Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Khine Shein Win - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Manager at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Aug 1, 2023
Enhanced security compared to traditional firewalls, providing protection against various types of attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities."
  • "I would like to have SD-WAN as a part of the Next Generation Firewall. It would enhance high availability."

What is our primary use case?

There are many features that we can use. We can see all the logs. Additionally, we can connect with other devices like the FortiManager. We also have a new feature.

We mainly use the Next Generation Firewall for enhancing security. It has powerful capabilities compared to traditional firewalls, especially when dealing with current threats like those in Azure. The Next Generation Firewall can handle more effectively.

What is most valuable?

The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities.

Mainly, we are more secure than with the traditional firewall. The Next Generation Firewall helps a lot in defending against various types of attacks.

What needs improvement?

In terms of solutions, for now, we don't have any SD-WAN. Yeah. We are planning to implement SD-WAN due to some failures we experienced last year. For our high availability design, this would be beneficial.

So I would like to have SD-WAN as a part of the Next Generation Firewall. It would enhance high availability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I work with the FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall. We started using FortiGate about five to six years ago. We have been using various versions and migrated to newer ones over time.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable, quite stable. We also have it set up as a firewall with high availability. We were also talking about SD-WAN for our future plans for our stores, mainly for the internal lines, because this SD-WAN technology is something we would like to implement.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. We can connect it to any network or with other brands, not only Fortinet. For instance, we can configure it with Cisco or any other brand for connectivity.

In our company, it protects around 500 endpoints.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service and support have different levels of support—level one, level two, level three—based on the severity of the issue. They can also provide scheduled delivery. We usually never face any significant problems with their support.

I am satisfied with the support. They have good knowledge. 

How was the initial setup?

The first setup process was easy to do. It was not difficult at all. 

What about the implementation team?

We set it up ourselves. We created policies, firewall rules, IPsec VPN configurations, and everything was handled by our team.

The deployment took around five days, and the process was quite easy. The setup was straightforward. If we encountered any issues, we could contact Fortinet support. They were helpful and provided support through the hotline in urgent issues.

Maintenance is quite easy. I did it myself. It's user-friendly. We can use the GUI, or we can use the command line, but the GUI is more user-friendly. So it's good.

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

The price is not very expensive compared to Cisco or Palo Alto. Like Palo Alto, which is the most expensive product.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have always been using Fortinet. It has been quite stable for us.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend it to other users. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. It is a good solution.

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.
PeerSpot user
FeliksChertok - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jul 27, 2023
A very user-friendly tool with a good UI that offers speed and comfort to its users
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is used in my company since its management is very comfortable"
  • "The vendors offer models with different levels of productivity of the product to its users, which is not possible in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW). It lacks integration options."

How has it helped my organization?

The solution is used in my company since its management is very comfortable. If we compare Fortinet and Cisco, Fortinet's web interface is more user-friendly and offers speed.

We use the solution's URL filtering, IPS, SSL, and, specifically, SSL encryption. In general, the tool offers a user-friendly interface and pleasant management.

What needs improvement?

I cannot say anything about the product's price, and the tool does not need any customizations.

A firewall has different levels of productivity that its customers can use in their official branches, which can be small offices, big offices, or enterprise-sized organizations. The vendors offer models with different levels of productivity of the product to its users, which is not possible in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW). It lacks integration options. I would like the tool to offer its users more integration options. Most of the vendors of NGFW offer integrations open with different solutions. FortiGate is able to integrate with Cisco or Microsoft. FortiGate has a lot of possibilities in terms of integration with other vendors, so the integration capabilities of the tool need improvement. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) has OpenAPI, which gives customers an option to integrate the tool into their custom software.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for seven to nine months. I use the solution's latest version. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Around 3,000 or more use the solution in our company. We have three appliances in total, each having a thousand users.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

The support does open a case when an issue is raised, but since it is the USA, despite the support hearing our problems, they do get late to respond. We only have issues with the support of low priority. I never open high-priority cases with the support team.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

On a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the initial setup an eight or nine. It is easy to install since it can be done with small configuration steps.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. Most of the firewall devices are deployed on the cloud, especially since NGFW of different vendors work on the cloud.

