The main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate usually include security to filter traffic to inside the network, load balancing and QoS for the user side, as well as Zero Trust Network Access, allowing users outside and inside the network fabric to connect to our application that is under the firewall.

The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access.

The issue with Fortinet FortiGate is the many security CVEs around; I have read there are probably multiple critical CVEs above 9.0 in Fortinet FortiGate products. There appear to be fewer issues with other brands such as Palo Alto or Check Point, but especially with Fortinet FortiGate, there are many vulnerabilities that can be found. The way we manage this is by applying updates whenever new ones are available, but the high critical CVEs generate concern, as we buy security products for our safety and when we find that attackers can easily breach them, it makes us question the safety of the product itself.

I hope we can deploy the product in an active-active configuration since we currently have two units in an active and passive setup. There are limitations when trying to install it with active-active, but we hope to run it that way.

I have been working with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for two years.

Stability wise, Fortinet FortiGate is quite good; we rarely have issues with stability, and compared to the previous solution we had, which was much worse, Fortinet FortiGate has had no issues so far.

Fortinet FortiGate is not very scalable. We use the appliance, and once we are out of capacity, we have to buy a new one, as there is no way through scalability. I would rate scalability as a seven out of ten.

I rarely use customer support, but there are a few cases where I tried to reach out before, and it was handled and closed properly, so I had no issues. I would rate the support as nine, based on my experience.

The previous solution we used was Sophos. Sophos had stability problems.

The setup is not complex. It's quite straightforward.

The return on investment after implementing Fortinet FortiGate has been quite okay, allowing us to get the value of what we paid for.

The benefit is more like we are buying insurance. All of the security products may be optional, but having them helps us feel safer and assures us that our network is protected from attackers.

It's affordable. We usually pay about 10K USD annually for the license on a yearly basis.

We have experience with integrating SD-WAN capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate. It is only useful if we have multiple internet operators; if we use a one-to-one connection, there are no benefits. Some of our sites do have multiple internet access, allowing us to use SD-WAN to manage the connection, making it easier to treat it as a single connection while SD-WAN helps manage and load balance between those two.

We do not use Fortinet Unified SASE now, but we are considering implementing it. In the data center, we actually have another solution, but Fortinet FortiGate is used only for our customer-facing side.

My advice to those planning to use Fortinet FortiGate is to check for updates often. We had several issues before due to the firmware we used, but after upgrading to the 7.4 firmware, a lot of issues were resolved just by applying the update regularly. Actually, compared to other firewalls, it is on the very affordable side.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

My use cases for Fortinet FortiGate mostly involve perimeter-based security and fire-walling.

I find that Fortinet FortiGate is pretty easy to use and integrated, offering many features in one box at a decent price compared to other enterprise vendors. When I first used it as a one-for-one replacement, the functionality was basically the same, but the ease of use compared to the old solution increased, so I definitely saw benefits immediately.

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by enhancing FortiManager, which is the centralized management system. It has many inconsistencies and errors with respect to pushing policies, especially when we have a large network team that needs to push different rules. Improving the consistency and allowing proper stability with many users managing hundreds of firewalls would be beneficial. Regarding cloud deployment in public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable, and customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy. This could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 10 years.

The stability and performance of Fortinet FortiGate have been good, as it has been running at the company for quite a few years since we first implemented it.

Regarding scalability, we have hundreds of physical appliances deployed, which are running adequately. However, in cloud deployment such as public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable. Customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy, which could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.

I have contacted technical support regarding FortiSwitch integration issues with Fortinet FortiGate. They are good at responding, though I don't need to call support often. For myself, the experience has been good. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Fortinet FortiGate's support an eight. I did have some minor issues with the person I talked to, but overall, they were able to resolve the issue.

I have used alternatives to Fortinet FortiGate.

For someone with a network background deploying Fortinet FortiGate for the first time, the switch is very easy and the UI is easy to navigate. However, their CLI is very difficult to learn, though changes and configurations in the UI are very understandable.

For the deployment of Fortinet FortiGate, it depends on the project, but for smaller or even bigger deployments, one person can easily handle it, excluding data center rack installation.

