We use the on-prem deployment model of this solution. Our primary use case of this solution is our main gateway and main server.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Protects us from spam and phishing attacks and has good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspects of this solution are that it protects us from spam and phishing attacks. We had a lot of attacks coming in and then we deployed this solution and they stopped. We no longer have any spam or phishing issues."
- "The biggest room for improvement would be the deployment. It will be hard for someone who doesn't understand the interface to deploy. If you understand it, you can find your way around the problems."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects of this solution are that it protects us from spam and phishing attacks. We had a lot of attacks coming in and then we deployed this solution and they stopped. We no longer have any spam or phishing issues.
What needs improvement?
The deployment modules need improvement. They insist that it should be deployed on two different versions which doesn't make sense because ultimately, it's just an IP address. But we tried and maneuvered our way around it. The biggest room for improvement would be the deployment. It will be hard for someone who doesn't understand the interface to deploy. If you understand it, you can find your way around the problems.
They should bundle the analytics in the next release of this solution. Now we need another solution like FortiAnalyzer.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using FortiMail for the past two years.
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Fortinet FortiMail
June 2025

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is great. I would recommend it to anyone.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't really looked at scalability. It fits my environment and my needs. But I do know that the hardware has limits and constraints. Even their smallest box can only support 150 mailboxes which is ridiculous.
Right now, we have around 600 users using this solution. Everybody's email goes through it. We require three admins for maintenance.
We don't have any plans to upgrade it.
How are customer service and support?
When I had a problem, I contacted their technical support and they were good. I love their support. Somebody was having issues with false positives. Some emails were being flagged as spam. Their support was able to resolve the issue within the hour.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Microsoft before this solution but there's a limit to what it could do and we needed more protection.
How was the initial setup?
When I read the online documentation, the setup seemed complex. I have a background with this solution so I deployed it in my own way and it worked. It was pretty straightforward for me. The deployment took me fifteen minutes. If you understand how the server works, it's easy.
What about the implementation team?
I deployed the solution myself.
What was our ROI?
We have definitely seen ROI. My emails are safer. We don't have any more spam or phishing emails. The users are safe now. I don't have to worry about what emails my team is getting. It makes my life easier.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The annual cost is $55,000. There is only the licensing and support cost but aside for that, there are no additional costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I don't remember the name but we used a Linux-based solution. We also didn't want to use a cloud solution so we looked at Fortinet and it seemed easy to deploy so we went with it.
What other advice do I have?
It reduces the stress of keeping your environment safe. Security starts with the individual and it needs to be layered. Mail is the easiest way to hit up a company. Mail security is a must.
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.

Network Administrator at Mahreq Group
Great anti-spam properties and perfect configuration
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very, very stable."
- "I would like it if the solution could be more affordable."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this solution is for its anti-spam properties. In order to protect our mail server in our data center from spams, we need an anti-spam program.
What is most valuable?
The solution helps me to do internal routing and to configure interfaces. FortiMail works on the profile.
What needs improvement?
I would like it if the solution could be more affordable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Fortinet Fortimail for three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very, very stable. We've had only one problem with FortiMail in the past when our internal hard-disk broke down due to a bad sector on the disk. My colleague contacted FortiMail's technical team, and they replaced it for us. This was bad for us because our systems were down for three days. But up to now, that was our only issue with this solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 300 users and we plan to increase our usage by opening new branches and new factories. So I believe the program is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical team was very helpful. Our only issue was that, because we are in Egypt, Fortinet had to use their distributors in Egypt to fix our problem, and that is why it took three days to get the hard disk, install it and reconfigure it. Luckily our last configuration didn't take up much time, only about one hour, thanks to a backup of the last configuration that was available online. But if it has to be shipped from the distributors, it will take three days at least.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
My company previously used a software but when using an anti-spam solution as a hardware, it's better than an application, because an application could be corrupted.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My company pays around 28.000 Egyptian Pounds per year for this program. It is rather expensive in my opinion.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We compared it to Sophos, but it is more for users that aren't IT experts. It is so easy that anyone can use it - even my young child can configure Sophos. But for Fortinet, you need an IT expert. This is why we chose Fortinet, and we found that it is a very good solution.
