The typical use case for the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for my clients is its ease of use. My clients are using Fortinet FortiGate as SD-WAN.
Fortinet FortiGate VM Next-Generation Firewall
Fortinet Inc.External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Our clients like its comprehensive protection and easy installation and management
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The effectiveness of Fortinet's unified SASE in providing consistent security policies is notable because there is one security profile from either the head office or the branch office, allowing your profile to move seamlessly with you wherever you go. You have end-to-end visibility, and you can look at the analytics. To me, that moves towards SASE.
What is most valuable?
My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS.
My clients find the next-generation firewall feature of Fortinet FortiGate to be particularly valuable. It provides internet security, network security, cloud security, ZTNA, and SD-WAN security. There is a unified agent for FortiClient. There is centralized management.
What needs improvement?
Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines.
There should also be more training and certification.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have about 10 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I find Fortinet FortiGate to be a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution, as you can start small, maybe with FortiGate 40F, and then move to FortiGate 60F or FortiGate 80F, depending on your needs.
How are customer service and support?
It depends on who your distributor is.
How was the initial setup?
It is not straightforward, but the implementation is pretty good overall. Every site is different for me. There is no standard site. We have a few different issues here and there, but overall, it's pretty good and straightforward to install. Its integration is not difficult.
It is a matter of learning and understanding the reasons why people need Fortinet FortiGate.
What was our ROI?
Fortinet FortiGate positively provides my clients' organizations with a high return on investment. There is visibility into network operations, allowing us to identify network issues. It has advanced security features. You can achieve about 200% ROI over three years, while enhancing IT teams' productivity by about 50%. It simplifies security across branches and enhances hybrid and cloud security. There is even a feature where you can predict the application performance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's very competitive.
What other advice do I have?
Many users nowadays prefer agentless installations over installing agents on their devices, which presents challenges for endpoint security, especially concerning ZTNA, VPN, and endpoint protection.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Does its job effectively and protects our environment
How has it helped my organization?
We don't have any issues regarding security, and our web server is running fine with protection from all threats.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment. It has a VPN and can create a virtual IP for a web server and functions as a standard firewall.
What needs improvement?
We faced difficulties with the configuration because there are many features we could optimize using Fortinet FortiGate, but our reseller didn't have a good understanding of it. So, we just use it on a basic level, not with the best practice for using FortiGate.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Fortinet FortiGate for around five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Overall, I find Fortinet FortiGate to be very stable. Fortinet FortiGate demonstrates consistent stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my case, the 101F is not scalable. I faced problems with scalability related to memory. When we hit 100% memory usage, it stops the internet connection, so we need to control the traffic. We cannot increase the memory.
We have about 350 users and only one admin.
How are customer service and support?
My experience with Fortinet's technical support is good and helpful. The response time and overall competence meet our expectations. I would rate their support a seven out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Juniper before Fortinet FortiGate. We switched because it was an old one and reached the end of support. We had to change.
How was the initial setup?
We were supported by a third party and the reseller. During deployment, it was not a good experience because of the reseller. We had challenges with the optimized configuration.
The deployment took around three months.
What about the implementation team?
The reseller helped us with the implementation. It has been a long time since the implementation, so I don't remember the name of the company that helped us.
Our IT has six people for deployment, and we used two staff members.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment with Fortinet FortiGate. The ROI calculation is based on potential loss prevention rather than traditional ROI metrics.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its pricing is good. The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost. Palo Alto's features are superior, but too expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I compared other brands, such as Palo Alto and Sophos, and chose Fortinet FortiGate. Palo Alto is the best, but it is significantly more expensive. Palo Alto has better capabilities than Fortinet FortiGate. Their protection is much more secure, and they excel in detecting intrusion and reading information.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Implementation improves efficiency and provides greater visibility over issues
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
What other advice do I have?
Custom security policies enhance adaptability while transparency in rules calls for improvement
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
Ease of configuration and strong performance have improved efficiency
What is our primary use case?
The main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate are for small, medium to large enterprises, and they also have products for SOHO (small office/home office). That is where they stand out.
How has it helped my organization?
The main benefits that Fortinet FortiGate brings to the table include the ease of configuration, stability of the product, and excellent support. When a customer is using Fortinet FortiGate, they will not look at any other products for expansion or upgrades. In terms of price and performance, it gives a very good, balanced product.
What is most valuable?
One of Fortinet FortiGate's best features is in terms of the configuration; it is one of the easiest to configure. It is very easy and based on ASICs. In terms of performance under scalability and stability, I would rate it amongst the best. I have not come across a product that I have had to replace or generate an R&D for to date.
