We have some that are doing IPS, and we have some that are for AV. That's basically their main role. We are using one version below the current release.
Security Systems Analyst at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
It works and does its job and has good stability and scalability
Pros and Cons
- "I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job."
- "If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job.
What needs improvement?
If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for probably 20 years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
January 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
They are pretty stable. We never had any real issues with them.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Their scalability is pretty good. We have upgraded and changed them, and we have been running them for 20 years. They run for a long time. We are not replacing them every couple of years, and we have scaled up a lot. We have over 10,000 users behind it. We have three people for maintenance and deployment.
How are customer service and support?
I never had to deal with technical support directly, but I've never heard the guys complain about it.
How was the initial setup?
I never set them up.
What other advice do I have?
We are using FortiGate, but we are switching to Palo Alto. We are just moving over to the new next-gen and do an extra layer or higher layer filtering. Being a government organization, it was RFP, and basically, Palo Alto won the RFP. I wasn't part of the RFP review, so I can't tell which features pushed Palo Alto over the edge or not. For all I know, it could just be price.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten. I would also rate Palo Alto the same.
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.
Technical Account Manager at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Full-featured and priced well, with good bandwidth traffic reporting
Pros and Cons
- "The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
- "I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included."
What is our primary use case?
We are an IT service provider. We provide solutions to our customers based on what their needs are.
How has it helped my organization?
I don't know that it changes the way the organization functions. I think it gives customers more peace of mind knowing that they have this in place, that they have it set up properly, that they can run reports to get the information they need of who is using it, and who the top five users are.
Different areas in reporting that they can get information that they need to know. That it's blocking what needs to be blocked, it's allowing what needs to be allowed, it's doing what it needs to do based on the specific requirements and I don't have to worry about it.
What is most valuable?
There is an enormous amount but it also depends on the customer. Some have to do with the tracking of bandwidth to ensure that the students are not using too much or too little bandwidth.
There is also reporting. The reporting is valuable.
The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point.
What needs improvement?
I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included. You have to buy their cloud module that's an add-on for getting more customized reporting.
It has just about everything that we are looking for and the customer is needing. It's just the reporting part that is lacking in the base application.
Technical support could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I am sure there are bugs or glitches from time to time, but it's not anything that's been problematic or had multiples where it's been an issue.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our clients are small to medium-sized businesses.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is okay. They are not exceptional or awful, they're in the middle.
It's hit or miss on their technical capabilities and who you get and who you talk to.
I would rate them a six or a seven out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't deploy a variety of solutions. Cisco is one we have deployed as well. It's just not as easy to setup. It's all command line, there is not a user interface, it's more expensive, and It doesn't have as much capability.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
There's a lot to it, but it's very easy. It's a web interface and very easy to walk through it.
What other advice do I have?
We deploy both on cloud and on-premises, depending on what the customer's requirements are.
Fortinet solution has received great feedback. It compares well to Palo Alto. It's a lot more expensive.
It's very full-featured solution and it's priced well.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
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. Partner
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Firewall Engineer at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
Good security, easy to install, and offers good performance
Pros and Cons
- "The product offers very good security."
- "The solution lacks multi-language support."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for its security features and performance. We enable features that assist with web filtering, application consoles, and IPS.
What is most valuable?
The performance of the solution is very good.
The product offers very good security.
It's pretty easy to install the solution.
What needs improvement?
The cloud management should improve. There are other manufacturers that have better management cloud solutions. Aruba, for example, is very good at this aspect. Fortinet could look to them as a model of how to do something interesting with management solutions.
Fortinet across the board needs to improve the LAN aspect of their products.
The solution lacks multi-language support.
They could offer access points to small companies and firewalls at those access points. Aruba, in that sense, is much better for smaller organizations as they provide this possibility.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for a few years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. You don't have to deal with bugs or glitches. You don't have it freezing on you. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is pretty scalable. It's flexible. It works with the organization and allows you to expand it as necessary.
In my company, we use FortiGate across several locations. The location with the most number of users has maybe 400 to 500 employees. That said, there is another FortiGate that manages the traffic that goes to the internet for all of the users across locations. We must have around 900 users.
