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  3. FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
Logo of FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)

byFortinet
in Hybrid Mesh Firewall
4.6

Overview

Review Summary
AI Generated Using Real User Reviews

Users like FortiGate NGFW for its intuitive, user-friendly interface, comprehensive security features, and reliable ...

Product Information on FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)

Updated 13th October 2025

What is FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)?

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall is a software that provides network security by integrating firewall capabilities with intrusion prevention, application control, advanced threat protection, and secure virtual private network (VPN) support. The software is designed to inspect and filter network traffic, helping organizations protect their systems against malware, exploits, and unauthorized access. It offers real-time threat intelligence, connectivity management, and customizable security policies, supporting deployment across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. FortiGate software addresses business challenges related to securing digital assets, maintaining regulatory compliance, and ensuring reliable application performance within enterprise networks.

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Pricing

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall is a software that offers a pricing model based on hardware appliance selection, virtual appliance options, and cloud deployment with additional subscription fees for advanced security features, support, and services, structured according to capacity, performance requirements, and term length.

Overall experience with FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)

It Associate
50M - 250M USD, Banking
FAVORABLE

“FortiGate NGFW Provides Reliable Performance and Usability Across Multiple Environments”

5.0
Jan 15, 2026
I have an overall good experience with the Fortigate NGFW. I like FortiOS because the CLI commands are universal to the entire ecosystem. Fortigates are so easy to use I configured one for my home network/lab. CBTNuggets and other online learning platforms have a lot of good videos on how to build a network of physical and virtual appliances. We've upgraded from 200Ds, to 201e's and now we're looking at the 200g. Converting or migrating to a new firewall typically means getting a forticonverter license. The performance of the SD-WAN has remained reliable across multiple retail locations, campuses, and datacenters. We use SSL deep inspection, advanced threat protection, and application control functions, and the hardware acceleration via Fortinet's Security Processing Units (SPUs) without many conflicting issues with streaming services like VOIP or Teams Meeting calls. Fortinet's TAC support has been useful when troubleshooting our NGFWs. In our experience, TAC provides knowledgeable, responsive assistance, especially when dealing with tough cases or firmware-specific stuff. The fortigate documentation and community resources are available through Fortinet. If you're not sure how to setup something they have 4-hour fast track courses. Overall, FortiGate continues to impress with usability, depth, performance, and ecosystem support. Whether you're deploying a single device or managing a few dozen across branch locations, the platform scales well and provides robust, feature-rich network security.
Engineering Manager
<50M USD, IT Services
CRITICAL

“Strong Performance and Scalability Noted, but Support Responsiveness Lags Behind”

3.0
Feb 10, 2026
The experience with this vendor has been average. The product itself is strong and technically capable, especially in terms of performance and scalability, but some operational and support-related challenges prevent it from being a top-tier experience. Deployment was generally smooth and once configured the solution is stable and reliable. However, areas such as support responsiveness and advanced configuration flexibility leave room for improvement.

About Company

Company Description

Updated 1st November 2023

Founded more than 20 years ago in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet continues to be a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Securing people, devices, and data everywhere is our mission. To that end, our portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products is the largest integrated offering available, delivering proven cybersecurity everywhere you need it. More than 680,000 customers trust Fortinet solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry.

Company Details

Updated 1st November 2023
Company type
Public
Year Founded
2000
Head office location
Sunnyvale, United States
Number of employees
10001+
Website
https://www.fortinet.com

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Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

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Peer Discussions

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Reviews and Ratings

4.6

(2837 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
59%
4 Star
36%
3 Star
3%
2 Star
1%
1 Star
0%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.5

Integration & Deployment

4.6

Service & Support

4.5

Product Capabilities

4.6

Filter Reviews
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Reviewer's Region
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  • It Associate
    50M-1B USD
    Banking
    Review Source

    FortiGate NGFW Provides Reliable Performance and Usability Across Multiple Environments

    5.0
    Jan 15, 2026
    I have an overall good experience with the Fortigate NGFW. I like FortiOS because the CLI commands are universal to the entire ecosystem. Fortigates are so easy to use I configured one for my home network/lab. CBTNuggets and other online learning platforms have a lot of good videos on how to build a network of physical and virtual appliances. We've upgraded from 200Ds, to 201e's and now we're looking at the 200g. Converting or migrating to a new firewall typically means getting a forticonverter license. The performance of the SD-WAN has remained reliable across multiple retail locations, campuses, and datacenters. We use SSL deep inspection, advanced threat protection, and application control functions, and the hardware acceleration via Fortinet's Security Processing Units (SPUs) without many conflicting issues with streaming services like VOIP or Teams Meeting calls. Fortinet's TAC support has been useful when troubleshooting our NGFWs. In our experience, TAC provides knowledgeable, responsive assistance, especially when dealing with tough cases or firmware-specific stuff. The fortigate documentation and community resources are available through Fortinet. If you're not sure how to setup something they have 4-hour fast track courses. Overall, FortiGate continues to impress with usability, depth, performance, and ecosystem support. Whether you're deploying a single device or managing a few dozen across branch locations, the platform scales well and provides robust, feature-rich network security.
  • OPERATIONS MANAGER
    50M-1B USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Stable performance and integrated capabilities in Fortigate versus complex management

