Network Architect at Bouygues telecom
Real User
Provides robust web filtering capabilities and has an easy setup process
Pros and Cons
  • "It offers the same robust features and functionality in virtual, on-premise, and traditional data center environments."
  • "They could simplify the troubleshooting process."

What needs improvement?

They could simplify the troubleshooting process. Troubleshooting requires expertise, often necessitating the command-line interface (CLI). It could be more advanced and easier to use than other products.

Additionally, they could enhance support capabilities and a facility to communicate efficiently with the team.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. However, there are a few areas of improvement. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is best in terms of pricing for small and medium-sized companies, where it stands out as a cost-effective and feature-rich solution. For larger enterprises, we emphasize the potential benefits of complementing FortiGate-VM with additional firewalls, such as Palo Alto, to enhance security and address potential vulnerabilities.

I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process is easy. It can deployed on the cloud and premises based on the client's requirements.

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

There are products like Cisco Meraki that are more inexpensive than Fortinet FortiGate-VM. However, it provides better security features. Palo Alto's pricing is similar to that of the FortiGate-VM regarding quality for security features. It is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

FortiGate VM in a cloud infrastructure provides security benefits. It offers the same robust features and functionality in virtual, on-premise, and traditional data center environments. It protects against external attacks and internal threats through features such as web filtering, secure application filtering, and antivirus capabilities. These functionalities collectively enhance security measures, safeguarding against various potential risks.

It is extensible, as we can add as much functionality as we require. It is simple to add more resources. It has a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model.

I rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Network Administrator Team Lead at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
A full-featured virtual appliance with valuable monitoring and visibility features
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the visibility and monitoring features because they're easy to use to monitor traffic. Features like geo-blocking and more have AI, and we're currently using all of it. But for now, we're only using geo-blocking, and we're able to block traffic from different countries. I also like that it's highly responsive. VM04 is also very powerful."
  • "It would be better if it could provide you with options before completely blocking anything through the web filter. If you are doing a deep SSL inspection on the site if it says it's expired, it doesn't give you the option to continue at your own risk. I can't say that it's bad, but SSL internally isn't really a requirement. However, its security features can help. Right now, we have people going out and spending on purchasing the SSL certificates for internal sites."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate-VM for managing inbound and outbound internet traffic through our environment. Sometimes, we also use it for managing the site's internet outbound and routing. We also use it for IPSec on Azure. We also have an on-premises environment, and we're using it for IPSec on that environment. 

All the routing happens through it because we're swinging all the traffic on the Azure side through a firewall which is basically the gateway. It acts as the gateway and manages outbound traffic in that environment. We have also set up the SSL VPN for users. We do have FortiGate on-premise, and we set up the SSL VPN connection for users.

How has it helped my organization?

It made the routing of traffic seamless and it helped us with SD-WAN as well as load balancing.

What is most valuable?

I like the visibility and monitoring features because they're easy to use to monitor traffic. Features like geo-blocking and more have AI, and we're currently using all of it. But for now, we're only using geo-blocking, and we're able to block traffic from different countries. I also like that it's highly responsive. VM04 is also very powerful.

What needs improvement?

It would be better if it could provide you with options before completely blocking anything through the web filter. If you are doing a deep SSL inspection on the site if it says it's expired, it doesn't give you the option to continue at your own risk. I can't say that it's bad, but SSL internally isn't really a requirement. However, its security features can help. Right now, we have people going out and spending on purchasing the SSL certificates for internal sites. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is a stable and very reliable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is a scalable solution. It's very powerful, and I've never seen that machine running out of resources. It always worked.

How are customer service and support?

Tech support is okay, but we do a lot of management by ourselves. We have a third party that we use when we do implementations, and I haven't contacted Fortinet even though I have access to it. The local support that we use costs much less. 

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

I still remember using Check Point, and it took a long time to apply a policy. To install the policy, you had to wait for ten to 20 minutes or even 30 minutes. Fortinet FortiGate-VM instantly applies the policy on the FortiGate itself.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was difficult because we were all new when it came to the Azure environment. It was a little difficult to create space and understand that you have to have more than one interface. But once you get used to it. It's pretty straightforward.

It's straightforward if you have all that is required when you're clearing your traffic. If you're clearing your traffic already into your internal length to communicate with the firewall range, and you have information and understand it before the implementation, it will be very seamless. It will be stress-free when you understand the environment where you're going to implement it.