We do plan to continue to use it going forward.
How are customer service and technical support?
The solution does have different levels of support. If the problem is critical, you can escalate it quite well and even get telephone support.
That said, in terms of telephone support, they need to have support provided in the Spanish language. Right now, this is not the case.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
While we concurrently use both Sophos and Fortinet, we're working towards just using Fortinet. I find that the performance of Fortinet is much better than Sophos.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is not complex. It's pretty straightforward. In my case, I have many years of expertise working with FortiGate and therefore it was not difficult. It's quite good and easy to manage.
How long it takes to deploy the solution, depends on what the customers ask you to do. More or less, however, it might take maybe one day to make the initial setup of the unit and the configuration that the customer requests. It may take another day or two to put it on service and check that everything is working properly, once again, based on the requirements of the customer.
What other advice do I have?
I work mostly with firewalls and network equipment including firewalls, switches, and routers. I don't just work with Fortinet. I also work with Sophos, Cisco, and Aruba.
We're using the latest version of the product currently.
Overall, I would rate the solution ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Network Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Very stable, easily customizable, and simple to install
Pros and Cons
- "The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products."
- "There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use the solution for network security - especially for the VPN connection, the remote site connection.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very easy to install.
The services from Fortinet products are very, very good. The WIFI that Fortinet provides for us, for example, is fantastic.
The VPN tunnel is very stable and there is more than one option for the tunnel, which is helpful.
We can customize the product well.
There's a very intelligent solution that they gave us in order to make the VPN connection easy. It is a very, very, very useful tool.
The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet is a very big product. It has FortiGate, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, email security, etc. Due to this, they have some weaknesses in the ISPs, the services. They could improve these aspects. Hotspot services especially could be a lot better.
There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about three years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. That's not a problem at all. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's quite reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale well. If a company needs to expand it, they can.
I have various clients that use the solution and they have a user base that can range anywhere from five users to over 10,000.
I do plan to continue to use the solution in the future, however, I can't speak as to if my clients will expand their services or not.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support, by and large, is very good. Fortinet has a very fast response time for their support tickets. It doesn't matter if the help is coming from the local distributor, or from web support. I don't face any problems with their level of attentiveness. I'm quite satisfied.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I use a wide variety of products in my shop. For example, I also work with Sophos UTM, Cisco, HPE, and Aruba products.
There's a lot of problems in, maybe, let's say, Sophos products. Especially in their support. They have very weak support. Cisco has good support, on the other hand, and a very good product, however, it is too expensive. HPE is a very nice product and has good support, however, it's not a UTM. Therefore, often we end up recommending Fortinet options.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex. It was pretty straightforward.
How long it takes to deploy the solution depends on the company and the configurations required. Sometimes I am able to do it in one day, whereas other times it takes more than one month to complete.
What other advice do I have?
I'm just a customer. I'm using the latest version of the solution. I'm using the F-series. Previously, I used the E-series.
We use the on-premises version of the solution as Fortinet does not yet support the cloud.
I am not an organization, I am in IT support. I have my own agency for installing such devices. I use it for some universities which is more than 10,000 students in some cases. I also use it in some factories which have four to five users. It works just as well for small and medium-sized companies as it does for enterprise-level organizations.
I would recommend the solution to others for sure.
Overall, I would rate Fortinet's solution at 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. Integrator
Officer / General Manager Software R&D Laboratory at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Easy to use with good GUI and an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
- "The usage in general is pretty good."
- "The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for the VPN.
What is most valuable?
The initial setup is pretty easy, at least if you are looking to take advantage of basic functionality.
The usage in general is pretty good.
The GUI is pretty good.
What needs improvement?
The support could be improved upon somewhat.
The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work.
The command line operation is a bit out of our depth.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been dealing with the solution for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. We don't have issues with bugs or glitches. For us, we haven't had problems with crashing or freezing. It's been working well for the most part.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I can't speak to the scalability. I've never attempted to scale and therefore don't have a sense of how well the solution would take to it.
We have about 30 engineers that work with the solution currently. I'm not sure, however, if there are any plans to increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support wasn't the best. We weren't too satisfied with the level of service we were given.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward. It was not complex. We do, however, use the basic functionality and therefore we don't really get into much complexity during the implementation.
