Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution, specifically the FortiGuard service, which is included in every Fortinet FortiGate deployment. In the data center, we use Fortinet FortiGate to block server farms from the internal LAN due to its performance, which is higher than other products. We consistently use it in server farm environments.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is its SD-WAN capability, which is included and differs from other products that require an additional license.

With SD-WAN capabilities, I notice a significant impact on network performance. The E series offers good performance, double that of the D series. If a new series is released, it always performs well. For example, if my customer uses the 200D model, the new 100E model can serve as an upgrade.

My experience in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate indicates that the integration is not difficult. We simply incorporate user ID and user account, and we have not encountered other challenges.

The main benefits that my customers see from Fortinet FortiGate include low cost and the integration of switches, APs, and Fortinet FortiGate, which reduces management overhead.

I have not used the Unified SASE capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate.

I do not have the AI or ML enhanced FortiGuard with machine learning or AI.

My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for approximately twenty years.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

I would evaluate Fortinet's customer service and technical support teams with a rating of nine.

Positive

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is not difficult for me.

I have a business relationship with Fortinet as a reseller and system integrator.

I am aware of investment regarding ROI, but I need clarification on what type of investment you mean. The cost is the main concern of my customers, and Fortinet FortiGate offers the future we need.

I use Fortinet FortiGate primarily as a physical appliance; the VM deployment is minimal. My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally. I would rate this review with an overall score of nine.

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.

A use case for Fortinet FortiGate includes connecting nine to ten different sites to the main Fortinet FortiGate firewall and diversifying the traffic with two-way traffic. It functions as a load balancer to balance loads between different sites.

The main benefits of Fortinet FortiGate, especially in India, are its economic value, scalability, and different sizing options. When compared to Cisco or Juniper, upgrading to a higher class involves a substantial cost increase, whereas with Fortinet FortiGate, the next class is only marginally higher.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN. It ensures continuous connectivity by taking over during link failures, preventing any downtime for the company. One of my clients faced many problems with the primary internet provider and requested multi-path functionality. We implemented the SD-WAN facility and added another three-link WAN link, converting the normal port into SD-WAN and assigning weightage. When there is no response from the primary connection after a certain number of milliseconds, it switches to the secondary and then to the tertiary connection. The impact on network performance with the SD-WAN is very good, provided it is sized properly based on throughput. It is necessary to calculate how much data is transferring daily or per minute, then size the firewall accordingly and select a particular model.

The Fortinet FortiGate solution offers ease of use, not requiring highly skilled workers. General users with two or three experienced team members can read the manual and implement the needed configurations.

Hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate is very easy to implement with single-click options, though care must be taken not to burden bandwidth. Certain ACL units should be used, applying rules only to interesting or exposed traffic.

Some features in Fortinet FortiGate need improvement as we discover when calling support that certain actions must be done from the command line. Not all features are available in the web UI. Features such as enabling multiple MPLS circuits can only be accomplished through the command line, so these need to be made available in the web UI.

Fortinet needs to improve customer support and documentation.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for more than 15 years.

Fortinet FortiGate is very stable, but the person procuring the firewall needs to ensure it is sized properly. If the sizing is not proper, it will create many problems.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is very good. It has improved significantly compared to five years ago when it was not as scalable.

When we encounter struggles, they perform actions from the backend, taking control and resolving issues. This becomes a black box for us because we do not know what actions they took.

Neutral

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward and easy. HA is the deployment model we always recommend.

While we have not calculated it specifically, we found the ROI to be good, approximately 97% to 98%.

I utilize the Fortinet FortiGate hardware and have never tried the VM version, working only with normal VPN configuration, user configuration, normal routing, and multiple WAN links. While we are using the dynamic segmentation feature, we have not tested it thoroughly enough to analyze its benefits.

People generally go with the recommendations of high-level architects. For core networks, they typically suggest Cisco or Juniper. In India, the market follows whatever the chief architect suggests without quantifying whether it is worth it.

My advice for others considering Fortinet FortiGate implementation is to focus on its ease of use. 

Based on my experience, I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate to help protect and secure mission-critical data. There are policies and rules that we apply, and there is an intrusion prevention system that notifies if there are critical vulnerabilities on some clients.

I assess the security services provided by Fortinet FortiGate, such as URL filtering and DNS filtering, as quite good; they are quite effective. Fortinet FortiGate is rather sustainable; it's a good, stable product that gets faster and uses less power with new versions. 

It helps us remediate threats more quickly because we have specialists who can work with it rather effectively. When there is an alert on the Fortinet FortiGate, they work together with our FortiAnalyzer and can quickly remediate the incidents.

They should do a better job in testing when they put out a new release because when a new software version is released, it is not always stable or does not always have all the previous features working correctly. They should do more testing or launch a new version later when they have tested it more thoroughly. 

They already did a good job in their GUI, but they can make more features available in the GUI that are still only accessible through the command line.

My proper experience is only two or three years, but in the company, they have been using it for over 10 years.

