Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

Fortinet FortiGate is used on three separate sites: one in Tehachapi, one in Simi Valley, California, and one in Memphis, Tennessee. I work in distribution with Fortinet FortiGate. 

The primary feature I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is the ease of setup. It's more affordable than Cisco and very configurable. When discussing configurability regarding Fortinet FortiGate, I don't have to download modules to have features such as IPSec VPN or SSL VPN - it's already there. Most of the popular features are pre-installed and I only need to configure them, unlike with MikroTik where I have to download components that may not work, and with Netgate, I can't install everything I want without uninstalling other packages.

Fortinet FortiGate is very competitive compared to Palo Alto Networks and Cisco; they are better priced than both competitors. On average, Cisco would be 10% to 20% higher than Fortinet FortiGate, and the same applies to Palo Alto.

The AI with Fortinet FortiGate is not very well integrated on their devices, and their cloud infrastructure is not as good as Cisco's. 

The support is inadequate. The support staff I have dealt with lately are very rude. Some support staff are not up-to-speed with the technology. They basically read a script. If they don't know how to fix an issue, they send me to another engineer. 

I have used Fortinet FortiGate since 2012.

The support is inadequate. The Fortinet FortiGate support staff I have dealt with lately are very rude and some of them are not up-to-speed with the technology; they basically read a script. If they don't know how to fix an issue, they send me to another engineer. The last representative I had to deal with was very rude to me. 

Neutral

I wasn't involved in the decision of picking Fortinet FortiGate, however, before we switched over, we were using SonicWall firewall appliance.

I was part of the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate. When it was originally set up, on a scale between one to ten, with ten being really easy to set up, I would rate it about an eight or nine.

When we first deployed Fortinet FortiGate, it was just me, and one person could actually deploy it in three sites, so it's relatively easy.

Once we deployed the last time, we actually moved our whole management of it to a third party. They manage our Fortinet for us now. It's supposed to be easy, however, during the last deployment, when they upgraded us, there was some project management snafu. That said, that's not a Fortinet issue. When I was deploying it, it was relatively easy. 

Currently, we are paying about $1,500 a month for three sites. We have a company that leases the equipment from Fortinet FortiGate, configures it, and I tell them what features I want on and off and how to secure it. We paid about $1,500 on the last contract, and it's probably going to go up this year.

I've also evaluated other options. Other than price, Cisco has a better cloud management infrastructure, while Palo Alto has better security features such as deep packet inspection algorithms and AI integration on their devices.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate if you have a small to medium business, which we have. For a large business with multiple campuses, Fortinet FortiGate is probably not going to work for you. 

On a scale of one to ten, I give this solution a rating of seven.

We are using it for perimeter security. By implementing Fortinet FortiGate, we wanted to have secure internet access to our network and prevent cyber risks.

The content filtering and URL filtering capabilities, along with packet content filtering, are very good. It helps us restrict internet traffic during working hours to legitimate work-related traffic. Workers are only able to access social media, YouTube, and similar sites after work hours.

It helps in protecting the edge significantly because we are able to determine what must be accepted and what must not be accepted. We also have FortiAnalyzer, which is the log analyzer for Fortinet FortiGate. Being AI-driven, it helps us see what is happening and new emerging threats quickly. We are able to make the necessary interventions to protect the network.

We are using QRadar as a SIEM, and Fortinet FortiGate integrates with it seamlessly. FortiAnalyzer picks all logs from Fortinet FortiGate, integrates with QRadar, and allows us to see everything. It also integrates beautifully with our EDR from WithSecure.

It also helps reduce power consumption. Fortinet FortiGate is a greener listing in terms of power consumption.

Stateful packet inspection is valuable. It also does SSL packet inspection. It is able to provide a VPN for remote users with secure connectivity. Being a next-generation firewall, it helps. 

It has been able to host internet feeds from two different ISPs, with one as a backup. We've two internet services on Fortinet FortiGate. We have been able to deploy it in a high-availability mode. We have redundancy. When there is a problem with one, the other picks up quickly, ensuring business continuity. 

I wish that they could integrate zero-trust technology into Fortinet FortiGate. I am not sure whether it has been done already, but if they could implement that, it would help significantly.

I have been using it for about ten years now.

Their support is good. 

Positive

I didn't use any similar solution previously.

I wasn't involved in the recent deployment. 

It was quite quick. The last deployment was more of a migration, where we migrated from an old platform to a new platform. It was a matter of hours because the configs had been backed up. In eight hours, we were done completely.

