I am a network engineer implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. We have implemented this firewall for various government departments, small organizations, and hotels.
Team Lead at Adapt Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
Straightforward implementation and good performance
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance."
- "Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls."
- "In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked. I don't know why this happened. The firewall of a bank in Sri Lanka rebooted yesterday, and after that, FortiGuard servers did not connect properly, blocking all customer environment websites."
- "In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate is quite popular in my region, so we are implementing Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls. It's straightforward to deploy and has good stability and performance.
What needs improvement?
In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked. I don't know why this happened. The firewall of a bank in Sri Lanka rebooted yesterday, and after that, FortiGuard servers did not connect properly, blocking all customer environment websites.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for around three years.
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Fortinet FortiGate
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not faced any other issues with Fortinet FortiGate. The performance for Fortinet FortiGate is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good.
How are customer service and support?
We are able to resolve most issues on our own. We raise a case through a partner portal. If the local distributor cannot resolve it, it's routed to another country. The response time for their technical support is not always good. It also depends on the license that the customer has.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are partners with both Sophos and SonicWall. I have implemented Sophos firewall myself, but not SonicWall. Our other engineers handle SonicWall implementations. I implemented Sophos SG and recently migrated from SG to SGS, all the firewalls.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation process for Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. We don't get much error with FortiGate because it's straightforward. We can implement it easily. Sometimes, when we implement through the portal, there are some errors, but we can manage it.
I have implemented 900D firewall and 400D firewall clusters, and many Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. I have also implemented FortiADC once, following step-by-step guides.
What about the implementation team?
We are a partner of Fortinet.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
I mostly recommend Fortinet FortiGate when it fits the customer's budget. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Jun 20, 2025
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Operations Manager at astron computers limited
Effective threat prevention speeds up response but maintenance can be challenging
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet FortiGate brings numerous benefits to my company."
What is our primary use case?
My customers use Fortinet FortiGate for various purposes. The security services provided by Fortinet FortiGate are quite strong.
I have had use cases where FortiGate helped to protect the mission-critical data for my customers.
FortiGate is effective at protecting the data at the edge.
What is most valuable?
What I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is its effectiveness. The feature that I find the most effective is threat prevention.
The mean time to respond and the remediation process is sped up. FortiGate has also helped to consolidate tools and applications for my customers.
The firewall has indeed helped customers to consolidate tools and applications. Once everything is set and done, maintaining FortiGate can have its challenges.
Fortinet FortiGate brings numerous benefits to my company.
What needs improvement?
The good things aside, there are improvements needed in the Fortinet FortiGate. My customers requested specific features to be included in the Fortinet FortiGate.
For how long have I used the solution?
My experience with the Fortinet FortiGate is recent, as I worked with it less than a year ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My impression of the stability of FortiGate is that it is quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
When it comes to scalability, I find it scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have escalated questions to Fortinet's tech support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We need to compare different firewalls, including Fortinet FortiGate and Hillstone, and then suggest the better one to our clients.
How was the initial setup?
The initial implementation part is straightforward, but it has some complexities. My implementation strategy involves several steps that I take when deploying it.
What about the implementation team?
I do have hands-on experience working with the products, and I do the POCs and implementation part.
What was our ROI?
When it comes to the ROI, the return on investment of FortiGate can be a bit hard to estimate, but based on my experience, I find it to be quite favorable. Overall, Fortinet FortiGate has indeed helped to reduce the total cost of ownership for my customers.
What other advice do I have?
My impression of the firewall's ability to provide network and security coverage is positive.
When it comes to sustainability, my impressions of the firewall are favorable.
The size of the environment with Fortinet FortiGate was significant, including many endpoints and users, and it involved enterprise-level business.
Based on my experience, I would say to someone considering purchasing Fortinet FortiGate's data center firewall is that it's a good choice. I would give Fortinet a solid score.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Last updated: Apr 13, 2025
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Fortinet FortiGate
July 2025

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Chief Technology Officer at Future Point Technologies
Easy to configure, has a robust OS, and offers a lot of features at a very good price
Pros and Cons
- "Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."