I've also been using Cisco and it's a very good firewall. It's an old program, but it's doing its job for me. I use it for deviant connections and for publishing my internal server to the internet. So the Cisco firewall is also doing its job very well.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this program a ten out of ten, because it's configured right. The person who configured it actually knows what the real function of anti-spam is. It protects me from cryptography. I do see some connection delay from time to time, but I believe it is because of the Sandbox check.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiMail
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiMail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Security Team Leader at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Protects us from email spam and phishing attempts, and is a good multi-tenant solution
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of this solution are anti-spam, sender reputation, and antivirus."
- "The web console management interface could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution integrator, and we have been selling this product to our customers. We have three years of experience with it.
This is primarily used for anti-spam, in front of Microsoft Office 365.
This solution is deployed in a public cloud environment.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has protected us from email spam and from phishing.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of this solution are anti-spam, sender reputation, and antivirus.
This is a good multi-tenant solution.
What needs improvement?
The web console management interface could be improved.
The documentation can be improved.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of this solution is ok. It is always up.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is very scalable.
The companies using this solution have between one hundred and two hundred people. We do plan to increase our usage of this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very competent and quick to answer our questions.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to this solution, we used products from Cisco and Trend Micro. We switched mainly because of the price.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of this solution is very easy.
The deployment took between two and three days.
What about the implementation team?
We implement this solution for our clients and deploy it using our in-house team.
Maintenance of this solution is automatic.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI with this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model for this solution is better because it is based on the box and not the number of users.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I was already familiar with many solutions, so we did not evaluate other options before choosing this one.
What other advice do I have?
This solution contains all of the features that we need.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
IT Infrastructure Engineer at a tech company with 11-50 employees
FortiMail:Includes features such as: spam detection, inbound and outbound inspection, no per-user or per-mailbox pricing.
What is most valuable?
- Spam detection from FortiGuard Antispam Service and FortiMail antispam techniques; session based and application based.
- Inbound and outbound inspection
- Supports multiple domains/subdomains
- Mail routing
- Block/safe list based on e-mail addresses, domains or IP addresses
- DNS black list scan
- Banned word and dictionary scan
- Image scanning
- PDF scanning
- Suspicious newsletter detection
- Greylisting
- Bidirectional email translation using Address Mapping to hide protected domains from the external networks
- Sender reputation to prevent overload from high volume spams, mails with invalid recipients or infected messages
- Access delivery and receive rules
- Content monitor and filtering
- Recipient-based and IP-based policies
- User/group query options
- Mail data migration from existing mail server to FortiMail (Serrver Mode)
- Resource profiles; disk space quota, user access to address books
- Built-in agenda
- NFS and iSCSI support
- RAID support
- SMTP authentication via LDAP, RADIUS, POP3, IMAP
- Per user inspection based on LDAP attributes
- Mail queue management
- Easy management using web GUI or CLI
- Logging and reporting
- High-Availability with quarantine and mail queue synchronization
- Fortinet FortiMail is an industry-leading, multi-layered messaging security tool based on price and performance.
- Scalable solution from SME to the largest ISP and carrier networks, delivers long term investment protection
- Real-time Update from FortiGuard; signature database updating from FDN
- Sandbox integration (optional)
- Flexible and easy deployment in three modes (gateway, server with fully e-mail server features, and transparent).
- End-to end IBE
- Advanced bi-directional filtering
- Multi-layer threat detection and protection
- Data Leak Prevention, Policy based encryption, Archiving
- Traffic analysis
- No per-user or per-mailbox pricing
- It’s the only messaging security solution on the market that supports transparent mode inspection.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiGate provides inbound scanning for e-mail based threats, but FortiMail provides much deeper analysis and implements a much richer feature set.
How are customer service and technical support?
I rate technical support 5/5.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Exchange Server + FortiGate firewall. FortiMail offers more email security features.