We had two people from my side and two from Fortinet's side.

If we look at the average revenue loss due to downtime, even if I conservatively put it at $10,000 an hour, we have paid back the investment within six months.

Compared to a sister company that did not take security seriously and lost significant money through ransomware attacks and outages, we have not experienced a single successful ransomware attack. In one instance, we were able to thwart an attack by detecting the initial steps quickly through EDR and FortiAnalyzer. We saw the footprints and stopped it before it reached the encryption phase of the ransomware attack.

The analysis being AI-based helped us quickly pick up unusual activity. Once alerted, we were able to quickly identify the affected nodes, isolate them, and stop the attack.

It has reduced the total cost of ownership by 10%.

For the performance that we get, the price is reasonable. There are cheaper options, but they may not deliver the same kind of performance that we want. For the performance they provide, the price is acceptable.

Currently, there is a project we are doing to converge OT and IT using Fortinet FortiGate, because of the cluster we have. Fortinet FortiGate is going to broker the convergence between IT and OT. We want to make the convergence one-way, with only read-only data coming from OT into IT.

They keep bringing new versions and firmware updates, making sure that their products are always relevant. They are always providing what the industry needs.

We have implemented FortiAnalyzer. We are also looking seriously at FortiIdentity to help us with enterprise single sign-on and multi-factor authentication. Because we already have Fortinet FortiGate in the system, we are seriously considering other Fortinet solutions.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate is strong in SMB and mid-market, approaching SD-WAN from a security perspective. Customers have requirements for internet as many are moving away from private connectivity and migrating to Teams, making security a top priority. They've chosen Fortinet FortiGate as it offers both a comprehensive security portfolio, including intrusion detection, deep packet inspection, and VPNs. It provides robust SD-WAN capability, eliminating the need for two vendors. Additionally, they offer a SASE solution for smaller sites where a virtual Fortinet FortiGate can be used instead of a physical one, saving space for retail locations.

These features resonate with small to medium-sized organizations, attracting more people to the Fortinet FortiGate solution since it's security-first while also providing SD-WAN capability. Unlike competitors such as Meraki that limit connections to two, Fortinet FortiGate allows up to 100 connections as their focus is on security rather than SD-WAN.

Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN capabilities typically require redundancy depending on the carrier. There are two types of redundancy: network redundancy with different carriers, such as Bell and Telus, or Verizon and AT&T, both connecting to the same Fortinet FortiGate box. In traditional setups, when there were two connections, one would be active and the second passive, activating only during failover. This wasn't cost-effective as customers paid for both connections while one remained passive.

In the SD-WAN environment, both connections become active, allowing application-specific routing. For instance, voice traffic can be directed to one connection while data traffic uses the other. Rules can be created specifying alternative routes if the primary connection is unavailable.

The impact on service availability and overall network performance is significant. It provides customers with assurance against single points of failure. However, capacity management remains crucial. If both networks operate at 80% capacity and one fails, the secondary connection would face a 160% load, causing blockages. Ideally, connections should operate at 50-60% capacity to handle full load during failures.

Fortinet FortiGate has been successful and ranks high on the Magic Quadrant since they're innovators with appropriate pricing. They offer a best-in-breed solution for their target market. While they're not focused on large enterprises they excel in the mid-market SMB segment, offering comprehensive solutions from endpoint protection to VPNs and deep packet inspection.

Fortinet FortiGate has started implementing AI, however, it hasn't reached full maturity. Their AI solution doesn't compare to solutions such as Microsoft Copilot and SharePoint, primarily since AI relies on data, and Fortinet FortiGate focuses on perimeter defense and security rather than internal network data.

One notable limitation is the absence of honeypot capabilities, which competitors such as Palo Alto offer. These capabilities entice and trap attackers, allowing analysis of attack vectors. Fortinet FortiGate focuses purely on defense mechanisms without actively gathering intelligence about potential threats. This approach aligns with their mid-market focus, where such advanced threat intelligence features might be less critical than in enterprise environments.

I have architected Fortinet FortiGate over the last 12 months.

Fortinet FortiGate performs at 100% effectiveness when customers have the right skill sets and policies in place, making it a very reliable solution.

Scaling-wise, there have been no problems with Fortinet FortiGate. In the mid-market, which typically handles up to 50 to 100 sites and campus environments, there haven't been any scaling issues.

From an implementation and partner support perspective, Fortinet FortiGate's support deserves a rating of seven out of ten.

