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Kirubel Markos - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Sep 25, 2022
User-friendly setup, beneficial APIs, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."
  • "The customers have seen an ROI from using Fortinet FortiGate and they are satisfied with the solution."
  • "The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate is used as a firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.

All sizes of organizations can use this solution. All levels of a company are using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a three out of five.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is very simple and user-friendly. The configuration for the solution is easy. The time it takes for the deployment depends on the environment of the company. It can take a week, but typically it takes three to four days.

What about the implementation team?

We have more than six certified engineers in our company that can do the deployment of the solution.

What was our ROI?

The customers have seen an ROI from using Fortinet FortiGate. They are satisfied with the solution.

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

The price of Fortinet FortiGate is affordable. Most of our customers are on a three-year license to use the solution. All the features and support are included in the price.

I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate 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
PeerSpot user
ICT Professional at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Sep 14, 2022
Fully integrates with our infrastructure appliances, offering useful application control capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The most useful feature of FortiGate IPS for me is Application Control."
  • "The support is good because, although the response time for tickets may occasionally take some time, at the end of the day they have always solved the issue at hand."
  • "FortGate's IPS reporting could be made better by giving more details regarding the source and destination of network traffic when it comes to the overview section. This would allow me to more easily follow the flow of traffic based on IP addresses, without having to integrate the IPS with other products that perform more sophisticated traffic analysis."

What is our primary use case?

Our infrastructure includes both FortiGate (81E series) and Cisco Meraki appliances, and we have fully integrated FortiGate IPS with these devices. Essentially, whenever I secure the WAN and LAN and enhance them with security profiles, I will use the IPS's Web Filtering and Application Control features.

What is most valuable?

The most useful feature of FortiGate IPS for me is Application Control.

What needs improvement?

FortGate's IPS reporting could be made better by giving more details regarding the source and destination of network traffic when it comes to the overview section. This would allow me to more easily follow the flow of traffic based on IP addresses, without having to integrate the IPS with other products that perform more sophisticated traffic analysis.

Another improvement, that may only tangentially relate to the IPS, would be to include more functionality and details regarding SD-WAN (such as the ISDB), in order to make it more secure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for about seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fine, but it would be even better if we were to deploy another appliance for higher availability of access, such that there is no downtime at all.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the IPS fits my current needs well. If we were to take on more users, however, we would likely have to change both our appliance and the license.

How are customer service and support?

The support is good because, although the response time for tickets may occasionally take some time, at the end of the day they have always solved the issue at hand. What is also nice is that they can connect with you remotely and help support you at any point.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup was easy for me because I deploy appliances off all kinds and sizes, large and small. I would give the setup a 4/5 in terms of ease.

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

I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle.

What other advice do I have?

Given my experience and the fact that FortiGate are a leader in the market, I would rate FortiGate IPS a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
August 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Crewmem67 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at College Notre Dame de Nazareth
Real User
Aug 15, 2022
Reliable, great pricing, and capable of expanding
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing on offer is excellent."
  • "The price is pretty reasonable; it's not like Cisco or Palo Alto, which are more expensive."
  • "It could always be more secure."
  • "It takes a long time to install the solution."

What is our primary use case?

This is a Secure Web Gateway that protects you against various web attacks. It's used mainly for security purposes. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is stable. It's reliable. 

It can scale. 

The pricing on offer is excellent.

What needs improvement?

It takes a long time to install the solution.

It could always be more secure. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for three or four years. I've used it for a while at this point. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. Its performance has been good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is okay. It can expand well. 

We have 200 people using the solution. We do have plans to continue to increase usage. 

How are customer service and support?

I've never reached out to techncial support. I can't speak to their abilities. 

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

I also have experience with Cisco and Palo Alto. About five years ago, we were using Cisco. We changed due to the better pricing. 

How was the initial setup?

I don't directly deal with the deployment. Someone else handles that process. 

My understanding is the implementation takes a long time. 

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

The price is pretty reasonable. It's not like Cisco or Palo Alto, which are more expensive. 

I'd rate the cost, in terms of affordability, a five out of five. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. I'd likely recommend the solution to others. 

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
Quality Trainer at MOH
Real User
Jun 10, 2022
Stable, good local support, but security features lacking
Pros and Cons
  • "The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a central firewall for our ministry, but nowadays we are preparing to join every site we have to our main data center. Fortinet FortiGate firewall will not satisfy our needs.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution.

