Name: Fortinet FortiGate
Brand: Fortinet
Rating: 4.2 (581 reviews)

Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Apr 18, 2014

I've been with Fortinet for 8 years now. Even when not considering anything else, I still consider other vendors

I'm obviously a fan of the FGTs - I'm aware of the solutions to the "problems" many newcomers experience. I'm comfortable.

But maybe too comfortable. Though I've just introduced my new employer to Fortinet, you must always be objective in your search for proper hardware. Do your homework, cross the T's and dot your I's.

Even when not considering anything other than a FGT, I still consider other vendors - that doubt, nagging or gnawing at the back of my brain. And even when I force myself to be unbiased, the FGT line always wins. I WANT to move on; it's time - I've been with Fortinet for 8 years now. But they somehow keep winning my loyalty. And it's not with unending bugs. The Hardware is legit; it's tight. It's fast. It's pretty - LOOK! They come in WHITE now! How Apple. The point is, FGTs are just doing it and doing it and doing it well. I continue to get creative with design and implementation, and they continue to flex and perform. Unique configurations not possible with other Vendors I've worked with. They have their shortcomings in areas; ALL vendors have their shortcomings - aware or not. But which shortcomings mean nothing to you?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user69183

Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jan 29, 2014

Fortinet has a strong reputation at the high end, but for midsize shops there are more affordable options

I pulled our organization off Fortinet a year ago for three reasons - the high cost, the constant bugs in code that either blocked access that should be allowed or general failures during system updates, and the killer - a poor design on their clustering which caused configuration corruption to pass from the primary to the secondary.

Oh, let's not forget the static ram exhaustion that began the cluster failure to begin with. I can understand the limitation of static ram, but the decision to solder that in place (making replacement impossible) meant that particular unit has roughly a 4 year lifespan.

I am well aware that Fortinet has a strong reputation at the high end, but for midsize shops there are more affordable options that seem to need less hand-holding.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Oct 29, 2014

I agree with the drawbacks you presented in the review. I would like to ask you, can you give me some examples of other options that are more affordable for midsize shops? Thank you.

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Fortinet FortiGate

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it_user69816

Network Manager at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dec 1, 2013

Fortigate is Hard to Beat for the Money

Fortinet has been a darling of the stock market ever since its IPO in 2009 as its stock price has accelerated over recent years. Its stock performance has mirrored the adoration that its line of security devices consistently receive. Fortinet is the current UTM market leader, boasting a 20% market share. Fortinet is now expanding out of its core SMB strength and into the large enterprise market where the increasing performance of its solutions are making it attractively priced.

In Gartner’s latest Unified Threat Management Magic Quadrant (UTM) Fortinet is listed at the top of the leader quadrant. Says Gartner, “We believe attributes that contributed to the leadership position include Fortinet’s high awareness in the industry, in Gartner client’s short-lists and in competitive situations; Fortinet’s aggressive price/performance.”

A UTM or Unified Threat Management device is a firewall that includes other features as well. The Fortinet UTM package includes gateway firewall, anti-virus, web filter, intrusion protection, application control, VPN, email filtering and WAN optimization. Think of it as the “Everything Box.”

There line of UTM security appliances is called the Fortigate series. It offers an appliance to meet every type of network, from the home office to large enterprise networks, as well as Managed Security Service providers. Its smallest unit, the Fortigate-20C, also serves as a wireless router and offers four internal switch port in addition to a WAN port. At the top of the food chain is its new 5000 Series chassis based network appliance. It supports two, six, or fourteen FortiGate-5000 series network security blades, and allow you to scale security and customize your unique environment. These large units are ideal for virtual infrastructures as they can control up to 3,000 virtual domains.

The admin console for the Fortigate is browser based. Sometimes, browser based can have a cheesy rudimentary look but not with the Fortigate. Navigating the Fortigate is simple with its expandable menu. The admin console opens up to a Dashboard which displays a series of widgets that the administrator can populate according to their needs. It also comes with a command line interface which can be accessed through the admin console itself or through Putty.

Like all UTM appliances, the Fortigate units do some things better than others. Its web filtering is certainly more than suitable for most environments but if you are looking for super high granularity with a complicated array of user based filtering and exceptions, you probably would be better suited with a dedicated filtering appliance. The same probably holds true for its email filtering as well.

With this in mind though, what IT professionals are looking for first and foremost in a UTM device is security, and this is what Fortinet does best. Configuring the firewall of the Fortigate is a breeze. Simply create your firewall objects, consolidate them into groups if possible, and then create your policy rules. You can right click on any of your policies to view a separate context menu that will allow you to do things such as delete, move or edit the policies.

