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Solutions Architect at Universal Access and Systems Solutions
Reseller
Optimizes security on the network and protects the company from attacks from outside
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. With FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access."
  • "Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate as the firewall for our networks and as a security device. Fortinet FortiGate is used in our organization for:

  • making policies
  • security profiles
  • identity management
  • blocking applications on websites
  • making objects
  • future groups
  • user management
  • network reports
  • data analytics
  • other stuff

FortiGate is not just a security solution, but also a network solution, because it can do SD-WAN which provides innovation to security.

How has it helped my organization?

Originally, I used Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN. There is actually a feature for the SD-WAN. I could find a port and use it for SD-WAN. Then I also used FortiGate for security rules.

We implement solutions categorizing the insurers by Fortinet, i.e. what are the network users that are allowed in this particular instance or for these particular policies.

We program every port you can set the policies on with Fortinet FortiGate. You can actually see the users that access the particular website and govern the rules for web traffic.

What is most valuable?

First and foremost, Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. 

With Fortinet FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access. 

It can also do detailed reporting and analytics that comprise information from recorded events on the network by traffic location, device, IP address, etc.

What needs improvement?

Flexibility is questionable when it comes to the hardware parts. If Fortinet can make FortiGate modular so that you can actually upgrade it without changing the parts, I would prefer it. 

If Fortinet FortiGate could actually integrate with the hybrid cloud architecture without changing the storage parts, i.e. the hardware, it would be better.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
847,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The Fortinet FortiGate solution is 81% stable. I would say it is very flexible. I would grade it an eight or nine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites.

With FortiGate, if you want to upgrade, it is physical and you have to buy a bigger box. You have to replace it with a bigger one. The boxes of Fortinet are not modular, so you have to replace the entire box. That's one of the bad sides of Fortinet. 

When it comes to security, it's not really possible if the other solution is actually plausible. 

How was the initial setup?

The deployment of Fortinet FortiGate is complex. It depends on how long you are going to maintain the network of the client. For us, it would only take a day or two.

What about the implementation team?

We are resellers of Fortinet products.

What other advice do I have?

The Fortinet FortiGate solution has to have a system-wide update for improvements. First and foremost, you need to have a patch. You have to continually improve FortiGate by having continuously updated patches applied. 

Then always check for the admin reports from Fortinet that the patch was applied. When it comes to the features of this device, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
AT4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Reseller
Top 20
It is a user-friendly solution, but the after-sales service needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."
  • "Its customer service could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for network security.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution works quite well for us.

What is most valuable?

The solution is user-friendly in terms of configuration and implementation.

What needs improvement?

The solution's after-sales service needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's customer service is satisfactory but could be even better.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

We used Sophos earlier. We switched to Fortinet for its price.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely.

What was our ROI?

The solution has generated ROI for our customers.

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

The solution's licenses cost the same for different subscription plans. But the additional costs vary from client to client.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to others and rate it as a seven.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
847,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mohamed El-Sherbini - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Mada Insurance
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use UI, excellent support, and simple implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and the UI. It has always provided me with what I needed. I have no need for additional costs that other solutions have, such as Sophos."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Fortinet FortiGate for security on all devices, VPN, and IPsec.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and the UI. It has always provided me with what I needed. I have no need for additional costs that other solutions have, such as Sophos.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens. 

The upgrades should be reviewed more frequently, such as daily, to avoid any corruption or issues that can happen, without losing my VPN client. We should not need to downgrade the solution to fix the problems until the Fortinet FortiGate support solves it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable.

Fortinet FortiGate is good for medium to large-sized enterprises.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Fortinet FortiGate is amazing.

How was the initial setup?

The setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

I am able to do the implementation myself. There is no need for assistance.

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

The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1285998 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Affordable, reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
  • "They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."

What is our primary use case?

In my previous company, which was a silver partner, we installed 300 and 301 for a few use cases. The most selling product at that time was FortiGate 100E.

What is most valuable?

I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable.

What needs improvement?

They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down.

For how long have I used the solution?

I worked with this solution for four years in my previous company.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. When you compare it with Palo Alto, it is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable.

How are customer service and support?

They are very knowledgeable and helpful.

How was the initial setup?

Based on what my engineers told me, it is easy to install. It is straightforward.

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

It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it a nine out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Hariom Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager Technical Support at Rubik Infotech Pvt. Ltd
Real User
Easy to set up and configure with good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "It's very easy to configure."
  • "It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily sell FortiGate to clients. We have customers such as pharmaceutical companies and hospitals that require the security on offer. It is a great firewall. 

What is most valuable?

With many companies dealing with users now working from home, definitely a great feature is the SSL VPN. With that, a user can control everything from their own devices and get connected to the servers even if they are off-site.

The initial setup is easy. It's not overly difficult. 

The solution offers very good security. 

It's a good firewall. It's very easy to configure.

What needs improvement?

We require troubleshooting and those kinds of things. We have to worry about debugging. It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics. That would be much better. FortiGate has only CLI-based diagnostic capabilities. Sometimes it's become very difficult to do all this troubleshooting.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been handling security solutions lie FortiGate for ten to 15 years at this point. It's been a while. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are some bugs you have to deal with. There's some troubleshooting that needs to be done. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution isn't scalable per se as it is hardware. However, you can always buy more hardware to expand it if you need to. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good. You get very good support from this product overall. We're quite satisfied with their level of service. 

