Fortinet FortiGate has many use cases: firewall, security, and wifi controller. We use the solution for our project's internet gateway.
Director, CFO at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Securely Protects Databases in Business Operations
Pros and Cons
- "Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs. We have scaled already from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers."
- "Fortinet already improved FortiGate, but in the current market, many brands of security devices have improved together. Fortinet still needs to catch up with market standards. Fortinet is lacking in features in comparison to competitors."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
My company operates a large data center with many useful applications, sections, and databases. We have to put the security function into FortiGate to protect the databases in the organization.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate has many excellent functions and good security. The firewall is the most common function that we have used for a long time.
What needs improvement?
The Fortinet FortiGate firewall has been improved with many new functions. Fortinet is working to develop a new generation of firewalls with better security.
Fortinet already improved FortiGate, but in the current market, many brands of security devices have improved together. Fortinet still needs to catch up with market standards.
Fortinet is lacking in features in comparison to competitors.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
December 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our experience with Fortinet FortiGate depends more on the sizing of the customer. Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs.
We have scaled from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers.
We are not a distributor for Fortinet, so we will not actively promote it as a solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support with Fortinet is good. We have our engineers required to have certification in Fortinet products. We provide training classes for our engineers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also implement solutions with Palo Alto Networks and WatchGuard.
How was the initial setup?
Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly to set up. The UI is fine. We still have concerns about security with Fortinet.
The security could be improved compared with Palo Alto Networks equipment. Palo Alto Networks products have more technical issues than Fortinet.
Overall, Fortinet FortiGate is not complicated to set up.
What about the implementation team?
We had a team for implementing Fortinet FortiGate on these projects. We also have many business partners for service work as integrators.
Our partner for the Fortinet FortiGate installation was one of the few consultancies that have exceptionally good service in the market currently.
We have begun Fortinet FortiGate training through the consultant company and now have many partners for service contracts.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing and licensing of Fortinet FortiGate are good if they stay the same. The price is not too high now, but license pricing still changes too much.
Fortinet FortiGate is comparable with the other products in the current market.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are not sole-distributors of Fortinet products currently. It is part of a portfolio of solutions that we offer our business clients.
What other advice do I have?
The policy for integration and for configuring Fortinet FortiGate should be friendlier than in the version we are using now. Because Fortinet has been in the market for a really long time, and we are very experienced with Fortinet products, I would rate FortiGate with an eight or nine out of 10. I would rate it this score because of the experience that Fortinet has as a market leader for such a long time.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of IT at a real estate/law firm with 201-500 employees
Next-Generation Advanced Firewall Protection
Pros and Cons
- "Mainly the FortiGate reporting system is very good. It guides us through all the expectations of security. Fortinet provides us all that we need for security. Also, Fortinet FortiGate is a next-generation firewall. It is much more advanced than others."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use of Fortinet FortiGate is for a firewall. I use it as the firewall system and protection from spam. I mainly use Fortinet FortiGate for protection and security.
How has it helped my organization?
Mainly the FortiGate reporting system is very good. It guides us through all the expectations of security. Fortinet provides us all that we need for security. Also, Fortinet FortiGate is a next-generation firewall. It is much more advanced than others.
What is most valuable?
I like all of FortiGate's features.
What needs improvement?
The FortiGate reporting system needs to be more detailed about files. Palo Alto Networks is more detailed in the reporting system than Fortinet.
Currently, as for our security, we don't need more. The main reporting in Palo Alto Networks is much more developed than Fortinet, especially in the part of the file exchange.
As a security lead, I think Fortinet FortiGate is much more reliable than Palo Alto Networks.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The Fortinet FortiGate solution is very stable for our installations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is sufficient. What we bought was sufficient for what we need. I don't know if we're going to need to upgrade it or not, it depends on if we need to increase or lessen it.
Since we built Fortinet FortiGate we didn't need to do anything more for it. Over 200 users are currently using this solution and only one staff is required for maintaining it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The Fortinet technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
Setup and installation of Fortinet FortiGate were very straightforward. The deployment stage took five days. We used an integrator company and they were very good.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented Fortinet through a third-party integrator company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
With Fortinet licensing, you have to buy a license for every product: for the stamp, for the email, for the firewall, for everything. This is all the same for all vendors. You have to buy a license for each service.
In terms of pricing, they are reasonable compared to Palo Alto Networks. FortiGate is much cheaper than Palo Alto Networks with more efficiency in operations.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We talked to several vendors like Cisco and Palo Alto Networks. There was another system and they gave us a test drive for a week running it on their premises to see how reliable it is.
We tested Cisco, a next-generation firewall, two years ago. We also tested the Palo Alto Networks equipment.
What other advice do I have?
We may increase our usage of Fortinet next year.
I would recommend to anyone to buy Fortinet FortiGate. I would rate the product ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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.
Senior Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Enables us to load balance more than six internet lines but they should develop better visibility, monitoring, and reporting
Pros and Cons
- "Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
- "The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is as a firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
Customers want to load balance more than six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this.
What needs improvement?
The monitoring and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak. I would for them to develop better visibility, monitoring, and reporting.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's not always stable. When there's heavy traffic, we get hardware problems.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The configuration was very easy. I didn't have any problems with it.
It depends on the project, but I don't need a lot of resources to maintain it. One or two staff are enough to deploy and maintain it.
What about the implementation team?
I integrated it myself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a seven out of ten. Not a ten because of the monitoring and the stability issues.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner.
IT Specialist 3 at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Enables us to to set up remote systems and has good stability
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to set up remote systems is the most valuable feature."
- "They should improve the interface to make it more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as our firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
We have branches that we use for the net clients to VPN back into our network.
What is most valuable?
