Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

We have both on-premises as well as virtual firewall servers. We have quite a few FortiGate firewalls as part of our infrastructure. We are using Check Point more from the perimeter perspective. It is only there on the perimeter.

The virtual firewall feature is the most valuable. We have around 1,500 firewalls. We did not buy individual hardware, and the virtual firewalls made sense because we don't have to keep on buying the hardware. 

FortiGate is easier to use as compared to Checkpoint devices. It is user friendly and has a good UI. You don't need much expertise to work on this firewall. You don't need to worry much about DCLA, commands, and things like that.

FortiGate is really good. We have been using it for quite some time. Initially, when we started off, we had around 70 plus devices of FortiGate, but then Check Point and Palo Alto took over the place. From the product perspective, there are no issues, but from the account perspective, we have had issues. 

Fortinet's presence in our company is very less. I don't see any Fortinet account managers talking to us, and their presence has diluted in the last two and a half or three years. We have close to 1,500 firewalls. Out of these, 60% of firewalls are from Palo Alto, and a few firewalls are from Check Point. FortiGate firewalls are very less now. It is not because of the product; it is because of the relationship. I don't think they had a good relationship with us, and there was some kind of disconnect for a very long time. The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate.

I have been using FortiGate for the last four to five years.

It is stable.

I currently have about 36 to 40 devices that are being used. We use a certain number of devices from business to business.

We were not getting proper support from Fortinet. That's the reason we had to phase out FortiGate.

We implemented it on our own. It took around one hour. We have one or two engineers for its deployment and maintenance. 

We installed FortiGate four or five years ago. We are just phasing out FortiGate and not doing new installations of FortiGate. Whichever model is getting end of life, we're just replacing it with a Palo Alto device. We can use it in the future, but I don't see any presence of Fortinet in my company at this time. I see a lot of push from Palo Alto, Check Point, and other vendors, but I don't see Fortinet around at all.

With the current COVID situation, I don't know how FortiGate behaves when working from home, which is an entirely different concept. In other firewalls, we create HIP profiles and similar stuff, but I am not sure how FortiGate works in such an environment.

I would definitely recommend this solution, but I think Fortinet has to first create a presence. That is more important. Nobody says anything bad about the product. The product is still widely being used.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

FortiGate is a popular firewall in Turkey due to its widespread use and strong performance. Technical experts can easily be found for FortiGate, which is very important. Almost every company uses FortiGate internally. FortiGate is user-friendly and reliable, offering good performance at a reasonable cost.

You can integrate certain other services with FortiGate and use additional threat intelligence services because they allow you to combine various solutions, enhancing your overall security.

FortiGate may include AI capabilities and integrate external threat intelligence. However, version management and backup/restore operations could be improved.

I have been using FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall as a reseller for 15 years.

With high availability, this FortiGate allows one device to take over for another seamlessly in case of failure.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

FortiGate is scalable because it supports various models that can accommodate different dimensions. It is suitable for all types of businesses.

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

The initial setup is easy. The firewall setup involves more than just physical installation and basic configurations. It includes customizing specific policies and configurations tailored to the customer's needs, which can take up to two or three days for a single firewall. This process is resource-intensive both in terms of cost and time.

I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The product is cheap.

FortiGate Firewall offers advanced threat intelligence capabilities. It allows integration with various threat services, such as Cisco Talos. If you are a customer of both FortiGate and Cisco for threat intelligence, you can integrate Cisco Talos with FortiGate, which enhances security effectiveness through Intelligence.

I recommend FortiGate for every company. It's a highly effective solution that can significantly enhance firewall security. You can easily find technical guides to help you understand its capabilities. FortiGate is known for its reliability and robust features.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution in our network.

IPsec is valuable. Internet filters are valuable features. The solution is secure. The VPN is good.

The performance can be improved.

The tool is stable.

We have around 90 users.

We contacted support while we worked with IPsec. The support team helped us.

Positive

The deployment of IPsec took around 5 hours for 90 users.

The security provided by the product is our return on investment.

The tool is moderately priced. We pay $500 per year for the license.

Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate SWG for firewall, antivirus, scanning, and web filtering.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are IPS and scanning. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is also easy to use.

The solution’s stability could be improved.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for six years.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG an eight out of ten for stability.

Around 60 users use Fortinet FortiGate SWG in our organization.

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.

We implemented the solution through an in-house team.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other users.

Overall, I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case is for protection. We have general use cases.

It is a very user-friendly solution. Moreover, Foritgate offers good performance, where it outperforms Cisco Firepower in various ways.

The solution doesn't cover all aspects of protection. There should be better customization in the IPS. The Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and FortiGuard could benefit from enhancement. 

So, in future releases, I want to see improvements in IPS, particularly in terms of customization.

I have been using this solution for ten years. 

The firewall is very stable and reliable.

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. There's always room for improvement.

We have around three to four customers using this solution.

I can't use the technical support because of some sanctions in Iran. 