- "From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They're providing FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement."
What is our primary use case?
The majority of use cases have been around UTM. Initially, they were famous for their UTM solution because nobody was offering what Fortinet was offering.
We most probably use the latest version.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet has a very strong OS. They have a single OS through which they integrate all the networks and security operations. Our experience has been very good. Fortinet gives us a single fabric for the security and network teams. This unification has helped us a lot in providing Secure SD-WAN and other solutions, such as network switches, wireless controllers, FortiNAC, FortiAuthenticator, etc. They have a single pane of glass for all these from the monitoring and visibility aspect.
The integrated application protection provided by Secure SD-WAN is very good. Fortinet is a security-focused company. The features related to application recognition and how to enhance the performance and security of applications are pretty good.
The customers for whom we deployed FortiGate have become long-term customers of Fortinet. Even when they compare the solution with some of the other vendors, they're more comfortable with going with Fortinet and upgrading and refreshing the hardware and the software. It's a very good product, and the customer satisfaction is pretty good.
It impacts operational efficiency because we can quickly make the changes. For example, Cisco has some limitations in terms of the time it takes for any change to take effect, which impacts the operational efficiency, whereas in the case of Fortinet, they've got a very quick way of doing the changes and reverting them, which eliminates any downtimes because of the configurations. Their method for configuring and applying policies is very simple and easy. Because of that, it's very easy to do complex changes, and in the case of misconfiguration, revert those changes without much of an impact. Overall, Fortinet FortiGate brings a lot of operational improvements because of the strength of FortiOS.
Secure SD-WAN has helped us remediate threats more quickly. Normally, with the WAN solutions or the simple SD-WAN solutions, security is done on the hub side. With the Secure SD-WAN solution, we can apply security at the branch level, so unnecessary or malicious traffic doesn't reach the data centers or the hub site, which helps in improving the overall security posture. Also, we can tighten and apply a single security policy across all the branches or different segments of the WAN, which improves overall security. Fortinet offers different security measures for blocking malicious traffic and having a uniform policy across the entire organization.
Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce our mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR). Applying a central security policy at the branch level immediately helps us to detect any malicious traffic and block it there, so the chances of anything reaching the hub or the data center side are less. It improves MTTD and MTTR because it has a very good interface where we can easily respond to all the attacks and manipulate things. Applying security with the help of Secure SD-WAN helps to mitigate attacks from where they are originating, which improves MTTD and MTTR.
Secure SD-WAN has helped reduce help desk tickets. Because of the operational efficiency and security, there are not many issues that impact the number of tickets.
With the help of Secure SD-WAN, we can provide operational efficiency because we can apply policies on an application-level basis. With Secure SD-WAN, we can apply a security policy per application. The central security application structure helps to apply all the measures from one central place and from the cloud. Because it's connected to many intelligence centers, it future-proofs a business and improves it overall.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility.
What needs improvement?
From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They provide FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement. Recently, a customer had a requirement of getting some reports on their internet usage. Palo Alto has a bit better reporting than the Cisco and Fortinet firewalls, but we cannot get granular details about the user-level security, usage, etc.
Their support also needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with this solution for around ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For small and mid-level enterprises, it has been a very good solution, and that's why they captured that market. Our experience with it has been very good. It's easy to configure and deploy. In our country, their main market is small and big enterprises, but they are gradually focusing on the performance aspect. It's being used in large enterprises as well as a firewall solution.
It's scalable. There were some performance issues a few years ago, but they've fixed them for better performance, optimization, and high throughput. Performance-wise, it's very good.
How are customer service and support?
