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reviewer1536771 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Consultant at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20
Aug 12, 2025
Comprehensive security features streamline internal segmentation and reduce device dependency
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate that I found are its next-generation firewall capabilities with stateful inspection and antivirus, along with features such as a reverse proxy that are missed by some other firewall products such as Palo Alto or Check Point."
  • "The main issue we have dealt with in the last few months is the number of vulnerabilities, which has caused concerns for both customers and integrators regarding whether Fortinet is a secure product; this has affected my rating, as it is why I do not give a ten, instead rating it an eight."

What is our primary use case?

In the last months, we use Fortinet FortiGate for internal segmentation firewalls and also for the OT for the production to separate ICS components; that's the most reason why we implemented a Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate that I found are its next-generation firewall capabilities with stateful inspection and antivirus, along with features such as a reverse proxy that are missed by some other firewall products such as Palo Alto or Check Point. We have a product suitable for the mid-sized market where we can handle all necessary features without the need to build every security feature with a separate device or product; thus, Fortinet FortiGate offers the completest feature set for a firewall on the perimeter to the internet or for internal segmentation.

What needs improvement?

The main issue we have dealt with in the last few months is the number of vulnerabilities, which has caused concerns for both customers and integrators regarding whether Fortinet is a secure product; this has affected my rating, as it is why I do not give a ten, instead rating it an eight. The feature set works, but the excessive vulnerabilities bring risks, necessitating upgrades and patches, which complicate matters.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate firewall for more than 10 years.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
September 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We do not have any problems with the stability of the Fortinet FortiGate product, but we have had problems with vulnerabilities. There are many vulnerabilities in the last few months, leading some customers to question whether Fortinet is a really secure product, which has created issues for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For Fortinet FortiGate's scalability, we have many different appliances available, and for the internal segmentation as well as the firewall components in the OT, the scalability is very good, so we do not face any problems there. That's one of the main reasons we use Fortinet FortiGate—because there are many different appliances available and we can select the one that we need without having to buy a bigger, more costly appliance.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with Fortinet FortiGate customer service and technical support is that when we need assistance, we receive fast and competent support. We are certified with this product, and we do not encounter any problems, as they are quick and possess the know-how that we need.

What about the implementation team?

Most issues are related to integration and operations, and since I'm only a consultant, I am not directly involved in these aspects. Engineers handle the implementation and operations, and while I know they use third-party products to integrate different firewall policies, I do not have any negative feedback regarding the implementation, so I cannot compare Fortinet FortiGate against other products.

What other advice do I have?

In the last 12 months, I only worked with Guardicore, but now other products are coming up: ColorTokens and Illumio, though I do not have any experience with these two products. We have many collaboration tools such as Webex Teams and others; however, I only use them as a usual user and not as an administrator of these tools. I do not have any experience with Fortinet FortiGate's SD-WAN. I know the product but do not have experience with Fortinet Unified SASE; as I mentioned earlier, my focus in the last months was on internal segmentation, which means I could not use a cloud solution. I do not have any experience with Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution. There have been no benefits or improvements for the organization since the deployment of Fortinet FortiGate. 

Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate 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
reviewer1729623 - PeerSpot reviewer
Corporate Marketing Executive at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
Apr 10, 2025
Offers diverse features for threat detection and operational efficiency
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has SD-WAN, FortiView, antivirus, sandbox, and IPS, which are generally well-known features."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has a threat detection capacity compared to other vendors."
  • "Fortinet technical support is lacking, as OEM support is slightly better."
  • "Fortinet technical support is lacking, as OEM support is slightly better. Improvement in their technical support could include response time as well as having more technically sound people in tech support."

What is our primary use case?

Generally, government and PSU, diamond companies, textile companies, and chemical companies are using Fortinet FortiGate in the Gujarat segment. We are also working with the Fortinet FortiSwitch and Fortinet AP. 