The ability to set up remote systems is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
They should improve the interface to make it more user-friendly.
I would like to see some sort of reporting if there was an issue with the connecting network sources or connections.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's definitely stable. We haven't had any issues with it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. We have just over 100 users using this solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex. The user interface was a little bit difficult so it made actually setting it up a little bit complicated. The deployment took a week to roll out four branches.
What about the implementation team?
We used an integrator for the deployment and had a good experience with them. They made it easier to get everything set up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no additional costs aside for the standard licensing fees.
What other advice do I have?
FortiGate is very good if you're thinking of expanding where you have remote offices, then it's a good solution.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Manager at a non-tech company with 11-50 employees
Enables us to check our sites and emails for threats
Pros and Cons
- "We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."
- "They need to improve their technical support."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for checking sites, threat prevention, ransomware, and email check.
How has it helped my organization?
We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites.
What needs improvement?
They need to improve their technical support.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. We have 22 users.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were previously using Sophos XG.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy. The implementation took around two hours.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner.
ICT Administrator at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
Enables us to bring security into compliance with our policies
Pros and Cons
- "I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."
- "Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for our company firewall. We use it for intrusion prevention and anti-virus.
How has it helped my organization?
The internet filtering feature has really benefited my organization because we have a lot of things that go on illegal sites like auto torrents sites and a lot of streaming and downloads. We've been able to minimize the impact of bandwidth by filtering out media sites. This solution has also benefited us by bringing security into compliance with our policies.
What is most valuable?
I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good.
What needs improvement?
Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area.
There is a feature that Palo Alto has called Traps. It helps to prevent attacks on the system. A feature similar to this would be worth adding.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very much stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. We have around 200 users.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex.
What about the implementation team?
We have had experience with enterprise firewalls and notably, we had experience with Fortinet, so the deployment was done in-house. We require four people for deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise someone considering this solution to learn the product. You have to get to know the product, don't just look at it from outside. Get to know the product, the ins and outs and see how you can actually use it for your scenario.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at a university with 51-200 employees
A complete solution, but it is very expensive compared with other solutions
What is our primary use case?
We use FortiGate for edge protection by avoiding attacks to the servers of the institution, also, by protecting the LAN network.
How has it helped my organization?
Having FortiGate allowed for easy management of the network, protection from threats by having a very intuitive administration console.
What is most valuable?
The most important feature for me apart from the administrator is the UTM module because it protects the equipment of the entity in a very efficient way.
What needs improvement?
FortiGate is a complete solution, but it is very expensive compared with other solutions. Then actually, we are analyzing other solutions.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Consultant
The reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards
Pros and Cons
- "We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."
- "They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user. When you're trying to explain to somebody how a computer network is secured, sometimes it's difficult for an end user or customer to understand. If there was a way to make the terminology more accessible to the end user, the set up could be easier. They should translate the technical jargon to an easily relatable and understandable conversation for the end user, the customer, that would be brilliant. Particularly in an environment where the IT structure is audited regularly, there's always pressure from the auditor to up the standards and up the security and you get your USCERT's that come out and there's a warning about this and the customer will want to lock out so much and when you apply it they run into issue where they can't search the internet or print to their remote office. Of course they can't print to your remote office, they just locked it up. They should make the language more understandable for the customer. If there's a product out there that made the jargon understandable to John Q. Public, I would buy that."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this solution is for intrusion detection and prevention.
How has it helped my organization?
We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best features.
What is most valuable?
There's an all-inclusive appliance where all of the logs, registers, and everything is customizable as far as the way reporting comes back.
What needs improvement?
They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user. When you're trying to explain to somebody how a computer network is secured, sometimes it's difficult for an end user or customer to understand. If there was a way to make the terminology more accessible to the end user, the set up could be easier. They should translate the technical jargon to an easily relatable and understandable conversation for the end user, the customer. Particularly in an environment where the IT structure is audited regularly, there's always pressure from the auditor to up the standards and up the security and you get your USCERT's that come out and there's a warning about this and the customer will want to lock out so much so when you apply it they run into issue where they can't search the internet or print to their remote office. Of course they can't print to their remote office, they just locked it up. They should make the language more understandable for the customer. If there's a product out there that made the jargon understandable to John Q. Public, I would buy that.
There's a link off of the reports that you can click and make suggestions, which is pretty awesome because it seems like somebody is reading those and doing something about it. If I could save reports on a format where I could save space and not have to reprint them and move information down from letterheads and that sort of stuff that would be great. Formatting reports is the only thing I would change about that product right now.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's solid. It's a rock solid solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is excellent. Across three locations we have 120 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did use a different solution. We switched primarily because of the audit trails because the user interface, what you saw on the screen and the options you were presented with were difficult to configure and we ended up spending a lot of time trying to get the information that we wanted.
How was the initial setup?
For the product that it is, the initial setup was straight forward but not so simple. The Dell EMC product is simple, this is more complicated than that but it wasn't incredibly difficult. We rolled that out on a test network initially and to try to get our rule sets correct so that we didn't run into issues and did testing for about a week. The initial set up time took around an hour and a half, and it was on a virtual network with a bunch of virtual machines. We just tested it for about a week just to make sure that we weren't going to run into a lot of issues switching from the old IDS to the new one.
What about the implementation team?
I installed it. I did the product research and was involved in the purchase decision but I did not purchase the product, I was not a vendor of the product, and I did not make any money on it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
As far as the licensing goes for the small product that we have, the pricing was pretty competitive. It wasn't as simple and as cheap as a SonicWall but for the service we would get it was a good price.
What other advice do I have?
There's a setup guide on the Fortigate website that is a video that is far better than the written manual that is provided. If you've set up other products before, that may get you through, but the training on their website was far more useful to me than the user manual.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: December 2025
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