The main challenge to IT is hacking, and damaging the network software. Anything that can make a threat to our servers,  accounts, VC, from an email or internet connection. We need all companies to make investments to improve the facilities of these devices in order to provide a one-package solution to protect our servers, and systems from any hacking, ransomware, virus, any command, or any other threats. They need to improve all the security features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. The main risk was the devices and systems that the end-users are using, whether inside or outside the network. The VC was not secure enough. This causes some threats to our headquarters servers.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate has limited scalability capabilities. You can't expand these devices. For example, if I was to go from 150 users to approximately 5,000, the CBU capability of the device would not suffice.

How are customer service and support?

The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was very complex because our connection to other sites that were using different network topology and ISP providers. We have faced a very complex situation. The company takes approximately three to four months in order to make our system stable. Nowadays, we are going to make our provider and network with one subnet to make it easier to maintain, manage, and monitor any attack and threats from any device anywhere. This will allow us to access devices, ports, and switches to be able to take the right action.

Our network was very complicated and we are using different operating systems, databases, applications, and video.

What about the implementation team?

We used Fortinet's local partners that helped maintain our financial and management systems.

We have one to two people that do the maintenance of Fortinet FortiGate.

What was our ROI?

I have not seen a return on investment using Fortinet FortiGate.

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

We have the full version of Fortinet FortiGate and we are on a three-year contract with a commitment of five years.

What other advice do I have?

We will be replacing two of our Fortinet FortiGate devices and will move to a solution with better specifications.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven 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
IT Manager at SICOM LTD
Real User
Jun 7, 2022
Good pricing, scalable, and helpful for controlling the traffic
Pros and Cons
  • "We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites, and we are also using it for the VPN and VLANs."
  • "It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."

What is our primary use case?

It controls the inflow and outflow of all the communication between different sites and so on. 

We are using its latest version.

What is most valuable?

We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs.

What needs improvement?

It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified.

When there is a change in the IP address from the ISP, there is some disruption in the service. So, we try to do it when we have the least number of people working, which means very late at night. So, for the time being, it is working fine.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for nearly a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Apart from the disruption in the service because of the IP address change, it has been quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are implementing it phase by phase. Initially, we had one VLAN, and then we added more. So, it is quite scalable, and we haven't had issues with it so far. It has been recommended by the vendor that the model that we have would meet our requirements for the time being. In two or three years, depending on how we expand and how many more resources are required, we might have to look at another version of the device.

How was the initial setup?

It was the vendor who did the initial setup. It was done within the time range that was allocated for the setup. My guess is that it was straightforward.

We are still in the process of implementing the solution. The commissioning has not yet been done. What we had previously is now changed to a new solution and a new way of doing things, and this is still in the implementation phase. Our implementation is being done phase-wise. We do things and tune it until we are happy with it, and then we go to the next phase. So far, it's working fine. 

What about the implementation team?

We have a relationship with the vendor. We discussed what we wanted to do and finally, we selected the product, and after that, it was installed and configured on our premises. 

We have a small team of three or four people for deployment and maintenance.

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

Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it 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
Luis Teran - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at Cyber Sea
Real User
May 26, 2022
Is affordable and easy to deploy, and has good license management features
Pros and Cons
  • "The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
  • "The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
  • "The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through."

What is our primary use case?

The use case for this product has to do with security and visibility. When you are inside the business and when there are different departments and branches, it is used for the visibility of some packets. It can also be used for SSL inspections, to check if the SSL is right and that it is not phishing.

What is most valuable?

The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE.

The simplicity of the deployment and the digitization of risk are other valuable features that Fortinet provides.

The cost is low.

What needs improvement?

The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment.

All the development of the firmware should be fixed before the update at the page level.

API tokens need to be improved, particularly with regard to integration with other cloud solutions. In other words, proxy flow and API integration need improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I haven't had any problem with the stability of the product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. You can merge other Fortinet products well with this solution.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

The deployment and maintenance can be done by one person.

What about the implementation team?

I did it myself. To create all the policies and configurations needed by the customers, it usually takes me two days or a week at the most if the project is harder.

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

The price is really low. It's cheap in comparison to the cost of Cisco or CheckPoint, for example.

What other advice do I have?

If you want to get this product, first you must evaluate the number of people who will use it, and then choose the product that will best fit your needs.

I would rate this solution at eight on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Costa Mitsios - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Technical Director at Space Hellas S.A.
Real User
Apr 12, 2022
Useful URL filtering, scalable, and quick installation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering."
  • "We have used many other solutions, such as Check Point and Cisco Firepower, and I have found Fortinet FortiGate is much easier to configure."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall appliance.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I used Fortinet FortiGate within the last 12 months.

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. We have not had any problems.

