FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Reviews

The solution is primarily used as a border firewall as well as for internal LAN segregation, internal IPv4 policy management, a VPN for end users, and IPSec tunnels.

Before we implemented this solution, we had only one firewall and old Linux IP tables with no graphical user interface. 

There is no one feature that stands out as most valuable compared to another. All features are correct and no extra items are needed.

The price of licensing could be better. The security of the FortiOS needs improvement, and features are available only in CLI. They could be available also in GUI.

Features like forward traffic capture or NAC in the VPN should take into consideration both Linux devices and Apple devices.

I've used the solution for more than ten years. 

The scalability is okay.

Technical support is not helpful. 

Neutral

We previously worked with Check Point, Palo Alto, Cisco, Watchguard, and PFsense. 

The setup is easy. Support is not helpful.

We handled the initial setup in-house.

The solution is very expensive. 

The price of licensing is too high.

We did not previously evaluate other options before choosing this solution. 

Other Fortinet products are not the best, and Fortinet should take care as this will influence brand reputation.

We are using the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall, and we are also providing this solution to our customers.

Customer is investing in this solution. We have observed a reduction in order value costs, approximately one lakh rupees per order, which contributes to reducing overall security costs.

In our territory, the most usable features include WAP content filtering, which is more utilized than IDS, sandbox license, and multiple internet connectivity. These are the primary features we are offering as a solution. 

FortiGate's threat detection capability is excellent. Compared to other solutions, FortiGuard Lab has a very high capacity to detect malware and malicious content.

I would like to see improvements in some of the hard drive features on FortiGate so that we can generate reporting within a single box.

We have been working with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for the last ten years.

It's reliable and works well within our needs.

FortiGate is scalable. That said, you must change the hardware to scale in capacity.

Technical support has improved over the last two or three years, as Fortinet now operates 24/7 support.

Positive

We have also worked with SonicWall. Compared to SonicWall, FortiGate allows us to make a DNS server, which SonicWall cannot do. SonicWall offers the advantage of providing a free reporting solution.

The price is very aggressive in India as India is a rapidly growing market, the original equipment manufacturer offers competitive pricing.

We have evaluated other solutions like SonicWall and Sophos.

For very small companies, with five to ten users and where cost is a concern, I would not recommend going with FortiGate. 

If only cost is a concern, then it would not be recommended. It is a little bit expensive - the entry-level model is the FZ FortiGate. At the same time, Sophos XZ 86 is an entry-level model, which is more suitable for very small networks.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

The solution is used to monitor daily network activities. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall acts as a security layer between public and private networks in our organization.

The solution successfully mitigates all types of advanced attacks by putting our company's production servers behind the firewall using a DDoS attack prevention system and WAF. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall handles our organization's internal network security. The solution is used mainly in IT companies, just like our organization. 

The WAF and DDoS attack prevention system are the solution's most valuable features. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has IBS/IPS systems, which are vital for handling cyberattacks. 

More SD-WAN features can be integrated into the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall. The vendor can make efforts to make the solution more budget-friendly. 

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for seven years. 

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. For each purpose, there are different products used in our company from the same vendor. For instance, our company has a dedicated subscription plan for log analytics. Fortinet should host bundle pack subscriptions for its products and add-ons. 

There are more than 150 users of the product in our company. Our company is functional on a hybrid model for employees, and thus, there are not more than a hundred users of the solution in the office at any given time.

Due to the aforementioned work setup, our company is exploring more scalable solutions with end-to-end security features, as many employees are working from remote locations. At our company, for end point protection we use Microsoft Defender. 

At our company, we have Fortinet certified experts in-house, so most of the issues are solved without tech support from vendor. But whenever, an issue was escalated to the support team of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall, our company has received a response on time. 

FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall integrates perfectly with our organization's infrastructure. Our organization is using the solution for more than six years without any integration obstacles, even while integrating to Fortinet Access Points. 

The initial setup process is easy for the solution. There are some configurations and policies that will facilitate routing among the varying traffic, dictating what to allow or block. I would rate the initial setup a nine out of ten. The setup duration depends upon the expertise of the deployment engineer, but on average it can be finished within a day. 

Our investment in security through FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is worth it as there are zero complains regarding the effectiveness of it.

It's an expensive solution. At our company, we updated the license every three years. I would rate the pricing a nine out of ten. Presently we are upgrading the hardware in our organization before the next license renewal date. 