The setup process is easy and very fast. The setup process is very fast, typically taking only one to two days.

The purchasing process is straightforward, and then the normal deployment process. 

Moreover, a single person can handle the deployment and maintenance tasks.

There is a licensing fee; it is on a yearly basis. The pricing iss actually quite normally priced. 

I have used Cisco. I find impressive about Cisco is its powerful enterprise-grade solution, comparable to Fortinet firewall. FortiGate is not superior to Cisco, but it stands out for its user-friendly interface.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. It is a suitable solution for medium-range companies due to its well-designed user interface.

The usability of the solution is its best feature. The product has a great UI. The UI is seamless and easier to navigate compared to other firewalls. The reporting and logging are good too. Additionally, Fortinet Security Fabric is another great feature.

Being a great product, some changes in the pricing would make it a great choice for even more organizations.

I have been using the solution for two to three years.

I rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten.

Currently, we have around ten customers. Our customers are mostly medium-sized businesses. We also have small and enterprise-level customers.

I rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten. FortiGate's VDOM is a great feature for scalability.

Support is good. A local organization provides us with first-level support. I have raised a few cases with them.

Positive

I rate the ease of setup a nine out of ten. Most organizations like to have everything deployed within the premises. The initial setup can be done within a few hours if the planning is done beforehand. The policies and other requirements are added gradually.

In our country, pricing is very important. The product is not cheap. Although companies do invest in one-time setup, retaining license renewal is not the same for every organization. I rate the pricing a five out of ten. Support should be purchased as per various levels and other licenses for security features, like Application Control and Web Filtering, should also be purchased.

Overall, it is a great technology to use. It is imperative to train employees to get the best out of the product and robust implementation. FortiGate has a great learning platform and commendable documentation for that which should be utilized. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

FortiGate is a great solution, although initially, it faced challenges in the Brazilian market due to lower brand recognition than Cisco. However, explaining and demonstrating its product format and offerings has proven easy. The cost-effectiveness and better features of FortiGate have made some clients skeptical. We set up a trial period, and they eventually opted for it. Many clients were convinced it was great after experiencing the solution's capabilities firsthand.

I believe the package offered by FortiGate provides great value for the solution. It integrates well, allowing us to use Wi-Fi solutions, switches, and firewalls with a centralized management portal. The security it provides is great and one of the best in the market.

One area of improvement I've noticed is the lack of built-in monitoring capabilities in the firewall. Currently, we rely on third-party solutions for monitoring purposes. However, I believe the firewall itself has the potential to do a better job in this aspect.

Another aspect of Fortinet that concerns me is related to redundancy. We have a setup with two firewalls working in parallel, which requires a highly adaptable configuration. However, it feels unfair that clients need to purchase two licenses, especially when one of the firewalls serves as a backup. We have noticed that other manufacturers have different policies on this matter.

We have been using the solution for the past 20 years.

I rate the stability of the solution as a nine out of ten.

I rate the scalability of the solution as a seven out of ten.

We have encountered some issues with the support. Although it is included in the solution, the support could be faster.

Neutral

The initial setup was straightforward.

There has been a return on investment.

When comparing this solution to others, I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of pricing. However, the issue of requiring a separate license for redundancy is a drawback, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.

The advice I can offer is to compare the entire solution with its competitors. While certain narrow aspects might show some glitches and areas for improvement, when viewed completely, it becomes evident that Fortinet is a great solution. Overall, I would rate the solution as a nine out of ten.

Our clients use the solution to ensure their environment is secured on all the layers. The application layer all the way to the networking. That's one of the main reasons they use the product in their environment.

It's a seamless product, and it's not buggy. The updates we receive from FortiGate are one of the most important features. The product is user-friendly and not complex.

The solution must improve the support provided for customers around the globe, considering the time differences in different places. The product could add some functionalities and features provided by its competitors to stay ahead in the market.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The product is stable. We haven't had issues so far. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

The solution is scalable in most cases. It all depends on the customer's requirements. We haven't yet come across a situation whereby scaling is not possible. Our clients are small, medium, and enterprise businesses. Currently, one of our customers is not able to reach the specific level of scalability that they require so far. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

The support is great. However, support needs to improve constantly. Even though they are good, they should try to stay ahead of the competitors.

Positive

The solution is easy to install. The ease of setup depends upon the customer’s requirements. I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten.

The time to deploy the product depends on the clients’ requirements because we have to work hand in hand with the service provider. If we have to terminate a link on the firewall and everything from the networking perspective is all in place, it might just take a couple of minutes to deploy.

We need just need one to three engineers to deploy the solution. It depends on the magnitude of the client. The solution requires maintenance. More than three people are needed to maintain the product.

The product is a little bit expensive. The certifications cost $400. Other vendors provide it for an average of $200 to $300. The product has an annual licensing fee. Additional costs depend on the user's requirements.

People looking to use the product must ensure they have enough engineers who know how to work with it. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.