Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

We don't have any issues regarding security, and our web server is running fine with protection from all threats.

The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment. It has a VPN and can create a virtual IP for a web server and functions as a standard firewall.

We faced difficulties with the configuration because there are many features we could optimize using Fortinet FortiGate, but our reseller didn't have a good understanding of it. So, we just use it on a basic level, not with the best practice for using FortiGate.

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate for around five years.

Overall, I find Fortinet FortiGate to be very stable. Fortinet FortiGate demonstrates consistent stability.

In my case, the 101F is not scalable. I faced problems with scalability related to memory. When we hit 100% memory usage, it stops the internet connection, so we need to control the traffic. We cannot increase the memory.

We have about 350 users and only one admin.

My experience with Fortinet's technical support is good and helpful. The response time and overall competence meet our expectations. I would rate their support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

We used Juniper before Fortinet FortiGate. We switched because it was an old one and reached the end of support. We had to change.

We were supported by a third party and the reseller. During deployment, it was not a good experience because of the reseller. We had challenges with the optimized configuration. 

The deployment took around three months.

The reseller helped us with the implementation. It has been a long time since the implementation, so I don't remember the name of the company that helped us.

Our IT has six people for deployment, and we used two staff members.

We have seen a return on investment with Fortinet FortiGate. The ROI calculation is based on potential loss prevention rather than traditional ROI metrics.

Its pricing is good. The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost. Palo Alto's features are superior, but too expensive.

I compared other brands, such as Palo Alto and Sophos, and chose Fortinet FortiGate. Palo Alto is the best, but it is significantly more expensive. Palo Alto has better capabilities than Fortinet FortiGate. Their protection is much more secure, and they excel in detecting intrusion and reading information. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

There is a tool called FSSO, which is a single sign-on user ID agent that works perfectly. You can configure anything on it, and it is better than Palo Alto's version.

The GUI is written in JavaScript, so when you move any object or policy to another one, it becomes easy to use. It is user-friendly and not complex for network configuration.

Run Script is the best tool to use in Fortinet FortiGate with multiple environments. You can perform multiple tasks at once with the script functionality. It is available through the GUI, whereas in Palo Alto, you need to run it in a separate tool, such as Python.

I prefer Palo Alto over Fortinet FortiGate. Its IPS engine is not better than the Palo Alto version. The monitoring tool needs improvement, and the syslog configuration needs enhancement.

The management plane and control plane are not separated as they are in the same hardware devices, whereas in Palo Alto, everything is separated. So, if the CPU and GPU usage gets higher in the data plane, the admin also becomes unreachable.

The web filter in Fortinet FortiGate is not very useful. While you can add web filters in security policies, it is difficult to understand and not flexible to use.

Fortinet FortiGate frequently experiences IPS engine problems. 

I have been working with it for four to five years.

In most cases, the IPS engine uses too many resources, which makes Fortinet FortiGate devices unstable. When clients encounter different issues, the IPS engine is usually the problem because it consumes excessive resources.

I have not worked directly with technical support, but I am familiar with the distributor, partner, and vendor. People who work with Fortinet provide adequate service.

Positive

I mostly migrate from Fortinet FortiGate, Check Point, and other solutions to Palo Alto. For migrations from various solutions to Fortinet FortiGate, it takes a few days, depending on the environment.

Fortinet FortiGate is cheaper than Palo Alto. It is about 20% cheaper. 

I prefer Palo Alto over Fortinet FortiGate. Fortinet FortiGate is not the best firewall, but it is acceptable. If you have a budget to buy a firewall and Palo Alto is too expensive, then Fortinet FortiGate can be usable. As an instructor in Palo Alto Networks who knows all the techniques, I naturally prefer Palo Alto.

For a small company or branch, I would choose Fortinet FortiGate because it is cheaper and the features are sufficient. However, for more critical environments, such as government institutions or banks, where privacy and security are paramount, I would opt for Palo Alto.

In a hamburger topology setup with the internet side and internal side, I prefer using Palo Alto Networks on the internet side and Fortinet FortiGate on the internal side. This creates a multi-vendor environment, avoiding dependency on a single vendor. The internet side requires more security, hence I would go for Palo Alto, whereas the internal side would benefit from Fortinet FortiGate's flexibility and ease of use.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate 100F, which is one of two firewalls that we have, one at the entrance of the DMZ and one just outside. One is facing the internet, and the other is at the entrance of the DMZ. We use the one outside to essentially work as a VPN.

As compared to our previous firewall, WatchGuard, which is a good firewall, the successful hacking attempts were far fewer and further with the Fortinet FortiGate, but at the same time, I don't know if the credit goes to only FortiGate, as we have two firewalls versus one in the second implementation. Overall, it is more secure. The VPN is also more stable than the offering from WatchGuard at that time.

