise will have more than 5,000.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Fortinet is very nice.
I would rate them a five out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I work with several products from Fortinet including FortiGate, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiSIEM. The selection of which products to use depends on the company.
We work with what we refer to as the Fortinet fabric.
We also have experience with products from Check Point and Palo Alto.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet is competitive price-wise.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
One of our clients in space evaluated FortiGate in terms of pricing and integration, and they chose FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
System Engineer at Trends and Technologies, Inc
It's a user-friendly solution with good interoperability, and it's cheaper than most
Pros and Cons
- "FortiGate firewalls are user-friendly, and I like the security profiling features."
- "While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use cases for FortiGate are SD-WAN and the next-gen firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
Most clients in the Philippines seek a cost-effective solution that can secure their network, and FortiGate is often their first choice. If your network is secure, there's less downtime and threat exposure, increasing overall efficiency.
Fortinet's secure SD-WAN helps us remedy threats faster. It's user-friendly, and you can see everything on the FortiGate dashboard through a single pane of glass. Secure SD-WAN has reduced our mean time to detect. We haven't had any significant issues so far.
SD-WAN has reduced our help desk tickets by making us secure. Many of our clients switched from other brands to Fortinet, and they feel that the FortiGate box and the added security FortiGuard provides have exceeded their expectations.
What is most valuable?
FortiGate firewalls are user-friendly, and I like the security profiling features.
FortiGate has always had good interoperability. Their fabric enables you to integrate a lot of products into one vendor.
The secure SD-WAN gives you a tool for failproof your connections, especially with a branch-to-branch setup. FortiGate also comes with FortiGuard, which is an excellent threat-detection service. They have their own R&D and threat intelligence for FortiGuard.
What needs improvement?
While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for more than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate FortiGate an eight and a half out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate FortiGate a nine out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Fortinet support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use Meraki. FortiGate has advantages in terms of usability. Also, if we don't pay for the Meraki license, it becomes useless.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying FortiGate is straightforward. It typically takes about three days to deploy and configure the solution. One person is usually enough to deploy it.
What was our ROI?
Most of our clients are still using the FortiGate D Series, so they have gotten their money's worth.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet is much cheaper compared to the other leading platforms. However, most of our customers are asking for bigger discounts on license renewals.
What other advice do I have?
I 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. Reseller
Global Chief Information Officer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats
Pros and Cons
- "FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls."
- "It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
What is our primary use case?
We use FortiGate for our firewall. We have a typical business environment that includes end-user workstations, an ERP, web hosting solutions, etc. It's around 600 endpoints.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls. We're secured against various outside threats. It's hard to know how effective a firewall is if you aren't experiencing attacks. We haven't been affected, so we've seen the benefits of the solution from day one.
What is most valuable?
FortiGate provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats.
What needs improvement?
It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used FortiGate for five years, including my work at my previous company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FortiGate is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiGate could be more scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used Cisco firewalls previously. FortiGate is a little better in terms of web protection, but it's more expensive.
How was the initial setup?
We had professional services deploy FortiGate. For maintenance, we have an annual maintenance contract, and there are periodic firmware upgrades. A network admin is responsible for maintenance.
What was our ROI?
We've seen a return in the form of greater security and threat protection.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiGate is a little expensive. In addition to hardware and licensing, there are some implementation and maintenance costs.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten. I would recommend FortiGate, but Cisco is one of the best. The biggest lesson I've learned from using FortiGate is that it's crucial to install and maintain the solution properly.
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.
Head of IT Infrastructure at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Includes many valuable features, is extremely stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN."
- "The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate for the protection of our perimeter, VPNs, web filtering, application filtering, and general edge protection.
How has it helped my organization?
I received four tickets a year when I joined my current company, and what the solution has really done is enabled the SD-WAN feature. This has given us more value and reduced the amount of time spent on the manual management of our edge device. We are now able to set our SLAs and be on autopilot.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN. The new web flash is especially noteworthy because it supports Google and the single sign-on for our VPN activities.
What needs improvement?
The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. To scale our firewall we only need to add more hardware. We currently have over 2,000 users.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Mikro Tik before the organization decide to switch.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. As long as we know what we are doing the deployment can be completed within one business day.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed by a partner and two people were required. We completed the configurations ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is flexible. We pay for our device and our subscription according to our needs.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a ten out of ten.
One interesting and critical thing about Fortinet is the add-ons they have included with their firewalls, such as SD-WAN, which would cost a lot of money with other providers but is included with Fortinet's firewall.
When looking for a solution that can better optimize our connectivity and also keep providing security along the website for our branch offices, Fortinet FortiGate is the best solution. The solution is worth every cent. I use FG-61E and for the size of the device it has been very stable for the three years with only occasional reports to apply updates. Fortinet FortiGate has been very responsive to vulnerabilities that have been released. Our business is 24/7 and we don't have leaks. Our servers are always available.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
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.
Director Of Information Technology at Al Falah University
Useful intrusion detection, high availability, and robust
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet FortiGate has many valuable features, such as IDS, and intrusion detection. It has security features that are in part with the technologies that are available in the market."
- "One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiGate is used as a network firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet has been a Perimeter Security which defends our network from Internet attackers, armed with zero-day exploits of common Internet services like HTTP and SMTP. We applied access-control lists to limit classes of VPN users' access to only what they need as a support team or solution deployers. We Shut off unused network services and defended critical resources first. We Build Internet-style perimeters for partner extranets. We also built secured wireless access.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate UTM has many valuable features, such as application control, advanced persistent threat protection, Web and content filtering, IP reputation, integrated WLAN controller, intrusion prevention system, data loss prevention, and antimalware, antivirus, and antispam. It has security features that are in level with the Firewall technologies that are available in the market.
What needs improvement?
One of the features that I would like to have is endpoint protection, this should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 6 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate has high availability, which means that we have deployed two firewalls. In case of any failure of a device, the other one will continue to work. Our university stays online 100% of the time.
Fortinet FortiGate is quite robust. I haven't had any kind of hardware issue. The system has been running very smoothly with all the upgrades as far as I have continued my support with Fortinet. We keep renewing the support every year, which gives us the eligibility for all the updates.
How are customer service and support?
I used the Fortinet FortiGate support a long time ago. There was a small feature that was not functioning as per the documentation. When they released the latest firmware and the issue was resolved. They provide prompt support.
I would rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward we had an right person in-house for deploying it. Moreover, If required, Fortinet has its support extended to us. We can approach them anytime and they can assist us with any kind of complicated configuration.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the Fortinet using an in-house Technical support team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support.
The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable compared to other solutions.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated many other solutions, such as Sophos. If you look at Sophos, it has its own endpoint protection. It keeps a record of each client, what are the threats that have happened on each client level, and if there is a ransomware attack. It blocks it and notifies the firewall. I would be able to see a single dashboard view of what kind of threat has happened and how to mitigate them all.
What other advice do I have?
Fortinet FortiGate is a good solution overall. It is very user-friendly and all the policies are very easy to deploy. I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to any new users who want to have a secure infrastructure.
I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
There are some better industry-standard solutions out there in the market, and compared to them, Fortinet FortiGate has to be more flexible enough with their solution to be more competitive.
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.

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Updated: June 2025
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