Neutral

The setup requires understanding of security and is not plug-and-play, but it isn't complex when implemented by certified Fortinet engineers.

We provide professional services to install Fortinet FortiGate through our Fortinet-certified engineers, who handle installation services for companies.

The return on investment is 100% guaranteed. Similar to car insurance, security investment proves valuable when incidents occur. For small businesses, average losses can reach $300,000 per week, while mid-market companies face potential losses of $500,000 to a million. This makes the annual security investment of approximately $100,000 worthwhile. Furthermore, cyber insurance requirements often necessitate solutions such as Fortinet FortiGate rather than simpler alternatives.

Fortinet FortiGate pricing varies based on hardware specifications, size, and quantity purchased. Many companies access these solutions through managed service providers, who add their management fees to the hardware and license costs. Due to security being a specialized skill set and the various types of attacks (phishing, DDoS, hacks), having Fortinet FortiGate represents just one component of the total security investment.

There's always room for improvement with Fortinet FortiGate, as no vendor achieves perfection. In their market segment, considering their offering and price point, they merit an eight out of ten rating.

We primarily use Fortinet FortiGate as endpoint firewalls for our campuses. Nothing too extravagant, just providing access out and limiting access to certain applications and restricting unauthorized access from external sources. I have recently been using it also as the controller for the wireless access points.

It is pretty straightforward to manage and has robust capabilities. I appreciate that Fortinet FortiGate can be a central controller for other Fortinet products, such as switches and access points. I have used its VPN abilities a little bit, but not a great deal. I appreciate that it has some SD-WAN capabilities, though I've only used that to a limited degree. It is a solid, usable, reliable solution. 

It's one of the more expensive brands.

FortiManager has not been my favorite. I don't use it and cannot say I really care for FortiManager for managing the firewalls. I primarily just access and manage the firewalls individually. Nothing else particularly comes to mind, as it has been a pretty good experience.

I have about four and a half years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.

The stability has been very good. I have had very few issues. I had one unit that required some reboots and eventually needed a factory reset. But outside of one issue, I've never had stability issues or problems with them going down or disconnecting or having other issues. They have been very stable and reliable.

I have experienced no scalability problems thus far. We expand out with other campuses as needed. If there are any scalability problems, I think that would probably be with making FortiManager a little bit better. Otherwise, scalability is fine. 

We are a medium-sized business with 17 campuses. We plan to increase its usage. We'll probably continue with FortiGate for any other campuses that we extend out to, as well as keeping them when we do our hardware refresh.

Fortinet FortiGate has very good support. I've been able to contact them on a couple of things for FortiGate and other products, and I've never had an issue. They've always been polite and helpful and worked to get me to solutions. I've had a good experience with Fortinet support.

Positive

We've always had Fortinet FortiGate in place, so I don't have a previous firewall here to compare it to, but it has basically done its job. It's manageable, and it has not created a lot of problems. Only once, I had to call their support to apply a patch update across a couple of them. One of the best features is that it does not require a lot of extra attention for me to fix problems. It's not a problem generator, so that's probably the best quality.

I've set up several Fortinet FortiGate firewalls, and it's a pretty straightforward setup. I haven't ever really had any particular issue with getting them in place.

It's deployed physically at the locations for our campuses. To deploy one, it takes approximately an hour to program and then another hour or so to install. It can get deployed within three hours.

Just one person can manage Fortinet FortiGate; I'm able to manage everything by myself.

The implementation was done by me, one person. Sometimes I need to walk through someone else to physically install it because it might be at a site remote from me. If I'm not physically there, it requires a second person. However, if that was not the case, I could do it as a single person.

It's one of the more expensive brands.

The 100 series costs around $4,000. They are similar in pricing to what you might get from Cisco solutions and probably other similar ones. They're not more expensive than other similar solutions, but they're certainly not cheaper either.

The advice is to go ahead and try it out and see how it works. The product speaks for itself. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten, as I always prefer to leave a little bit of room for improvement.

We have a couple of use cases for Fortinet FortiGate. We are using it for SASE, the Secure Access Security Edge, to provide VPN services and firewall functionality. We are also using their access points as well as their firewalls and switches.

It is providing consistent security policies across multiple locations.

Fortinet Unified SASE is fantastic in my opinion. We rely heavily on it. It also provides remote access.

The solution provides consistent security policies across multiple locations.

The licensing is a little confusing and a bit too granular for Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see a more streamlined set of options. 