Fortinet FortiGate requires maintenance, including updates and firmware updates to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. Overall, it runs fine, but it has security vulnerabilities with respect to some features that may have affected its reputation. Keeping up to date is a normal part of having any product vendor, and their upgrade process has been smooth.

I don't necessarily know directly about their pricing, but Fortinet tends to be lower than Cisco based on the separate projects I've been involved with. In general, Fortinet FortiGate has very competitive pricing.

Cisco Firepower is one alternative to Fortinet FortiGate. Comparing both, ease of use is a major difference. Cisco Firepower's ease of use is very poor, with many bugs and issues that made it non-functional - some things break and pushing policies is very slow.

Previously, I was a customer of Fortinet, but now I am also a reseller partner. I rate Fortinet FortiGate 8 out of 10.

Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features. Some firewalls do not provide many features, but Fortinet FortiGate provides them at a reasonable price. Their pricing has been increasing over time. We can have a low-cost solution with all integration supported, providing a full package cost-effective manager. The solution offers SD-WAN capability, web filtering, application filtering, WAF, and authentication features. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. They implement it in high availability mode on their data center side and at the perimeter level.

Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features that other firewalls do not offer. The solution offers these features at a reasonable price, though prices have been increasing over time. They provide a low-cost product with all integration supported, offering a full package cost-effective manager. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic.

When they release security updates, functionality needs to be cross-checked thoroughly. The firmware updates and patch updates for particular issues can affect other features. Patch testing should be more comprehensive before deployment. The solution could be improved compared to higher-end products in the Fortinet FortiGate line.

I have been using FortiGate for more than 15 years.

For stability, Fortinet FortiGate scores eight out of ten with mature versions. However, when dealing with vulnerabilities and security updates, performance can be affected at the application level and other functionalities. With mature OS versions, the stability rating remains above eight, but during vulnerability and security issues, the rating drops to six or seven. This sometimes requires seeking alternative solutions rather than patching.

The customer service is good. They can easily identify issues and provide solutions efficiently when dealing with bugs.

I previously worked with Aruba Instant.

The initial setup is easy to implement.

Implementation was done through an implementer.

FortiGuard is included in the setup. When deploying Fortinet FortiGate, it is recommended to check which functionalities are required and enable only those needed. This approach ensures optimal performance from the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

There are other providers available such as Sophos that provide similar features at a lower cost. However, for stability, Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features in a cost-effective manner.

The solution is primarily used for data center solutions, specifically for NGFW and authentication. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. The SD-WAN features are commonly used for connectivity, and the bandwidth and ISP connectivity performance is good. There have been no issues with VPN connectivity for site-to-site connections. Multiple load balancing mechanisms show good performance. On a scale of 1-10, this solution receives a rating of 8.

The main work for Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN solution. They have a good SD WAN solution with the FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager. The company has more than one site, forty-five sites, so we need to connect it altogether.

The main feature in Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN functionality. Based on my experience, it was very easy to integrate Fortinet FortiGate with SD WAN. The benefits Fortinet FortiGate provides include easy connectivity, user-friendliness, scalability, and easy configuration management.

I believe Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiGate better with reduced costs, free certification, and improved security.

My experience with Fortinet FortiGate is approximately five to six months.

I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate as eight because there are other solutions that are more secure and more capable.

When talking about scalability for Fortinet FortiGate, I would rate it as nine or higher.

We have not needed technical support from Fortinet until now.

We moved to another vendor. We first moved to Cisco firewall, and then about six months ago, we moved to Fortinet FortiGate.

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate was simple. We worked with another vendor, and it was easy to configure and migrate with our current infrastructure.

We implemented through a vendor, through a third party.

There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.

The Sophos XG was only for one branch. We mainly have a HQ Cisco Firepower FMC. I believe Fortinet FortiGate is easier.

There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.

It is acceptable for my feedback about Fortinet FortiGate on PeerSpot to be with my personal name as a personal opinion without contact details or company name.

I am interested in being a reference for the vendor for Fortinet FortiGate, and it would be fine if the vendor contacts me with questions about my review.

In the future, I might have colleagues who can provide reviews about Fortinet FortiGate.

We plan to work with Fortinet Unified Sassy. I can recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten overall.

I currently work in the automotive industry, providing software for automotive dealers, and we only use Fortinet FortiGate for corporate purposes.

