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.

The primary use case of this solution is as a firewall.

The way the rules are created and set up on our firewall is very quick, very simple, and does not take a lot of time. It allows us to spend more time in other areas.

The most valuable features are that it is very simple to configure and to manage.

For me, this solution has nothing to improve and it meets the needs that I have. I don't see any way to improve, at least from my point of view on regular use.

In the next release, maybe the documentation on how to use this solution could be improved.

What I have noticed is that when we have done some configurations directly from the command line, there is not a lot of information regarding splitting.

I have been using this solution for six years.

We are using the latest version.

This is a stable product.

Fortinet FortiGate is very scalable.

We are satisfied with technical support. We have not had any issues.

The initial setup is very straightforward.

We used a reseller to help us with the implementation.

Pricing is very competitive. It's cheap for what it offers and for what it does.

It's very affordable.

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

Fortinet FortiGate is simple and effective.

I would rate Fortinet Fortigate a nine out of ten.

We are dealing in the payment business where we provide services to end-users, and FortiGate is part of our security solution.

The customers swipe their cards into our product, which transmits the data through another server to the acquirer or bank. The server is hosted behind the FortiGate firewall, so all of the traffic that comes in and out goes through the firewall policies, intrusion detection, and instruction prevention systems.

We use the FortiGate Sandbox to detect zero-day vulnerabilities, such as anomalies or malware, that are unknown and have not yet been discovered.

We would like to see a better training platform implemented.

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate for the past five years.

This is a scalable solution. We are able to integrate new products and different payment options. As new projects come in, we are looking for a hybrid setup that will incorporate the cloud.

We have been in contact with technical support and I find them to be good. We've had no issues with them.

We are continuing to use FortiGate but we are in the process of upgrading to the 200E and 300E enterprise firewall.

The initial setup was complex. We had to connect it and set up the PCI DSS compliance. To maintain this, there are a lot of things that have to be done on a regular basis. This includes scanning and hardening the servers, then rescanning. Initially, it is very complex.

We have the FortiGate firewall in our environment, and we are using network segmentation. Based on the segmentation, there are policies. Based on the policies, the traffic to the critical components is monitored and goes through the IDS/IPS antivirus profile. We also have hosted applications, so a basic DDoS and WAP are configured.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

I have deployed several of the following models for customers: 200D, 60E, 60D. This review focuses on the FortiGate 200D.

The first implementation I performed of a FortiGate 200D was to replace a Juniper SSG-140 in a main corporate office.  This implementation provided improved network administration and network performance.

We also received more timely security updates, and it became easier to connect all of the other offices together (via an IPsec VPN mesh).

As additional FortiOS releases have come out, we have obtained more flexibility in device identification and WAN load-balancing, among other things.

• The CLI is robust and powerful, enabling rapid, consistent changes via SSH. 
  
  The device identification is very flexible, facilitating the creation of rules to regulate all sorts of devices that might spring up on a network, especially via WiFi.
• The IPsec tunnels are very easily created, and quite interoperable with devices from other vendors.
• WAN load-balancing has improved, but needs some refinement.
  
  You can set up a different DDNS config for each WAN link.
  
  It is great to be able largely use the same OS features across the family of devices.

WAN load-balancing could be a lot better at detecting when a link is poor or inconsistent, and not just flat out dead. There are lots of options for routing traffic over a specific path when you have WAN load-balancing enabled, but they are not as clear and consistent as they could be, and most can only be set at the CLI.

Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created.  For instance, there is no way to rename an interface (say, for a VPN tunnel), unless you create an entirely new one and perform a little gymnastics to switch from one to the other. Or, you export the config, rename the elements in question, then re-import the entire config.

Creating a meshed VPN connection (Office A with two WAN links connecting to Office B with two WAN links) requires a massive bundle of four IPsec interfaces, with two policies. It would be nice to have a cleaner, simpler config for that functionality, something not very uncommon today.

I have found that if you have a console cable in the device when you reboot it for a disk check, it will boot to the device firmware. This will not happen for a regular reboot.

If you have more than a very basic environment, you quickly have to escalate past the first level of support. The initial level is so-so.  The next level up has been stellar for me, and quick to figure out issues and resolve them.

I've only experienced stability issues a few times.  One was with the v5.4.0 and .1 releases. Also, there was an issue during the v5.2.x series where there was an SSD issue that was fixed with later firmware. Overall, the devices have been very stable.

No. Scalability is good, and performance increases are great as you move to higher products.

Customer support is okay. They are fairly responsive for level three and higher (one and two) issues, but if your issue is a little complex, you will want to ask them to escalate to a second level tech. They don't always read all the info you provide in the first pass, but overall, they are helpful.

I previously favored NetScreen/Juniper SSG solutions, but Juniper stopped supporting the SSG line, and FortiGate provides more value and performance for the dollar.

I've also tested the Sophos solutions, but found them not compelling enough to switch from the FortiGate devices.

The devices are very easy to setup, even if you need to configure VPNs. You could have an HA config up and running within 60-90 minutes, with the latest firmware installed, and a couple of policies and tunnels.

If you do not regularly work with enterprise-class firewalls, you might need to add an hour to the above scenario, but the provided wizards make it pretty easy to address the basic functions.

In-house deployment all the time.

In almost every case, I've experienced (or had customers experience) an ROI within 12 months, based on better performance for the same price or increased functionality for the same (or less) price.