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate has SD-WAN, FortiView, antivirus, sandbox, and IPS, which are generally well-known features. Fortinet FortiGate has a threat detection capacity compared to other vendors.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet technical support is lacking, as OEM support is slightly better. Improvement in their technical support could include response time as well as having more technically sound people in tech support.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have more than 12 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This product is very scalable because Fortinet offers models ranging from thirty gigs to six thousand series and also offers solutions as VMs, making it highly scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Their support could be better.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

We are working with both Fortinet and Check Point. Fortinet FortiGate is better compared to Check Point because I have worked with the Check Point model CP15,500.

What was our ROI?

Financial and operational ROI from Fortinet FortiGate is very fine compared to other products.

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

There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing. There is a little bit of extra cost for FortiManager and logging and reporting solutions. Fortinet can offer solutions such as FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager for free for SMB customers.

What other advice do I have?

We are not working with AI features in Fortinet FortiGate, but from my knowledge, FortiGuard is using AI tools for threat intelligence and protection. 

We recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other businesses with similar security needs. 

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
September 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
VINAY GUJARATHI - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions
Reseller
Jun 18, 2024
Has an initial setup phase that is easy to handle
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution revolves around SSL VPN."
  • "Though the tool's GUI is user-friendly, it can be considered as an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

My company's customers use the solution for VPNs, specifically for SSL VPNs, IPSec VPNs, and other areas like web filters and application filters.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution revolves around SSL VPN. SSL VPN is good since I stay in a family where we use some other servers with port forwarding features, and so there is a lot of risk with it. Last time, my server got hacked with a ransomware attack. After that, we got a firewall and gave an SSL VPN to my client to connect to their servers, after which, such kind of activities involving ransomware attacks stopped.

What needs improvement?

Though the tool's GUI is user-friendly, it can be considered as an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for five years. I am a reseller of the solution. I work with Fortinet FortiGate 40F and 60F.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

The challenges faced by our company related to the product are associated with the activation part. Whenever my company tries to activate the product, there are some challenges. Previously, my company had given a new product to our customer who had used Fortinet FortiGate in the past. When my company tried registering the product on the portal and activating the trial license, we saw that only 30 days of use remained in the tool. We installed the product's license after all the trial licenses were activated.

I have seven to ten customers running medium-sized businesses using Fortinet FortiGate.

After connecting to Fortinet Firewall, I have not faced any complaints related to large-scale traffic or attacks.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support needs to be fast since whenever my company raises a complaint, it takes almost two to three hours to get a callback from the customer support team. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I don't have any experience with SonicWall because it is not very user-friendly. Fortinet FortiGate is more user-friendly than SonicWall, so we are currently working with Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase is easy. I rate it as an eight, where one is difficult, and ten is easy. Sometimes, when configuring the SD-WAN policies, I have seen issues with the tool not working properly. After updating the firmware, the tool worked properly, but there was some issue with the SD-WAN part.

For the product's deployment phase, I configured LAN and WAN, followed by the web filter policies. If a customer requires it, you can configure the VPNs.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in half an hour.

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

It is a bit expensive. On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight. The price is justified for the features and capabilities offered by the product.

What other advice do I have?

I can't describe how Fortinet FortiGate has been most effective for security posture since I haven't configured any security settings. It has a setting like in Outlook's configuration involving SMTP and POP. I didn't configure any security settings in the tool.

The tool's VPN functionality supports our company's customers' remote workforce since we have given an SSL VPN connection to support those working from outside the company. After connecting to the VPN, one needs to connect it to the server directly as it is better for security.

Whenever you upgrade firewall firmware, the user interface doesn't really change. If I upgrade to a new firmware with other tools, the user interface has slightly changed.

On the portal of Fortinet, there are VMs that are available for FortiGate. Our company can give the solution to the customer on a trial basis to check how it is working, so that there are no issues.

I rate the tool 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. reseller
PeerSpot user
Taha Turkestani - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT specialist at SAUDIA ALIRLINES
Real User
Top 5
Jan 8, 2024
Has robust security features, comprehensive threat protection, intuitive user interface, and seamless integration
Pros and Cons
  • "Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory."
  • "There is room for improvement related to the logging and reporting aspect."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for managing access to our data center, regulating the communication tools employed among servers, and ensuring overall security.

