98%
Gartner Peer Insights
would recommend (SOAR category)
Report
Should I Use Fortinet?
Fortinet delivers cybersecurity everywhere you need it. We secure the entire digital attack surface from devices, data, and apps and from data center to home office.
Depends
DependsFortinet is a strong choice for mid-size and large organizations with dedicated security staff who can patch fast and manage subscriptions.
Enterprise network security: solid hardware, but FortiBleed leak, patch burden, and opaque pricing rule it out for small teams.
Confidence: Medium
67,010
Companies using Fortinet
per Enlyft market tracker
73,000+
Devices hit by FortiBleed
VPN credentials leaked, June 2026
43
Trustpilot reviews
thin consumer feedback; sales are B2B
Value for money
2
Renewals and bundles widely seen as opaque
Feature depth
5
Spans firewall, ZTNA, cloud, endpoint, SOAR
Support quality
4
MSPs report positive support experiences
Security posture
2
FortiBleed leak plus repeated critical CVEs
Pros
Cons
Gotchas
- highActive FortiBleed campaign spans 194 countries; CISA says harden devices and rotate credentials now⁶
- mediumAdmins advise skipping newest major versions; wait for maturity²
- mediumAppliance price is just the entry point; FortiGuard subscriptions and renewals drive lifetime cost11
- mediumQuote-based partner pricing; hard to compare before talking to sales
Best for
- Mid-size and large enterprises
- Multi-site networks needing one security stack
- Teams with dedicated security staff
- Regulated sectors — finance, government
Not for
- Small teams wanting a simple firewall — serious overkill
- Anyone without staff to patch FortiGate within days
- Cloud-first startups that do not want hardware
- Buyers needing transparent, published pricing
Companies that use it
- IHG Hotels & Resorts10
Security
Active problems: June 2026 FortiBleed credential leak plus repeated critical CVEs triggered CISA hardening guidance.
- FortiBleed credential leakResearchers report ~73,000 FortiGate devices' VPN credentials exposed; 430,000+ targeted and 110M credentials harvested; CISA alert June 18, 2026.⁵
- Critical CVE-2025-59718Rapid7 flagged a pair of critical Fortinet vulnerabilities, December 2025.
- CVE-2025-25249 remote code executionArctic Wolf detailed an RCE vulnerability, January 2026.⁶
- Disclosed security incidentFortinet acknowledged an individual gained unauthorized access to limited data.
What users say
Practitioners praise the hardware and support but complain about immature new firmware releases and hard-to-parse renewal pricing.
“Fortinet is extremely solid hardware.”
“I've had great experiences with Fortinet.”
“Avoid latest major versions (7.4) like the plague”
Alternatives
Compare Fortinet with each alternative.
Palo Alto Networks
Frequent enterprise alternative to Fortinet in analyst comparisons
Check Point
Long-time firewall rival; publishes head-to-head Fortinet comparisons
Fortinet vs Check PointWiz
For cloud-first orgs that do not want hardware firewalls
pfSense / OPNsense
Guess: free open-source firewall suits small networks
Fortinet vs pfSense / OPNsenseFull analysis
Based on 30+ public sources including CISA advisories, practitioner forums, review sites, and market trackers.
Sources
review
- Your Pros/Cons with Fortinetreddit.comreview
- Thoughts on Fortinet?reddit.comreview
- Fortinet Review: Pros, Cons, Features and Pricingthectoclub.comreview
security
security
- FortiBleed leak exposes Fortinet VPN credentials for 73,000 devicescommunity.spiceworks.comsecurity
official
- Fortinet Global Customers and Case Studiesfortinet.comofficial
official
news
news
- Is Fortinet That Bad?forums.lawrencesystems.comreview
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