There has not been any impact in terms of performance for customers because Fortinet FortiGate is dependent on the architecture, which is totally different. They have security processors, network processors, and they work on a different architecture compared to other products. To be very frank, we have not had any performance issues when deploying SD-WAN and a next-generation firewall together.
What needs improvement?
Regarding improvements for Fortinet FortiGate, there is always room for improvement in any product. In information technology, things fade away quickly, and new technologies come in. It is how quickly each of these companies adapts to that and brings in more value to the customer.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for over fifteen years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For scaling Fortinet FortiGate, I am not sure about scaling down as we have not had any instances, but scaling up has presented no challenges.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the Fortinet FortiGate technical support as extremely good so far. I have not had any issues, and I would rate it the same as Cisco.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
One pro for the Fortinet FortiGate compared to Palo Alto, Cisco products, and WatchGuard is that the architecture is different because they use specific processors to handle different types of traffic, both security traffic and routing traffic. They keep enhancing the processors as they improve the capabilities of the product. As for cons, I do not see anything at this point in time.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is extremely simple. It takes about five minutes to get it up and running. It is that easy. Nothing beyond that.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment process for Fortinet FortiGate is generally very simple. We give the prerequisites to the customer in terms of a number of man links they want to connect and what the LAN subnet and number of subnets are. These initial details are gathered from the customer. Once the appliances are in place, we begin with the contribution to the content management interface. Most of the time, we start with the LAN configuration and the LAN network configuration. Then we move to firewall policies based on the organization's requirements, licensing the product on the cloud, and subscription licenses. In some cases, we configure VPNs and site-to-site VPNs. That is about it, and there are certain features that need to be enabled, which we will enable.
What was our ROI?
One thing I would definitely state about Fortinet FortiGate is that, in terms of performance, if compared with a product of the same price point, Fortinet FortiGate will outperform it. This way, the customer has a better ROI because they do not have to look at changing it or looking at an upgrade frequently.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I find the pricing setup cost and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I work with Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN extensively. My experience in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate in the network is that it is very easy.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate as a highly mature product. I have been working with them for quite a long time and have multiple implementations across India. I have not come across any instance where I had to replace the product.
My advice for others looking into implementing Fortinet FortiGate is to plan the capacity properly and right-size the product for the specific customer, which is most important. When choosing the wrong model, some run into issues where it is not supporting that procedure, the system going under load, and similar issues. It is primarily important to spend more time on the design and finalize what is required in terms of the appliances.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution 10 out of 10.
Real-time updates strengthen our network edge security with effective threat detection
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
FSSO and Run Script are useful, and its price is also good
What is most valuable?
There is a tool called FSSO, which is a single sign-on user ID agent that works perfectly. You can configure anything on it, and it is better than Palo Alto's version.
The GUI is written in JavaScript, so when you move any object or policy to another one, it becomes easy to use. It is user-friendly and not complex for network configuration.
Run Script is the best tool to use in Fortinet FortiGate with multiple environments. You can perform multiple tasks at once with the script functionality. It is available through the GUI, whereas in Palo Alto, you need to run it in a separate tool, such as Python.
What needs improvement?
I prefer Palo Alto over Fortinet FortiGate. Its IPS engine is not better than the Palo Alto version. The monitoring tool needs improvement, and the syslog configuration needs enhancement.
The management plane and control plane are not separated as they are in the same hardware devices, whereas in Palo Alto, everything is separated. So, if the CPU and GPU usage gets higher in the data plane, the admin also becomes unreachable.
The web filter in Fortinet FortiGate is not very useful. While you can add web filters in security policies, it is difficult to understand and not flexible to use.
Fortinet FortiGate frequently experiences IPS engine problems.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In most cases, the IPS engine uses too many resources, which makes Fortinet FortiGate devices unstable. When clients encounter different issues, the IPS engine is usually the problem because it consumes excessive resources.
How are customer service and support?
I have not worked directly with technical support, but I am familiar with the distributor, partner, and vendor. People who work with Fortinet provide adequate service.
How was the initial setup?
I mostly migrate from Fortinet FortiGate, Check Point, and other solutions to Palo Alto. For migrations from various solutions to Fortinet FortiGate, it takes a few days, depending on the environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet FortiGate is cheaper than Palo Alto. It is about 20% cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
I prefer Palo Alto over Fortinet FortiGate. Fortinet FortiGate is not the best firewall, but it is acceptable. If you have a budget to buy a firewall and Palo Alto is too expensive, then Fortinet FortiGate can be usable. As an instructor in Palo Alto Networks who knows all the techniques, I naturally prefer Palo Alto.
For a small company or branch, I would choose Fortinet FortiGate because it is cheaper and the features are sufficient. However, for more critical environments, such as government institutions or banks, where privacy and security are paramount, I would opt for Palo Alto.
