No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
Network administrator at PISystems
Real User
Sep 17, 2023
Provides efficient features for malware analysis, but its pricing needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The product has an inbuilt IPS software. We can configure it to block specific anonymous attacks that are happening."
  • "They should provide us with a CSV number for patch updates. It will help us block specific signatures as well."

What is our primary use case?

We use the FortiGate IPS solution to analyze malware. When we receive attacks, we analyze the IPs.

What is most valuable?

The product has an inbuilt IPS software. We can configure it to block specific anonymous attacks that are happening.

What needs improvement?

They should provide us with a CSV number for patch updates. It will help us block specific signatures as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for four years. We are using the latest version.

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.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable, but we need to monitor IPs as new patches are released daily. Attackers will use these new patches to develop new attack methods and signatures. We need to ensure that our FortiGate IPS is up-to-date with the latest patches. We can get the logs and see if anything we have detected is suspicious. It includes programs, applications, files, or anything else. We investigate suspicious activity and act appropriately, such as blocking IP addresses or updating policy analytics.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. I sometimes have enterprise clients, but my client base is mostly small businesses. We have to implement the entire setup for them. In addition to the endpoint solution and firewall, we need to create IP addresses for users and define their services. Then, we can protect these resources from FortiGate by enabling the IPS upgrade.

How are customer service and support?

There is a customer support portal number. We can create a case there and upload our details. They provide support services instantly.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. The default CSV is already updated so that we can block those threats. We have to update the block list from the policy settings.

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

The product is expensive. I rate its pricing a six out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

Enterprises use Fortinet FortiGate IPS because it protects government or critical infrastructure networks. For small businesses, IPS may be sufficient. Overall, I rate it a six 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
Yuvaraj P - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Security Engineer at Viroka Technology Private Limited
Real User
Aug 17, 2023
An easy-to-install product offering web filtering, application control, and SSL inspection to its users
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is easy to install since we only need to follow the user manual, documents, and articles provided by Fortinet to install the product."
  • "Fortinet's support team consists of a huge networking team, because of which there is a delay in response at times."

What is our primary use case?

In my company, we use the product for the help it provides us in terms of SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, RADIUS authentication, web filtering, application control, SSL inspection, and remote access.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN and site-to-site VPN.

What needs improvement?

In version 7.2.0, the product offers built-in automation to its users. Earlier, there was no automation offered for the product. Nowadays, the product sends automatic emails to users as a part of its offering to let the users know whenever there is a need for automatic backup when the ISP goes down and the interface status. The automation can be further improved.

Fortinet's support team consists of a huge networking team, because of which there is a delay in response at times. Fortinet's support team needs to improve their time management skills.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for five years and six months. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution since the product offers a FortiGuard server that detects vulnerabilities and ensures such detection of vulnerabilities also involves FortiGate.

My company currently works with basic and mid-level sized businesses.

How are customer service and support?

Whenever our company's customers face any issue with the product, we offer our own support team. Fortinet also has its own support team. If required, our company lodges complaints and the issues faced by our customers with Fortinet. Fortinet's support team initiates the replacement if there is a hardware issue with the product. The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The product is easy to install since we only need to follow the user manual, documents, and articles provided by Fortinet to install the product.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

Just getting the product up and running can take up to forty-five minutes to an hour. The full setup process is carried out based on the requirements of our company's customers, and it can be done in half an hour to forty-five minutes if it is only for basic internet.

In our company, we need around ten engineers for the maintenance and deployment of the solution. The maintenance of the solution is easy since we keep getting constant updates which we can easily use to update the product.

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

I am unaware of pricing since I am a part of the networking team. My company's sales team manages pricing.

What other advice do I have?

My company basically provides Fortinet FortiGate SWG to our customers. If our company's customers are looking at Palo Alto products, we have another team in our company to provide them with the same. I am an engineer for Fortinet products and can provide support only for Fortinet. There are different sets of engineers managing Palo Alto products.

In Fortinet, you only need one license for all the products. In Palo Alto, for Palo Alto Secure Remote Access, you need to buy a separate license, while there is a need to buy a separate license for Palo Alto SD-WAN. I feel Fortinet products are better since they come in a bundle. With Fortinet, customers don't need to buy different licenses. One can get all the features by installing a single bundled license offered by Fortinet, allowing one to use SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, remote access web filtering, SSL inspection, and application control.