The deployment can be done in just a week since we need to find answers to some questions from our management and our security department. We need to get certain approvals in terms of the security policies before proceeding with the deployment phase.

One or two people are enough for the deployment process.

What other advice do I have?

To those planning to use it, I would suggest that they opt for a pilot offering from FortiGate and try to use it to understand and figure out its advantages and disadvantages.

I like FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) more than Cisco, even though I have worked more with the latter tool than the former.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Jovan Jovanovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reseller
Top 5
Jul 5, 2023
A highly stable and scalable solution for security with easy setup
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate is a rapidly growing vendor with a wide range of ready-to-use products. Their delivery time is remarkably quick, usually between two to four weeks."
  • "FortiGate NGFW can improve technical support. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad."

What is our primary use case?

We are a distributor of Fortinet products. My role primarily involves importing these products and delivering them to our partners and resellers, who in turn sell them to the end customers.

What is most valuable?

FortiGate is a rapidly growing vendor with a wide range of ready-to-use products. Their delivery time is remarkably quick, usually between two to four weeks. They provide excellent support, especially when it comes to helping resellers who may encounter implementation issues with Fortinet. The technical presales and support teams are readily available to assist them. So, there are definitely several benefits to working with Fortinet.

The interface, pricing, and support are good. FortiGate release new patches and offers regularly. In the integration file, they don't have anything to add because they have a very wide portfolio and models in the next-generation firewalls. FortiGate has a variety of add-on license tools that can be applied to the firewall.

FortiGate should continue to push them to continue to grow up as they've been growing for the last eight years.

What needs improvement?

FortiGate NGFW can improve technical support. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for eight years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We don't have broken devices to be repaired or replaced with new ones, so they are very stable while working.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

We have all types of business models and customers in our portfolio, such as the midsized business, enterprise, entry-level, and small businesses. We are working with all of that with all of the Fortinet solutions.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is very slow. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad. 

On the other hand, Cisco takes one or two hours to respond, while Fortinet takes a few days. This is an area that they could improve on a global scale.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the solution is easy, which is the most important feature for in-domain-wide resellers, partners, and customers. In the end, if you want to use Fortinet as a firewall administrator in your network, it is highly recommended because it is extremely easy to set up, especially for first-time users.  

Even if you have previous experience with Cisco or Check Point, setting up Fortinet is easy. It is a very user-friendly configuration.

I rate the solution setup a ten out of ten. It is very user-friendly.

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

FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint or Palo Alto and more expensive than Barracuda or Sophos or any smaller brands. The prices fit right where they are on the global market.

What other advice do I have?

I advise you to buy it ASAP because it's a very good product.

From my experience as a distributor, some customers don't buy technical support on the devices. They buy only devices. I will advise them to buy the technical support of FortiCare service. In that case, they will have technical support by phone call, or by mail. They will have a replacement if anything is broken 24/7.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Özden-Aydın - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Jun 27, 2023
The secure web gateway module and the application control module are valuable
Pros and Cons
  • "The secure web gateway module and the application control module are valuable. HA operations are very easy."
  • "Web security solutions can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for the network security operations of our customers. We've many different use cases, such as client security, server security, or DMZ sites. 

What is most valuable?

The secure web gateway module and the application control module are valuable. HA operations are very easy.

It's a very easy and simple solution for implementation and integration. I don't have any problems with this solution.

What needs improvement?

Web security solutions can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is good. It's generally used in only one place as a standalone, but sometimes, it's used at multiple locations. 

How are customer service and support?

Their support is good. I'd rate it an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I've used Palo Alto, which is a good solution for a firewall, and their application signatures are very good. 

How was the initial setup?

I was sometimes involved in its deployment. Its deployment was simple for me. It was very simple and easy. It took five to six hours.

It does require maintenance. There are probably one to two people required for its maintenance. 

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

Its price is normal. If I compare it with other vendors, such as Palo Alto, it's normal. Palo Alto is expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I'd recommend it to other people. It's good, and in our country, this product is very popular in our sector. It's easy and cheapest.

Overall, I'd 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. Reseller
PeerSpot user
Medical Coder at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Mar 23, 2023
Reliable, simple to implement, and offers good accessibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable."
  • "We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber."

What is our primary use case?