Support is one of the areas that they need to look into because as compared to some of the other companies, Fortinet's support is not that responsive. The product is very stable, but their support needs to be improved. I'd rate their support a six out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Cisco and Juniper. We switched to FortiGate because it offers a lot of features at a very good price point. Unlike some of the other vendors, you don't have many license restrictions. For large and medium enterprises, they provide a wireless controller, authenticator, and mail features. There are so many features integrated within FortiOS, whereas, with many vendors, you have to work with different products. It's very helpful for small organizations with tighter budgets. There's also the ease of configuration that helps to bring things online as quickly as possible as compared to some of the other solutions that have a learning curve and that take some time.
How was the initial setup?
I mostly work on the pre-sales side. I discuss all the features, and then I work with the deployment team. They do the installation.
Its installation is easy. Normally, we get the scope and have the high-level design. After that, we go to the low-level design where we manage all the configuration templates. We have discussions with the customer and finalize all the policies that need to be applied at the site. We segment sites by size, traffic, application usage, etc. We apply the policies on a group basis, and then we apply the configurations on the controllers or the sites.
In our area, people are mostly interested in on-prem setup instead of cloud because not many controllers are located within the country, so the traffic has to be traversed outside the country. For banks and financial sectors, on-prem is more suitable, but small organizations can have it on the cloud.
What about the implementation team?
We implement it ourselves. For small projects, one or two people are good enough because we majorly find all the things at the LLD stage. We have a team that works on the LLD and configurations, and then we've got an on-field team that takes those configurations and applies the changes. Normally, if the implementation isn't distributed across the country, not many resources are required. Two or three resources are good enough, but if it's distributed across different regions, then a larger team is required. Once we have the templates, things are posted automatically, so not much to be done at the sites. We just have to do connectivity and configure the policies. As compared to other deployments, we require much less staff for the deployment tasks.
It requires maintenance, but generally, the product is very stable and doesn't require much maintenance. Normally, there aren't many changes. If there are any issues, we definitely need to monitor and check. Most of the issues aren't related to the solution itself if you have implemented it in the right manner, so planning needs to be done in the right manner.
What was our ROI?
There's definitely an ROI. Having a centralized way of managing and applying policies across the entire organization always helps. The time to manage, operate, and resolve issues is much lower. When you have a central place to manage and do the changes, you get efficiency and time savings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously.
What other advice do I have?
It's a very good product. It has all the features required for operations. We strongly recommend using Fortinet for your edge or data center security or for your SD-WAN. FortiGate is doing very well. Fortinet has been capturing the security market, and now they're capturing the market for SD-WAN as well. They're a leader in Gartner's Quadrant. Their FortiMail and FortiWeb solutions are also very good. They provide all these solutions, and we have deployed all these solutions in the market. They're working perfectly, and customers have minor complaints about them.
Currently, no SD-WAN solution is interoperable with other vendors. Every SD-WAN vendor has its own solution. There's no standardization, so there isn't much interoperability. For example, we need a controller and branch-level software or hardware. Hardware is agnostic for some vendors, but normally, vendors also have their hardware. There are a few vendors that provide hardware-agnostic SD-WAN solutions, but Fortinet has its own hardware on which the complete SD-WAN solution runs.
Overall, I'd rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
CIO at a legal firm with 11-50 employees
Integrated tools enhance network control and security management
Pros and Cons
- "It is complemented by other equipment, such as the Fortinet switch, and it is integrated with other tools that help to prevent cyberattacks, including a web filter, IPS, and application control."
- "Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten."
- "The user interface of the Fortinet FortiGate management console could be more intuitive and user-friendly, and the log analysis and reporting features could be enhanced to provide more flexibility and customizable insights."
- "The user interface of the Fortinet FortiGate management console could be more intuitive and user-friendly, and the log analysis and reporting features could be enhanced to provide more flexibility and customizable insights."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Fortinet FortiGate to block or deny malware and to administrate the network to control the traffic inside and outside.
How has it helped my organization?
It has significantly contributed to the effective control and monitoring of the network infrastructure. We could see its benefits immediately after the implementation.
What is most valuable?
