Solution Architect at Ambsan
Real User
Top 20
Feature rich, responsive support, and quick remote implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are the ease of use, IPS system, application filter, web filtering, and email security. Additionally, there is a migration tool that other vendors do not provide. We only need to upload the configuration file to the tool, and it converts everything, except the passwords, and gives us the new configuration, which we can directly upload on the firewall. This migration process takes a maximum of 15 minutes."
  • "The solution can improve by adding separate interfaces for proxy and flow-based usage."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for network-level security.

There is a cloud and on-premise version of the solution available.

Our company deploys this solution to many companies.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are the ease of use, IPS system, application filter, web filtering, and email security. Additionally, there is a migration tool that other vendors do not provide. We only need to upload the configuration file to the tool, and it converts everything, except the passwords, and gives us the new configuration, which we can directly upload on the firewall. This migration process takes a maximum of 15 minutes.

What needs improvement?

The solution can improve by adding separate interfaces for proxy and flow-based usage.

In the next release, the web application firewall should be integrated into the hardware. There is separate hardware for the web application firewall and for  FortiGate.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for approximately seven years.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 30 users and 30,000 users.

This is a scalable solution.

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM exhibits high responsiveness. Whenever I raise a ticket on their portal, they typically respond within 15 to 20 minutes. In urgent cases, we can contact them via a ticket, and an engineer will be promptly assigned to assist.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM 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 have used multiple types of firewalls and vendors, such as Cisco Firepower. Palo Alto, and Sophos.

Palo Alto is a great solution but it is expensive. I would choose them over Fortinet FortiGate-VM but they are too expensive. For my use case, Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the best for the environment.

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has discounts for generalized partners.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup time of Fortinet FortiGate-VM depends on the policies and filters that need to be applied to different users. The time can vary a lot on the environment. Its time ranges from minutes to a month. However, we can do the process remotely and it takes approximately 10 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

We do the implementation of the solution.

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

The license can be purchased at intervals of one, three, and five years.

The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to the other vendors. However, the vendor is increasing the price gradually.

What other advice do I have?

One person is suitable in a 24-hour period for the maintenance of the solution. A three to five administrator maintenance team would be sufficient to cover all the maintenance shifts per week.

I highly recommend Fortinet FortiGate-VM to others.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM 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
Thabo Molemele - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at Furnmart
Real User
Work filter is able to detect anything coming in that is not supposed to be on the network
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that its IPsec works perfectly."
  • "Some issues with connecting to the VPN from home after firmware updates."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is for controlling the internet in our organization, as well as for our VPN for those working from home. I also use it for routing the connection to stores so we can access them.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution allows us to easily access the stores from where we are. It also blocks a lot of websites that we don't want to allow access to during working hours. It has also made our network more secure, and it's now much harder for people to intrude into our network.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that its IPsec works perfectly. The work filter also works perfectly - it's able to detect anything coming in that is not supposed to be on the network.

What needs improvement?

We have had some issues with connecting to the VPN from home after firmware updates, which could be an area for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I think the product's stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability depends on what you want to use it for - previously, we were using 60D, and it wasn't accommodating some features we wanted, so we had to go to 100D.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is very helpful.

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

I previously used pfSense but found it was a bit complicated in terms of configuration and didn't give periodic updates. I switched to FortiGate because they were very consistent in giving updates on outbreaks and what they were doing to resolve them.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward because of the integrator's help. Deployment took about two days, and only my assistant and I were required for deployment and maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented through an integrator.

What was our ROI?

Our main ROI has been the extra stability on our network - since we implemented this solution, we haven't had any major attacks.

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

The cost of this product is too high on a yearly license. The license can be renewed on a monthly or yearly basis. There are additional costs for extra features.

What other advice do I have?

To me, this is one of the best firewalls I've ever used. I would rate this solution as 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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Yasir Obaid - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at Technometrics Limited
Reseller
Top 10
Has a good support-base but needs better customization abilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is quite user-friendly so we didn't have a lot of issues that needed to be addressed."
  • "Customization needs improvement."

What is most valuable?

Their support is very good. Fortinet has a good support base here who has been working closely with us. Whenever there is an issue that needs to be addressed to our end clients, we have received very good support. 

The product is quite user-friendly so we didn't have a lot of issues that needed to be addressed. 

The pricing structure is also flexible. 

What needs improvement?

Customization needs improvement. A lot of people have very unique requirements that they ask for at times. Everybody wants to get more out of the solutions so that they have more with less. I would like a little more customization, especially now that everything is becoming a lot more flexible with cloud-based deployments. A little more flexibility in terms of the offering that we can do or the bundling of products would help acquire markets much faster or much better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate-VM for just under a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is definitely stable. We have not had a lot of support calls so, so far it is good. We have been pushing our clients to see whether they need additional support.