The hardware is not terribly expensive, but the software license and support can be quite expensive. Some improvements could be made regarding cost considerations and complexity around their licensing.

I have had experience with Fortinet FortiGate for about three years.

Fortinet FortiGate is completely stable and rock solid. From a stability perspective, Fortinet FortiGate just works; you get it set up and it does not fall over. We have had no security-related incidents related to anything with the FortiGates. The advanced features are really good.

We are not that big, however, we have had no scalability issues whatsoever with Fortinet FortiGate. We have a redundant setup for failover, however, it has not had to fail over ever and we have not had a capacity issue. It is highly scalable.

Their support is outstanding for Fortinet FortiGate. You get through to a person. They are very quick to respond and they are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful.

We previously used Palo Alto, and the reason we switched to Fortinet FortiGate for firewalls or SD-WAN edge solutions was reputation. We felt that the product set just fit better and was more flexible.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was pretty straightforward. It gets a little complex with routing rules and ACLs and VLANs and things of that nature. However, the interface is pretty straightforward. It has a good CLI interface as well. Whenever it was a bit too complicated, we would pick up the phone and get an expert to help us through it.

Return on investment since having this product is hard to quantify as it is a sunk cost and the cost of doing business. Having this functionality in place has shown no negatives, and this solution works effectively. 

We do not have significant cost overhead to maintain it. Once you get it set up, it just works. It is a little expensive, however, you get what you pay for. Whenever we need support to bring on something that we do not understand, they help us. From a net cost overhead, it is cost avoidance from additional headache related to instability or things not working properly. 

The return on investment is more about cost avoidance and stability, resulting in lack of downtime and incidents.

The licensing could be improved as it is a little confusing and too granular for Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see a more streamlined set of options.

We operate in the Insurtech industry. We have not integrated it with the SD-WAN features yet. 

We do not utilize Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution as we are not big enough for that. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine.

We use FortiGate as the edge firewall. We integrate it with our APIs over Microsoft Azure. We work in the VOIP industry, and our services are prone to latency. Security is a major concern for us as a U.S. research company, where we frequently test attacks. FortiGate handles these attacks well.

FortiGate has led to a reduction in our security budget. Our management decided to switch to FortiGate because it offers all the necessary features and even improved features within our budget.

I'm looking forward to FortiGate's dashboard features, insights, application oversight, and monitoring, which could help us significantly.

As of now, I haven't identified areas for improvement. However, once the firewall is in production and all traffic is shifted, I might be able to provide more feedback. The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate.

I have been working on FortiGate devices for around four years. In my previous role, we used FortiGate based on the requirements and budget constraints. Currently, my organization is transitioning to FortiGate in the Azure environment as part of the migration phase.

I rate FortiGate's stability as a nine out of ten, reflecting that there have been no major issues with stability so far.

FortiGate's scalability is rated eight out of ten. We expect network expansion both over the cloud and on-premises, and we believe FortiGate will perform well in this scenario.

We had a single instance requiring FortiGate's technical support, which was effective in solving the problem. I rate their support as eight out of ten.

Positive

We used other vendors, like Cisco. FortiGate was chosen due to its cost-effectiveness and its ability to offer improved features within our budget.

The installation process does not take much time, but the migration phase from Cisco to FortiGate is expected to take about ten days.

We have a separate team responsible for deployments over the cloud, while our networks and security team manages migrations and operations of the devices.

There has been a cost reduction in our security budget after implementing FortiGate, attributed to its offering of essential features at a reduced cost compared to previous vendors.

We pay for additional services like perpetual licenses. Despite this, FortiGate is considered a cost-effective solution. I rate the pricing as a five out of ten, reflecting a balance between cost and benefit.

We also use other vendors like Cisco, Netgate, Ubiquiti, and others in our environment.

I recommend this product. In future updates, it would be beneficial to see automation features, such as real-time alerts via phone, which we currently get from other OEMs.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I am focused on data center solutions, specifically implementing the FortiGate, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiProxy systems. 

Fortinet FortiGate offers several valuable features, particularly as an interface-based solution. Its design makes it easy to understand both incoming and outgoing network traffic through its interface. The log detection system is user-friendly and effective, allowing for straightforward monitoring of network activity. Additionally, the support for 802.1X and other solutions enhances its functionality. The Unified Threat Management (UTM) feature is particularly effective and beneficial for organizations. One of the best aspects of FortiGate is its adaptability within various environments.