In a hamburger topology setup with the internet side and internal side, I prefer using Palo Alto Networks on the internet side and Fortinet FortiGate on the internal side. This creates a multi-vendor environment, avoiding dependency on a single vendor. The internet side requires more security, hence I would go for Palo Alto, whereas the internal side would benefit from Fortinet FortiGate's flexibility and ease of use.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Provides good application control and security, and it's user-friendly
What is our primary use case?
We have two deployments of Fortinet FortiGate at different sites. One is the SD-WAN, and the other is the next-generation firewall.
We secure our perimeter using Fortinet FortiGate. We are using it as a gateway device, and we have all the filters, such as the web filter, the intrusion detection and the anti-virus. We mainly use it to filter our traffic. Most importantly, it serves as our gateway device. That is how we are using it at the end of the day.
We wanted to see how Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN can help us reach out to our branch, and that was the only reason for enabling it. It pretty much works for connectivity to the branch.
How has it helped my organization?
It is very user-friendly compared to other products. It integrates with many other technologies out there. It does not matter what technology you have deployed within your network, it can work with that.
We have not had an issue with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall. We recently renewed the licenses for the firewall and FortiNAC, and it has been working well. I have not had any incidents or instances since the last renewal.
What is most valuable?
Application control and the web filter are the best features of Fortinet FortiGate.
Traffic control is available, and I have been using Fortinet FortiGate to allocate bandwidth also, so it helps me manage and allocate bandwidth to my applications. On that side, that has worked for me. Most importantly, it helps to filter unwanted traffic.
What needs improvement?
Its pricing can be better. I cannot think of anything else because it pretty much satisfies our requirements. I am comfortable with this product.
The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not faced any stability issues with Fortinet FortiGate. I would give it an eight out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable. I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I raise my tickets for Fortinet FortiGate, and they are handled well. The support is pretty good. I would rate the support an eight out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In this work environment, Fortinet FortiGate was the first one we had as our firewall. We had nothing before it.
I have previously worked with Check Point and Cyberoam. Those are the only two products that I can compare with Fortinet FortiGate.
From my experience, administration is a bit complicated on the Check Point side. Most of the concepts are similar, but configuring Fortinet FortiGate is a little bit easier for me compared to Check Point. Cyberoam was resource intensive, which I have not seen in Fortinet FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was handled by a provider to implement it, but the knowledge transfer was pretty much straightforward. It took about two weeks to deploy Fortinet FortiGate.
What was our ROI?
We are not a business-oriented organization; our primary aim is to make sure that our assets are protected. We had some issues before having this firewall, and we have not had any incidents ever since we implemented Fortinet FortiGate.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost.
The license renewal for Fortinet FortiGate has been a little bit costly. When we are paying, we renew both the warranty and licenses for Fortinet FortiGate. That is what makes the whole thing a bit costly.
We normally purchase and renew those licenses for FortiAnalyzer, FortiNAC, and Fortinet FortiGate firewall at the same time. When I look around, I would say Fortinet FortiGate is on the higher side.
What other advice do I have?
The thing that I have not experienced with it is the web application firewall. I was trying to find out from the partner whether it is something that is licensed separately. When you look at the policies, it looks it is not active.
I would recommend using Fortinet FortiGate because of its usability. I would rate it a nine out of ten.
SD-WAN feature helps with network integrity, but support needs enhancement
What is most valuable?
The SD-WAN feature of Fortinet FortiGate has been most impactful in maintaining our network's integrity.
Fortinet FortiGate's threat detection capabilities are good for our use because it's an internal firewall; however, we haven't enabled some of the features that are there. We've enabled IPS and antivirus generally.
What needs improvement?
They could improve the response time and quality of support.
I'm not sure what additional features they need to have in the future to make it better. For the purpose that we use it, it is doing the job, but I haven't explored some of the features.
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 haven't had any issues with the stability or performance of the actual firewall. It has been fine with no bugs.
We didn't have to think about upgrading or anything; it does what we bought it for. If it wasn't for the end of support and the end of sale, we would not think about changing it. We are considering similar products for upgrading, maybe newer or bigger hardware.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable. Currently, 120 people are using Fortinet FortiGate in my company.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate their technical support about six out of ten; I'm not fully satisfied. They could improve the response time and quality of support.
What was our ROI?
Fortinet FortiGate has delivered financial and operational ROI to my organization. It took about two to three years to realize ROI with Fortinet FortiGate.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
At the time we bought them, I was satisfied with their pricing; I don't know how the new pricing will be.
We have to pay additionally for maintenance or support; it is not all included.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten.
Effective threat prevention speeds up response but maintenance can be challenging
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.
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.