Fortinet FortiGate is one of the most solid and secure firewalls as long as you keep it up to date. The price is right; it's not very expensive. 

It's quite feature-rich. While we've mostly used the VPN, we've also utilized it to create high availability. 

We are pretty happy with it. If anything, I believe the web interface could be simpler, especially for someone who has limited networking experience. I mostly do administration, and I found Cisco to be the hardest major firewall manufacturer to deal with, with Fortinet FortiGate being the second hardest for me. In comparison, there's a bit of an easier and more user-friendly interface with WatchGuard.

I have about three years of experience with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall. We also use FortiClient VPN.

The VPN was more stable than the offering from WatchGuard at that time.

I would evaluate the service and technical support of Fortinet FortiGate as pretty good. Whenever we needed them, they would be there for us. I would rate them a nine out of ten. We had no complaints, although they were sometimes extremely busy.

Positive

Before using Fortinet FortiGate, we were using WatchGuard, which is another good firewall.

The initial setup process was efficient, as it took us less than an hour to set up both firewalls.

I was involved in the deployment of the Fortinet FortiGate, handling the physical deployment myself while our vendor managed the initial setup.

We got the Fortinet FortiGate from Telus, which is a Canadian phone company. Our experience was excellent. They're a major phone company, so the services are never less than stellar.

The maintenance for Fortinet FortiGate involves just the occasional patch update. We have software that informs us whenever there's a new patch, and if it's critical, we run the patch update immediately; if not, we usually run it at the end of the month after it's released.

We had uninterrupted service. If one firewall failed, we still had a secure infrastructure. I believe we essentially had a great VPN compared to the alternative offerings, so that's a good return on investment.

It's good. I would rate the price of the Fortinet FortiGate as an eight out of ten. It's not the cheapest, but it's value for money. Given everything we've got out of it: the DMZ port, the VPN, and the high availability, it's a pretty reasonable price.

I would advise others considering or evaluating the Fortinet FortiGate to buy it. It's one of the best products for the price. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Our main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate include using it as a perimeter firewall. Fortinet FortiGate manages all our policies and other things.

Fortinet FortiGate has impacted our cost savings and security efficiency positively.

Fortinet FortiGate's VPN capabilities are very effective for us. We utilize the VPN facilities of Fortinet FortiGate all the time, so anybody who accesses our SAP systems utilizes the VPN of Fortinet FortiGate.

It has been quite seamless in terms of integration. We find it very useful for us.

The features I find most useful in Fortinet FortiGate are its simplicity of utilization, which is very important, and its provision of interfaces to see the alerts and other things. It is very useful. We use it to understand who our top users of the internet are, what they are using, and when they are using it. It gives us many glimpses into the inner workings of the organization.

At this moment, we believe that Fortinet FortiGate should be improved by injecting more AI because the kind of threats we are seeing are more ransomware threats. Fortinet FortiGate is able to ensure these threats do not enter, but we would prefer to see more proactive alerting mechanisms come out.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate in this company for about a year or over a year now, and in my previous company, I used it for almost four years, totaling five years of experience.

For stability, I have no complaints; we are satisfied customers.

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable enough for our environment. We are using Fortinet FortiGate in the consumer durables industry for electrical products. We currently have a little over 2,000 users working with Fortinet FortiGate in our environment.

We plan to increase the usage of Fortinet FortiGate in the future, shortly upgrading and increasing the number of users.

For technical support of Fortinet FortiGate, we utilize a channel partner and we are very happy with them. They support us almost instantly. They have backend support from Fortinet FortiGate, which they utilize. I would rate the support an eight out of ten.

Positive

The setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very simple, worthy of a nine out of ten rating.

The deployment part of Fortinet FortiGate takes a couple of hours. We decided to go for Fortinet FortiGate because it was simple to implement, it was simple to get the policies implemented, and the interfaces were quite simple. Simplicity was the main reason. The product is very good.

I find it quite reasonable.

Before working with Fortinet FortiGate, we evaluated Check Point, Palo Alto, and Blue Coat solutions. The reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was basically because of security and simplicity of use.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to those who are looking into using it because if they look at the manner in which it protects their enterprise, it does a wonderful job of that. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

I use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN, specifically for branches, and for firewall purposes. 

Fortinet FortiGate is sold to everyone, including banks, mining companies, and oil companies, as it's one of the most popular SD-WAN products that we sell. These are mainly medium-sized businesses or enterprise businesses because we only sell business-to-business, B2B, and we don't sell to normal clients, only businesses.

We usually do not have any problems. It's a very easy-to-use product. We also have a SOC or service operations center. They are certified in Fortinet FortiGate.