We want to organize more training and have a lot more awareness-building seminars and workshops. That is something that I think we can or we would be wanting to look at moving ahead. We haven't been able to organize a lot of that yet, but that is something that I think can help in many aspects is awareness, to be able to draw in and attract local talent who would be able to help with support.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our clients are mostly enterprise businesses. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We are a value-added reseller. The technical support primarily is coming from Fortinet because we are in the process of building up to provide the right service. Once we are comfortable then we will be again discussing with Fortinet that we are able to assume a greater role in providing the services locally or on-site from here.

How was the initial setup?

We are still getting help from Fortinet for the deployment. We have been able to push this to two clients after we onboarded this. In the next couple of months, we believe that we will be able to take over the implementation and they can take a little more of a backseat. We want to be more independent, locally, with the local support and local team to be able to deploy it. We want to ensure that the service is seamless.

What other advice do I have?

POCs are definitely the way to go because cyber-security is still in many cases new for many clients. Cybersecurity is a very wide arena in today's day and age. There is no one single solution, every day someone else is innovating some specialization in some form or another. Clients would like to see a proof of concept before they go on a large full-scale deployment. 

In the next release, I would like to have the possibility of being able to offer cyber-insurance with this because this is something that I think is completely unavailable at the moment here. This would add a whole new dimension. 

I would rate it a seven 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: reseller
PeerSpot user
SecOps Lead at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
User-friendly and effective with an easy setup
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to set up the solution."
  • "We'd like to have more customization and easier customization of policies."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution as a virtual machine for firewalling.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very user-friendly. 

We have a next-generation firewall and can lock things in on a parameter level very effectively.

It is easy to set up the solution. 

The solution is stable.

I've found the technical support to be helpful and responsive. 

What needs improvement?

I can't recall any aspects that need improvement.

The pricing could be a bit better.

We'd like to have more customization and easier customization of policies. 

The scaling can be a bit better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for the last two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is okay in terms of stability. We have not had issues. It's not too difficult to work with it. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm the only person working directly with the product.

The scalability is limited. If we have to scale, we need to upgrade licenses after the license is up for renewal. Otherwise, we need to buy replacement licenses on top of the licenses we've already purchased instead of just expanding and adding onto what we have.

How are customer service and support?

I've worked with technical support in the past. They are very good. When we open tickets, they respond quickly. I'm happy with the level of support overall. 

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

I have worked with other firewalls. Which is best depends on the requirements. It is also dependent on the budget. We need to consider performance and scalability and take onto consideration how much support will be available as well. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to set up. There is a lot of documentation provided. For 70% to 80% we can do just fine, and for the rest, we just request documentation and can finish the job. 

We do not need much maintenance. We handle that ourselves, and it's not too difficult. 

What about the implementation team?

The solution is set up and configured in-house. 

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

The pricing is okay. However, it could always be better. When you need to scale, you need to buy bigger, different licenses. 

What other advice do I have?

We are using the latest version of the solution. 

I'd recommend the solution to others, depending on the business requirements. It's a pretty good solution in general. 

I'd rate the product eight 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
MuhammadHaris - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at Lemon Commuications
Real User
Top 10
Very reliable and easy to deploy and manage
Pros and Cons
  • "The setup is simple."
  • "Technical support could be better."

What is our primary use case?

Whenever I need to deploy a Fortigate firewall, I go on Fortinet and do a trial license and work on it.  

The use case depends on the requirements. The requirements change from client to client. 

What is most valuable?

The virtual firewall feature is very good.

The solution is easy to deploy and manage, which makes it easy to test.

The products never disappoint us.

There are a lot of features that overlap and are similar to other products.

The setup is simple.  

What needs improvement?

I haven't had much of a chance to work on the VM environment too much. I don't have any notes for improvement. 

Technical support could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two or three years on and off. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches when handling testing in the lab environment. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. You can expand it easily. 

How are customer service and support?

I'm not sure if there is a local person in Pakistan. Whenever I try to contact support, there is always a delay and I have not been so happy with the support services on offer. 

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

I also use Sophos. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. With the deployment of any type of firewall, you do have to do some workarounds. As long as you know the specifications, you are good to go. I'd state the ease of setup eight out of ten. 

The deployment, so long as it is not a migration, only takes a few hours. 

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

They do offer a one-month free trial. 

They offer affordable pricing. It was not expensive. I'd rate it seven or eight out of ten in terms of affordability. 