We're a healthcare company and use the solution in many ways. It builds a tunnel between the customer and our office. We use it for directing applications. It clears application problems based on latency and packet loss. People working from home can connect to the VPN in a secure way as well. 

What is most valuable?

We like the accessibility it provides.

Every process we do is underwritten under Fortigate. 

When we have to access the tunnels, we can use a VPN to access applications from the customer. 

We can dig into the security and enforce security policies. Everything is controllable from the server. 

It is easy to set up. 

The solution is stable.

It's reliable.

Technical support is helpful and responsive. 

What needs improvement?

Fortigate is always innovating. I'm not sure if any improvements are needed.

We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for six to seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I'd rate it eight out of ten. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales very well if it is the cloud. If there are hare hardware pieces involved, and more users are added, we have to swap out the hardware box. 

Most SMBs are on this solution. We have 20 to 50 customers on the product.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We have a mixed environment. We have Cisco and Fortigate. Whatever is needed is what we will use. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. I'd rate the ease of setup nine out of ten. The deployment depends on how long it depends on the design and implementation needs. It might take about a month. Most of the infrastructure is static. 

Right now, we have three people who are able to handle deployment and maintenance. It does depend on what kind of network it is. 

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation ourselves. We are certified in Fortigate. We only depend on a vendor for the hardware part and any related warranties. We can do the configuration and building of the firewall. 

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

I'm not sure of the exact pricing. My understanding is it is pretty pricey. I'd rate it seven out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

We are a customer and end-user.

Fortigate is a one-stop solution for all network needs. There are many features that are embedded into the firewall. The more you use it, the more options will be revealed. It's very strong on the market.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten overall. 

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.
PeerSpot user
Network Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reseller
Mar 16, 2023
It protects against zero-day threats, which is critical in a constantly changing the threat landscape
Pros and Cons
  • "I like FortiGate's zero-trust capabilities and protection against zero-day threats. Zero-day threat protection is critical because we're seeing constant changes in the threat landscape. The sandboxing and web access controls are also robust."
  • "FortiGate IPS is somewhat pricey compared to other solutions. There is also room for improvement in terms of the radio signals. The FortiGate WiFi has a relatively short range. I've found there is a lag in its zero-day malware response that could be better, and FortiGate could integrate better with other brands of equipment or identity management solutions."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a reseller with clients in industries ranging from healthcare to banking and manufacturing. My customers use FortiGate IPS for network protection and segmentation. 

What is most valuable?

I like FortiGate's zero-trust capabilities and protection against zero-day threats. Zero-day threat protection is critical because we're seeing constant changes in the threat landscape. The sandboxing and web access controls are also robust. 

What needs improvement?

FortiGate IPS is somewhat pricey compared to other solutions. There is also room for improvement in terms of the radio signals. The FortiGate WiFi has a relatively short range. I've found there is a lag in its zero-day malware response that could be better, and FortiGate could integrate better with other brands of equipment or identity management solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used FortiGate IPS for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate FortiGate IPS nine out of 10 for stability. When we've had problems with the platform, they were mostly configuration issues, not the fault of the product itself. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate FortiGate IPS eight out of 10 for scalability, but we haven't scaled it up that much. We would have a better idea of its scalability if we used it on a bigger project. We can say with certainty that FortiGate is scalable enough for the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Most of our clients are small and medium-sized companies, but we do some smaller projects on the enterprise side, like consultation and subcontracting. 

How are customer service and support?

I rate Fortinet support eight out of 10. They're generally quite good, but sometimes the response is slower than I would like. When you're paying for support, you usually expect a response in a day or so, but it took Fortinet two or three days to address an issue once. That was the only time I got a slow response. They are usually much quicker. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I rate FortiGate IPS eight out of 10 for ease of setup. We do on-prem and cloud deployments. It's a hybrid cloud setup where we install FortiGate on virtual machines from AWS. We can typically deploy FortiGate in a day. It might take two days if our client needs a lot of configuration work. 