From the point of view of a reseller, Fortinet FortiGate improves our business because it is one of the products that we sell the most. We also use it on our backend because the devices have many slots and support substantial bandwidth.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are its SD-WAN capabilities, such as dynamic routing, and other features, including security options such as antivirus, IPS, and IDS—all integrated into one device. 

Another beneficial aspect of using Fortinet FortiGate is that if you have a LAN network, you can integrate it with FortiSwitch. You can manage everything from Fortinet FortiGate. It is easy to manage and integrate with other Fortinet devices.

Fortinet FortiGate is a very good device overall, though it can be improved in certain areas regarding the licenses, particularly the big one called unified threat management, which has many capabilities. The big license options have web filtering, IDS, and a lot of other things, but it's not like they are all good. That's the only thing I would change because the rest is very good.

I have about 4 or 5 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.

I find Fortinet FortiGate to be quite stable, as I have never heard of any issues where they broke or malfunctioned; they are always working. I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability for Fortinet FortiGate as an eight out of ten

We don't usually use that service. We only engage with Fortinet support when a device is broken and needs RMA, so I am not familiar with their operational teams.

Neutral

We used to use Cisco firewalls and devices, which are also quite good. However, Cisco is more expensive, approximately twice their prices, but they are similar in functionality. With Fortinet, we are partner experts, which is a big advantage, whereas with Cisco, we are premium partners, which is not the biggest status, so if we are going to resell to our clients, we don't have the best discount or prices.

I am not part of the initial setup or deployment process since I work in presales. The setup or deployment is quite easy, as you can do a one-touch deployment that automatically connects to the FortiManager cloud when you connect it to a broadband or dynamic IP, allowing you to start the configuration from that point.

We usually sell it for on-premises setups.  It's on the cloud only when the client has virtual machines or their own service. Sometimes they have a service on the cloud like AWS, but it's more difficult to sell now because AWS has an e-commerce option where you can buy FortiGate directly. The only thing you need is someone to manage and configure.

For deployments at one site, it usually requires only one person, and if we are talking about 1 to 50 sites, it still only takes one person because the same template is used for all sites.

In Argentina, we service about 100 locations. There are about 200 companies in Colombia and Brazil. 

We service about 100 locations with Fortinet FortiGate in Argentina, but if we account for all the company's clients, it can be around 2,000 across Colombia and Brazil, since we have clients in all of these countries.

Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years.

Before using Fortinet, we evaluated other options such as Versa and Meraki, but Meraki is also from Cisco. Fortinet is better than Versa. One of the main differences between them is that we don't have many partners or distributors for Versa here in Argentina, making it difficult to sell something that you cannot pay for locally. It has been easier in the past to handle payments, but Versa doesn't have many providers or distributors in Latin America, making it a less viable option. Fortinet offers more products that are easier to integrate into our clients' networks, such as firewalls and access points, so that was one of the main reasons we didn't use Versa.

My advice to other businesses or people considering using Fortinet FortiGate is that it is the starting product from Fortinet, and when you start using Fortinet FortiGate, you can then move on to the next products they offer, which are numerous. 

We sell the 40F, 60F, 80F, 100F, and 200F models. There are the ones we sell readily from the bottom to the top. Sometimes, we sell bigger ones such as the 300 model.

Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate around a nine out of ten.

The typical use case for Fortinet FortiGate is perimeter security, which is why our clients use this solution.

We are an implementer of Fortinet solutions.

It works well to protect the edge. For protecting the edge, Fortinet FortiGate secures any data traversing the network back to the cloud or data center through encryption. I have found it easy to configure, which results in no problems.

The security services provided by Fortinet FortiGate firewall are among the best. They have been in Gartner's quadrant for a very long time, which always helps.

Fortinet FortiGate has been able to secure mission-critical data effectively. It secures our customer's network properly, so that's always beneficial.

The ability of Fortinet FortiGate to provide network and security convergence is impressive, as they have stable features including application control. They also have advanced routing policies that set themselves apart in network security. Their solutions gel effectively with a single console for management, which is a significant advantage.

FortiOS is quite good in my experience with Fortinet FortiGate, and it works very effectively and is stable for companies. The customers have given feedback that FortiOS has been very stable for a long time. 

From a feature standpoint, it's easy to set up if people want to try and set up VPNs and other configurations. Policy control is quite nice, and we have a lot of experience with this solution, which helps us a lot.

Their support can be better, and there should be better policies for immediate replacement in critical situations. Their replacement policy varies depending on the type of support subscription. With the standard support subscription, if the device goes down, the customer has to first ship the box, and then Fortinet sends the replacement. With the higher support, the customer has to ship the device after they have the replacement. It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.

I have more than 10 years of experience working with Fortinet FortiGate.