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

Our license is yearly, but we're thinking of going monthly. I think it's somewhere around 100,000 for VM04. Nowadays, everyone wants to be a hacker, so we believe in security. That's why we also have third-party people that we involve to make sure that we're secure. 

I don't think the costs are too bad. You still want to get advice from people who worked in security for many years, so you add a third party. The third party also said they would give their share like 100K, or 200K or something like that, so I don't think it's too expensive for security. I think it just adds more trust. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have been using Check Point Firewall so it was easy to identity the difference.

What other advice do I have?

I will recommend the solution. If it's a first-time deployment in Azure, they need to understand a couple of things, like the interfaces we need to create. The good thing about FortiGate is that they don't hide how their devices work. You can go to their website and get every instruction that you need at any time. It's straightforward and even has pictures showing you what you should expect. I've done a few changes for the first time, and I didn't have to stress. But you must know the infrastructure well.

On a scale from one to ten, I would five Fortinet FortiGate-VM a ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

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

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate-VM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
General Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Highly versatile, suitable for all size companies, and excellent support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are its flexibility and scalability. This solution is available as a license, which allows us to activate it based on the specific needs of the customer. This gives us and the customer a great deal of versatility and customization options."
  • "There is always room for improvement in any solutions, including Fortinet's FortiGate-VM. Although the solution claims to have a superior throughput compared to other OEMs, upon closer examination and comparison, there is potential for significant improvement in this area. In today's rapidly evolving technology world, it is important to continuously strive for enhancement and development, and I believe Fortinet can make significant strides in this direction for the FortiGate-VM."

What is our primary use case?

The use case of FortiGate-VM is primarily for securing the perimeter of private clouds in the dedicated environment created for customers. This can be achieved through a virtual appliance or physical hardware solution. Beyond only perimeter security, some customers also require DDoS services, and FortiGate-VM can provide this through its own solutions that can be combined and offered as a bundle to meet the specific needs of the customer.

The solution can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud too.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are its flexibility and scalability. This solution is available as a license, which allows us to activate it based on the specific needs of the customer. This gives us and the customer a great deal of versatility and customization options. 

What needs improvement?

There is always room for improvement in any solutions, including Fortinet's FortiGate-VM. Although the solution claims to have a superior throughput compared to other OEMs, upon closer examination and comparison, there is potential for significant improvement in this area. In today's rapidly evolving technology world, it is important to continuously strive for enhancement and development, and I believe Fortinet can make significant strides in this direction for the FortiGate-VM.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for approximately 18 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, it can be easily and effectively expanded as the customer's requirements grow and change. This makes it an incredibly agile solution that can be tailored to meet even the most demanding demands. There is some room for improvement in this area.

The solution is suitable for small to enterprise-sized companies.

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM is excellent, it is one of their strongest points.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate-VM a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the solution is simple because everything comes with GUI. The entire infrastructure for the customer is simple to set up with the GUI.

The choice between an on-premise or cloud solution is a decision that ultimately depends on the specific needs and requirements of the customer. Currently, there is a trend towards utilizing cloud-based products as they offer a wider selection and can be easily deployed. On the other hand, some customers may prefer an on-premise setup, which involves deploying physical equipment on the customer's premises or a virtual machine from an OEM. The cloud solution offers greater agility, flexibility, and speed but can also present challenges, especially in the semiconductor industry where delivery times may be longer due to stress in the market. In conclusion, both options have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the decision between them should be based on the specific requirements of the customer.

Taking into consideration the magnitude of the entire implementation, the deployment process could potentially take approximately three weeks, assuming all necessary components are readily available for the physical setup. After this stage, the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase commences, which may last for an additional week. Subsequently, before the final implementation into production, the customer would conduct a final UAT to ensure all elements have been successfully deployed and functioning as intended.

I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

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

The price of the solution is competitive. Fortinet FortiGate-VM had a lot of advantages when it came to pricing. However, the competition has also geared up to a larger extent and it has become comparable now to the other solutions.

In terms of security, it is crucial to understand that the cost of security measures should not be the sole determining factor. The security of your overall infrastructure and setup must be a top priority, regardless of the price of security appliances or OEMs. However, when considering the entire solution, including the security infrastructure, the cost will play a crucial role in the final decision-making process.