One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is how effectively the software is written; the virtual network interfaces significantly outperform Cisco in my project. I didn't need separate switches or load balancers because I was able to resolve internal FQDNs of the load balancers, which was impressive. The centralized management allowed us to manage 50 devices effectively, which I found better than Cisco.

During a recent upgrade from old devices to the latest ones, corporate IT faced challenges as there was no straightforward migration process, requiring many manual steps. I've completed upgrades with Cisco before where the process was simple, but this time it wasn't the case for corporate IT. I also heard that SSL-based VPN will be discontinued, which could be concerning.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate for several years; initially, I brought FortiGate to my previous company during a project.

Integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward, with minimal complexity involved.

My experience with Fortinet FortiGate support has been excellent, as I was fortunate to have an office in Vancouver where Fortinet had staff. We worked closely with tech personnel through the project. While I usually don't give perfect scores, the support was great. However, one area for improvement is that many functions can only be accessed via CLI, which has discrepancies between the web interface and direct connection.

I pushed corporate IT to replace SonicWall with Fortinet FortiGate, and now in my current company, we have FortiGate that we recently upgraded to the latest models.

Managing Fortinet FortiGate involves three corporate IT personnel, and although it initially took them quite a while to handle some tasks, I provided scripts that allowed them to work much quicker. What took them a day or two is now a job of just 10 to 15 minutes. Scripting and utilizing Git repositories would make things smoother, and I intended to publish modules for Terraform but haven't had the time yet.

Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate around an eight, as there is always room for improvement.

It is a next-generation firewall used to create policies to allow and deny any traffic. I have used Fortinet FortiGate in the finance sector previously, and we are now using it in the manufacturing side.

In my opinion, some of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate include its ability to block specific applications. For example, if I want to block someone from using Facebook videos, I can disable or use its application control features to block access. Facebook has many components such as video features, chat features, and VoIP calling features, and I can block any of these features to be more granular.

SD-WAN is an excellent feature where you can route the traffic to other WAN links without manual interruption. Technically, you cannot put two default routes on any firewall, but SD-WAN is a feature we can use to divert our traffic from one ISP to another. The impact of SD-WAN on the network performance has been significant. Previously, when we didn't have Fortinet FortiGate, we had Cisco routers where we used manual routing, and if one of the primary links was down, we had to do manual routing. With Fortinet FortiGate, it's much easier as we don't have to do anything; it's already configured, and if something happens, our configuration automatically changes the link and diverts the traffic when one of the links is down.

Fortinet FortiGate can be improved by being more stable because when we look for logs or open a case, we always find a bug and then we have to upgrade it. However, since it's a cost-effective solution, we are satisfied.

I have more than 10 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.

Fortinet FortiGate is stable, but it has some bugs, so you have to upgrade it. I would not say it has all the capabilities, but it's good for a manufacturing site.

Fortinet FortiGate is pretty scalable.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate's support at a seven out of ten because whenever I open a case with their support, I have to explain everything and clarify the background. They take some time—at least a day—to see what's happening with the firewall. The agents aren't much experienced in providing solutions, but it's better than Palo Alto's support, which is the worst.

Previously, we had Palo Alto firewalls which were expensive—the contracts were particularly expensive. Fortinet FortiGate is not that expensive and is more affordable when comparing pricing. Nowadays, firms usually look for cheaper models and solutions, so Fortinet FortiGates are good, but for financial sectors, Palo Alto is better.

The main differences between Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are that Palo Alto has more features and functionality compared to Fortinet FortiGate. Palo Alto can be slow, but Fortinet FortiGate is fast. With Palo Alto, we have to commit and it takes five minutes for the configuration to push, which isn't the case with Fortinet FortiGate.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. The upgrade process is also straightforward.

It's cost-effective.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten. If you are looking for a cost effective solution and want to avoid the risk, go with the Fortinet FortiGate.

For now, I have one running on a corporate network. We make use of the modules that are there such as application filtering, web filtering, IPsec VPN, Network segmentation, advanced threat protection and others.

We extensively use FortiGate's security features to proactively detect and mitigate threat.

Use Web Filtering to control websites accessible to users and block inappropriate or unproductive sites.

Use Application Control feature to limit the use of risky or bandwidth-intensive applications.

We use the network segmentation feature for isolating and limiting potential threats.