It is very stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.

If you size the solution correctly based on the customer's network, number of users, and throughput required, there is no problem regarding scalability, so I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

We have small, medium, and large customers who have opted for Fortinet FortiGate.

I would rate technical support from Fortinet an eight out of ten. Their technical support can be improved slightly as we sometimes experience delays in support for urgent customer needs.

Positive

The typical deployment model for Fortinet FortiGate is mostly on-premises. However, there is a virtual appliance available for cloud setups, but in India, most of the sales are for on-premises appliances.

Fortinet FortiGate definitely reduces the total cost of ownership because it offers better management capabilities through a single platform. Its widespread use makes skill sets more available, making it much more cost-effective for customers than other products which may require higher resource costs.

It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device.

Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works. They also offer add-ons for features to keep more logs or data, which is standard across their competitors as well.

The price-to-performance ratio for using Fortinet FortiGate is always better compared to any other competitor, so they are rated better than the likes of Check Point or Palo Alto.

The network availability improves when implementing a Fortinet solution; it's definitely much better for a customer compared to having no solutions in place. They are affordable overall.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

My customers use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN, network security, branch-to-branch communication, site-to-site channel communication, multi-layer protection, authentication, and antivirus solutions. They span various industries, including IT setups, chip-level designing, VLSI companies, software development, SAP implementation, manufacturing, and production groups.

The strengths of Fortinet FortiGate include network security, VPN, site-to-site tunnels, client VPN solutions, two-factor authentication for VPN clients, and SD-WAN for branch level. We have implemented these solutions for various customers.

Regarding challenges, customers initially faced issues like internet dropping, but after firmware upgrades, everything worked well.

I believe Fortinet should offer short and frequent training sessions, preferably in video format, whenever they introduce new features. These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.

Long training sessions spanning one or two full days can lead to distractions and reduced focus due to continuous support calls. Therefore, providing brief and focused training snippets would be more beneficial for users.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for six to seven years.

Our customers are satisfied with the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. I would rate it as a ten out of ten for stability.

Fortinet FortiGate is quite flexible and scalable, allowing us to scale up from sixty to a hundred units. However, there are limitations for extremely high production levels. I would rate its scalability an eight out of ten.

Setting up Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward and easy. I would rate it a ten out of ten for ease of setup. The deployment typically takes around two to three hours.

Operational costs for Fortinet FortiGate are pretty low because once it's configured, no changes are needed. In terms of ROI, clients have seen benefits. After switching from other brands to

Fortinet, they experienced fewer support calls. Initially, there were some support calls in the first one to two months, but after that, there were none. Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.

The cost of Fortinet FortiGate is competitive and not expensive compared to other enterprise- grade solutions. On average, the license cost per year is around seventy percent of the firewall's purchase price.

Regarding AI elements, I believe Fortinet has the capability to implement machine learning snippets for improved security and advanced configurations, but this should be integrated as part of their overall strategy.

I will advise to focus on configuring the admin tools and monitoring users and serial numbers effectively. 

As for rating the solution, I would give it a ten out of ten for being a very good solution.

The typical use case for the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for my clients is its ease of use. My clients are using Fortinet FortiGate as SD-WAN.

The effectiveness of Fortinet's unified SASE in providing consistent security policies is notable because there is one security profile from either the head office or the branch office, allowing your profile to move seamlessly with you wherever you go. You have end-to-end visibility, and you can look at the analytics. To me, that moves towards SASE.

My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS.

My clients find the next-generation firewall feature of Fortinet FortiGate to be particularly valuable. It provides internet security, network security, cloud security, ZTNA, and SD-WAN security. There is a unified agent for FortiClient. There is centralized management.

Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines.

There should also be more training and certification.

I have about 10 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.

I find Fortinet FortiGate to be a stable solution.

Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution, as you can start small, maybe with FortiGate 40F, and then move to FortiGate 60F or FortiGate 80F, depending on your needs.

It depends on who your distributor is. 

Neutral

It is not straightforward, but the implementation is pretty good overall. Every site is different for me. There is no standard site. We have a few different issues here and there, but overall, it's pretty good and straightforward to install. Its integration is not difficult.

It is a matter of learning and understanding the reasons why people need Fortinet FortiGate.

Fortinet FortiGate positively provides my clients' organizations with a high return on investment. There is visibility into network operations, allowing us to identify network issues. It has advanced security features. You can achieve about 200% ROI over three years, while enhancing IT teams' productivity by about 50%. It simplifies security across branches and enhances hybrid and cloud security. There is even a feature where you can predict the application performance.

It's very competitive.

Many users nowadays prefer agentless installations over installing agents on their devices, which presents challenges for endpoint security, especially concerning ZTNA, VPN, and endpoint protection.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.