Fortinet FortiGate is a good solution for SD-WAN in network enterprises, with LAN or two ISP solutions that can be separated, making it good for lab parallel network segregation. My experience integrating the SD-WAN capabilities includes having two ISP solutions. One is Airtel with a speed of 1 Mbps, while the other is Vodafone, which offers speeds of 60 Mbps and 40 Mbps. These traffic levels are manageable when using SD-WAN for effective traffic management. Essentially, the integrated SD-WAN on the FortiGate device is suitable for handling traffic management with these ISP solutions.

The security policies in Fortinet FortiGate are very attractive, including application, web filtering, and anti-virus, with very effective web filtering in this organization for behavioral analysis by users. 

The solution has improved my organization significantly, with impactful capabilities such as sandboxing and cloud solutions, such as XDR, MDR, and EDR.

I believe there is room for improvement in machine learning and AI in Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see more automation regarding AI and machine learning in Fortinet FortiGate.

I have five-year experience with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

It is very stable. I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Its scalability is very good. It's easily scalable.

We have about 15,000 users.

Their customer support is very good. I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Positive

The deployment of Fortinet FortiGate is easy.

The solution requires maintenance, and upgrades are very easy and impactful, providing seamless upgrade processes without critical issues.

I estimate that Fortinet FortiGate has saved us around 20% in terms of time, money, and resources.

The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is average, not cheap or overly expensive compared to other firewall solutions in the market. It's effective and affordable for customers.

When comparing Fortinet FortiGate to other solutions like Palo Alto or Check Point, I find that Fortinet is much easier to implement. My colleagues often struggle to understand other solutions, but Fortinet is more adoptable, which is beneficial for training purposes. The training resources available at training.fortinet.com are quite helpful. I believe Fortinet stands out in terms of effective training and the quality of knowledge provided. Their documentation is particularly impactful, making the learning process more efficient. Overall, Fortinet offers a very effective and knowledgeable training experience compared to other vendors.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

We are a reseller of Fortinet FortiGate, so we have several use cases. We use Fortinet FortiGate to protect banking companies, and we use it to protect edge cloud data centers and so on.

Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by allowing us to scale fast.

One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN. It works very well with BGP, and AD-VPN is also great. The routing features from Fortinet FortiGate are exceptional. For the security features, their WAFs are extremely limited, however, everything else is great.

They are very affordable compared to Palo Alto and other vendors, offering a great solution for networking and SD-WAN with extremely good protection. 

They have great features, and I can integrate with EMS for ZTNA and numerous other functionalities. 

The networking aspects of Fortinet FortiGate, such as FortiSwitches and FortiAPs, and how they act integrated are impressive. From the firewall, I can manage the whole network, which makes operations much easier.

I have several concerns about Fortinet, however, regarding Fortinet FortiGate itself, they could improve their support system. It's hard to get a good engineer to help you.

Additionally, they lack a post-sale process; once the sale happens, they just vanish, and then you're on your own. That is my main problem.

The WAF is extremely limited. You can't create exceptions, for example. You can only enable or disable. You can create exceptions, however, they must be applied globally. 

I am doing my first implementation with SASE. With Google, it lacks a lot of app integration and a lot of features that the other competitors have.

I started to work with Fortinet FortiGate more than 15 years ago.

Fortinet FortiGate's stability has changed over time. They used to be very stable. In the past couple of years, they started releasing numerous new features, and things have become somewhat unstable. 

From one version of Fortinet FortiGate to another, sites have stopped blocking, and I experience some minor problems that have become usual in the past couple of years. They are working very hard to fix these issues. 

Currently, I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate at about seven or eight out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate has excellent scalability; I would rate scalability a perfect ten.

It is extremely hard to get a good engineer from Fortinet to help with day-to-day operations and problems.

Positive

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. There's extensive documentation available on the internet, and they have great support on that subject. 

Their administration guide is excellent, and their training program is also great and free. You can configure a Fortinet FortiGate in approximately two hours if you understand your network requirements.

In Brazil, the ROI situation is complicated because everything is very expensive. However, we haven't used MPLS for over five years now, and it was extremely beneficial to see the changes from MPLS to SD-WAN using Fortinet FortiGate. Our ROI was extremely high at that time. 

Currently, our ROI is more focused on day-to-day operations, and it's excellent. I don't have the exact number, however, it's highly favorable.

I would advise people considering using Fortinet FortiGate to buy it and trust the company; it's a great product. You need to be a little patient with Fortinet itself. However, the product is great. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate overall at about a nine out of ten. That said, they lack good support.