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup is very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
No per user or mailbox pricing; industry leading based on price and performance.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Gold Partner
CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Has a high level of security and integrates well with other security products
Pros and Cons
- "It has a very high level of security through special licensing with solutions like FortiGuard, sandboxing solutions in the cloud, and URL rewriting solutions."
- "The logging information is sometimes not clear or easy to understand."
What is most valuable?
The solution is easy to use and easy to configure. It has a very high level of security through special licensing with solutions like FortiGuard, sandboxing solutions in the cloud, and URL rewriting solutions. They are very helpful and secure.
We can install FortiMail products in two different types of installations. One is the security gateway, the inner gateway, and the other is the enterprise mail server. But we never used this product as an enterprise mail server, only a security gateway.
What needs improvement?
The logging information is sometimes not clear or easy to understand. When the product drops or rejects an email, it is hard to understand what was the original reason why this email was blocked. The logging and the troubleshooting have to improve.
The Forti solutions are not easy to use. We can learn how to use them, but they are not easy. Suppose you must deal with different types of Fortinet products, such as FortiMail, FortiGate, and FortiAuthenticator. In that case, you have to use many different types of troubleshooting, such as through CLI commands and parameters, and it's not too easy to know those off the top of your head.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've worked with Fortinet FortiMail for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate FortiMail's stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate FortiMail's scalability a nine out of ten. My clients are typically medium to enterprise-sized businesses. Enterprise and medium businesses are not the same from a Fortinet point of view. Especially here in Hungary, which is a little country. When we consider a company enterprise-sized, it might be considered a medium-sized company in the international environment.
How are customer service and support?
I like Fortinet's technical support. But it could always be better.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten.
If there is only one gateway in the environment and it's the first deployment, it's easy. However, the initial setup can be difficult if you have to integrate and migrate from different products or solutions.
It took about a week to deploy the solution. But it depends on the difficulty of the environment. Sometimes, we must migrate policies, rules, and other configuration parts from different old mail gateways, such as Symantec Brightmail. And it's not too easy to configure all of the parameters exactly in the new environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiMail is not cheap. The basic license is not bad, but the high level of solutions is not cheap. Our customers like the basic license but find it too expensive to buy detailed technical solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiMail a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
CEO & Technical Head Executive at ChellSoft Technologies
Is stable both on-premises and on the cloud
Pros and Cons
- "It actually filters the compromised emails when on a network layer itself."
What is most valuable?
It actually filters the compromised emails when on a network layer itself.
What needs improvement?
The UI could be better.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's quite stable. Both the on-premises and cloud deployments are quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is excellent.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
The Fortinet line of products concentrates more on the security of these solutions. That is where we see the competitive advantage over other service providers.
I would definitely recommend Fortinet FortiMail and rate it at nine on a scale from one to ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Security Engineer at Eguardian lanka
Integrates well, stable, and plenty of documentation available
Pros and Cons
- "When combining this solution with other Fortinet products, such as FortiGate, it integrates well and provides a comprehensive protection package."
- "The solution could improve by making the UI more user-friendly and increasing spam and threat detection capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
My clients use this solution for email security.
What is most valuable?
When combining this solution with other Fortinet products, such as FortiGate, it integrates well and provides a comprehensive protection package.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by making the UI more user-friendly and increasing spam and threat detection capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution has been good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiMail is scalable in my experience.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is easy. There are a lot of study materials and a portal to receive information about how to do the installation. We read the available information and we were able to install and configure the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Fortinet FortiMail a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Branch Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Simple to deploy and easy to manage but security could be upgraded
Pros and Cons
- "The deployment is simple and once up and running it is easy to manage."
- "I think the security of the product could improve."
What is our primary use case?
It can be used for the mail for your trainees, personnel and spam sorting.
What is most valuable?
I find it to be easy to use and to manage.
What needs improvement?
I think the security of the product could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for 4 or 5 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I find the product to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I did not use customer support.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was not difficult at all.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment is simple and once up and running it is easy to manage.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is not as expensive with competitive different brands. The products sell a lot.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this product to others.
I rate Fortinet Fortmail 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

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