We have approximately 150 people using Fortinet FortiGate in my organization. Everyone is using it.

How are customer service and support?

I rate the technical support from Fortinet FortiGate a three out of five.

There is room for improvement.

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

We have used many other solutions, such as Check Point and Cisco Firepower. I have found Fortinet FortiGate is much easier to configure. However, some others solutions have more functionality, such as Check Point and Cisco Firepower.

How was the initial setup?

I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.

If we properly designed the installation beforehand, the installation would take us 10 to 15 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation in-house.

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

We are on an annual license to use Fortinet FortiGate.

I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I 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
Sunil Kumar Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Of Information Technology at Al Falah University
Real User
Apr 11, 2022
Useful intrusion detection, high availability, and robust
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has many valuable features, such as IDS, and intrusion detection. It has security features that are in part with the technologies that are available in the market."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate has been a Perimeter Security which defends our network from Internet attackers, armed with zero-day exploits of common Internet services like HTTP and SMTP."
  • "One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."
  • "One of the features that I would like to have is endpoint protection, this should be integrated."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate is used as a network firewall.

How has it helped my organization?

Fortinet has been a Perimeter Security which defends our network from Internet attackers, armed with zero-day exploits of common Internet services like HTTP and SMTP. We applied access-control lists to limit classes of VPN users' access to only what they need as a support team or solution deployers. We Shut off unused network services and defended critical resources first. We Build Internet-style perimeters for partner extranets. We also built secured wireless access.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate UTM has many valuable features, such as application control, advanced persistent threat protection, Web and content filtering, IP reputation, integrated WLAN controller, intrusion prevention system, data loss prevention, and antimalware, antivirus, and antispam. It has security features that are in level with the Firewall technologies that are available in the market.

What needs improvement?

One of the features that I would like to have is endpoint protection, this should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 6 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate has high availability, which means that we have deployed two firewalls. In case of any failure of a device, the other one will continue to work. Our university stays online 100% of the time.

Fortinet FortiGate is quite robust. I haven't had any kind of hardware issue. The system has been running very smoothly with all the upgrades as far as I have continued my support with Fortinet. We keep renewing the support every year, which gives us the eligibility for all the updates.

How are customer service and support?

I used the Fortinet FortiGate support a long time ago. There was a small feature that was not functioning as per the documentation. When they released the latest firmware and the issue was resolved. They provide prompt support.

I would rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a five out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward we had an right person in-house for deploying it. Moreover, If required, Fortinet has its support extended to us. We can approach them anytime and they can assist us with any kind of complicated configuration.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the Fortinet using an in-house Technical support team.

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

There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support.

The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable compared to other solutions.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have evaluated many other solutions, such as Sophos. If you look at Sophos, it has its own endpoint protection. It keeps a record of each client, what are the threats that have happened on each client level, and if there is a ransomware attack. It blocks it and notifies the firewall. I would be able to see a single dashboard view of what kind of threat has happened and how to mitigate them all.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiGate is a good solution overall. It is very user-friendly and all the policies are very easy to deploy. I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to any new users who want to have a secure infrastructure.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

There are some better industry-standard solutions out there in the market, and compared to them, Fortinet FortiGate has to be more flexible enough with their solution to be more competitive.

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
Rudi Machilek - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Brightstar Communications, Inc
Reseller
Apr 6, 2022
Integrated management is a great feature and the UI is user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "Integrated management would probably be the most valuable feature."
  • "IPs are not handled well and the process is unnecessarily complicated."
  • "The biggest problem we have is the way they handle virtual IPs. It's not handled well at all and even pfSense handles that better."

What is our primary use case?

Any time a firewall is deployed at a customer site, we'll use the intrusion detection, mostly on the input side, on VPN connections, as well as forward connections and established related environments. If you go to a website, you want to be sure it returns the content that it should, for instance. So we'll use IPS both for user traffic originating from behind the firewall, inbound NAT PAT, as well as for VPN connections. We are partners with Fortinet. 

What is most valuable?

Integrated management would probably be the most valuable feature. I can take a single FortiGate and manage switches and access points from a single login. I think it's on par with a Palo or a Check Point. I also like their sandbox. The solution covers what we need for most environments, whether small, midsize or enterprise. That aside, the user interface is pretty good and the packet capture works fairly well. The CLI is their own flavor of everything, but that's going to be true for just about anybody that's out there. IPS has widespread capabilities.

What needs improvement?