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

I rate FortiGate IPS two out of 10 for affordability. It's more expensive than competing solutions. It ranges between $1,000 to $7,000 depending on the model. They offer one-year or three-year licenses. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate IPS eight out of 10. If you're already using Fortinet, I recommend staying with it. However, if you want to reduce your costs, you can consider other solutions like SonicWall, Sophos, or Palo Alto. Fortinet is an excellent cybersecurity solution, but it's expensive.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2100363 - PeerSpot reviewer
Support Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
Feb 15, 2023
Good web interface, great functionality, and has helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "You have access to CLI in case you have no web access."
  • "The learning curve is a bit higher."

What is our primary use case?

This is an appliance. It is hardware. It's for intrusion detection mainly. It can do routing and switching yet focuses mainly on detection and prevention. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the fact that one device can do multiple tasks, such as both routing and firewalling.

It had a good web interface.

You have access to CLI in case you have no web access. 

Technical support has been helpful overall, even though we haven't used them much. 

What needs improvement?

It's a bit more complex to configure in comparison to Cisco.

The learning curve is a bit higher. 

It's not the least expensive solution on the market. 

How are customer service and support?

We've only had a few issues and everything was solved very fast. We are satisfied with the level of support on offer. 

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

I've also used Cisco. These solutions are not quite the same. 

I've also used MicroTik, which is slightly less expensive. 

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

The pricing is okay. In comparison, MicroTik offers better pricing yet has the same functionality. Therefore, it is a bit more of an expensive option.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a customer. We have the drives in our server room.

I'd rate the product eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Sep 16, 2022
Has a good set of UTM features, great bandwidth shaping mechanism, and efficient algorithms
Pros and Cons
  • "Has a very user-friendly interface and doesn't require any prior knowledge."
  • "The system can slow down when inspections are carried out."

What is our primary use case?

We manage a university and we're dependent on Fortigate to monitor everything including our research activities. All our network related services are logged by Fortigate. I'm a network administrator and we are customers of Fortinet. 

How has it helped my organization?

Fortigate has been helpful in mitigating ransomware attacks and we receive notification of threats from the cloud services. 

What is most valuable?

We've found the most valuable feature to be the very user-friendly interface. The solution doesn't require any prior knowledge and that's not the case with other firewalls. Fortigate can mitigate all attacks, it can handle a lot. It has a good set of UTM features, a good bandwidth shaping mechanism, and other features. It has efficient algorithms and it competes well with Palo Alto and TechPoint. In terms of VPNs, it has an unlimited count, better than other solutions and it's included in the package. 

What needs improvement?

We sometimes have issues when carrying out inspections because the system slows down and our clients complain about it. The only other drawback is that we have to manually insert certificates for our clients. Most social networking sites have dependencies and to completely block them requires a deep inspection profile. For protection, we need to put the certificates in for all of our clients. It's a major drawback not having it embedded in the system. I would very much like to see Forticlient's new TNA technology included with the original license for Fortigate. It currently requires an additional license which is quite costly for us as a middle-size organization. We could include it with VPN for our clients. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a really stable product and one of the main reasons we've stayed with it for the past eight years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is completely scalable, we have over 8,000 users. Almost half of those are students and the rest are teaching staff and researchers. We also have 500 people involved as part of the system support team, IT engineers, and software engineers. The solution requires maintenance and regular upgrades and we have a 9-person team for that.

How are customer service and support?

I'm happy with the technical support although we don't require it much. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment took us around one month back when it was a software-based solution. We had to completely migrate all existing policies to Fortigate. We didn't use any third parties for the implementation. 

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

We purchase a license annually and it's a little expensive. We pay extra for SA. You need a decent budget for Fortigate but once you have that, it's completely scalable. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We previously used Palo Alto and had a ransomware attack they did not detect so we switched to Fortinet. Aside from that, we preferred Fortigate because it's so user-friendly. Admin can configure all the policies easily using the graphic interface in Fortigate. Palo Alto requires a specific application for all admin aspects and some of them can only be done with command line tools. It's really tough for normal admins to do day-to-day configuration.

We also tried Salesforce but felt that we were unable to depend on it for the entire system. We've implemented it for 2,000 people but it's not as user-friendly as Fortigate and without any expertise it's difficult to use. It's mainly command-line technology. It's time-consuming and budget-wise it can't compete with Fortinet. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution for a mid-level or enterprise organization and rate it nine out of 10. 

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.