It is imperative to choose the best available options, but the cost of the entire solution should not be exorbitant and prevent it from gaining approval from clients.

I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

When evaluating the overall solution, it is important to consider both the benefits and drawbacks. Fortinet FortiGate-VM presents a multitude of advantages that make it a fantastic product choice. It offers exceptional stability, a scalable design, and unparalleled support from the manufacturer. It is with great confidence that I wholeheartedly recommend Fortinet as a reliable and valuable solution.

I would recommend this solution to others as long as it's fulfilling the requirements of the customer.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSP
PeerSpot user
Chief Information Security Officer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 10
The product that is easy to maintain and offers intuitiveness to users
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is easy to implement."
  • "The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM was used for our company's customers, but presently, most of our clients use Sophos UTM.

My company's clients use Fortinet FortiGate-VM to protect their entire internal network.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has very good features. The most important factor about the product is that it is very intuitive. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is very handy compared to Check Point and Palo Alto.

With Fortinet FortiGate-VM, you get all the tools in the basic package, so there is no need to get a special platform for each component, which makes it much easier to implement.

What needs improvement?

The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required.

The response time of the technical support team is an area of concern where improvements are needed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for a few years. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

There are certain issues that users may face when they update Fortinet FortiGate-VM due to some bugs.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Considering that the machines work with the same operating system and in the same method in an environment, the use of the scalability feature is very easy.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I work with our company's small, medium, and enterprise-sized clients who use the solution.

How are customer service and support?

At times, you can get a quick answer from the support team, but for some cases or issues, it takes a long time for the technical team to respond.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I have experience with Check Point and Palo Alto. The first firewall that my company worked with was Check Point, and we have used it for many years.

How was the initial setup?

The product is easy to implement.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model.

The complexity of the organization determines the time required to deploy the solution. Basically, it takes three hours to deploy the product, and for a big company, it takes two days.

One good engineer is enough to take care of the deployment phase of the product.

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

The pricing of the product depends on a company's negotiation skills, and if a company can't get it at a good price, there are other tools that can be purchased from the market.

I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.

Our company needs to make either a yearly or a three-year payment towards the licensing charges attached to the product. There are no additional costs attached to the solution apart from the tool's licensing charges.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM is a very good product.

The maintenance of the product is very easy. One person is required to take care of the maintenance of the product.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. Before buying the product, people should consider the ease of implementation Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers.

Check Point is the best when it comes to monitoring and investigating logs. In general, the most important thing users should consider is that the implementation part should be good, for which Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the best.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Jasmit Singh Juneja - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO & Technology Specialist at Karman Infotech Private Limited
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A private cloud solution with a hardware firewall and easy deployment

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for the private cloud.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate-VM has a standard hardware firewall and easy deployment. You download a pre-configured virtual machine and run it on your hypervisor, Hyper-V, or ESXi by VMware. It is an excellent solution for private cloud setups, allowing seamless management using Fortinet without additional hardware purchases. Moreover, it offers flexibility—you can integrate it with physical hardware for redundancy or establish branch office VPNs effortlessly. Fortinet's automation capabilities facilitate smooth connectivity between public and private clouds.

What needs improvement?

The solution is highly scalable, depending on the type of hardware it runs on. You need knowledge of hypervisors to learn about the virtualized environment.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM as an integrator for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We cater the solution to SMBs.

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

I have used SonicWall. Fortinet has fewer hardware requirements than SonicWall. The basic requirement is the same.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy and doesn't take more than one hour.

What was our ROI?

ROI is pretty good because it's simply software as a service. You subscribe to a service, and VM is available from FortiGate to download, install, and run. You get all the features. The scalability depends upon the hardware or VM. It could be serving 1000s or 100s users, depending on the configuration.

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

The solution is expensive.

It could have some versions limited by several users to reduce the price. Else, they could limit the product features, and create some version for a smaller organization with basic requirements.

Support is additional and comes apart from the subscription.

What other advice do I have?

There's not much maintenance required. One to two people is required. Patches and upgrades are required and happen automatically if you've configured it that way. It is easy to deploy over the cloud. There are ready appliances to run in a public cloud like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google Cloud.