It is complemented by other equipment, such as the Fortinet switch, and it is integrated with other tools that help to prevent cyberattacks, including a web filter, IPS, and application control.
What needs improvement?
The user interface of the Fortinet FortiGate management console could be more intuitive and user-friendly, and the log analysis and reporting features could be enhanced to provide more flexibility and customizable insights.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have had experience with Fortinet FortiGate for one year so far.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is very stable. I would rate its stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. I would rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
We are a medium-sized organization.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Fortinet's customer service as very good. They are good because they provide solutions to problems that we encounter and help us make new changes or meet requirements, and they have the ability to work with us to make the changes that we want.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Sophos for web filtering. We now use Fortinet FortiGate for web filtering as well. We switched from Sophos to Fortinet FortiGate because we chose to adopt a Fortinet ecosystem to achieve better centralized control. We wanted to streamline security management while integrating firewalls, switches, endpoint protections, and wireless.
We used Sophos only for web filtering control applications, but when we switched to Fortinet FortiGate, we achieved better integration with other devices in the security management.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved with the initial setup and deployment of Fortinet FortiGate. It was of medium complexity. It was easy because the tools we were integrating were well-documented, but somewhat difficult due to the learning curve and the need to adapt our legacy system to the new environment.
What about the implementation team?
It took four technical people to deploy Fortinet FortiGate.
Only two people maintain it; for implementation, we used four people, but to maintain it, it is just two.
It doesn't require a lot of maintenance. The job roles of those who maintain it include making changes, adjusting web filter configurations, and switching ports. The people who maintain it are network administrators.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise people considering using Fortinet FortiGate to carefully plan the network structure and train the team; Fortinet is powerful, but its full potential comes with understanding the platform. I would recommend starting small, documenting everything, and using its centralized tools to stay secure and efficient.
Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten 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.
Last updated: May 30, 2025
Flag as inappropriateCewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
A cost-effective solution with excellent security and easy policy configuration
Pros and Cons
- "I find the ease of configuring specific policies to be the most valuable feature of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall."
- "Fortinet FortiGate is good for helping you secure and protect mission-critical data."
- "The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
- "The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
How has it helped my organization?
I see several benefits of using Fortinet FortiGate. When it comes to deploying the solution, it is easy. It allows customers to quickly get up to speed with their day-to-day tasks, minimizing mundane requests. Additionally, the support regarding upgrades and hardware failures has been above par.
Fortinet FortiGate helps to remediate threats more quickly.
Fortinet FortiGate helps to reduce the mean time to respond when it is properly integrated with proper tools. For example, with email and other automation capabilities, it has reduced to under an hour for me.
Fortinet FortiGate helps to consolidate tools and applications by offering web control, email protection, routing, firewalling, and extending to switching and wireless on the same management platform.
Fortinet FortiGate is good for helping you secure and protect mission-critical data. It is also good for protecting your edge.
When it comes to security, Fortinet is excellent in terms of how updates are done when there is an incident globally or there's a new variant of any IOCs. It is quite up-to-date.
What is most valuable?
I find application control, logging and reporting, and ease of use valuable. I find the ease of configuring specific policies to be the most valuable feature of the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.
What needs improvement?
The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone.
In terms of convergence, it is a good solution, but it can be better. FortiGate has the capability to support their switching and wireless platforms. They are quite excellent on their wireless side, but I found a couple of gaps in terms of how FortiGate integrates with their own switching platform. There are some gaps there.
For how long have I used the solution?
My experience of working with Fortinet FortiGate is approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It caters to all with different units, such as from five users to a model that supports telcos or huge enterprises. Depending on the size of your organization, you end up getting the correct fit of the model, and they have the same capabilities. The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is quite effective. I would rate technical support from Fortinet a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I've had a chance to do a couple of deployments on the cloud. I've done deployments on private and public clouds. I've deployed it on-prem as an edge firewall or as a data center firewall.