What other advice do I have?

We are Fortinet partners. 

The solution is pretty good. 

I would recommend the solution to others. I've had a great experience with the virtual environment. 

I'd rate the solution 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: Partner
PeerSpot user
Programmer / Analyst at Maridive & Oil Services
Real User
Delivers good protection from different network threats
Pros and Cons
  • "Good for the servers and can stop network attacks, including spam."

    What is our primary use case?

    Internally, I've been using this solution to front our servers.

    What is most valuable?

    I found the Antivirus and Anti-spam features most valuable in this solution. I'm happy with FortiGate-VM because it's good for our servers. It stopped many attacks, including spam, over our networks.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    It's been a year since I started using FortiGate-VM.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I find this solution really stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability of this solution is an eight or a nine to me. It's good.

    How are customer service and support?

    I don't have experience with Fortinet's technical support. When I face any problem or issue, I call the company that came here to implement the device.

    What about the implementation team?

    I hired a consultant to implement the solution. I had a good experience. It was good for my work and my networks.

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

    FortiGate-VM is more expensive than Sophos. We have two appliances: a main appliance, then a backup, e.g. FortiGate-VM, and this make it so expensive, even more than the costs from Sophos.

    We pay the standard three-year licensing fees.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I evaluated Sophos.

    What other advice do I have?

    I spent many years using Cyber and Sophos. Mainly, I use Sophos, while I use FortiGate-VM in the network background.

    I see that Fortinet is a big company. I can't compare the Sophos and Fortinet solutions I'm using, because I'm using Sophos at the front, and behind Sophos, I'm using FortiGate-VM, so I can't give a good comparison or opinion. I've only used FortiGate-VM for one year.

    It took nearly one month to complete the FortiGate-VM deployment because the decision came from upper management.

    No other users use FortiGate-VM in our organization, because it's a device or appliance that only stands in front of our servers.

    We don't have a need for maintenance yet. We've only been using it for one year and it currently needs no maintenance.

    I don't know if our organization has plans to increase the usage of FortiGate-VM because this decision will come from upper management.

    I'm a good observer and I'm still learning some feature metrics of this solution.

    What I'd like to advice people looking into implementing FortiGate-VM is to study the FAQs of other users. You should know the tricks and what exactly is needed in this appliance. This is a very good appliance, but I have less experience with it compared to Sophos which I've used for many years.

    I'm rating FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

    Maybe others rate the vendor a 10 out of 10, but I'm sticking with eight.

    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
    Senior Security Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Very intuitive with a clean interface and good stability
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's very easy to set up, even for more junior developers."
    • "Their offering for MFA isn't the cleanest."

    What is our primary use case?

    The use case for VMs is if you're going to deploy them like a SaaS edge, to protect your applications or provide deeper visibility into the traffic. Or you could use it in your data centers as well. However, that's not our preference.

    We primarily use the solution for network segmentation at our data centers and remote connectivity to our distributed sites.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We were able to take advantage of their management tool, FortiManager, to get a single pane of glass. FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer do not have a single panel glass. Rather, they are two panes of glasses to manage and monitor the firewalls where previously we were using Cisco. I don't want to call them legacy firewalls, however, with Cisco firewalls, we didn't have that management or logging visibility.

    What is most valuable?

    The product has pretty good logging and reporting capabilities native to the firewall. Then they also use FortiAnalyzer to aggregate that traffic and provide more detailed and aggregated reporting. That's going to help when you're analyzing network traffic for network segmentation initiatives.

    The stability is excellent.

    It's very easy to set up, even for more junior developers.

    The scalability has improved. 

    It's got a clean interface and it's very intuitive. Everything is easy to navigate.

    What needs improvement?

    Their offering for MFA isn't the cleanest. They have a product called FortiAuthenticator. It's not a FortiGate but that is one of their MFA offerings. However, other products that I've used, like Duo, are better from a user experience standpoint. They are easier to configure. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using the solution for ten years. It's been a while. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Six or seven years ago, they had issues with code versions where they would make changes within the code version and they would have some bugs. That said, over the last six or so years, their releases have been very stable. We've had very few issues with any type of bugs or issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability has gotten better with their SD-WAN offering. They're able to utilize inexpensive lines such as 4G, 5G, or DSL. It has allowed us to move away from expensive MPLS lines.

    Historically, conventional or Next-Gen firewalls have been utilized at data centers and remote sites. Now, however, a lot of customers are moving towards Zero-Trust access and SASE. I'm currently looking to get a little bit more information on Zero-Trust architecture, as it reduces the overall management and need for physical firewalls in all your locations, which can get expensive.