How was the initial setup?

The implementation process is not complex. It's an easy solution. It's not complex setting everything up.

What other advice do I have?

We are resellers of security products. 

New users should be aware that this solution offers very good security. The different level of security we have in Fortinet, in general, is good. They can use various security products to help protect their organizations.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
PeerSpot user
IT Infrastructure Engineer at Communication Progress
Real User
Scalable, Easy to implement, security fabric integration, wireless controller, low cost, stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
  • "Vulnerability scanning could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case of this solution for our clients is for protecting internal networks with data center firewalls, internal segmentation and next generation firewalls. 

We are a gold partner of Fortinet.

What is most valuable?

SD-WAN, Security fabric integration, two-factor authentication, ADVPN, Dynamic routing, single pane of glas managements are great features. FortiGate is very easy to use, and to configure.

What needs improvement?

I think some improvements could be made in vulnerability scanning. I'd also like to see additional features in the authentication. They support RADIUS, LDAP  but the solution doesn't have API integration with other solutions. They have API in FortiAuthenticator, but not in the firewall and not all customers want to buy another solution. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been providing this solution to clients for seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable. They have now built hyperscale firewalls and it's very easy. Also VMs, for example, is very easy to scale, you just need to adjust the licensing. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very, very good. They respond quickly and provide the solution to the problem. 

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

I have previously used Check Point and Cisco ASA. In terms of cost and security features, Fortinet has the advantage and it's also easy to implement. Cisco and Check Point are a little bit more difficult in that aspect. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple, as with all Fortinet technologies. Deployment time depends on the situation. For small customers it takes about one to two hours. For larger companies with different kinds of firewalls in their infrastructure, it may take a day or two, it depends on the complexity of the network, the infrastructure and the size of the business. The solution is suitable for any size company. Maintenance depends on the contract with our customers, but Fortinet includes support with every license. If a customer wants support from us, we provide it. 

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

Fortinet offers four types of licensing - Advanced Threat Protection, Unified Threat Protection and Enterprise Protection and 360 degree Protection.  Licensing costs are dependent on the VM  or Hardware model, not per features. For example if vm or Hardware model supports 200 IPsec tunnels you can setup 200 IPsec tunnels, it doesn't matter what kind of license you have. 

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend this solution. 

I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10. 

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
IT Director at Guangdong Technion Institute of Technology
Real User
Includes an antivirus, IPS, and even SD-WAN
Pros and Cons
  • "The notable features that I have found most valuable are that it includes the antivirus, and also IPS, and even SD-WAN."
  • "FortiGate support could do some improvements on their IPv6 configuration. Right now it's still in the very early stage for utilizing in an enterprise level network environment."

What is our primary use case?

This Fortinet product is a firewall system, acting as our perimeter firewall. Generally speaking we use this system as a security product to defend from any attacks and to protect our internal network. We are very happy with the security features afforded by this product.

What is most valuable?

The notable features that I have found most valuable are that it includes the antivirus, IPS, and even SD-WAN.

What needs improvement?

In terms of what could be improved, the FortiGate support could do some improvements on their IPv6 configuration. Right now it's still in the very early stage for utilizing in an enterprise level network environment

In terms of the FortiGate IPS, we haven't gotten additional tools because they are not free, and we have to purchase them to maximize this IPS feature. As long as they can perform some basic functions to meet our business needs, that is okay. I'm okay with this feature right now, so far.

In the next release of FortiGate the price could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate since May of 2018.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a very scalable product.

It is managed by the IT department, so only they use it.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their support is quite good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is quite simple.

Not including the preparation, setup took about three days to just unpack them, connect it to the power, power it on, and do some initial configuration. That's just the three days, but we took about two weeks for the preparation and planning.

What about the implementation team?

We had an external partner to help us and to work together with us to do the initial setup.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale of one to ten I would give Fortinet FortiGate an eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1450398 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reseller
Flexible and easy to use, with good support, but they should introduce security at the packet level
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."
  • "Fortinet currently has many products bundled with FortiGate including the basic firewall and load balancer, and I think that that they need to have separate product portfolios for each of these specialized services."

What is our primary use case?

We use this product as a perimeter firewall and also in the role of a firewall as a service for our cloud.

What is most valuable?

FortiGate is flexible and easy to use.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet currently has many products bundled with FortiGate including the basic firewall and load balancer, and I think that that they need to have separate product portfolios for each of these specialized services. When it comes to large deployments, I don't think it's a good plan to have all of these services in a single box.

I think that they should introduce in-line security at the packet level, where they can do filtering and other firewall functions. It should not comes down to the infrastructure level but rather, offer services at the ISP level.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using FortiGate for the past four to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This product is scalable and as a service provider, we extend our usage to external customers. There are many users on the platform.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have premium support from Fortinet and it is quite good.

What about the implementation team?

We used their Professional Services for the initial installation.

We have a large in-house team for maintenance, although I am not sure how many are dedicated to this particular product.

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

The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range.

What other advice do I have?

This is a product that I can recommend to others.

I would rate this solution 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: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.