Group IT Manager at Civcns
Real User
Top 5
A stable and strong solution that works perfectly and can be scaled easily
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is stable and strong."
  • "The product’s price is high."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for security.

What is most valuable?

It is a good solution. The product is stable and strong. We never had any issues with it. All the features work perfectly.

What needs improvement?

The product’s price is high. It is charging more compared to other solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for six to seven years. We are working with the latest version of the product.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate SWG
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate SWG. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable, so we have no complaints. I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s scalability a ten out of ten. We are an SME. We have around 300 users.

How was the initial setup?

I have 20 years of experience in the industry. The initial setup is simple for me. We can deploy the solution within hours.

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

I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten. We pay a yearly license fee.

What other advice do I have?

We implement the solution for our clients. We never had to contact technical support. I recommend the solution to others. It is a good product. Overall, I rate the tool a ten 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: Implementers
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EmilVisdal - PeerSpot reviewer
System Consultant at I team
Real User
Has valuable SD-WAN features and an easy setup process
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's most valuable features are SD-WAN and the integration of WiFi and switches."
  • "It is complicated to manage different kinds of on-premise boxes."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product as a network service for our customers.

What is most valuable?

The product's most valuable features are SD-WAN and the integration of WiFi and switches.

What needs improvement?

It is complicated to manage different kinds of on-premise boxes.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for nine years. At present, we are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG's stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 3000 Fortinet FortiGate SWG end users, including small and medium businesses. I rate its scalability a nine out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

I rate the initial setup process a three out of ten. It takes two hours to complete.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented the product myself.

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

I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten. The additional cost depends on the extra feature requirements.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is easy to set up and combine with switches and WiFi networks of appliances. I rate it 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: Integrator
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Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate SWG
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate SWG. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
769,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Owner at VM7 TECHFABER
Real User
Top 10
A solution with seamless integration and excellent security features
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate is a great solution, although initially, it faced challenges in the Brazilian market due to lower brand recognition than Cisco. However, explaining and demonstrating its product format and offerings has proven easy. The cost-effectiveness and better features of FortiGate have made some clients skeptical. We set up a trial period, and they eventually opted for it. Many clients were convinced it was great after experiencing the solution's capabilities firsthand."
  • "One area of improvement I've noticed is the lack of built-in monitoring capabilities in the firewall. Currently, we rely on third-party solutions for monitoring purposes. However, I believe the firewall itself has the potential to do a better job in this aspect. Another aspect of Fortinet that concerns me is related to redundancy. We have a setup with two firewalls working in parallel, which requires a highly adaptable configuration. However, it feels unfair that clients need to purchase two licenses, especially when one of the firewalls serves as a backup. We have noticed that other manufacturers have different policies on this matter."

How has it helped my organization?

FortiGate is a great solution, although initially, it faced challenges in the Brazilian market due to lower brand recognition than Cisco. However, explaining and demonstrating its product format and offerings has proven easy. The cost-effectiveness and better features of FortiGate have made some clients skeptical. We set up a trial period, and they eventually opted for it. Many clients were convinced it was great after experiencing the solution's capabilities firsthand.

What is most valuable?

I believe the package offered by FortiGate provides great value for the solution. It integrates well, allowing us to use Wi-Fi solutions, switches, and firewalls with a centralized management portal. The security it provides is great and one of the best in the market.

What needs improvement?

One area of improvement I've noticed is the lack of built-in monitoring capabilities in the firewall. Currently, we rely on third-party solutions for monitoring purposes. However, I believe the firewall itself has the potential to do a better job in this aspect.

Another aspect of Fortinet that concerns me is related to redundancy. We have a setup with two firewalls working in parallel, which requires a highly adaptable configuration. However, it feels unfair that clients need to purchase two licenses, especially when one of the firewalls serves as a backup. We have noticed that other manufacturers have different policies on this matter.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for the past 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of the solution as a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of the solution as a seven out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

We have encountered some issues with the support. Although it is included in the solution, the support could be faster.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What was our ROI?

There has been a return on investment.

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

When comparing this solution to others, I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of pricing. However, the issue of requiring a separate license for redundancy is a drawback, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

The advice I can offer is to compare the entire solution with its competitors. While certain narrow aspects might show some glitches and areas for improvement, when viewed completely, it becomes evident that Fortinet is a great solution. Overall, I would rate the solution as 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:
PeerSpot user
ChandanMunshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP
Real User
Top 20
Security solution with an intuitive user interface and knowledgable technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security."
  • "We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions."

What is our primary use case?

We use the firewall to protect our internal network and endpoints or servers and to establish the VPN with our other locations. We also use this solution to aggregate multiple WAN links using SD-WAN.

What is most valuable?

The user interface is intuitive. Anyone can configure the firewall with little knowledge of the product. The back-end is robust with good security.