In terms of network and security convergence, they are there, but we are not currently using them because in the office itself, we have other brands of switches and access points. It's now not quite stable in the demo lab environment; we are now on the latest version, but in the production environment, we are not. Production is always on a lower version.

It is scalable.

I would give Fortinet's technical support an eight out of 10; they are responsive and helpful.

Positive

I previously used Sophos before Fortinet FortiGate.

If you first implement Fortinet FortiGate to get it up and running, it takes just a couple of minutes, but to get all the policies configured correctly, it takes a couple of days.

For my company, Exclusive Networks, the whole company had three or four engineers involved.

We have seen a return on investment from using Fortinet FortiGate for integration with the SOC team. The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.

The price-to-performance ratio from using Fortinet FortiGate is very good; I would give it a nine out of 10. It has helped save on costs due to reduced power consumption.

Performance is the reason I switched from Sophos to Fortinet FortiGate. It has good value for money, ease of use, and a higher security level, with better security solutions. It's more expensive, but it offers a really good total cost of ownership and is still considerably cheaper than Palo Alto.

I would suggest to anyone considering purchasing Fortinet FortiGate's data center firewall to get training to understand very thoroughly how FortiOS works, and if you have several Fortinet FortiGates, to go for a FortiManager with the necessary training. 

The users who work with Fortinet FortiGate are only the IT people, around three or four. Locally, we have around 60 end-users for Fortinet FortiGate. The biggest lesson would be that Fortinet FortiGate provides a high level of security at a good total cost of ownership. 

I would give Fortinet FortiGate an overall rating of nine.

We have two deployments of Fortinet FortiGate at different sites. One is the SD-WAN, and the other is the next-generation firewall.

We secure our perimeter using Fortinet FortiGate. We are using it as a gateway device, and we have all the filters, such as the web filter, the intrusion detection and the anti-virus. We mainly use it to filter our traffic. Most importantly, it serves as our gateway device. That is how we are using it at the end of the day.

We wanted to see how Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN can help us reach out to our branch, and that was the only reason for enabling it. It pretty much works for connectivity to the branch.

It is very user-friendly compared to other products. It integrates with many other technologies out there. It does not matter what technology you have deployed within your network, it can work with that.

We have not had an issue with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall. We recently renewed the licenses for the firewall and FortiNAC, and it has been working well. I have not had any incidents or instances since the last renewal.

Application control and the web filter are the best features of Fortinet FortiGate. 

Traffic control is available, and I have been using Fortinet FortiGate to allocate bandwidth also, so it helps me manage and allocate bandwidth to my applications. On that side, that has worked for me. Most importantly, it helps to filter unwanted traffic.

Its pricing can be better. I cannot think of anything else because it pretty much satisfies our requirements. I am comfortable with this product. 

The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer. 

I have not faced any stability issues with Fortinet FortiGate. I would give it an eight out of ten for stability.

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable. I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.

I raise my tickets for Fortinet FortiGate, and they are handled well. The support is pretty good. I would rate the support an eight out of ten.

Positive

In this work environment, Fortinet FortiGate was the first one we had as our firewall. We had nothing before it.

I have previously worked with Check Point and Cyberoam. Those are the only two products that I can compare with Fortinet FortiGate.

From my experience, administration is a bit complicated on the Check Point side. Most of the concepts are similar, but configuring Fortinet FortiGate is a little bit easier for me compared to Check Point. Cyberoam was resource intensive, which I have not seen in Fortinet FortiGate.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was handled by a provider to implement it, but the knowledge transfer was pretty much straightforward. It took about two weeks to deploy Fortinet FortiGate.

We are not a business-oriented organization; our primary aim is to make sure that our assets are protected. We had some issues before having this firewall, and we have not had any incidents ever since we implemented Fortinet FortiGate.

When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost.

The license renewal for Fortinet FortiGate has been a little bit costly. When we are paying, we renew both the warranty and licenses for Fortinet FortiGate. That is what makes the whole thing a bit costly.

We normally purchase and renew those licenses for FortiAnalyzer, FortiNAC, and Fortinet FortiGate firewall at the same time. When I look around, I would say Fortinet FortiGate is on the higher side.

The thing that I have not experienced with it is the web application firewall. I was trying to find out from the partner whether it is something that is licensed separately. When you look at the policies, it looks it is not active.

I would recommend using Fortinet FortiGate because of its usability. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN as well as the switches for renewable plants and energy sector power plants.

All the features needed to protect the digital landscape are available. The enterprise-level support is excellent, and we receive quick assistance from Fortinet FortiGate.

With the SD-WAN network, the connectivity is seamless. The dependency on bandwidth and MPLS connectivity is expensive compared to SD-WAN. Currently, there is seamless connectivity between all plants and corporate offices. The implementation is straightforward and not complex to execute.

The SD-WAN connects all sites, as we have many regional offices in different locations. The Fortinet FortiGate devices are very useful and easy to configure, and we are benefiting from their features.

In the utilities and electrical generation sector, we use various models. In IT security, we have different models, and for sites, we use 40F, 460F, and various others. While my part is limited to India, Fortinet FortiGate is used worldwide across our group.

There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available. These would help understand the new product line and the existing product line features. 