In terms of maintenance, like all firewalls, there is an aspect of upgrading based on new features and getting the latest updates from the signatures and IPS uploads that come along with it. That happens effectively in an automated way. Software upgrades are catered to during the support window.
What was our ROI?
The FortiGate firewall has helped to reduce the total cost of ownership.
It provides value for money and is quite competitive compared to other vendors, allowing you to achieve the proper ROI from investments.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The typical use case for Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall is because of the commercial aspects. It is competitive from a pricing perspective. There is ease of use compared to other vendors and effective vendor support for any issues.
What other advice do I have?
Anyone considering purchasing FortiGate's data center firewall should go for it because data centers require stability and proper performance, which the platform provides. I would recommend getting the latest unit for a longer shelf life as clients often buy nearly end-of-sale products, limiting their usability.
Overall, I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Last updated: Apr 9, 2025
Flag as inappropriateGeneral Manager Group IT at DART GLOBAL LOGISTICS PTE. LTD.
Includes built-in APIs, is easy to deploy, and provides good insight into our network
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
- "Due to its higher cost, Fortinet FortiGate can lead to increased operational expenses."
What is our primary use case?
For IPS, IDS, traffic management, SDWAN, high availability, we leverage Fortinet FortiGate as a virtual appliance to secure our data center, internal office infrastructure, and site-to-site VPNS Site to client VPNS for our internal lab controls, rather than using physical Fortinet FortiGate hardware.
We implemented Fortinet FortiGate as part of our compliance requirements to address the high volume of intrusion attempts we were experiencing. This solution provides us with a insight on Intrusion to block these attacks and gain insights into who is trying to access our network. Essentially, we aim to understand the nature of incoming and outgoing network traffic.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiGate offers visibility into the types, brands, versions, and users of connected devices. This visibility is crucial for our industrial devices, as their reliable operation is essential to our business.
Fortinet Security Fabric empowers us to comply with regulations, governance, and compliance requirements across regions like the US and Europe, ensuring smooth operations for our global business.
FortiGate's built-in APIs enable us to integrate with the vendors of our choice.
Fortinet's FortiGate is easy to deploy in our environment thanks to its well-written and easy-to-follow documentation.
FortiGate is a highly benchmarked product that improves efficiency and adds value to our organization.
Although we don't see a benefit overnight, we gradually see the benefits of FortiGate over the years. It has provided a lot of insight into our organization's activities.
FortiGate significantly helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that could disrupt our production. This has protected us against financial losses.
Fortinet has its management suite so it helps to centralize the management of network and security operations in our company. This helps us easily manage the issues and solutions that are required.
Fortinet FortiGate provides us with actionable data to inform our decisions about the most appropriate course of action. It delivers insights into resource consumption and compromised hosts, helping us identify the source of unauthorized login attempts. This comprehensive view allows us to understand what's entering our network.
Fortinet Security Fabric improved security across our industrial control systems.
Fortinet FortiGate helped reduce our mean time to remediate.
Fortinet FortiGate helped to mature our approach to cybersecurity for protecting our industrial equipment. The level of detail we can see regarding incoming traffic and ongoing activities is quite high. This detailed visibility extends to host configuration and other such aspects, providing us with valuable insights. As a result, Fortinet can provide a clear understanding of how to manage our network and quickly mitigate any issues that may arise.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring.
What needs improvement?
Ideally, I'd like to see most CLI configuration options exposed in the GUI to avoid manual command typing. However, there should be a more user-friendly approach than simply replicating everything in the GUI. Alternatively, some users might prefer scheduling tasks through commands for automation.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for over 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate ten out of ten. As long as we configure FortiGate properly.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support has improved over the years.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used an open-source firewall, but we were looking for a solution that was more proactive, easier to manage, and continuously improved. FortiGate was a major competitor at the time and has since become one of the market leaders.
How was the initial setup?
Initially, there was a learning curve during the deployment. We did have the help of local vendors.
If our policies are already in place, we can have the solution up and running in less than a day using a script. However, if we need to determine our policies while implementing the solution, it can take over a month to complete.