I recommend the solution. It is fantastic, easy to deploy, and very scalable. It saves a lot of time. Some particular hardware is not available in stock. FortiGate-VM is a good alternative. You could download, configure, and apply it. You could buy it online or from a Fortinet partner. It's quick and easy to set up.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
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Cyber Security architect at Avanade
Real User
Great intrusion prevention systems and anti-spam capabilities alongside other useful security features
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable."
  • "The costs could be lowered."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used for security. When a company has a hybrid solution and the client is looking for a next-generation firewall with all the bells and whistles inside, we recommend FortiGate.

What is most valuable?

The intrusion prevention systems are great.  

The anti-spam capabilities are really great.

The solution has a lot of very useful security features. 

The solution is stable.

The scalability potential is there.

What needs improvement?

The previous version, which was 7.1 or 7.2, was a little bit easier to use. It's kind of a little bit tricky to find the options from the firewall configurations now, in the latest version. Previously, it was easier to deal with. The whole dashboard that you get can be improved. They could organize the whole dashboard a bit more to put stuff under each other in a way that makes sense and makes everything easy to reach.

The costs could be lowered.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for a while. I've used it over the last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have found the stability to be good. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. It is a little bit expensive on Azure when you use it on the cloud, however. If a company plans to expand it, they need to keep this in mind. However, even those on-premises can be highly scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup needs to be handled by a person knowledgeable in Fortinet products. 

What about the implementation team?

We are implementors. We can handle the setup process for our clients.

What was our ROI?

The product does have the capabilities of providing an ROI to companies. 

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

The product could be cheaper. When a company scales it, it can get pricey.

The pricing, in fact, is the one aspect that could potentially make clients change their minds. In terms of features, it has almost everything - whatever someone would need. However, the price sometimes is the obstacle. It could force the client to go with a cheaper product. Especially on the cloud, a solution such as this can get costly as you are paying for the cloud stuff on top of the license, and you have to pay per hour.

What other advice do I have?

We are implementors. 

We have both virtual and physical servers.

I would advise new users first to ensure they have strong knowledge before attempting an implementation. It has everything a company might need and it is scalable. However, the person doing the implementation itself needs to be skilled. There might be a lot of things going on during implementation that need to be dealt with properly.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
PeerSpot user
Principal Network Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
MSP
Intuitive solution with comprehensive features and an extensive threat database
Pros and Cons
  • "FortiGate-VM has many valuable features: it's easy to use, it's intuitive, it's got very good traffic inspection features, it's got comprehensive filtering categories, and it has an extensive threat database, using FortiGuard."
  • "FortiGate-VM could be improved by making it cloud-based. I'd like it to be a cloud-based management solution instead of just a dedicated management orchestration tool."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case of this solution is for advanced security in the cloud, as well as SD-WAN and branch connectivity. We use version 6.4 and are just now moving to 7.0. 

What is most valuable?

FortiGate-VM has many valuable features: it's easy to use, it's intuitive, it's got very good traffic inspection features, it's got comprehensive filtering categories, and it has an extensive threat database, using FortiGuard. 

What needs improvement?

FortiGate-VM could be improved by making it cloud-based. I'd like it to be a cloud-based management solution instead of just a dedicated management orchestration tool. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using FortiGate-VM for five years. 

How are customer service and support?

Personally, I like Fortinet support. I know other colleagues and people think it's slow, but I don't.

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

I used FortiGate for 10 years. I also have experience with Azure Firewall Premium, Cisco ASA, and Cisco Firepower. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is really easy. There's HA deployment in the marketplace involving Azure and AWS. I handle the installation myself. 

What about the implementation team?

I implement this solution myself for customers. 

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

There are yearly or monthly licenses which you can choose from. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate FortiGate-VM an eight out of ten. I recommend this solution to others. There's a use case, like any cloud-based firewall. 

We're an MSP, so we sell, configure, and manage these solutions for customers. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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CIO at Viciunai & Ireland
Real User
Top 20
Provides award-winning protection from a broad array of network threats
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet is user-friendly."
  • "We have lost some information and we do not know how that happened through the solution. So that needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution as a firewall. 

What is most valuable?

Fortinet is user-friendly. 

What needs improvement?

We have lost some information and we do not know how that happened through the solution. That needs improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for minimum five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Once in a while there are stability issues otherwise the solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Presently, six thousand users are using the solution. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet is easy. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate-VM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.