What is most valuable?

Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory. The graphical user interface is straightforward to navigate.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement related to the logging and reporting aspect. It was somewhat challenging as I delved into the logs during an incident. Navigating through the logs to trace the specific information we needed, as well as generating the corresponding report, proved to be less intuitive. In comparison, when considering Sophos XG, which we also use, the logging and reporting functionality is notably more efficient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with it for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It offers good stability capabilities.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately two hundred users within our company.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate its customer service and support ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What was our ROI?

Its performance justifies the cost, there is a prominent ROI.

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

The pricing is very reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I would highly recommend it. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten due to the reporting and logging issues.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
administ2171925 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Dec 4, 2023
Helps reduce our cybersecurity risks, enhances security, and performs well
Pros and Cons
  • "The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."
  • "The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."

What is our primary use case?

We utilize the Fortinet FortiGate firewall to safeguard our network and provide secure VPN access from external locations.

We implemented FortiGate because we needed a firewall to protect our data.

How has it helped my organization?

FortiGate helped us meet our ISO requirements.

In the time we have been using FortiGate, we have not had any security breaches. 

FortiGate has reduced the risk of cyberattacks that can disrupt our production. Since implementing FortiGate we have not dealt with any such attacks.

I'm unsure whether centralized FortiGate management enhances efficiency, but our experience with it has been exceptional. We haven't encountered any issues, and the operational aspects have been seamless. Additionally, there was no downtime, which is crucial for our operations.

Our Fortinet security fabric has enhanced security across our industrial control system. By safeguarding our production environment and ensuring the security of VPN access granted to individuals, we have achieved comprehensive data protection. We have not experienced any incidents that would have occurred if our firewall was inadequate.

FortiGate does a lot of research, and the product is regularly updated, especially in the ransomware area. I know of a couple of other companies around us that had some ransomware incidents, but we never have. From that perspective, FortiGate has helped mature our approach to cybersecurity a lot.

What is most valuable?

The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable.

What needs improvement?

The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex. While FortiGate offers greater functionality than other firewall solutions, its user interface could benefit from simplification.

I would like the log viewing process to be improved to provide a clearer understanding of the logs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of FortiGate ten out of ten. We have never had any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We used the limit of our FotiGate firewall which was around 150 users and we never noticed any performance issues. 

I would rate the scalability of FortiGate eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Our decision to switch from FortiGate to Sophos was solely driven by the seamless integration with our existing Sophos antivirus system. Had this integration not been an advantage, we would have maintained our FortiGate system.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment was straightforward due to our understanding of the product and its operation. It was completed in one day by a team of two.

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

The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate eight out of ten.

Except for the firmware updates we have to do now and then, there is no other maintenance required for FortiGate.

We had FortiGate deployed in one location in a big server room. We have 150 users.

I would recommend FortiGate to anyone. FortiGate is an out-of-the-box firewall with good pricing and excellent features.      

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Technical support engineer at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Nov 30, 2023
Enables me to easily see the events and make a decision about next steps
Pros and Cons
  • "The feature I like most is the SD-WAN. It allows you to manage more than one ISP at the same time. And there is a high-availability mode, so if one of your ISPs is down, you still have a backup."
  • "I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."

What is our primary use case?

It's mainly used to secure our clients' network access because they do not have any servers. The only things we have connected to the FortiGate firewall are access points, CCTVs, and a printer. It's just used for web browsing and internet access.

How has it helped my organization?

It definitely helps with intrusion prevention. When managing a firewall, you need to create policies to dictate the traffic flow within your environment. And once you enforce a policy, it has an intrusion prevention assistant that you can activate, so it's not just acting as a firewall.

Like most next-generation firewalls today, it helps control network traffic. I don't have any problem managing the network traffic within our network. It's very easy to access and manage.

FortiGate has also helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks. If such an attack happened, the main consequences for us would be data breaches, where some of our company's most important information might be leaked and used by other people. That would endanger our production and security.

