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Darktrace vs Fortinet FortiGate IPS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Users of Darktrace experience high returns and savings, enhanced system visibility, threat detection, and improved cybersecurity cost-effectiveness.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate IPS improves network control, reduces costs and downtime, and offers cost-effective, easy implementation with swift ROI.
Using this solution provides financial benefits by securing from server attacks, which offers indirect savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
Darktrace's customer support is highly rated for responsiveness and proficiency, with minor improvements suggested for complex deployments and specific regions.
Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiGate IPS offers responsive technical support, though users note some delays and compare it to other vendors.
The challenge lies in waiting for a response after logging a ticket.
Darktrace provides excellent technical support with a monthly meeting to review platform incidents, ensuring the system functions as expected.
Any queries I have logged are responded to efficiently.
The technical support from Fortinet is rather good.
Fortinet support is very responsive.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Darktrace is highly scalable, adaptable to enterprise environments, and supports both cloud-based and on-premise expansion with careful management.
Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate IPS is praised for scalability, adaptability, and efficiency but may need hardware updates for large growth.
Darktrace has high scalability, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Since it's cloud-based, it expands easily.
For scalability, I would rate it an eight out of ten because they integrate with many technologies.
I can easily integrate it with FortiFabric and manage multiple firewalls and other Fortinet solutions from a single dashboard.
The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is good, and I would rate it nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Darktrace is highly stable, reliable, with 99.9% uptime, efficient performance, and excellent monitoring, rated favorably by users.
Sentiment score
8.3
Fortinet FortiGate IPS is highly stable and reliable, with consistent updates enhancing performance and reducing past instability.
The stability of Darktrace is excellent, rated ten out of ten.
The appliance itself has never let me down.
For stability, I would rate Darktrace an eight out of ten.
There are no issues with stability, and it integrates seamlessly with the main product, which is a firewall.
Stability is generally good, but if you include FortiOS underlying in the FortiGate, there are often some patches to do and some loopholes.
 

Room For Improvement

Darktrace needs better integration, interface, pricing, reporting, user-friendliness, automation, documentation, and collaboration to reduce false positives and improve protection.
Fortinet FortiGate IPS needs improvements in reporting, pricing, scalability, and AI, affecting usability and user adoption.
They say they can integrate with most firewalls, but when we did an integration with Meraki MX firewalls, that integration didn't work and still doesn't work to this day.
There is no dedicated salesperson in Egypt, and having one would help to improve focus on this market.
The intelligence section and the incident view should be seamlessly connected in one view to avoid jumping between pages.
More advanced AI capabilities would be beneficial in future updates.
Scalability issues.
The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate IPS could always be improved.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers have mixed pricing perceptions of Darktrace, with costs up to $350,000 annually and flexible payment options.
Fortinet FortiGate IPS pricing is competitive, varying from $1,000 to $7,000 depending on the model and licensing term.
The product is considered expensive compared to others.
The licensing cost is approximately eight dollars a year.
The pricing is costly in USD, and they charge based on device counts.
There are no extra expenses involved after purchasing the solution.
I rate the pricing with an eight out of ten.
 

Valuable Features

Darktrace provides AI-driven threat detection and autonomous response, offering real-time monitoring, high visibility, and minimal human intervention.
Fortinet FortiGate IPS offers intuitive management, robust security features, scalability, and strong user support with frequent updates.
I do not need to manually process incidents as Darktrace provides an incident summary, potential detection paths, and other details, all exportable with just a click.
If I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.
If more than 2.5 gigabytes of data have been pulled in a few minutes, it engages by blocking for one-hour intervals, alerts, and extends the block until it goes into full isolation if the violation continues.
The most valuable feature is the deep inspection for traffic, which is capable of identifying zero-day attacks.
The firewalls are valuable for threat prevention.
It provides real-time updates, offering a good vision on any changes.
 

Categories and Ranking

Darktrace
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (9th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), AI-Powered Chatbots (2nd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (15th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (11th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (3rd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
Fortinet FortiGate IPS
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Darktrace is 19.4%, up from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is 7.2%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Malebo Lethoba Group - PeerSpot reviewer
Have found the AI analyst and detection functions highly valuable for network operations while managing complexity in initial setup
The functions I find most valuable in Darktrace ( /products/darktrace-reviews ) are the AI analyst as well as the detection.The autonomous response capabilities of Darktrace are not crucial for me because it doesn't work in a network where there are no core switches. In a modern network, the autonomous response doesn't work, especially when sitting in a shared data center.If I'm running a traditional network where I am not in a shared data center with a layer two dedicated for my resources, then it can work for me. However, if I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.
Taha Turkestani - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced threat prevention with very good support and valuable behavior reports
We use FortiGate as a firewall. We have a FortiGate 201 model It's good that we didn't get hacked or attacked, indicating strong threat prevention. The reporting on employee behavior and the prevention of new viruses are essential features. Additionally, we have found it convenient for…
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What do you like most about Darktrace?
A very useful feature in Darktrace for real-time threat analysis is the packet inspection that analyzes the packet traffic in real time.
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
The most significant aspect of IPS is self-explanatory as it primarily focuses on intrusion prevention, which is crucial for Fortinet's internal outbreak prevention efforts and ensuring compliance ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
I rate the pricing with an eight out of ten. They could always improve the pricing.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate IPS ( /products/fortinet-fortigate-ips-reviews ) could always be improved.
 

Also Known As

No data available
FortiGate IPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Riverside Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Dell SecureWorks, Credit Bank Zagreb
Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace vs. Fortinet FortiGate IPS and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.