What was our ROI?
Fortinet FortiGate mitigates an excessive amount of manpower requirements because it is easy to manage and this helps contribute to a return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price varies yearly and there could be additional costs to help manage the infrastructure.
In certain markets, if an organization subscribes to their internet service they get a Fortinet firewall included in the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated some of the leading brands. At the time we found FortiGate easier to administrate and handle. The interface was intuitive and the solution was affordable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate nine out of ten.
Fortinet FortiGate is one of the most user-friendly security appliances I've encountered. It has a gentle learning curve, and even beginners can configure it effectively. However, for a successful deployment, it's crucial to have a well-defined network layout, documented initial requirements, and a clear configuration strategy. While physical documentation isn't mandatory, a well-organized approach is essential. This includes using clear and consistent naming conventions for commands and rules, along with detailed descriptions within the configuration itself. This makes it easy for anyone to understand the overall logic and navigate the configuration from start to finish. It's important to note that my approach to policy management might involve unique syntax. This includes how I structure policy sets and identify which ones consume the most resources. Understanding how policies interact with other aspects, like implementation and rule execution, is also crucial. Ultimately, a well-defined naming standard is the foundation for a clear and maintainable configuration.
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.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
Helped reduced our cybersecurity risks, is user-friendly, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."
- "I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate to safeguard our online users, who are primarily students, around the clock.
Over the past seven years, we've utilized Fortinet FortiGate to address a wide range of security challenges. Initially, we implemented a firewall to secure our network perimeter. Subsequently, we sought to protect internal network segments. Next, we implemented application-level security measures. And most recently, we've implemented selective service controls to manage access to applications like Google services, WhatsApp, and video conferencing platforms. These measures have addressed evolving security needs over time. Currently, we're focused on enhancing authentication and remote access security. To achieve this, we're implementing security tokens to verify user identities and ensure authorized access.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet FortiGate enables us to comply with regulatory governance and compliance requirements.
FortiGate is one of the security solutions we have implemented to enhance and protect our network infrastructure, including devices, across the campus for all users. Specifically, FortiGate has shielded us from Internet security threats, application threats, and unwanted websites or access to unauthorized web services. For instance, access to classified websites is restricted based on user permissions. This has resulted in a cleaner network environment, not just from a security standpoint but also in terms of overall network performance. Secondly, FortiGate has significantly alleviated the burden on network administrators and server managers. The product has proven to be highly reliable.
It has effectively reduced our risk of cyberattacks. We have experienced a very small number of incidents, primarily due to configuration loopholes. However, FortiGate has been successful in preventing intrusions from the Internet. It has effectively thwarted hacking attempts, making it a valuable tool for our computer and network security.
We operate in an educational setting and do not rely solely on online connectivity. Therefore, an internet outage would only impact academic activities. While some internet services are utilized within our campus primarily for business purposes, they are not entirely internet-dependent. Consequently, the impact of equipment failure is minimal. In the event of equipment malfunction, we have established contingency plans and alternative facilitating services in place. Additionally, our devices are designed for high availability, with two devices functioning as a backup in case one fails. We have not experienced any device failures to date.
It has streamlined the management of our network and security operations. While the machine itself doesn't provide an out-of-the-box solution, its effectiveness hinges on the expertise and security knowledge of its users. Therefore, engineering and security proficiency are paramount to maximizing the benefits of FortiGate.
FortiGate offers a lot of reporting logs and reports. By continuously monitoring these resources, we can gather sufficient information to take immediate action and implement necessary changes. However, the effectiveness of this approach hinges on having dedicated personnel to review and respond to the provided insights. The device itself cannot act autonomously without human intervention and analysis.
FortiGate has helped us reduce our mean time to remediation by 60 percent. Its user-friendly interface facilitates rapid issue resolution.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate is an extremely user-friendly product. In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable. Additionally, we have not experienced any downtime, which is of utmost importance.