    4.0
    Dec 19, 2025
    My experience with Fortigate has been solid and consistent across various environments (mid-sized businesses, multi-site, and hybrid cloud). Fortigate offers comprehensive protection on a single platform that combines deep packet inspection, IPS, application filtering, antivirus/antimalware, URL control, and network segmentation. From my perspective, it stands out for its high performance even with SSL/TLS inspection enabled, which is crucial for modern architectures where most traffic is encrypted.
    Automated Translation from Spanish
  • Engineering Manager
    <50M USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Smooth navigation and cloud integration, technical support delays impact experience

    4.0
    May 20, 2026
    The Fortigate NGFW contains excellent features to customize policies across orgs, locations and even policy or user specific. The graphics are easy to navigate and understand with the management console. The reporting for threat prevention across multiple blades of the firewall is accurate. Cloud integration takes about a couple of hours but the status checks and performance can be handled both in person and with remote access.
  • It Manager
    50M-1B USD
    Banking
    Review Source

    Centralized administration allows for real-time management of threats and resources.

    5.0
    Feb 7, 2026
    These are modern, highly efficient, and fast devices; their operation does not limit network speed, and they have a wide range of equipment to suit the number of users in your company.
    Automated Translation from Spanish
  • Chief Information Security Officer
    Gov't/PS/Ed
    Education
    Review Source

    Fortinet NGFW Integration Simplifies Network Management for Less Experienced Teams

    4.0
    Apr 7, 2026
    I have used Fortinet NGFW in both the public and private sector. Overall, we've found this to be a very robust solution and their easy integration of other Fortinet devices in their security fabric makes management easy for more junior staff. While we have had some issues with support over the years, the product itself has proven to be an excellent security solution and the filtering engines have yielded better results than any other solutions we've tested.
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 2934

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User Sentiment About FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
Reviewer Insights for: FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
Performance of FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Across Market Features

FortiGate: Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) Likes & Dislikes

Like

I really like the Fortigate's clean GUI, powerful CLI, and real-time visibility that makes administration and troubleshooting straightforward. The hardware-accelerated security features - especially SSL inspection, IPS, and advanced threat protection - deliver strong performance even under heavy load (ex., Teams Townhalls), giving organizations robust protection without sacrificing throughput.

Like

Strong product capabilities with reliable performance in production environment. Excellent scalability making it suitable for growing networks. User-friendly interface that simplifies daily management tasks. Solid pricing compared to similar enterprise solutions. Good balance between networking and security features. stable platform with minimal downtime once properly deployed. easy integration with existing network infrastructure

Like

What I like most about FortiGate NGFW is its excellent balance of performance, features, and cost in enterprise environments. It offers multiple security capabilities, such as IPS, application control, antivirus, web filtering, and VPN, all integrated into a single platform, simplifying architecture and daily operations. In real-world use, it delivers stable performance even with SSL/TLS inspection enabled and seamless integration with the Fortinet ecosystem for centralized management and multi-site deployments.

Automated Translation from Spanish
Dislike

Fortigates aren't perfect, while upgrading the firmware is straightforward, you're not entirely sure what will change. We only upgrade if necessary. Additionally, sometimes its tricky to setup vlans for the first time when deploying new Fortigates. We're sure there's a better method, but when deploying fortiswitches on fortigates we sometimes had to manually set the vlans on the switch port groups.

Dislike

Technical support can be slow and inconsistent, especially for complex issues. Licensing and contract terms are not always clear and require careful planning. Advanced networking and customization options are somewhat limited. Cloud dependency management may not fit all operational models. Logging and reporting are limited, logs are often vague and do not link to relevant policies, rules or configuration settings which makes troubleshooting more time consuming.

Dislike

What I liked least was the initial learning curve, as the administration interface (especially the CLI) can be intimidating for those coming from NFGW systems like Palo Alto or Cisco. The policy socialization curve can delay initial deployments if you lack experience. On the other hand, managing rules and policies can become complex because without a good strategy (consistent names, comments, and clear logic), policies grow in a disorganized way, complicating audits and troubleshooting.

Automated Translation from Spanish