Integrating the other core components with your firewall policies is a snap. Simply apply the various UTM services you desire to the designated policies. For example, you would enable email filtering only to the rule configured for email traffic. You would then configure web filtering for the rule regarding your HTTP and HTTPS traffic while you would apply anti-virus to both rules.

Backing up and restoring your Fortigate configurations is as simple as clicking a single link and can be completed in less than a minute. Fortinet is continually releasing new builds and updates for all of its models. Simply download these firmware upgrades to any local device and click the update link and browse to the downloaded updates. You can revert back to an older firmware release at any time. Some of the more robust Fortigate models can be clustered into active-active or active-passive configuration.

Fortinet recently released version 5 which among other things includes Mobility Management. This feature does not include an additional license and is ideal for those organizations who allow BYOD devices.

If you browse some of the UTM discussion boards out there, you will find the phrase, “can’t beat it for the price” when discussing the Fortigate. The combination of its strong UTM features with a very affordable price point should certainly put Fortinet on the short list for any organization shopping for a new UTM appliance.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user3483Senior Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Jan 9, 2014

Great review Brad.
Only for the part related to upgrades from one version to another, I think you are a bit too optimistic :-)

Sometimes the update (and rollback) are not devoid of hassles (including parts of the configuration that not always work "as they are" in the new firmware).

it_user69351

Network Engineer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 18, 2013

Fortinet vs. Palo Alto

I work with both Fortinet and Palo Alto.  For me, the advantage of Palo is visibility, reporting and user authentication. Fortinet is easier and faster to configure.  A commit on a Palo Alto is very long when we are used to have a direct modification of Fortinet.  Virtual wire on Palo Alto is much more easier than transparent mode of Fortinet, it's really useful to prepare an integration or a demo in real situation and the tap mode is cool for that too.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

reviewer1360608

Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Dec 30, 2024

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Threat prevention is reliable but signature management needs attention

Pros and Cons

"The firewalls are valuable for threat prevention."
"The firewalls are valuable for threat prevention."

"There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues."
"There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily deal with Check Point products and Fortinet solutions, such as FortiGate and IPS.

What is most valuable?

The firewalls are valuable for threat prevention. FortiGate IPS is also useful, even though it has room for improvement.

What needs improvement?

There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I think Fortinet has stability issues in Istanbul.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe the product is not scalable enough.

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

I think a lower price might be beneficial.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate FortiGate IPS six out of ten.

There are issues with signature management, datasheet numbers, and scalability. Information about the security technical lead was discussed for internal use.

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller

reviewer890418

Sales & Support at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Nov 12, 2024

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Enhancing network protection with advanced firewall and VPN features

Pros and Cons

"The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks."
"The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks."

"I would like to see improvements in the IPS/IDS feature to enhance protection against attacks from attackers, including ransomware protection."
"I would like to see improvements in the IPS/IDS feature to enhance protection against attacks from attackers, including ransomware protection."

What is our primary use case?

We use the FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for our customers. We mainly utilize firewall and VPN features.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has helped us protect our customers' networks effectively due to its firewall and VPN capabilities.

What is most valuable?

The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks. The stability of the product is also appreciated.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in the IPS/IDS feature to enhance protection against attacks from attackers, including ransomware protection.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't need scalability because our customers are small companies.

How are customer service and support?

We do not use FortiGate support directly; we must use distributor support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

The pricing of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is competitive. The licensing cost is approximately thirteen thousand.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluate Palo Alto against FortiGate, and would be considering it if the price is lower.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten. I would like to see AI capabilities in the future.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller

reviewer2227752

Network Security Engineer at a educational organization with 11-50 employees

Aug 12, 2023

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A simple firewall solution that helps to protect networks

Pros and Cons

"FortiGate NGF is simple compared to other firewalls. It is easy to use and you don't need any training. Any person with basic firewall knowledge can use it."

"The solution needs to integrate VPN features."

What is our primary use case?

FortiGate NGF is used to protect customer networks.

What is most valuable?

FortiGate NGF is simple compared to other firewalls. It is easy to use and you don't need any training. Any person with basic firewall knowledge can use it.

What needs improvement?

The solution needs to integrate VPN features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

FortiGate NGF is scalable. The number of users depends on the project and can be around three users.

How are customer service and support?

FortiGate NGF's support responds fast.

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

I use Palo Alto and Check Point as well.

How was the initial setup?

The tool's setup is easy. We used one resource to handle the deployment. The tool's deployment can take around one to two days to complete and depends on customer requirements.