In our company, we have used Sophos about six years ago. Compared to other solutions like Sophos, we found FortiGate Next Generation Firewall to be much more expensive for our organization.

But FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has a more robust hardware and stable configuration, so our company prefers the solution over others. But as the license of the the solution is expiring soon in our company, we might explore some other firewall products from Fortinet as well. 

Our company found that in comparison to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has a limited number of features and requires an ideal Fortinet environment or infrastructure to function. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall should enhance its endpoint capabilities and be less dependent on Fortinet infrastructure. The product should have cloud solution integration capabilities. 

Since implementing FortiGate Next Generation Firewall, we have not experienced any attack or cyber threat on our company's network. With the solution, we have been able to proactively monitor the network and take preventive measures on time. Our company finds the product reliable in mitigating all kinds of threats. 

Our company expects some AI capabilities from Fortinet solutions. I would advise FortiGate Next Generation Firewall to others as a reliable solution. I would also advise other professionals to run tests with the product as per their requirements before adopting it. The solution has excellent security policies. I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten. 

We use FortiGate NGFW to secure our network gateways. These devices, functioning as UTM solutions, were impressive in fending off various threats. FortiGate excelled with its anti-spam, antivirus, and firewall features at the network level. Beyond security, it is seamlessly integrated with networking tools like Zendesk.

The most valuable aspects of FortiGate NGFW are its top-notch reputation in peer reviews, user-friendly interface, and excellent support. It stood out during external penetration tests, proving its effectiveness compared to our previous firewall. The seamless integration with other tools and thorough testing set FortiGate apart. Replacing our old firewall with Fortinet was a game-changer, especially as it helped us improve our performance in subsequent penetration tests.

FortiGate has been solid for us, but I see room to explore its integration with Secure Service Automation for a more comprehensive security view. The initial migration had some challenges, but they were manageable. Now, my focus is on automating responses to alerts, especially during nighttime attacks. I want to investigate how FortiGate can connect with other solutions, like SIEM, to enhance our security measures while offline.

I have been using FortiGate NGFW for a year.

It is quite stable.

FortiGate is scalable, and we currently use it for approximately 300 internal users, with additional offshore teams connecting via VPN. The total user count, including the offshore teams from different countries and continents, is around 400 to 500 people.

We contacted Fortinet's technical support during a firmware upgrade issue. They guided the upgrade process, and their support was capable and helpful. I would rate them as a ten out of ten.

Positive

In comparing FortiGate with other solutions like Cyberoam, I have found Fortinet to excel in various aspects. For instance, its intrusion detection capabilities stand out, providing instant alerts compared to some firewalls that take up to 24 hours. While I can't quantify percentages, Fortinet's performance, especially in areas like responsiveness, has been notably better in my experience.

Setting up FortiGate NGFW was straightforward, with some considerations during the migration process. Migrating from an old firewall required meticulous rule review and manual configuration. Ensuring adherence to best practices and testing in a beta environment were crucial steps. We also coordinated with our ISP to clear the ARP cache for a smooth transition. Despite a minor misconfiguration leading to an issue, we swiftly addressed it over a weekend with minimal impact. Regular backups and failover tests added an extra layer of assurance. A team of three people deployed it. The deployment and migration from the old firewall to FortiGate took approximately one month. To ensure a smooth transition for our 24/7 operations, we invested extra time for thorough testing and rule validation.

The pricing and licensing costs for FortiGate are quite reasonable, especially for an SMB like ours. While solutions like Check Point and Palo Alto are excellent, Fortinet's affordability played a significant role in our decision-making process.

FortiGate for SMBs impressively covers most features, and in my experience with Cisco, Symantec, SonicWall, and others, FortiGate stands out. It has exceeded my expectations. While I haven't explored Check Point due to budget constraints, FortiGate's pricing makes it a top choice. Palo Alto and Check Point are excellent but would likely have been my preference if pricing aligned. Overall, FortiGate has been a standout performer in terms of features and value.

For those starting with FortiGate NGFW, my advice is to thoroughly explore its features. I recently recommended it to a healthcare entity due to its effectiveness and user-friendly interface. The fact that they already had Fortinet in another enterprise speaks volumes about its reliability and performance. Overall, I would rate it as an eight out of ten.