All entries in the firewall are linked to all relevant items. For example, if I create one IP address for a LAN segment and I use that IP address in a particular group or if I create a policy or rule inside the firewall, it will be tagged and linked. This makes it easy to identify where and how a particular object is being used.

By clicking on a single point, we can view to all other relevant records. I found this very useful for our tech team and IT admins. 

What needs improvement?

We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions. We have not experienced this challenge with other solutions. 

Fortinet has a policy of pushing all logs into the cloud but the log management is sluggish and slow. The problem is on the site or application where the cloud is hosted.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used this solution for more than five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. I have many customers whose firewalls have been running for a couple of years without any periods of downtime.

How are customer service and support?

The Fortinet back-end team are quite experienced and very helpful. In some cases they take more time than expected. The ETA for resolution could be better.

We are a partner of Fortinet and have a dedicated support team for our Fortinet customers. When they need assistance, we encourage them to contact us instead of Fortinet so that we can resolve their queries faster.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

The pricing for this solution is reasonable. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 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: partner
PeerSpot user
Mark Moloney - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Network Manager at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
Real User
Easier to configure than other solutions, really reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "It is simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG. It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."
  • "Their technical support could be improved a little bit in terms of responsiveness."

What is our primary use case?

Our clients use it to protect their network. They're into public safety. They're police, fire, and EMS, and they're very concerned about security and what gets in and what doesn't get into their networks. We have got another client for whom we're deploying 30 firewalls in HA pairs over a huge network. That, of course, is a Cisco setup, not FortiGate.

Everybody is cranking up on security to find new ways to block and protect not just the inbound but also the outbound traffic. They want to protect what goes out. They also want to protect DMZs and all that kind of stuff.

What is most valuable?

It is simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG.

It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution.

What needs improvement?

Their technical support could be improved a little bit in terms of responsiveness.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for almost three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For me, so far, it is fire and forget. You just set it up, and you really don't have to mess with it. It has been really reliable. It hasn't gone down, and I haven't had any outages.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is okay. It, of course, depends on the kind of contract that you have. I've had better support from Cisco than from Fortinet when I'm having a problem that I can't figure out. Fortinet support is not bad, and they do get to the solution. However, they can be a little bit more responsive. That's the nice thing with Cisco. When you've got a network down issue, and they can get people on the phone immediately, and they stay with you until it is done. I find Fortinet's documentation better than Cisco's documentation.

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

We didn't have anything before, so this was brand new.

How was the initial setup?

It is fairly straightforward. The only complexity to it is that it has a little bit longer setup than the old generation firewall thing, where you slap an IP address on the outside and the inside interface and turn it on, and you're going to have a basic firewall. You have got to go through several configuration steps to get it to a good base setup.

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

It is less expensive than a Cisco solution.

What other advice do I have?

If you are brand new to this solution, you're going to want to read the documentation and follow it while setting it up because otherwise, you will miss something. To use this solution, you've got to know what you're doing. You can't just take someone who is a decent network guy and expect him to figure out what he has to do. It isn't that simple.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT admin at Zaklady Uslugowe EZT SA
Real User
An affordable and easy-to-use solution that can be used for firewall, antivirus, scanning, and web filtering
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are IPS and scanning."
  • "The solution’s stability could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate SWG for firewall, antivirus, scanning, and web filtering.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are IPS and scanning. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is also easy to use.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s stability could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG an eight out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around 60 users use Fortinet FortiGate SWG in our organization.

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution through an in-house team.

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

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other users.

Overall, I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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It manager at MMA2
Reseller
Top 5
Useful web filtering features with a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "Web filtering is the most useful feature."
  • "We can't identify which users are causing challenges when we have issues."

What is most valuable?

Web filtering is the most useful feature.

What needs improvement?

We can't identify which users are causing challenges when we have issues. For example, we may know we have a challenge with our network, but many want to know where it is and the particular user. That would help us to blacklist the user if needed and manage the user data.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for about six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable, and I rate the scalability an eight out of ten. We have about a hundred users.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten because I don't use them often.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and not difficult. I rate the setup an eight out of ten, and it did not take long to deploy.

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

Pricing is an issue and is a bit high. I rate the pricing a six out of ten because it is expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated other options like Zoho and Cisco. We chose Fortinet FortiGate SWG because the network we were using was poor.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution a nine out of ten. It is good, and I would recommend it to others.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Victor Hugo Morales Vivas - PeerSpot reviewer
Jefe de Infraestructura y Servicios de TI at Grupo ASD
MSP
Top 5
Highly stable, quick setup, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is its stability."
  • "We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Fortinet FortiGate SWG as a firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has helped our organization because it is connected to the internet and has provided us with stable VPNs and networking solutions.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is its stability.

What needs improvement?

We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the support of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simple and quick.

What was our ROI?

We have received a return on investment.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate SWG Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
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Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate SWG Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.