I rate the overall solution 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. 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.
914,109 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Khine Shein Win - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Manager at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
Aug 1, 2023
Enhanced security compared to traditional firewalls, providing protection against various types of attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "I would like to have SD-WAN as a part of the Next Generation Firewall. It would enhance high availability."

What is our primary use case?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

How are customer service and support?

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. 

How was the initial setup?

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

What about the implementation team?

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.

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

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

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

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

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
Shahzad Abbasi - PeerSpot reviewer
IT manager at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jul 24, 2023
With a good design in place, the tool also offers SNAT and DNAT functionalities to its users
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate Next Generation Firewall's design is good...I am very impressed with the product's stability."
  • "The solution's GUI is not very appealing."

What is most valuable?

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall's design is good. Technically, I haven't used many of its features. The primary purpose we use the solution in our organization is for its SNAT and DNAT functionalities. The solution is also used for its vulnerability patching mechanism.

What needs improvement?

The solution's GUI is not very appealing. When using a tool from another vendor, we found the GUI of that tool to be quite appealing. FortiGate Next Generation Firewall uses a very old type of GUI, which is not very appealing. The GUI can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for six months. My company is just a customer of the product.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I am very impressed with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight and a half out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

My company has 2,000 users of the product.

How are customer service and support?

I didn't need any support. The support is good. I wouldn't say the support is bad. I rate the support a seven and a half out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

My company seeks the help of vendors to do the initial setup of the product. After that, we just work on policies, SNAT, DNAT, and virtual IPs.

The setup phase was neither difficult nor easy. I rate the setup phase as three or four out of ten on a scale where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

The solution's deployment took two to three weeks.

Two people were required for the deployment of the product.

What about the implementation team?

The solution's vendor executed the setup phase.

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

The solution's pricing is quite high when compared to other vendors. I rate the pricing an eight and a half on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high.

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend the solution to those planning to use it.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine 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
Principal Cybersecurity Officer at Smart Zambia Institute
Real User
Jul 19, 2023
A brilliant next-generation device with an SD-WAN that facilitates remote access
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is its SD-WAN."
  • "There's a limitation wherein you can only have about 30 virtual or secondary IPs on a particular interface."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is its SD-WAN. The way it has been structured makes life easier. We have used it for remote access, especially at the height of COVID. It works very well.

What needs improvement?

There are times when we would want to set an IP address on a physical interface and then attach secondary IPs or sub-interfaces on that. I'd like to have as many as possible. There's a limitation wherein you can only have about 30 virtual or secondary IPs on a particular interface. I would like that to be expanded to 254 or 256 secondary IPs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall ten out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The good part of the solution is that you can have Virtual Domains (VDOMs) that allow you to use it for multiple use cases. Around 20,000 users are using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall in our organization.

I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Whenever I have a problem and have to call their technical support team, I can email them. In the next few minutes, we'll get on a Zoom or Teams call and exchange notes.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup was easy. I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.

What about the implementation team?

The solution's deployment does not take long. If everything goes fine, you will complete the initial configuration in an hour and test afterward. The testing phase is where you face issues. If you are migrating from another device to FortiGate, you would want everything that was running previously to run even on the newer one.

Three people were required for the solution's deployment, including an external person, myself, and a colleague.

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

I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall a five out of ten for pricing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I learned from some reviews that FortiGate ranks quite highly compared to Palo Alto and Check Point. Considering our budget, we thought we could manage with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall.

What other advice do I have?

I would strongly recommend FortiGate Next Generation Firewall to others because it's a brilliant next-generation device.

Overall, I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall a nine 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
Sony James - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Head at Quoinx Technologies private Limited
Real User
Jul 17, 2023
A tool that is easy to use and implement, which can be useful for routing and reporting purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "Routing and reporting are two areas where the product has an added advantage compared to any other product."
  • "Vulnerabilities owing to viruses in the OS need to be reduced in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall from an improvement perspective."

What is our primary use case?

The use cases of the solution depend on what the customer wants from the tool. If a customer is looking for a core firewall, I provide them with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW). Suppose a customer is looking for a tool from a patch connectivity perspective with multiple branches and wants those branches to be connected to the data center. In that case, we can suggest FortiGate Next Generation Firewall's features to them.

What is most valuable?

Routing and reporting are two areas where the product has an added advantage compared to any other product.

What needs improvement?

Vulnerabilities owing to viruses in the OS need to be reduced in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall from an improvement perspective.

Some vulnerabilities get added to the system every two months, which may be code execution or backend and backdoor issues.