Additionally, it would be helpful to have comparisons between competitors such as Cisco, Juniper, and others with Fortinet FortiGate.

I have been using the solution for three years.

The system is very stable.

The system is very easy to scale.

We receive quick support from Fortinet FortiGate. When we raise a ticket, we get support via email reply promptly. The experience has been perfect, and we are satisfied with it.

The initial setup is easy. I'd rate it nine out of ten.

This is handled by my team. I am in leadership and do not handle the technical aspects directly.

While we haven't calculated specific ROI numbers, most devices are very stable and seamless. We don't typically consider money since this is an infrastructure requirement. Fortinet FortiGate support is available, annual maintenance contracts are in place, and the devices haven't failed in three years. The product quality is good, eliminating the need to reinvest in the same devices or setup.

Fortinet FortiGate has an excellent portfolio including firewalls, switches, and access points. I would recommend it to anyone. We are using FortiSwitches as part of our implementation.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Most of our clients are SMB. We have several support contracts, and as a way to standardize all the products and processes, we ask our clients to switch to Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall, and that's how we standardize our process. Most of our clients we support with a support contract have Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall on-premises.

It's easy to manage. The GUI is very simple, and what is very good is that every product, regardless of size, has the same interface. Most features are in every single product irrespective of the size. 

Their support's response time can be better. In the past six months, they took quite a long time to respond to the support tickets. I don't know if they are overwhelmed with too much activity, but for the last six months, the support has not been very good. Previously, it was very good.

I have dealt with Fortinet FortiGate for four or five years.

I would say that Fortinet FortiGate is stable. We have several appliances installed, but we encountered some trouble with the smaller models on three occasions, which somehow limited the inbound traffic. We had to send one in for a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), and Fortinet sent us a new appliance, which resolved the issue. The only downside is that the replacement process takes about two to three weeks. That has been the only problem we've experienced with the smaller model.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is mostly with the bigger appliances. It's not quite flexible once you buy one appliance; to scale up, you have to buy a new appliance, and there's no way to upgrade the appliance. The challenge is that you don't want to oversize the appliance because that is tied to the subscription. The price of the subscription is tied with the size of the appliance, so you have to size it very precisely, considering the future growth of the company.

Their technical support is pretty good. Over the last six months, there has been a delay in response, but previously, it was very good.

Positive

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is pretty straightforward.

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is quite good. I don't have a public site, such as in Azure, where I can see the pricing. I always have to go through the distributor, and that could take some time to get the real price for each appliance. 

When our client has two internet connections, we do Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN configuration, and it works very well. I can't determine if there is better performance using SD-WAN, but it's much more stable. We did have some trouble with certain types of traffic that doesn't work well with SD-WAN, and we had to implement rules to stick to one of the connections, but those are exceptions. The traffic is much more fluent, but mostly it makes the connection much more stable.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

I'm using Fortinet FortiGate for consultancy, implementation, and troubleshooting after device implementation. We serve as both reseller and consultant, providing search support and consultancy support. I usually recommend Fortinet FortiGate for small and small-sized businesses.

I have experience with Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN, as it is a method for routing traffic. We can assign profiles with specific conditions to create best practices or optimal experiences for customers. These profiles can manage traffic balance or link balancing. We can detect users or specific links for particular services, including load balancing.

Fortinet FortiGate provides superior protection compared to other firewalls, with high processing capabilities. In comparison to Sophos devices, Fortinet FortiGate offers enhanced protection through network protection, IPS, and application protection.

They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices. The configuration approach depends on whether customers need to start from scratch or can utilize existing backups and rules. 

I would seek to improve Fortinet FortiGate by exploring additional features, such as SASE solutions that we are currently studying and implementing. The configuration could be made easier, particularly during initial setup. We need to ensure comprehensive utilization of all device features and learn best practices from other cases.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for approximately one year.

Fortinet FortiGate is overall stable. When compared with Sophos, particularly regarding remote access and SSL VPN, Fortinet FortiGate proves much easier to use. While Sophos presented port-related challenges in Egypt, Fortinet FortiGate operates more smoothly.

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable, with capacity depending on firewall sizing. We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published. We consider parameters such as VPN requirements, remote access needs, side-to-side VPN configuration, and overall traffic volume to determine device capacity.

We tend to handle support.

I have experience with Fortinet products and limited experience with Cisco.

I provide other firewalls, such as Sophos, and I have worked with endpoint protection solutions. I have experience with backup solutions such as Veeam, and endpoint security solutions including Kaspersky and ESET.

I have created many profiles for SD-WAN capabilities while integrating with Fortinet FortiGate. We assess customer needs and make recommendations accordingly. If customers aren't using SD-WAN, I suggest implementing it due to its effective load balancing capabilities and additional firewall features.

Regarding the evaluation of changes in return on investment after implementing the Fortinet solution for SD-WAN hybrid workforce, we work on a case-by-case basis. ROI is monitored by management, and we do not directly track ROI in the systems.

Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market, though alternatives exist, including Sophos. Fortinet FortiGate demonstrates stronger performance and protection compared to Sophos, though its device and license costs are higher.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.