I’ve worked with network and security information since 1999. My use cases for FortiGate are in the telecom environment. In my experience, we have used Fortinet to connect sites. I’m working with an SMB in São Paulo, and we work with small equipment. I have a project to define a model from the end products, and to do that I’m working with a local network to deploy our services. After defining this product, I wire the product through my team so they can make configurations. Sometimes, I work directly with configuration, with third level support.

FortiGate’s connectivity and the SD-WAN is perfect. Likewise, the WiFi ports from Fortinet are very strong.

FortiGate's connectivity for small businesses is not as strong as it can be. If Fortinet includes more information and marketing to small businesses, their presence will be improved.

I have 15 years of experience with Fortinet.

The solution is very stable and doesn’t have any problems.

They are very good and they are quick at solving problems. I have had no problems with them.

Positive

I work with a distributor in Brazil, and their people have a lot of experience with the technology and they are good to work with.

The cost depends on the equipment required. The cost is okay.

Compared with Sophos, for example, Fortinet is similar but simpler to access and the licenses are easier and start using the solution. Sophos’ technology is very similar, but Fortinet has a stronger name and better technology for our technicians.

In Brazil, there is no doubt that Fortinet is the leader when it comes to security solutions. Fortinet works better in a scenario with more of one presented from the same customer. There are many options from other brands for the same customer. When users need one solution to stay securely connected to many sites, Fortinet works well. 40% of all purchases are Fortinet, while another 30% are Sophos and another 30% are Cisco.

I rate FortiGate NGFW a nine out of ten.

There are many features that we can use. We can see all the logs. Additionally, we can connect with other devices like the FortiManager. We also have a new feature.

We mainly use the Next Generation Firewall for enhancing security. It has powerful capabilities compared to traditional firewalls, especially when dealing with current threats like those in Azure. The Next Generation Firewall can handle more effectively.

The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities.

Mainly, we are more secure than with the traditional firewall. The Next Generation Firewall helps a lot in defending against various types of attacks.

In terms of solutions, for now, we don't have any SD-WAN. Yeah. We are planning to implement SD-WAN due to some failures we experienced last year. For our high availability design, this would be beneficial.

So I would like to have SD-WAN as a part of the Next Generation Firewall. It would enhance high availability.

I work with the FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall. We started using FortiGate about five to six years ago. We have been using various versions and migrated to newer ones over time.

It's stable, quite stable. We also have it set up as a firewall with high availability. We were also talking about SD-WAN for our future plans for our stores, mainly for the internal lines, because this SD-WAN technology is something we would like to implement.

It is a scalable solution. We can connect it to any network or with other brands, not only Fortinet. For instance, we can configure it with Cisco or any other brand for connectivity.

In our company, it protects around 500 endpoints.

Customer service and support have different levels of support—level one, level two, level three—based on the severity of the issue. They can also provide scheduled delivery. We usually never face any significant problems with their support.

I am satisfied with the support. They have good knowledge. 

The first setup process was easy to do. It was not difficult at all. 

We set it up ourselves. We created policies, firewall rules, IPsec VPN configurations, and everything was handled by our team.

The deployment took around five days, and the process was quite easy. The setup was straightforward. If we encountered any issues, we could contact Fortinet support. They were helpful and provided support through the hotline in urgent issues.

Maintenance is quite easy. I did it myself. It's user-friendly. We can use the GUI, or we can use the command line, but the GUI is more user-friendly. So it's good.

The price is not very expensive compared to Cisco or Palo Alto. Like Palo Alto, which is the most expensive product.

We have always been using Fortinet. It has been quite stable for us.

I would recommend it to other users. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. It is a good solution.

The firewall system we have implemented in my company serves as the gateway to access the internet. We have different VLANs set up on the firewall for various networks. 

We enforce security measures based on policies. When it comes to security, we have web monitoring, application filtering, and MAC address filtering implemented on the firewall. We also utilize VPN and SD-WAN architecture. Everything is functioning well. 

Additionally, we have two ISPs connected for load balancing. We send the logs, and audit logs to FortiCloud for analytics and statistics. 

Moreover, we have an alerting system for FortiGate, which is also functioning properly. The firewall operates in question mode, using round-robin connections, and handles routing as well.

FortiGate is a very good product. It offers a wide range of features, and its availability is almost everywhere. The support, both local and international, is good. Also, they provide certification programs for the next-generation firewalls, which is beneficial. 

The product speaks for itself and holds a strong position in the market. In our company, we highly recommend FortiGate to our colleagues and other IT professionals. Furthermore, it offers cost advantages compared to other products.