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

    We also use the Cisco ASA firewalls. I do find that Fortinet is easier to handle than Cisco as you don't need to handle tasks via the command line, which makes it easier especially for junior-level developers.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very straightforward. I started out in the Cisco world with Cisco firewalls and switches. Then we started deploying FortiGate and I found that FortiGate was easier to learn, especially for junior-level engineers. We were able to get junior-level engineers up to speed quicker than if it was a Cisco platform, especially if they haven't used the command line before.

    Deployment usually takes a day, depending on the complexity of the firewall. It might be a day to two, depends on if we are using multiple IPSec tunnels if it's at a data center or a remote site. 

    In terms of deployment and maintenance, in my experience, by a rough order of magnitude, a company would need one technician per 30 firewalls. For our company, we had a team of three network engineers and we had a fleet of about 120 firewalls.

    What about the implementation team?

    I handed the implementation myself with my team. We didn't need any integrators or consultants.

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

    For our entire fleet of 120 firewalls, we're paying about $100,000 per year. The licensing fees give you support and the capability to download updated definitions of threat intelligence from Fortinet.

    What other advice do I have?

    I was previously a customer. now I am a reseller and Fortinet partner.

    We primarily use hardware-based appliances, including the 100 D/E series, 100F, 190 D/E's, ADCs, 600 E's. They are similar to VMs.

    We're using the most recent code level at this time. We're one version behind the latest version. We tend to use one version behind the most recent for safety reasons so that we can avoid troublesome bugs or glitches.

    Anyone looking to deploy Next-Gen firewalls, in general, should really define their use cases to be able to decide on the proper technology to deploy within the environment. If you're looking to deploy Next-Gen firewalls at all your locations and create point-to-point VPN tunnels, they can get cumbersome and difficult to manage policies. It is also difficult to do network segmentation. With some of the Zero-Trust offerings, you're able to actually move your clients outside of your corporate perimeter, and then isolate those applications based on the user per application, instead of requiring them to dial back via traditional VPN to your data centers, which sometimes isn't the best user experience for your end-users.

    I'd rate the solution at 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: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Chief Information Officer at LCC Group Inc
    Real User
    Good security and functionality but not as robust as Palo Alto
    Pros and Cons
    • "The functionality provided is very good."
    • "The product may not be as robust as Palo Alto. However, unless you are a big bank, you probably won't need it to be."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use the solution for the security so that our systems will not be penetrated externally.

    What is most valuable?

    The security the solution provides is its most valuable feature. All the basic security we need is found within this product.

    The functionality provided is very good.

    It integrates well with FortiMail and the two combined add a nice layer of security for our on-prem emails.

    What needs improvement?

    As we just began implementing the solution, I'm not sure if there are any features missing. We haven't come across any shortcomings in the product yet.

    We purchased the product through a reseller, and we don't have any issues with them and therefore, so far, don't have any issues with the solution itself.

    The product may not be as robust as Palo Alto. However, unless you are a big bank, you probably won't need it to be.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    This is the first time we've acquired a firewall. It's pretty much a new experience on our end. We haven't been using it long at all. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We haven't had any issues when it comes to stability. It's been very good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability of the solution is good. We haven't faced any issues with expansion.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We have yet to contact technical support, as we've just started to use the product and haven't had any issues to speak of so far.

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

    This is our first firewall. We didn't previously have a different solution.

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution's setup was pretty straightforward. It took the team about two to three weeks to deploy it.

    What about the implementation team?

    We had a reseller assist us with the implementation.

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

    Fortigate is cheaper if you compare it to Palo Alto, a main competitor.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Our team evaluated Palo Alto as well, although I did not evaluate it directly. I'm not sure what the main difference was between Palo Alto and Fortigate.

    However, we have evaluated Fortinet for the last four or five months and now we're officially acquiring the licenses for it. 

    I believe the pricing was a big part of the decision to choose Fortigate.

    What other advice do I have?

    We've also recently acquired FortiMail as well.

    This solution has the basic functionalities required for a firewall. In fact, in terms of our evaluation, it's basic functionalities are enough for us. If I were to compare it to Palo Alto, it does not necessarily have the full capability of that particular solution. We're not a bank. We don't belong to the banking industry so we don't really need such high caliber firewalls that provide multiple levels of security. It's not required with our industry, so a mid-range firewall like Fortigate is perfect.

    If your business is small or even enterprise-level, if it doesn't necessarily need multiple or heavy firewalls, Fortigate will actually work just fine for you.

    I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. It perfectly meets our requirements.

    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
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    Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: March 2024
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    Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.