What needs improvement?
The log analyzer, for instance, is a product being developed as a common solution for multiple FortiGate devices. Consequently, the log analyzer's functionalities are not fully integrated into the individual FortiGate products. I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security. Fortinet's capabilities are primarily focused on network security.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for over seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is a fixed configuration that depends on the number of nodes and devices.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Fortinet and its vendors is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment can be completed in a few days. Two to three people are involved in the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate eight out of ten.
I'm not involved in the operation of industrial devices. We do, however, have devices that are part of laboratories, and they may be flagged during searches because we belong to the education sector. In any case, FortiGate provides protection, and I wouldn't know the extent of visibility there because it's primarily concerned with providing security for those devices. If they are connected to the network, alright.
We have around 1,500 users and over 3,000 devices that utilize FortiGate.
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.
Head IT at Burraq Cyber Security Solutions
Provides centralized management, enhanced visibility, and reduces cybersecurity risks
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."
- "The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate as our security and routing solution.
We implemented Fortinet FortiGate to enhance our security posture by blocking and restricting access to certain websites and securing our VPN traffic.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet FortiGate offers enhanced visibility and segmentation for our industrial devices, a crucial process when some machines utilize systems demanding high-level security.
We have implemented Fortinet Security Fabric on our VM infrastructure, and it has provided great service in helping us meet regulations, governance, and compliance requirements. This is important to us because Fortinet Security Fabric connects to our sandbox, allowing us to scan shares across all clusters and enabling FortiGate to resolve any online issues.
Fortinet FortiGate has enhanced our organization's security by enabling secure VPN access and restricting access to social media sites, thus ensuring that employees can focus on their work. We saw the benefits of FortiGate within weeks of the deployment.
FortiGate helps reduce the risk of cyberattacks that could disrupt our production by isolating the affected traffic and creating a log for us.
It also helps to centralize the management of our network and security operations.
The centralized management allows us to access all of our firewalls and policies using a single interface.
Fortinet provides actionable data to help us make informed decisions about the actions to take. For example, if one of our firewalls goes down, the solution helps us rectify the issue by providing details on the problem and how to address it.
By consolidating the numerous individually connected batches, FortiGate helped us reduce operational expenses associated with the extra costs they incurred.
Fortinet FortiGate has helped us mature our approach to cybersecurity for protecting our industrial equipment. Their knowledge and daily webinars on email security and virus prevention have empowered us to stop attacks and maximize our efficiency.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox. These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
What needs improvement?
The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces. This functionality should be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
While Fortinet FortiGate firewalls are scalable, upgrading to a new version or adding hardware requires purchasing a new license to migrate the old backup to the new firewall.
How are customer service and support?
While the technical support team is knowledgeable, their response time to support tickets is concerning. It typically takes them 48-72 hours to respond, which significantly disrupts my work.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
While we previously used the open-source PSS firewall, it lacked the layered security architecture offered by Fortinet FortiGate.
We migrated to Fortinet FortiGate for its superior control, in-depth scanning, and ability to minimize cybersecurity risks, features not offered by other firewall solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is easy. The solution can be installed by following the on-screen prompts, and the policies can be implemented through the interface dashboard.
Deploying the system takes one full business day. We begin by gathering user requirements from each department, as they have varying policies. The policies are implemented department-first, followed by branches. Finally, VPNs are generated for remote users. Two people are required for the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
Since implementing Fortinet FortiGate, we have observed an increase in user productivity, which translates to a positive return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost. Additionally, its fixed pricing structure eliminates concerns about surprise fees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
After evaluating Sophos XG and finding its interface overly complex for our needs, we opted for the user-friendly interface of Fortinet FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
We have one person that deals with maintaining Fortinet FortiGate.
We have 1,100 users in multiple cities and departments using FortiGate.
The Fortinet FortiGate 60F is a good choice for organizations to begin evaluating firewalls.
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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Updated: July 2025
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