The deployment itself is rather quick and we were able to get everything sorted in about one day.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing isn't too bad. Right now, we find the cost to be manageable.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer. We don't have a special business relationship with Fortinet.
We're a development company. We sometimes use the cloud, however, we're open to other deployment models as well.
I've found the solution to be very good. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT & PPN Coordinator at a manufacturing company
Highly rated, easy to manage, and pretty easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
- "The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."
What is our primary use case?
Our organization has 45 branches. We use the Fortigate 200 models at our data centers and have centralized connectivity between our different branches and our data centers.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex.
The product is user-friendly and easy to manage.
Fortigate overall has a very high security rating in Gartner. We feel safe under their security features. It has extended options as well, if you would like even more security for your organization.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity. While in general, it's pretty good, this is always a concern as the landscape shifts constantly. They need to ensure they stay on top of things so that their security and integrations stay constantly up to date in order to protect our company.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for seven to eight years. It's been quite a while. We have lots of experience with it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. We don't have issues with the product freezing or crashing. We don't deal with glitches or bugs or anything of that nature.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale if you need it to. That's not a problem at all.
We do plan on continuing to use the service going forward.
How was the initial setup?
The solution overall is very easy to understand. Therefore, the initial setup is not complex. It's straightforward. Even the configurations are good. An organization shouldn't have too much trouble with it.
How long it takes to deploy depends on what you want to configure on a firewall. It depends on the policies being implemented. That definitely takes time depending on the company and what is being done. If you are familiar with all features and all the steps regarding how to create a policy and how to implement a policy, it is pretty easy and won't take too long.
What about the implementation team?
I've handled the initial implementation myself many times. I don't necessarily need any outside assistance.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would recommend this solution. I'd rate it ten out of ten. We've enjoyed using the product and we appreciate its security features.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Owner at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
Stable and useful for intrusion prevention, VPN, and anti-malware purposes
Pros and Cons
- "We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
- "It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."
What is most valuable?
We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features.
What needs improvement?
It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive.
It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't have any experience with their technical support. My partner contacts them for me.
How was the initial setup?
Its installation is not easy for me because I handle some other work, but I have two partners. One of them is very skilled at using FortiGate, and it took him a day to deploy it. After that, it took us a week to set all parameters and check all parameters and firewall functions.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution if you can afford it. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate 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.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Stable with good technical support and very good UI
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
- "The search tool needs improvement. It's very difficult to search for policies right now."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for the firewall. We use it for a perimeter firewall or access firewall inside the network to allow some zones to be disabled from one zone to another zone.
What is most valuable?
The stability of the solution is excellent.
The user interface (UI) is very, very good.
What needs improvement?
The search tool needs improvement. It's very difficult to search for policies right now.
When we need to engage with the endpoint or our customer during an investigation, there should be a way to investigate the issues without the need for the customer to be present. It would make it much easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the product for the last few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We find the solution to be quite stable. It's very reliable. We don't have to worry about bugs or glitches on the system. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have more than 7.000 users on the solution right now.
We do plan to continue to use the solution going forward.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is very good. We're quite satisfied with the level of support we receive. We find them to be knowledgeable and responsive when we have issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before using FortiGate, we used Cisco. However, we found the Cisco solutions to be unstable and we needed to move away from them. We do still have some legacy Cisco solutions, however. We find they work better now, with FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
We didn't have a problem with the installation. It wasn't complex in any way. We found it to be quite straightforward.
The deployment process was very fast. It took less than a day for us to do everything we needed to do.
In terms of maintenance, we have eight people taking care of the troubleshooting of tickets.
What about the implementation team?
An integrator helped us with the implementation process they were very helpful and extremely knowledgable. We had them in case something we wrong, however, nothing has gone wrong so far.
What other advice do I have?
We're a service provider. We work with clients that use the solution.
We utilize both the 1500 and 3000 series of the product.
I would definitely recommend this solution to other companies to use. We've had a good experience overall.
In general, I would rate the 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
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Updated: January 2026
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