And with the System Events page, I can easily access and see the events that are happening within the device and the network. It's easy to track if something has happened and, based on that, make a decision about the next step that I should take. I can see if it is severe or if it is just something that is not critical but more than a nuisance. Even in that case, I have to think about the steps that I will take to prevent it from happening again.

Mostly, it's about protecting the internet access of our end users in the production area of our company. It protects us during our web browsing and from internet-related activities.

What is most valuable?

The feature I like most is the SD-WAN. It allows you to manage more than one ISP at the same time. And there is a high-availability mode, so if one of your ISPs is down, you still have a backup.

It also provides us with visibility because we are able to track the IP addresses, as well as the type of device, OS, vendor name, and the name of the devices.

In addition, Fortinet Security Fabric helps us meet regulations and compliance requirements.

The built-in APIs enable us to integrate with different vendors, such as TP-Link and Luigi. We did not have any problems with the integration. It's very easy to configure and connect. This helps reduce deployment time, but that has more to do with network knowledge than with the product. If you're familiar with basic networking, it would be easy for you to understand the application of a certain device and integrate it with the API of your choice.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Fortinet FortiGate for about 10 months.

How are customer service and support?

I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I don't know why our company acquired FortiGate because I'm not the account manager. I'm just the technical person who installed the product. But I can assume they just looked at other companies that are securing their networks and decided to secure their internet access like those companies do.

How was the initial setup?

Including the reconfiguration of the network setup, the deployment took at least five days. But the actual deployment of the device only took one day. There were four people involved.

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

I have no idea what the difference in pricing is if you buy it from a reseller or distributor compared to Fortinet, or even if Fortinet gives that option. The pricing is justified. It's a little pricey, but what you pay for is what you get.

What other advice do I have?

I can't say how much it has reduced MTTR because I have not experienced any issues with FortiGate.

When I first built the FortiGate firewall, it enabled me to learn more about the network security field.

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. Reseller
PeerSpot user
Gaurav Amar - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Vice present at PVR Ltd
Real User
Nov 13, 2023
A tool that offers security along with great technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The response from the technical support team has always been excellent."
  • "The graphical user interface of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an area of concern where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

I use Fortinet FortiGate SWG in my company for security purposes and the SD-WAN in our networks.

What is most valuable?

The network load balancing is one of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG. Fortinet FortiGate SWG's SD-WAN compatibility with any of the providers is also one of its good features. The security devices work well with the solution, and it works well for anything pertaining to security, including the HTML files and VPN, which is beneficial for our company.

What needs improvement?

The graphical user interface of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an area of concern where improvements are required.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for three years. I use the solution's latest version, which is Fortinet FortiGate 100F Series. I am an end user of the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

My company uses Fortinet FortiGate SWG in around 350 locations spread across India, and we have a user base of over 5,000 users.

How are customer service and support?

The response from the technical support team has always been excellent. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

There were no issues with the product's installation phase. In our company, there were some initial things like checking the networks and managing the area of whitelisting in the firewall.

The solution's installation process doesn't take longer than an hour.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model since my company has security gateway appliances across the company for 350 locations.

There was a team of six engineers in my company to take care of the implementation part of the product.

What about the implementation team?

I was a part of the design and implementation team of the solution in my company.

What was our ROI?

Earlier, in my company, we had constraints in regard to the link load balancer and the site getting isolated because of the internet. Now, the good part is that the failovers and integration have become entirely seamless, and the site remains connected, meaning, in our company, we don't see the site getting isolated.

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

I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a seven and a half out of ten since it is not a cheap solution, though I feel it is a good product for the money one pays.

There were no additional costs apart from the licensing charges of the product, and the extra payments were related to the shipping charges so that it could be shipped to multiple cities.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

My company plans to use FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
JavedHashmi - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at Future Point Technologies
Reseller
Top 5
Jun 27, 2023
Easy to configure, has a robust OS, and offers a lot of features at a very good price
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."
  • "From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They're providing FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement."