Use SD-WAN to optimize the use of our internet links.

IPS functionality detects and blocks malicious network activity.

The core benefit is that a lot is packed into it. There are many features packed and significant flexibility from Fortinet FortiGate in being able to do numerous things. Even features such as SD-WAN provide granularity that I'm happy about. Generally, every aspect of it being a next-generation firewall provides good value.

In terms of pricing, Fortinet needs to do more to compete effectively. We gained a lot of traction from Fortinet in Nigeria, however, the battle is currently intensifying. Companies such as Palo Alto are making a strong impact. Fortinet was able to gain more attraction than Cisco in Nigeria for the past ten years, however, going forward, I'm not sure that trajectory will be maintained if Fortinet doesn't strategize regarding pricing and partnerships.

Regarding maintaining skilled personnel for Fortinet solutions, if they can address the pricing for certification exams, that would help. Sometimes it's a barrier for people here, especially for companies to train people to get certified. We train people in many other solutions we deploy, however, for Fortinet, though we intend to do that, it would be beneficial if there were more incentives for people pursuing certifications.

I have been using my current solution for almost two and a half years. However, I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for up to seven years now, working with Fortinet.

I am satisfied with the performance.

It is sufficiently scalable for my needs.

Their technical support is very good. I'm happy with the technical support. When tickets are logged, the tracking system is excellent, and the response is fast. During the few times I raised tickets, I was satisfied with the support.

I have experience with Cisco and a little bit of Sophos. I found Fortinet FortiGate better than Cisco in terms of functionality being packed in one device.

The scalability for Fortinet FortiGate was unparalleled at that time. I saw Fortinet as a company that had strong strategic plans in terms of maintaining market dominance and having long-term plans to survive in the industry. This industry is very dynamic and Fortinet has been doing the right things to compete effectively.

The initial setup is simple. It's far better than my experience with Cisco.

In-house

The return on investment is satisfactory.

The license doesn't currently cover Secure Access Service Edge. Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues. Fortinet FortiGate may need to give special consideration for countries where currency has depreciated significantly, such as Nigeria. This will help in the competition.

I have previously worked with Cisco and Sophos and might have considered those before choosing Fortinet.

I'm always an advocate of Fortinet FortiGate. It's natural that it's the first OEM I recommend when it comes to networking and network security infrastructure solutions.

Fortinet is my number one, especially regarding the Fortinet FortiGate. For virtual appliances and cloud security, Fortinet is still performing well. For endpoint security, other solutions appear more popular, so perhaps Fortinet should focus more on the endpoint security aspect.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate nine out of ten.

My typical use case for Fortinet FortiGate involves it being one of the best solutions for next-generation firewall. In terms of simplified control and in-built SD-WAN solution, there are no licenses for VPN. From a commercial perspective, it is beneficial. Technically, it has successfully stopped attacks, which is the reason the customer was using Fortinet FortiGate.

The dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate has an in-built switch and wireless access point controller. Fortinet FortiGate has a feature called VDOMs, virtual domains, where you can create multiple virtual firewalls within a single hardware, which is one of the fantastic features.

In terms of effectiveness, Fortinet Unified SASE covers all three use cases: Secure Internet Access, Secure Private Access, and Secure SaaS access. For any security implementation, networking is essential, and Fortinet FortiGate provisions that through FortiGate's SD-WAN. The integration with FortiSASE and Fortinet Forti-SD-WAN is very simple and straightforward.

In terms of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate, I don't find any needed improvements regarding hardware because it is very good. The operating system has most of the features.

At this moment, I'm not finding any other improvements in this case. They are advanced in this segment. Fortinet FortiGate has in-built automation features and cyber risk assessment.

One suggestion might be to increase the storage size in the hardware for local reporting.

I have nine years of experience working with Fortinet FortiGate.

Fortinet FortiGate is a very stable solution.

In terms of scalability, Fortinet FortiGate provides more throughput compared to other OEMs, so the value for money is very high. If it is a VM, it can be scalable. In terms of hardware, it's all about scalability, throughput, and managing the number of sessions based on the hardware sizing. If the team sizing the firewall does it properly, then the solution is easily scalable.