The improvement that I would like to see is in the licensing. The licensing process is a bit high. 

Additionally, there have been several vulnerabilities in the firewall. It is hackable, some of the images are hackable. So, upgrading to the latest patch, but these improvements would be more profitable for companies like ours.

I would like to see improvements in license costs and the handling of vulnerabilities.

I have been working with FortiGate NGFW for ten years. I currently use the FortiGate 101E model at a customer site.

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. It provides a stable network, and I can connect to remote sites as well. I find it reliable because we use SD-WAN. There are no major issues, except when there is an Internet outage. But overall, no significant problems.

The scalability is very good. I would rate the scalability of the solution a nine out of ten because I have encountered no issues so far with the product. The scalability is excellent, very good.

We have 150 users using this solution. Moreover, we have plans to increase the usage. Maybe next year, I plan to upgrade to a newer version of FortiGate, and we have a plan to increase our user count by ten percent by next year. So I'm considering a more powerful firewall for better performance. That's the plan.

In terms of support, they are very responsive. If you reach out to them, they will contact you within 15 minutes. Managing FortiGate is easy and simple compared to other products. It's not too complex. 

Even if we miss renewing our licenses, FortiGate provides a grace period of 90 days, which is exceptional. Most products only offer 30 days. That's the best part, in my opinion.

The support is excellent. I've had very positive experiences with FortiGate's support team. They are friendly and always available. Their support is available 24/7 via phone, email, or chat. 

They even offer remote access if we need help with configuration or auditing logs. Their support is reliable both locally and internationally.

Positive

The availability of product support and its manageability were important factors for me. I found it easy to manage, not too complex. 

Additionally, the product is readily available in my country. Based on the information I found on the Internet, FortiGate seemed to meet my requirements.

The initial setup is straightforward. The setup is pretty simple. However, it acts as an authentic gateway between my routers and the internal network. All the traffic goes through the firewall in cluster mode. If one firewall goes down, the other one takes over until we have time to replace the faulty one. We typically use the firewall for a period of five years before considering a replacement. 

The device is connected to the server room on-premises. We configure it locally, but we utilize FortiCloud for logging and analytics. We manage the number of assets (FortiGate assets) we have, which is manageable through the cloud. That's all.

I have used Barracuda, Sophos, Palo Alto, and more.

My advice would be to start by conducting a Proof of Concept (POC) and test FortiGate NGFW in your own environment. Go through all the necessary configurations and spend around one or two weeks to become familiar with the solution.

After that, you can proceed with the purchase. But if I were to advise someone instantly, I would simply say, go ahead and give it a try.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

The solution is used in my company since its management is very comfortable. If we compare Fortinet and Cisco, Fortinet's web interface is more user-friendly and offers speed.

We use the solution's URL filtering, IPS, SSL, and, specifically, SSL encryption. In general, the tool offers a user-friendly interface and pleasant management.

I cannot say anything about the product's price, and the tool does not need any customizations.

A firewall has different levels of productivity that its customers can use in their official branches, which can be small offices, big offices, or enterprise-sized organizations. The vendors offer models with different levels of productivity of the product to its users, which is not possible in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW). It lacks integration options. I would like the tool to offer its users more integration options. Most of the vendors of NGFW offer integrations open with different solutions. FortiGate is able to integrate with Cisco or Microsoft. FortiGate has a lot of possibilities in terms of integration with other vendors, so the integration capabilities of the tool need improvement. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) has OpenAPI, which gives customers an option to integrate the tool into their custom software.

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for seven to nine months. I use the solution's latest version. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Around 3,000 or more use the solution in our company. We have three appliances in total, each having a thousand users.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

The support does open a case when an issue is raised, but since it is the USA, despite the support hearing our problems, they do get late to respond. We only have issues with the support of low priority. I never open high-priority cases with the support team.

Neutral

On a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the initial setup an eight or nine. It is easy to install since it can be done with small configuration steps.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. Most of the firewall devices are deployed on the cloud, especially since NGFW of different vendors work on the cloud.

The deployment can be done in just a week since we need to find answers to some questions from our management and our security department. We need to get certain approvals in terms of the security policies before proceeding with the deployment phase.

One or two people are enough for the deployment process.

To those planning to use it, I would suggest that they opt for a pilot offering from FortiGate and try to use it to understand and figure out its advantages and disadvantages.

I like FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) more than Cisco, even though I have worked more with the latter tool than the former.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.