Licensing and setup costs are generally pretty clear with Fortinet. If you go with centralized management or their Log Analyzer tool, these carry some additional pricing that you need to look at.

Check out the price matrix, and go with a value-added reseller that understands how to help you size out the equipment. Remember to always look at the performance with the assumption that you will have many of the unified threat management (UTM) features on, not off.

Yes, I tested and evaluated solutions from pfSense, Sophos, and Palo Alto.

I highly recommend, and often try to deploy Fortinet solutions for my office network and for my customers. They run for a long time, they are supported for many OS updates, and they are pretty solid.

Don't upgrade the OS right away when it is released, if a major new version has come out.  v5.0 was problematic early, but v5.2 was great. v5.4 was a problem child, but v5.6 had only a minor issue. v6.0 was surprisingly smooth and had only a minor issue. I could have avoided most of these problems if I waited an additional month or so before updating, but I updated because I need to advise customers on what they should be doing.

I've had to interact with support a lot, and overall they've been good (with the caveat mentioned earlier).

We use this product to provide network security functions to our customers.

This solution has a unique range of features that are not available with any other product.

We also appreciate that this solution is easy to maintain and manage.

We would like to see an improvement in the consistency of the product's performance levels.

We have been using this solution for around five years.

The stability of this solution has been good, in our experience.

We have found this solution to be easily scalable.

The technical support for this product is very good; they always respond to us quickly when we raise issues.

Positive

We switched to this solution because it offered the best range of features in its category.

The initial setup of this solution is very straightforward, and deployment only takes between 30 minutes to an hour.

I would rate this product a 10 out of 10, and I would recommend it to any business that is in the market for a security solution.

Our company's technical team handles the reselling part of the tool. I haven't heard of any problems related to the product.

My company's clients use the solution. The tool is not majorly used to monitor the network traffic or intrusion, so it is purely for protecting the network.

The tool is expensive for small businesses, making it an area where the tool can improve the product by making it available at a cheaper rate.

I have experience with Fortinet FortiGate IPS. My company operates as a reseller. Sometimes, we purchase products to help our company's clients who need to renew the licenses of certain solutions.

My company never had any complaints about the tool in terms of performance or stability.

My company's clients are usually small businesses, so they don't spend too much time on security and protection, meaning they use the tool to meet their bare minimum needs.

Though I have never contacted the solution's technical support, I feel that the tool offers good support since I have never heard any complaints about the product's technical team from my company's team members.

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

I think that my company has been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for at least four to five years. My company has not been using the rest of the products in the market, so it is not possible for me to compare Fortinet FortiGate IPS with other solutions. So far, my company has been happy with Fortinet FortiGate IPS.

The product's initial setup phase was pretty easy because my company is familiar with the product.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in an hour.

The tool is a bit pricey for small businesses, but it is still bearable in terms of cost.

Fortinet FortiGate IPS is used alone, so there is no need for any integrations.

The tool is not majorly used to monitor traffic or intrusions, so it doesn't provide much visibility in such areas. I am not sure whether Fortinet FortiGate IPS can be used easily for monitoring, considering that our company has many firewall tools over different networks. I am not sure whether it is possible to use the tool to log in or sign in individually.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

We use it as a security solution.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG's content is its most valuable feature.

Fortinet's licensing is high compared to other products.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for ten years.

The product is stable, and I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten.

A few private and government companies use Fortinet FortiGate SWGs. It is popular among enterprise customers.

The customer service team is helpful. They have good technicians.

The initial setup is easy.

Fortinet FortiGate SWG can be expensive for some customers. We recently had a project for a customer where we could not protect the cost, so we had to look elsewhere.

I recommend this solution. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is better than the market alternatives. It's easy to install and manage, and I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use FortiGate Next Generation Firewall mainly for network security.

The solution's application control is very powerful. Another valuable feature is the integration between the firewall and the switches we have. The FortiSwitch extended security fabric is one of the things that we like about the solution.

The solution's stability should be improved because it is extremely unstable.

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

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a very scalable solution. Approximately 32 customers are working with the solution.

The solution's technical support team needs more improvement. The technical support team has a slow response and needs more experienced support agents to interact with the customers.

The solution's initial setup is easy and straightforward.

Since it's a security solution, it needs considerable time to deploy. We need to analyze the network, the customer requirements, and the policies we need to add, which can take a couple of days.

For any security solution, there is no straightforward deployment process. It depends on the survey on the customer side and what we are doing for the customer. One security engineer is required for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

Since FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a slightly expensive solution, the use case determines the ROI. However, since it's quite expensive for general usage, it has a lower ROI.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution with a yearly subscription. There are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

The solution has a lot of features that we like. We don't need additional features because they compromise the solution's stability when they add more features. As a security gateway, we need to be much more stable than adding more features.

FortiGate Next Generation Firewall comes in two versions, namely, the hardware version and the cloud version. For the on-premises version, hardware is to be implemented on-site; for the cloud, it's a cloud security solution. So it depends on which version your customer is using. The licensing is very different for the on-prem and the cloud solution.

When it comes to complex solutions, I highly recommend FortiGate Next Generation Firewall.

Customers looking for SD-WAN and good application control should go for FortiGate Next Generation Firewall. Customers looking for high stability should avoid the solution.

Overall, I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten.