The solution is used for protecting offices for outbound traffic.
Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Fortinet Inc.External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Setup customization allows for tailored configurations but some complexity needs refinement
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
To be brutally honest, it wasn't my choice of vendor, but it seems to be able to do everything, though its configurations have to be quite specific. This is neither a positive nor a negative aspect, it is simply how the solution functions.
What needs improvement?
The operational logic is not as straightforward as a Sophos XGS device. When creating rules in the Sophos firewall, they are more intuitive than in the Fortinet FortiGate IPS device. The Fortinet FortiGate IPS device is more complicated.
The solution needs to be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for six months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
The initial setups are acceptable, though I have not been the one implementing them.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is crucial to size your hardware correctly to avoid problems.
The solution serves about five users.
How are customer service and support?
The support package being an additional extra, even with an enterprise package purchase, is pathetic.
Though I haven't had direct experience with support, the fact that it doesn't come by default, which is very misleading compared to other brands, warrants a rating of two out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
How was the initial setup?
A basic setup can be accomplished in a few hours, but significant customization is required to achieve the desired configuration.
What was our ROI?
I view it from the perspective that making an investment in the product prevents potentially larger costs when something goes wrong.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is more affordable compared to alternatives.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is suitable for small-medium customers, provided they have the ability to set it up.
The implementation has been successful so far.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate Fortinet FortiGate IPS a seven.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Integrates cutting-edge features but has some complexity in implementation
What is our primary use case?
I use Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution, and I use the AI and ML-enhanced FortiGuard services within FortiGate.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are the integration of SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet Unified SASE. I utilize Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution, and I use the AI and ML-enhanced FortiGuard services within FortiGate.
What needs improvement?
The ease of use related to Fortinet FortiGate and FortiNAC is a bit complex when implementing and supporting cases related to a FortiGate firewall. The software contains bugs, particularly in SSL VPN from all the firmware starting from version 7.6.3; the SSL VPN is not found in this version. If customers update the firewall firmware to 7.6.3, they might experience issues with the SSL VPN. In FortiNAC, there are issues with the passive agent on an endpoint. I currently conduct lab tests in my company to apply the FortiNAC agent on my endpoint, but I encounter issues with this application.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for three years and FortiNAC for one year.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I do not have information about the license costs for Fortinet FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
I have experience with Fortinet FortiGate and FortiNAC. I need to apply some labs in my company to finalize the project, so I can identify the disadvantage points to share. The interface of Fortinet FortiGate is simplified and easy to use.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 7.
Experience facilitates easy configuration while needing improvements in smaller models
What is our primary use case?
A typical use case for this solution is that we have small to medium-based customers, and we need a central firewall, which should provide firewall and next-generation features, VPN for home office, and for mobility users, mobile users, and this is what we all use with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my client's organization because we have know-how of FortiGate; we could debug problems, we could set up our settings as planned, and I appreciate the easy way of configuration, that we can use parallel GUI and CLI, or CLI and web interface, which we can use in parallel. It is a product that we can use very easily.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate can be improved because we have some smaller customers, and with the SMB or small customer solutions with the two letters, 50, 70, 90, they sometimes cause problems. They could improve the smaller devices. One issue is that they have retired SSL VPN for existing devices. This causes significant effort for us to change customer setups. Additionally, they changed features when we only make a patch update and not only a major update. This is really a problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience working with Fortinet FortiGate for 20 years, and I wanted to see if we have the right product because we have some problems currently with Fortinet.
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?
It is definitely a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
I rate technical support seven out of ten because we made a migration from a FortiGate 200 on another customer side, and we wanted to switch a FortiToken from one model to another one, which was only possible with support. It worked, but we needed about 10 different calls; it was really complicated. Support helped, but people changed every time. Every call, we had a call number, and in each call, people changed, so we had to explain again what we wanted to do. For a similar process, we had to make two different calls, one for mobile token, one for hardware token. This was really challenging. Support is working and good, but it's not perfect.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've used Sophos firewalls, but we don't use them anymore because they cause too many problems for us.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward.
What was our ROI?
I haven't seen an ROI with Fortinet FortiGate.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is okay. We won a deal in comparison to Check Point where FortiGate was much cheaper. Compared to Sophos, the base models seem to be cheaper with Sophos, but the services seem to be cheaper with FortiGate.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I remember doing research on peerspot.com about IT solutions. I wanted to investigate differences between firewall competitors or firewall vendors and Google led me to their site. I have checked a few reports, and they have not been very useful for us. For comparing different vendors, I was also led to their site. They have different types of reports, including user voices and Palo Alto Networks review tips and advice from real users in an 80-page long report. They have market shares and rankings and customer voices, but the customer voices point to a single feature, so I don't get an overall picture of the comparison.
What other advice do I have?
My relationship with Fortinet is that we are a reseller. We have made some tests with SD-WAN but have not introduced this product into production. We use Fortinet FortiGate firewalls and some next-generation fire features proxy, but we don't use SASE. We utilize NPS services, FortiGuard services, antivirus, and malware protection. My clients are typically small to medium businesses, with customers from about 20 to 500 people. I would rate Fortinet FortiGate overall as a seven based on my experience in the last year. Before it would be an eight, but now it's seven because of the problems with the SSL VPN. Additionally, we bought some 50G models that still have a 7.0 firmware, which is really old, and this is not good.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hardware is very stable but technical support needs improvement
What is our primary use case?
Our main use case for Fortinet FortiGate is as a firewall. We are using it for cybersecurity purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
Our main purpose when we started working with Fortinet FortiGate was to secure our network in all aspects. Fortinet FortiGate performs a very important role in blocking malicious activity in our network. I'm not sure how much it has improved, but it has made our network stable and secure.
What is most valuable?
The hardware is very stable. Once you install the system, it works in any condition.
The dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is pretty good.
What needs improvement?
The main thing they have to improve in Fortinet FortiGate is the technical support; the rest of the features are good enough. We can handle them, but sometimes you really need support, and in that case, we are not getting it at the proper time. I have been mentioning this for the last two years.
There is a migration issue from 600D to 600E, as we are not able to export the configuration file to 600E. It should be like export and import in all variants.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate since 2016, which is approximately nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is very poor.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not worked with other vendors for the last ten years, but if I get any chance, I will explore Palo Alto.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We want to purchase more Fortinet FortiGate devices, but people are not giving us a proper quotation. There needs to be more transparency in giving quotations. Sometimes prices are very high, and even after the conclusion, the buyer thinks there may be some more reduction in the price.
What other advice do I have?
Currently, we don't have any Fortinet FortiGate data center solutions, but in the future, we are going to plan this one.
I will recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users only because the hardware is very stable. I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Provides extensive integration and policy insights, but GUI configuration could be comprehensive
What is our primary use case?
I am using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall and for IDS. We also use FortiSIEM.
What is most valuable?
The firewall is pretty good if you understand how to use it. It performs at a very high level, and we are loving it. The SASE and ZTNA features are quite good as well.
It does extensive work for our organization. It provided additional policies we were not aware of and gave us an overview and knowledge about those policies. I have had a good experience. It's not difficult to manage. The software is good.
It is particularly effective when it comes to integration, as it can be integrated with many other vendors.
What needs improvement?
Since everyone is talking about AI, they should consider having AI embedded or working with developers in terms of AI to improve Fortinet FortiGate.
The issue lies with features available in GUI versus CLI during configuration. When using GUI, I want to accomplish everything there, but sometimes it requires using CLI to ensure proper configuration.
For how long have I used the solution?
It has been almost two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has its ups and downs but they are minor things. One can work around them with proper knowledge of the system. We never had many incidents with it. I have had a good experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is quite good.
How are customer service and support?
I am very satisfied with their technical support. They are very supportive, though sometimes they can be a bit busy.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used any other solutions. The deciding factors were the price, technology, effectiveness of the solution, and the skill that we had for it.
How was the initial setup?
It was easy to deploy. It took us a week to deploy it.
What was our ROI?
It is very effective and provides value for money. After a month, we could see from our reporting when the system was up and running that it was very effective.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Can secure some sites and good ROI but challenges with web filter integration
What is our primary use case?
I'm using it for web filter and then using it for VPN connection user to site, and I'm using it to make a virtual ID to link a real ID from the server to provider to my servers to publish servers.
What is most valuable?
I work with Fortinet FortiGate SD WAN. I configure the SD WAN to use two Internet service providers from two different service provider links. When one of them is down, the SD WAN goes down. I have to go to the SD WAN and remove this link from the SD WAN member. I confirmed that with the local provider and it's working. Sometimes, when a member of the SD WAN link is down, the SD WAN is down, and this is not the solution. I made the SD WAN for redundancy, however, when a member of the SD WAN link is down or I finish the quote of the Internet, all the SD WAN stops working and users experience problems.
What needs improvement?
With the web filter, when I go to post some websites under certain categories and open these categories, I experience some problems.
Additionally, I face difficulties integrating Fortinet FortiGate with Active Directory. When I set preferences to use Active Directory users, it sometimes works and sometimes does not work. When I integrate Fortinet FortiGate with Active Directory and use this integration to make a web filter policy, the functionality is inconsistent. I have tried restarting the Active Directory domain controller and the firewall, but the problem persists. As a workaround, I use the MAC address of the user to define the settings.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't configured or experienced any stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's safe and secures my network and applications in some sites. However, I have significant problems when implementing web filters, which is a very problematic issue for me.
How are customer service and support?
I often ask for help from the local provider. I haven't found the required efficient help. Currently, I have problems connecting to some banking systems and departmental Texas portals. I have asked for help but haven't found assistance through the site or through the local provider. When trying to open a ticket, they reply with solutions that are not applicable to my situation.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I didn't have a firewall previously. That said, I did have a VPN gateway.
How was the initial setup?
I haven't configured or used the initial setup.
What about the implementation team?
I didn't choose or have knowledge about the implementation team.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment was good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The setup cost was good. The Egyptian pound is declining, and upgrading Fortinet FortiGate yearly costs about $2000 USD, which equals one hundred Egyptian pounds. I maintain a business relationship with the vendor and receive support from them.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I considered switching to Sophos. Due to my previous experience with Fortinet FortiGate, I preferred to stay with Fortinet FortiGate.
What other advice do I have?
The solution requires careful attention, and when problems occur, they typically don't repeat once resolved.
I miss having local provider support here in Egypt. International support is difficult to obtain. Local support is preferable yet has become very expensive due to currency devaluation in Egypt.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Ease of deployment and cost-effective but has occasional support challenges
What is our primary use case?
I use Fortinet FortiGate for security as a firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
Fortinet FortiGate helps improve my organization since it's quick and easy to install, and we don't have to call support frequently.
What is most valuable?
It's very similar to a Cisco firewall, yet they are less expensive. It has all the features the competitors have, including VPN.
Fortinet FortiGate is easy to install and deploy quickly. There's a user-friendly GUI or if you like, CLI, for those who prefer it over CLI you can use that.
What needs improvement?
From a support perspective, I had more issues that I didn't think the person on my case handled the way I was expecting. We called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for about seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is pretty stable. We once had an issue and we had a workaround from Fortinet FortiGate before they deployed a patch.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable. On a scale of one to ten for scalability, I would rate it as seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I don't call them frequently, which is a good sign. However, we called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance. If I had to rate them on a scale, I would rate them eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Checkpoint and used to love them. However, they are expensive and can be complex. I love Palo Alto. That said, they are not that flexible for me. I also used Cisco.
How was the initial setup?
It was easy to set it up, for the most part. The deployment of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate ease of deployment at an eight.
We did switch from a competitor and were able to set it up very quickly.
It takes only two people to deploy.
What was our ROI?
The price is very interesting and it ends up being a very cost-effective solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is the first main difference compared to others. Its prices are very interesting. At the company I work for, people tend to go with Fortinet FortiGate, and it's used especially in my country, as it's a cost-effective solution.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated and compared Palo Alto and Cisco with Fortinet FortiGate after Checkpoint.
What other advice do I have?
I will recommend Fortinet FortiGate to others, depending on the organization's requirements, needs, and budget.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate as a seven out of ten simply due to the fact that I'm more of a Cisco person. I prefer Cisco since I've been working with it for a long time.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Ease of setup and cost-effectiveness but support needs improvement
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiGate is used on three separate sites: one in Tehachapi, one in Simi Valley, California, and one in Memphis, Tennessee. I work in distribution with Fortinet FortiGate.
What is most valuable?
The primary feature I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is the ease of setup. It's more affordable than Cisco and very configurable. When discussing configurability regarding Fortinet FortiGate, I don't have to download modules to have features such as IPSec VPN or SSL VPN - it's already there. Most of the popular features are pre-installed and I only need to configure them, unlike with MikroTik where I have to download components that may not work, and with Netgate, I can't install everything I want without uninstalling other packages.
Fortinet FortiGate is very competitive compared to Palo Alto Networks and Cisco; they are better priced than both competitors. On average, Cisco would be 10% to 20% higher than Fortinet FortiGate, and the same applies to Palo Alto.
What needs improvement?
The AI with Fortinet FortiGate is not very well integrated on their devices, and their cloud infrastructure is not as good as Cisco's.
The support is inadequate. The support staff I have dealt with lately are very rude. Some support staff are not up-to-speed with the technology. They basically read a script. If they don't know how to fix an issue, they send me to another engineer.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Fortinet FortiGate since 2012.
How are customer service and support?
The support is inadequate. The Fortinet FortiGate support staff I have dealt with lately are very rude and some of them are not up-to-speed with the technology; they basically read a script. If they don't know how to fix an issue, they send me to another engineer. The last representative I had to deal with was very rude to me.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I wasn't involved in the decision of picking Fortinet FortiGate, however, before we switched over, we were using SonicWall firewall appliance.
How was the initial setup?
I was part of the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate. When it was originally set up, on a scale between one to ten, with ten being really easy to set up, I would rate it about an eight or nine.
When we first deployed Fortinet FortiGate, it was just me, and one person could actually deploy it in three sites, so it's relatively easy.
Once we deployed the last time, we actually moved our whole management of it to a third party. They manage our Fortinet for us now. It's supposed to be easy, however, during the last deployment, when they upgraded us, there was some project management snafu. That said, that's not a Fortinet issue. When I was deploying it, it was relatively easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Currently, we are paying about $1,500 a month for three sites. We have a company that leases the equipment from Fortinet FortiGate, configures it, and I tell them what features I want on and off and how to secure it. We paid about $1,500 on the last contract, and it's probably going to go up this year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've also evaluated other options. Other than price, Cisco has a better cloud management infrastructure, while Palo Alto has better security features such as deep packet inspection algorithms and AI integration on their devices.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate if you have a small to medium business, which we have. For a large business with multiple campuses, Fortinet FortiGate is probably not going to work for you.
On a scale of one to ten, I give this solution a rating of seven.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Integrated security solution is effective but support can be better
What is our primary use case?
We are using it for the data center firewall and perimeter firewall facing the Internet, which are my main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate.
What is most valuable?
The combined license for the network, the next-generation firewall, and the integration with SD-WAN for all branches are what I consider to be the best features. It's effective for multi-branch customers.
SD-WAN has had a positive impact by reducing the operational costs in terms of headcount and management. It has had an impact on the network performance. It reduced the operational, Internet connection, and MPLS costs. With a combined solution, there is no need to put a specific firewall to secure the connection. It's like a single box.
What needs improvement?
Performance on the box and technical support are areas where Fortinet FortiGate can be improved. In their datasheet, they put the throughput as huge, but once you enable all the features of the box, the performance is impacted dramatically. In reality, it will be 20% to 30% of what they have mentioned in the datasheet.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with FortiGate from a design perspective for almost ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. They are providing a good number of ports; there's no need to put a switch to connect to the appliance itself.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate technical support from Fortinet a five out of ten. To escalate the case severity from three to one, you need to have the account manager engaged to accelerate and get the technical people involved. It's not like other competitors who have premium support 24/7.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to perform the same function by placing a router and a firewall to secure the connection. It required multiple vendors and multiple boxes, which was a huge engagement from the operational perspective and investment-wise. Now, a small firewall with SD-WAN features can handle the entire situation, including connection with the branch, encryption, and security.
How was the initial setup?
It's user-friendly deployment because they have an enhanced dashboard to manage and implement, not requiring the CLI or command line interface, which needs deep study. They have a GUI that is user-friendly and attractive.
What about the implementation team?
We are system integrators, and our delivery team implements the project for deployment.
What was our ROI?
Reducing the operation cost and reducing the internet connection and MPLS cost has been my evaluation of changes in return on investment after implementing Fortinet solutions for SD-WAN and hybrid workforce.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Centralized manageability streamlines operations but renewal pricing concerns persist
What is our primary use case?
The typical use case for Fortinet FortiGate is because of the user-friendly interface.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate's best features are the manageability part and centralized management. The community support available for Fortinet FortiGate is also a significant advantage. Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization, offering ease of management with no network disruptions; it works seamlessly.
What needs improvement?
The room for improvement for Fortinet FortiGate is related to prices; the renewal prices have to be aligned with the customer's pockets, as at times they are very aggressive, leading to the possibility of changing vendors.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience of working with Fortinet FortiGate for more than 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have faced no trouble with the stability; it works seamlessly, and the support is good, as most of the time customers themselves can resolve issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is not a scalable solution, as they give you a number and each box comes with concurrent connections; if you need to expand, you have to change the box.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate technical support a seven on a scale of one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Fortinet FortiGate, we used SonicWALL, Sophos, and GuardShield for our customers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup varies from customer to customer, as we are a system integrator, having sold more than 500 plus boxes.
What about the implementation team?
We have expertise in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with FortiGate, but I'm not the right person to comment on it.
What was our ROI?
The ROI after implementing Fortinet solution means that while it is there, they have now become very expensive; for example, if I buy a product for 10 lakhs INR today, after three years they will ask for 15 lakhs, which is a major concern for customers.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to other organizations considering Fortinet FortiGate is to evaluate the features of other products as well, as Sophos also does a great job, but users may not adopt it due to its presence.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate overall as seven.