I would evaluate customer support from Fortinet FortiGate as seven or eight out of ten. The reason I do not give 10 out of 10 for customer support is that while they follow the SLA and there is no issue with that, for them it might be P3, but for us, it might be P1 or P2 case. Remote assistance requirement should support them.

After implementing Fortinet solutions, I evaluate the return on investment as providing more throughput performance. The performance is very high in terms of packet inspection and handling the traffic. It is one of the best solutions in that case. The total cost of ownership will be low because there is no extra additional license for SD-WAN, VPN, or the VDOM feature. Considering all those things, it is a very cost-effective solution.

My advice to others looking into Fortinet FortiGate is that they can consider the return on investment or total cost of ownership. Fortinet FortiGate is definitely a good solution, not less than a better solution. It's very good compared to Palo Alto or Check Point. Those using the Fortinet FortiGate firewall should start using the features part of the solution, either it can be a WAF solution or a security rating or automation features. They can directly integrate with the cloud firewall. Operation technology is doing very well because there are many features where the network and security administrators should start enabling and making use of it. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this solution nine or ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate for network segmentation. We protect from the outside world and make segregation with the outside world. With Fortinet FortiGate, we primarily focus on network segmentation.

The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the price-quality ratio. It's a very good fit as it's not very expensive and offers extensive functionality. It functions effectively as a firewall, performing its intended purpose compared to the competition. When activating the Unified Threat Protection, users gain access to FortiGuard. The SASE possibility is also interesting even though we do not currently use it.

It's not only about the product itself. It is also the team around Fortinet. We receive substantial help from Fortinet, which is very valuable as they assist us in choosing the right solutions. If we need configuration assistance, they can send specialists who help design the solution. The value comes from both the FortiGate firewall itself and how the team supports you.

One area for improvement involves FortiAnalyzer, specifically regarding the SOC part and log interpretation. Sometimes interpretation is very difficult. They send an extensive amount of logs, and when putting that in a SOC or SIEM, payment is based on gigabytes sent. We send many unnecessary items, resulting in unnecessary costs.

We decided to reduce the logs and now send only half of what we had before after determining what was unnecessary. They should improve what needs to be sent to the SIEM. The logs should be lighter. In the log structure, there are many unnecessary columns, resulting in a large amount of redundant data. They should improve the way logs are sent to the SIEM.

We have been using Fortinet for more than ten years.

Fortinet FortiGate is stable overall when choosing a release that has been tested. We have observed more vulnerabilities on Fortinet, however, this indicates that as the product becomes more successful, it becomes a larger target for hackers. This issue exists with every major vendor.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate for our organization is one of the best aspects, as they use the same OS for everything. This means you can find your way back and upgrade without changing everything in terms of configuration. Scaling up infrastructure is not problematic as it doesn't require a major migration.

Based on my experience with their support, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate eight out fo ten. Sometimes it takes more time if the issue is complicated. Overall, the support is good.

We've always used Fortinet; we were working with someone else who was also using Fortinet.

I personally participated in the initial setup and deployment of Fortinet FortiGate a very long time ago. Currently, I am more involved in management than operations, so I no longer follow this aspect.

Fortinet FortiGate is deployed on-premises in my organization.

The return on investment with Fortinet FortiGate is measured in terms of security. A firewall can be nice, however, if it is poorly configured, it will result in poor value for money.

Return on investment for a firewall is about performing its intended function. Without one or with poor configuration, you can lose substantial money. The return on investment is reflected in the level of protection provided.

I am aware of the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate through our purchasing service. I have access to the list price and know the discounts. The price-quality ratio is very good, and we have an excellent representative who helps us secure good pricing.

I evaluated other options before choosing Fortinet FortiGate through a tender process. They met all the feature requirements and testing criteria. The dedicated ASIC provides very good performance, which was initially the key factor for our needs. We continue monitoring what Palo Alto and Cisco do, but we maintain a partnership agreement with Fortinet.

I have experience comparing Fortinet's SD-WAN with Cisco's solution. We currently don't work with SD-WAN, having returned to an MPLS network since we own the network and cables.

We don't integrate SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate in our network yet since we own our whole network, including all the cabling and optical fibers in the region. While SD-WAN is a good feature, it's not necessary for our use case.

Regarding Fortinet Unified SASE, implementation may come in the future.

We don't use Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.