In the future, the product should be able to tackle vulnerabilities. Research and development to increase the product's security capabilities is needed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for a year now. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

From a stability perspective considering OS and if the vulnerabilities are present, I rate the stability a seven out of ten since it creates a lot of issues in general.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We suggest FortiGate Next Generation Firewall to small and medium businesses.

When it comes to enterprise-level businesses, and considering the need for two-layer security, consider a perimeter firewall, while I can suggest FortiGate only at a level of a core firewall. Suppose an enterprise customer has multiple branches and more branch networks. In that case, they need SD-WAN connectivity with security, for which I suggest they go for FortiGate's SD-WAN feature.

In general, it will not be enough for enterprise companies to have only Next Generation Firewall alone.

How are customer service and support?

I am not familiar with the technical support team because my support team works with them. The solution's technical support is good. We do not face many issues when dealing with the solution's technical support team.

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

Previously, we were using Check Point in our company.

Compared to Check Point, FortiGate Next Generation Firewall needs to look at how to improve the way it deals with the vulnerabilities which are not there at Check Point and the security effectiveness provided by Check Point.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to use and implement since anyone can do its configuration part, but there is some requirement for someone with proper technical skills to implement it properly. I can implement anything in any way, but that doesn't mean I can implement any product properly. The implementation requires certain technical expertise.

The implementation of the solution can take two days.

One person is required for the implementation phase.

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

The solution's pricing is competitive.

What other advice do I have?

The usefulness of the product is an aspect that depends on the customers using the tool. We cannot even compare two products and say one is good for the customer and the other is bad. If a customer asks me to be an architect for their data center, I would say that for a perimeter firewall, they need to go for Check Point. Coming to a core firewall, if a customer says that they need two layers of security and two different vendors, it should be Check Point on the perimeter level. At the core level, a customer can go for Fortinet. Certain customers prefer the SD-WAN feature from Fortinet if they have branch firewalls and want an SD-WAN feature too. FortiGate has an added advantage because they have an SD-WAN feature with security that we can provide to their branch devices.

I don't have any suggestions for those planning to use the solution since we are pretty new to the solution, and we need to devote time to be able to comment on the solution.

I rate the overall product 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
Jovan Jovanovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reseller
Top 5
Jul 5, 2023
A highly stable and scalable solution for security with easy setup
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate is a rapidly growing vendor with a wide range of ready-to-use products. Their delivery time is remarkably quick, usually between two to four weeks."
  • "FortiGate NGFW can improve technical support. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad."

What is our primary use case?

We are a distributor of Fortinet products. My role primarily involves importing these products and delivering them to our partners and resellers, who in turn sell them to the end customers.

What is most valuable?

FortiGate is a rapidly growing vendor with a wide range of ready-to-use products. Their delivery time is remarkably quick, usually between two to four weeks. They provide excellent support, especially when it comes to helping resellers who may encounter implementation issues with Fortinet. The technical presales and support teams are readily available to assist them. So, there are definitely several benefits to working with Fortinet.

The interface, pricing, and support are good. FortiGate release new patches and offers regularly. In the integration file, they don't have anything to add because they have a very wide portfolio and models in the next-generation firewalls. FortiGate has a variety of add-on license tools that can be applied to the firewall.

FortiGate should continue to push them to continue to grow up as they've been growing for the last eight years.

What needs improvement?

FortiGate NGFW can improve technical support. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for eight years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We don't have broken devices to be repaired or replaced with new ones, so they are very stable while working.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

We have all types of business models and customers in our portfolio, such as the midsized business, enterprise, entry-level, and small businesses. We are working with all of that with all of the Fortinet solutions.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is very slow. The engineer who answers the technical support call, email, or phone call, whatever the medium may be. The response time is very bad. 

On the other hand, Cisco takes one or two hours to respond, while Fortinet takes a few days. This is an area that they could improve on a global scale.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the solution is easy, which is the most important feature for in-domain-wide resellers, partners, and customers. In the end, if you want to use Fortinet as a firewall administrator in your network, it is highly recommended because it is extremely easy to set up, especially for first-time users.  

Even if you have previous experience with Cisco or Check Point, setting up Fortinet is easy. It is a very user-friendly configuration.

I rate the solution setup a ten out of ten. It is very user-friendly.

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

FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint or Palo Alto and more expensive than Barracuda or Sophos or any smaller brands. The prices fit right where they are on the global market.

What other advice do I have?

I advise you to buy it ASAP because it's a very good product.

