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General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo
Real User
Top 20
Comprehensive traffic management and explore improve initial setup processes
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate provides superior protection compared to other firewalls, with high processing capabilities."
  • "They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."
  • "They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
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For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

We tend to handle support.

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

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.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What was our ROI?

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Khaled Shaker - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Technical Department at Modern establishment for supply and trading
Real User
Top 5
Works very well as a perimeter firewall, and it's easy to deploy and configure
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has a very simple configuration, is easy to set up, and includes SD-WAN features at no additional cost."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is among the best firewall solutions, having a significant market share in Egypt."
  • "From my experience, I see that the datasheets of the Fortinet FortiGate portfolio need to be more accurate because correct sizing is essential. The datasheets should provide clear information when deploying features."
  • "From my experience, I see that the datasheets of the Fortinet FortiGate portfolio need to be more accurate because correct sizing is essential."

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate is among the best firewall solutions, having a significant market share in Egypt. Fortinet FortiGate has a very simple configuration, is easy to set up, and includes SD-WAN features at no additional cost. I recommend Fortinet FortiGate to act as an internet or perimeter firewall.

Features such as URL filtering, intrusion detection, and threat prevention make it suitable as a perimeter firewall. It also includes free SD-WAN features. It is recommended when any customer has more than one site, as it can act as an SD-WAN solution without any extra licenses, with SD-WAN being a built-in feature. It is a very easy solution.

What needs improvement?

From my experience, I see that the datasheets of the Fortinet FortiGate portfolio need to be more accurate because correct sizing is essential. The datasheets should provide clear information when deploying features. 

When comparing Fortinet to all other vendors, I believe most features are available in Fortinet. I'm not sure if the DNS security license is available in Fortinet; if not, it is important to add Fortinet DNS security and sandboxing licenses. I know Fortinet has a separate sandbox solution, but I am unsure about sandbox features in the firewall. In contrast, Palo Alto has a DNS security license, email security, and WildFire license that serves as a sandbox solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I find Fortinet FortiGate to be very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate depends on the project. If the project meets accurate sizing, it can be scalable, but if the presales engineer does not accurately size it, Fortinet FortiGate can have limited resources to scale. It depends on the project.

How are customer service and support?

I evaluate Fortinet's technical support as a seven out of ten. They aren't the best support, but when we need assistance with any features or field activities, we can utilize the internal support team of the vendor located in our country.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

What was our ROI?

I believe it is cost-effective. With Fortinet FortiGate, we can pay once for every renewal period, and there are no CAPEX expenses because Fortinet FortiGate is easy to configure, easy to manage, and familiar to most engineers. 

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

It is not the cheapest one, but its price is very competitive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

When comparing Fortinet FortiGate to Palo Alto or other firewalls I've worked with, Fortinet is more stable, easy to configure, easy to manage, and is competitive in price. 

Fortinet offers multiple product sizes suitable for various enterprises, including small, medium, and enterprise customers. Compared to Palo Alto, Fortinet offers a free SD-WAN feature while Palo Alto requires an SD-WAN license with more costs and several licenses. However, Palo Alto does offer more advanced features than Fortinet. A notable difference is that when the Fortinet FortiGate license expires, the box still works until the customer renews the license, while with Palo Alto, the box stops entirely and the customer must renew the license to continue functioning.

What other advice do I have?

My experience in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate in the network shows that the integration is very simple and has a straightforward configuration.

The Fortinet SD-WAN solution consists of multiple products. To create or set up a full SD-WAN solution, it needs two products from Fortinet: FortiGate and FortiManager, which is a centralized management solution, and FortiAnalyzer, which is a log management solution. SD-WAN connects more than one site. It centralizes management and logs. Fortinet FortiGate with SD-WAN does not require any extra license, but to have the full SD-WAN solution, it is required to have FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer for several reasons. Fortinet products can be VM or hardware.

I have worked with the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in the Fortinet FortiGate, and I think it's good.

I recommend the Fortinet FortiGate when acting as a perimeter firewall, and some customers use it in the data center. I recommend another vendor in the data center, but our customers are very satisfied with Fortinet FortiGate when acting as a data center firewall.

I have limited experience with the AI and machine learning enhanced FortiGuard services, but I know that Fortinet is leading this trend. 

Fortinet FortiGate provides SD-WAN and SASE solutions to secure any type of user and any type of traffic. It has many features, including a secure web gateway and secure service edge, helping users access the internet and applications, whether inside or outside.

I would 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. Integrator
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Fortinet FortiGate
July 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Rizki Arya Indracahya - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Infrastructure Section Head at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
Does its job effectively and protects our environment
Pros and Cons
  • "The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
  • "The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
  • "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."
  • "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."

How has it helped my organization?

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

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate for around five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

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

How was the initial setup?

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.

What about the implementation team?

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.

What was our ROI?

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

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

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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MithatBulut - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX
Real User
Top 5
FSSO and Run Script are useful, and its price is also good
Pros and Cons
  • "There is a tool called FSSO, which is a single sign-on user ID agent that works perfectly."
  • "Run Script is the best tool to use in Fortinet FortiGate with multiple environments."
  • "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."
  • "In most cases, the IPS engine uses too many resources, which makes Fortinet FortiGate devices unstable."

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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. 

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

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.

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

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

What other advice do I have?

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.

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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System Administrator - IT Manager at a retailer with 51-200 employees
Real User
A robust, secure, and reasonably priced firewall
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "I would advise others considering or evaluating the Fortinet FortiGate to buy it."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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. 

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

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

How was the initial setup?

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

What about the implementation team?

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.

What was our ROI?

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.

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

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

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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Khushru_Mistry - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at GM Modular
Real User
Top 5
Simple to use and does a wonderful job in protecting enterprises
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has impacted our cost savings and security efficiency positively."
  • "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."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

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.

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

I find it quite reasonable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private 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.
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Pravin Mandlik - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
FortiOS and solid security features make it very effective
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "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."
  • "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."
  • "Their support can be better, and there should be better policies for immediate replacement in critical situations."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

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.

What was our ROI?

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.

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

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

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. Implementer
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Bart Homblé - PeerSpot reviewer
BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks
Real User
Top 5
Integrates seamlessly with the team for quick threat remediation and cost benefits
Pros and Cons
  • "The biggest lesson would be that Fortinet FortiGate provides a high level of security at a good total cost of ownership."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

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

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used Sophos before Fortinet FortiGate.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What about the implementation team?

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

What was our ROI?

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.

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

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Buyer's Guide
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Updated: July 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.