The biggest problem we have is the way they handle virtual IPs. It's not handled well at all and even pfSense handles that better. There are three different ways to configure it, depending on whether it is an internal or a through process, and it's just unnecessarily complicated. It would be nice if everybody got together and agreed on some language in their CLIs, but that's not going to happen. If you only dealt with one product on a regular basis, then the problem wouldn't be as evident.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for many years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is relative because a given platform only has so much horsepower. It's not too bad to move from one platform to another, as long as they're on the same software rev. If they're not, then you run into the typical hassles where a backup from an earlier rev doesn't cleanly install on a newer rev. It would be nice if that was a little bit cleaner. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is excellent. The first-line tech support is pretty quick about establishing whether they're going to be able to address a given problem. They can often escalate it on the phone, but they're also pretty good and timely if you're going through email. Once you have somebody assigned, it's pretty good.
We also have great local engineering support here in North Carolina. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup isn't too complicated for a single WAN. You have to assign your name, your address, set up your aliases and then build rules. I think the VPN configuration could be a little simpler, but it's no harder than setting it up on a SonicWall, for instance. The setup can be done in less than an hour, including running updates and registration. A single person can deploy 10 switches, a pair of FortiGates in HA, and let's say 10 access points. One person will do the programming and then all installation is done by two specialists by code.

What was our ROI?

Fortigate is as cost-effective as its competitors. As the boxes get big, it gets pretty expensive but that's for large organizations that have a substantial IT budget.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is to go through some basic training before trying to take it out of the box because the language that's used to configure FortiGate is not the language used on the Cisco ASA or on WatchGuard, or Juniper. The language is a little different so what you think you're configuring and what you're able to configure are two different things. The way that the policies are applied is different than it is from other boxes. So just because you have a technician-level cert with Cisco, you will not be able to successfully configure a VPN on a FortiGate. 

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Mario De Keer - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastructure & Service Manageer at Cerba Research
Real User
Apr 6, 2022
Has a clear pricing policy, and with VDOMs, we can split the rules and policies between two different companies
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to use. We chose this product for the possibility to have virtual domains (VDOMs). We are building another company in the group, and we would like to split the firewalling rules and policies between these two companies. Each company would be able to manage its own policies and security rules, which is an advantage of Fortinet FortiGate. We can define VDOMs, and every company can manage its own VDOM as if it has its own physical firewall, but in fact, we would be using the same physical appliance because we are also using the same internet lines. So, it allows us to reuse the existing resources without the disadvantage of having to compromise on policies and security. Each company can choose its own way of working."
  • "We found FortiGate better, and we switched everything, decommissioned all SonicWall firewalls, and now benefit from clear licensing where we know the price without complex user-based or function-based subscriptions."
  • "We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

What is our primary use case?

It is used as a defense mechanism for securing the internal network from the external network. We also use it to have VPN tunnels between us and our partners and the support organizations we work with.

We are using FortiGate 200F.

What is most valuable?

We are mostly using it as a defense mechanism. It has many more possibilities, but at this moment, it is only used for defense against attacks. It is doing what it should do with the FortiGuard subscription on it, which is an advanced security subscription.

It is easy to use. We chose this product for the possibility to have virtual domains (VDOMs). We are building another company in the group, and we would like to split the firewalling rules and policies between these two companies. Each company would be able to manage its own policies and security rules, which is an advantage of Fortinet FortiGate. We can define VDOMs, and every company can manage its own VDOM as if it has its own physical firewall, but in fact, we would be using the same physical appliance because we are also using the same internet lines. So, it allows us to reuse the existing resources without the disadvantage of having to compromise on policies and security. Each company can choose its own way of working.

What needs improvement?

I don't see any area of improvement at this moment. I'm responsible for the IT infrastructure. I'm not a security specialist. The IT security is being managed by the CSO in our company. 

We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine.

For how long have I used the solution?

It has been a little over a year since we have the firewall cluster in place.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but we received an update of the firmware, and since then, it has been stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is being implemented for everybody. It is our security layer.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is good. We had some issues in the beginning, and they were resolved within a couple of days after we explained what we were trying to do. They confirmed that it is a bug, and they would give us a fix. A couple of days later, we had the fix.

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

We were using SonicWall firewalls. We found FortiGate better, and we switched everything. We decommissioned all SonicWall firewalls. One of the reasons why we changed from SonicWall was that its licensing was user-based and function-based. So, every time we did something, we had to add another license or subscription. The licensing of FortiGate is clear. We know what is the price.

We migrated last year from a typical MPLS network to a complete and only one network between the sites. For firewalls, we now have a few solutions in place in our headquarters. We have Fortinet Firewall Cluster, and on the remote sites, we are using Meraki firewalls that are being used as a router at the same time. 

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to use.

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

Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it 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.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: August 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.