From my experience as a distributor, some customers don't buy technical support on the devices. They buy only devices. I will advise them to buy the technical support of FortiCare service. In that case, they will have technical support by phone call, or by mail. They will have a replacement if anything is broken 24/7.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight 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.
PeerSpot user
Abdallah Rukab - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Jun 27, 2023
Helps secure the internal network and perform unified threat management, forward filtering, and application control
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate's ease of management is the most valuable feature."
  • "The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I use Fortinet FortiGate to secure the internal network and perform unified threat management, forward filtering, and application control. This is crucial for the organizations and products I collaborate with on projects. The solution effectively addresses high availability through SD-WAN load balancing. Additionally, we rely on Fortinet FortiGate to resolve remote access issues for our clients.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet FortiGate has helped improve our reporting analysis, ease of management, and enhance the security of our environment.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate's ease of management is the most valuable feature.

FortiGate offers numerous features that are designed to assist end users in gaining a clear understanding of the activities occurring within their network.

What needs improvement?

The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of FortiGate an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of FortiGate a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support has improved compared to the last few times I used it.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I had previously used a different solution but switched to Fortinet FortiGate due to its better price and ease of use.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. Depending on the customer's requirements and environment, the deployment can take anywhere from one day to a couple of weeks and can be completed by a single person.

What about the implementation team?

We implement the solution in-house.

What was our ROI?

I achieve approximately a 30 percent return on investment with FortiGate.

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

Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Fortinet FortiGate is primarily utilized by medium to large organizations, although it can also be employed by small ones.

In terms of maintaining the solution, updates are typically performed to address bugs.

I highly recommend Fortinet FortiGate to others.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Global Chief Information Officer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Jun 20, 2023
Provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls."
  • "It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."

What is our primary use case?

We use FortiGate for our firewall. We have a typical business environment that includes end-user workstations, an ERP, web hosting solutions, etc. It's around 600 endpoints. 

How has it helped my organization?

FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls. We're secured against various outside threats. It's hard to know how effective a firewall is if you aren't experiencing attacks. We haven't been affected, so we've seen the benefits of the solution from day one. 

What is most valuable?

FortiGate provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats. 

What needs improvement?

It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used FortiGate for five years, including my work at my previous company.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

FortiGate is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

FortiGate could be more scalable. 

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

I've used Cisco firewalls previously. FortiGate is a little better in terms of web protection, but it's more expensive. 

How was the initial setup?

We had professional services deploy FortiGate. For maintenance, we have an annual maintenance contract, and there are periodic firmware upgrades. A network admin is responsible for maintenance. 

What was our ROI?

We've seen a return in the form of greater security and threat protection. 

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

FortiGate is a little expensive. In addition to hardware and licensing, there are some implementation and maintenance costs. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten. I would recommend FortiGate, but Cisco is one of the best. The biggest lesson I've learned from using FortiGate is that it's crucial to install and maintain the solution properly. 

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
Paul Duxfield - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at Spark New Zealand
Real User
Jun 15, 2023
An easy-to-configure product with a reasonably good graphical user interface
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is easy to configure."
  • "The web process often has a memory leak."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to provide firewall, cybersecurity, VPN access, and SD-WAN connectivity worldwide.

What is most valuable?

The GUI is reasonably good. The product is easy to configure.

What needs improvement?

The product runs out of memory. The web process often has a memory leak. The support cost could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution’s stability is good. I rate stability a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten. Some customers have 20 users, while others have about 5000 users.

How are customer service and support?

Support is good. It's a bit scripted. It takes a while to get to somebody who knows what they're talking about. It'd be nice to talk to someone technical upfront. Sometimes we have to go through a service desk and go through a whole lot of quick repetitive questions before we get to talk to someone knowledgeable.

How was the initial setup?

I've been working with the product for ten years. I find the initial setup quite simple.

What about the implementation team?

I'm currently deploying 50 units around the country. It'll take me about ten minutes each to configure the solution. Once the product is set up, we need about one or two people to maintain it.

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

The solution’s price has gone up recently, but it's still good value for money compared to the other firewalls we use. Especially for smaller ones, it is good value for money. Our customers pay for licenses annually or once every two to five years. If we have an older version, the support costs get quite high. I rate the support cost a six out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

I work with lots of firewalls. I deploy the product on FortiManager. It'll take me about a day to configure FortiManager. We have lots of customers. I would recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the product 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. Partner
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.