What is our primary use case?

The majority of use cases have been around UTM. Initially, they were famous for their UTM solution because nobody was offering what Fortinet was offering. 

We most probably use the latest version.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet has a very strong OS. They have a single OS through which they integrate all the networks and security operations. Our experience has been very good. Fortinet gives us a single fabric for the security and network teams. This unification has helped us a lot in providing Secure SD-WAN and other solutions, such as network switches, wireless controllers, FortiNAC, FortiAuthenticator, etc. They have a single pane of glass for all these from the monitoring and visibility aspect.

The integrated application protection provided by Secure SD-WAN is very good. Fortinet is a security-focused company. The features related to application recognition and how to enhance the performance and security of applications are pretty good.

The customers for whom we deployed FortiGate have become long-term customers of Fortinet. Even when they compare the solution with some of the other vendors, they're more comfortable with going with Fortinet and upgrading and refreshing the hardware and the software. It's a very good product, and the customer satisfaction is pretty good.

It impacts operational efficiency because we can quickly make the changes. For example, Cisco has some limitations in terms of the time it takes for any change to take effect, which impacts the operational efficiency, whereas in the case of Fortinet, they've got a very quick way of doing the changes and reverting them, which eliminates any downtimes because of the configurations. Their method for configuring and applying policies is very simple and easy. Because of that, it's very easy to do complex changes, and in the case of misconfiguration, revert those changes without much of an impact. Overall, Fortinet FortiGate brings a lot of operational improvements because of the strength of FortiOS.

Secure SD-WAN has helped us remediate threats more quickly. Normally, with the WAN solutions or the simple SD-WAN solutions, security is done on the hub side. With the Secure SD-WAN solution, we can apply security at the branch level, so unnecessary or malicious traffic doesn't reach the data centers or the hub site, which helps in improving the overall security posture. Also, we can tighten and apply a single security policy across all the branches or different segments of the WAN, which improves overall security. Fortinet offers different security measures for blocking malicious traffic and having a uniform policy across the entire organization. 

Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce our mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR). Applying a central security policy at the branch level immediately helps us to detect any malicious traffic and block it there, so the chances of anything reaching the hub or the data center side are less. It improves MTTD and MTTR because it has a very good interface where we can easily respond to all the attacks and manipulate things. Applying security with the help of Secure SD-WAN helps to mitigate attacks from where they are originating, which improves MTTD and MTTR.

Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce help desk tickets. Because of the operational efficiency and security, there are not many issues that impact the number of tickets.

With the help of Secure SD-WAN, we can provide operational efficiency because we can apply policies on an application-level basis. With Secure SD-WAN, we can apply a security policy per application. The central security application structure helps to apply all the measures from one central place and from the cloud. Because it's connected to many intelligence centers, it future-proofs a business and improves it overall. 

What is most valuable?

Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility.

What needs improvement?

From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They provide FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement. Recently, a customer had a requirement of getting some reports on their internet usage. Palo Alto has a bit better reporting than the Cisco and Fortinet firewalls, but we cannot get granular details about the user-level security, usage, etc.

Their support also needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with this solution for around ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For small and mid-level enterprises, it has been a very good solution, and that's why they captured that market. Our experience with it has been very good. It's easy to configure and deploy. In our country, their main market is small and big enterprises, but they are gradually focusing on the performance aspect. It's being used in large enterprises as well as a firewall solution.

It's scalable. There were some performance issues a few years ago, but they've fixed them for better performance, optimization, and high throughput. Performance-wise, it's very good.

How are customer service and support?

Support is one of the areas that they need to look into because as compared to some of the other companies, Fortinet's support is not that responsive. The product is very stable, but their support needs to be improved. I'd rate their support a six out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

We used Cisco and Juniper. We switched to FortiGate because it offers a lot of features at a very good price point. Unlike some of the other vendors, you don't have many license restrictions. For large and medium enterprises, they provide a wireless controller, authenticator, and mail features. There are so many features integrated within FortiOS, whereas, with many vendors, you have to work with different products. It's very helpful for small organizations with tighter budgets. There's also the ease of configuration that helps to bring things online as quickly as possible as compared to some of the other solutions that have a learning curve and that take some time.

How was the initial setup?

I mostly work on the pre-sales side. I discuss all the features, and then I work with the deployment team. They do the installation.

Its installation is easy. Normally, we get the scope and have the high-level design. After that, we go to the low-level design where we manage all the configuration templates. We have discussions with the customer and finalize all the policies that need to be applied at the site. We segment sites by size, traffic, application usage, etc. We apply the policies on a group basis, and then we apply the configurations on the controllers or the sites.

In our area, people are mostly interested in on-prem setup instead of cloud because not many controllers are located within the country, so the traffic has to be traversed outside the country. For banks and financial sectors, on-prem is more suitable, but small organizations can have it on the cloud.

What about the implementation team?

We implement it ourselves. For small projects, one or two people are good enough because we majorly find all the things at the LLD stage. We have a team that works on the LLD and configurations, and then we've got an on-field team that takes those configurations and applies the changes. Normally, if the implementation isn't distributed across the country, not many resources are required. Two or three resources are good enough, but if it's distributed across different regions, then a larger team is required. Once we have the templates, things are posted automatically, so not much to be done at the sites. We just have to do connectivity and configure the policies. As compared to other deployments, we require much less staff for the deployment tasks.

It requires maintenance, but generally, the product is very stable and doesn't require much maintenance. Normally, there aren't many changes. If there are any issues, we definitely need to monitor and check. Most of the issues aren't related to the solution itself if you have implemented it in the right manner, so planning needs to be done in the right manner.

What was our ROI?

There's definitely an ROI. Having a centralized way of managing and applying policies across the entire organization always helps. The time to manage, operate, and resolve issues is much lower. When you have a central place to manage and do the changes, you get efficiency and time savings.

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

A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously.

What other advice do I have?

It's a very good product. It has all the features required for operations. We strongly recommend using Fortinet for your edge or data center security or for your SD-WAN. FortiGate is doing very well. Fortinet has been capturing the security market, and now they're capturing the market for SD-WAN as well. They're a leader in Gartner's Quadrant. Their FortiMail and FortiWeb solutions are also very good. They provide all these solutions, and we have deployed all these solutions in the market. They're working perfectly, and customers have minor complaints about them.

Currently, no SD-WAN solution is interoperable with other vendors. Every SD-WAN vendor has its own solution. There's no standardization, so there isn't much interoperability. For example, we need a controller and branch-level software or hardware. Hardware is agnostic for some vendors, but normally, vendors also have their hardware. There are a few vendors that provide hardware-agnostic SD-WAN solutions, but Fortinet has its own hardware on which the complete SD-WAN solution runs.

Overall, I'd rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer1336140 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a government with 201-500 employees
Real User
Oct 4, 2022
Great routing, layer three throughput, and firewall management capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "It can expand easily."
  • "We've actually replaced 30 or more Cisco routers that were doing these VPN connections, and we replaced them with the FortiGates in order to provide Point-to-Point connectivity."
  • "With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic."
  • "In their IPS Web Security Gateway, the reporting functions need to be a little bit more user-friendly for how to get the reports from it."

What is our primary use case?

I use it for a VPN. I use it as a gateway between locations. That's what I use it for.

They're Point-to-Point Networks, Metro Ethernet Networks, and over across the internet. We set it up with an AD VPN tunnel in between the various connections.

We use it for interconnectivity between the various sites to provide VPN tunnels. In contrast, service providers, even on Metro Ethernet and Point-to-Point Networks, cannot provide a secure connection between two points.

How has it helped my organization?

We've actually replaced 30 or more Cisco routers that were doing these VPN connections, and we replaced them with the FortiGates in order to provide Point-to-Point connectivity. It increased throughput on the various links, and it increased security.

What is most valuable?

Their VPN connection, their routing capabilities, their layer three throughput, and their firewall management capabilities that limit access from one VLAN to another are all the most valuable aspects for us. 

The solution is stable.

It can expand easily.

Support is helpful.

The product is significantly cheaper than, for example, Cisco. 

The user productivity has been good as they can, for example, transfer files easier. There is no slowdown. 

What needs improvement?

In their IPS Web Security Gateway, the reporting functions need to be a little bit more user-friendly for how to get the reports from it. That's one of the reasons why we don't use that function.

With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've been able to scale pretty well. It's not a problem of you need to expand. 

End users will be passing through it. Most of the accounting passes through it to various other locations. We have about 1,500 people on the product, technically.

We do have plans to increase usage. We have not completed the entire County yet. We've done 80% and still need to action the last 20%.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very helpful. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We used to use Cisco. We switched to FortiGate due to its throughput, ease of use, and cost.

How was the initial setup?

Our needs are a little bit more complex than others. That said, overall, I would say it's about average in terms of the ease of setup. We got to do a VPN tunnel across, and it was AD VPN, it was something brand new. 

When I set things up now, it's pretty straightforward. When I first started, it was different as I'd never seen the technology before. When I first started, I'd never seen this technology, I didn't have a clue. Others may be in the same boat. 

Now that we're familiar with technology, this is very easy to set up. We've deployed 30 of them. I've got junior engineers that can follow my instructions and set up the FortiGate, and we're up and running. It gets easier over time. We've been doing this over the last two years.

We have up to two people needed for deployment and maintenance tasks. 

What about the implementation team?

The deployment is completely done in-house. We didn't have any outside assistance. 

We did use Fortinet's tech support when we came into some problems. However, we didn't use any extra vendor.

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

Licensing is renewed every three to five years. They are less expensive e than Cisco. It has reduced the overall cost of maintaining a Cisco environment.

It's a package deal. There are no extra costs. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not look into other solutions. 

What other advice do I have?

I'd advise potential users to just implement the right size for you and what your needs are.

I'd rate the product nine out of ten. 

We are just a customer and end-user.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2304828 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Research at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Aug 14, 2025
Dashboard management consolidates tools and saves time while enhancing threat remediation
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has helped me reduce Mean Time To Respond, or MTTR, and helped my organization consolidate all of the tools in one application."
  • "In the scenarios coming from Sophos, it has not."

What is our primary use case?

I am working with Fortinet FortiGate and FortiMail.

What is most valuable?

I assess Fortinet FortiGate firewall as a one-stop shop that helps me secure and protect mission-critical data. Fortinet FortiGate also has products for protecting the edge. Everything can be managed through one dashboard, so I cannot quantify the time saved. Fortinet FortiGate has helped me remediate threats more quickly.

What needs improvement?

At the moment, I cannot think of any areas where Fortinet FortiGate could be improved. In future updates, I would like to see more RAM and lower prices.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have probably been using Fortinet FortiGate for eight years.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate support from Fortinet as a nine.

How would you rate customer service and support?

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

I did previously use other software before Fortinet FortiGate. I was using Cisco and Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

The installation of Fortinet FortiGate was very easy.

What was our ROI?

In the scenarios coming from Cisco, Fortinet FortiGate has helped reduce my total cost of ownership. In the scenarios coming from Sophos, it has not.

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

I would say I am average in my satisfaction with the licensing cost for Fortinet FortiGate. I am satisfied with the price-to-performance ratio that I get from using Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I switched from Cisco and Sophos to Fortinet FortiGate because it is easier to manage.

What other advice do I have?

I have been using the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for a significant time and I am very happy with it. I have seen a lot of time saved for my company from using Fortinet FortiGate. Fortinet FortiGate has helped me reduce Mean Time To Respond, or MTTR. Fortinet FortiGate helped my organization consolidate all of the tools in one application. This product does not require any maintenance from my side. I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other organizations because it is a one-stop shop for all security features in Fortinet, and I can manage everything on the same dashboard. The vendor can contact me in case they have questions regarding my review. I wish to be anonymous at the moment.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate in general as a nine.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: September 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.