--- title: FortiGate-VM NGFW Reviews meta_title: 'FortiGate-VM NGFW Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 261 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how FortiGate-VM NGFW works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.6 review_count: 261 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-09-01' parent_category: name: Network Security url: https://www.g2.com/categories/network-security --- # FortiGate-VM NGFW Reviews **Vendor:** Fortinet **Category:** [Firewall Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/firewall-software) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 261 **AI Enabled:** This product embeds AI to enhance or extend its core functionality. ## About FortiGate-VM NGFW FortiGate-VM is a virtual firewall solution designed to help users secure their cloud environments and on-premises networks. As a next-generation firewall developed by Fortinet, FortiGate-VM integrates advanced security features with the flexibility of virtualization, making it suitable for deployment in various public and private cloud infrastructures. This solution is particularly beneficial for organizations looking to enhance their cybersecurity posture while leveraging the scalability and efficiency of cloud technologies. Targeted at enterprises and organizations of all sizes, FortiGate-VM is ideal for IT security teams that require robust protection against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Its deployment across diverse environments allows businesses to maintain consistent security policies and practices, regardless of whether their infrastructure is on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid of both. Specific use cases include protecting sensitive data in cloud applications, securing remote access for employees, SD-WAN, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations. One of the key features of FortiGate-VM is its AI-powered threat intelligence. FortiGuard utilizes machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data, enabling the identification of emerging threats in real time. This proactive approach to threat detection ensures that organizations can respond swiftly to potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Additionally, the behavioral analysis capabilities of FortiGate-VM allow for the identification of anomalous activities, further enhancing its ability to mitigate risks associated with cyberattacks. FortiGate-VM stands out in the virtual firewall category due to its seamless integration with existing Fortinet security solutions, providing a comprehensive security architecture. The solution offers advanced features such as intrusion prevention, web filtering, and application control, all of which contribute to a multi-layered defense strategy. Furthermore, its scalability allows organizations to easily adjust their security resources in response to changing business needs, ensuring that they remain protected as they grow. FortiGate-VM delivers unmatched security and value, making it a vital component for organizations seeking to fortify their defenses against the evolving landscape of cyber threats. Its combination of advanced threat protection, AI-driven insights, and flexible deployment options positions it as a critical tool for maintaining a secure and resilient network environment. ## FortiGate-VM NGFW Pros & Cons Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews. **What users like:** - Users find FortiGate-VM's **user-friendly interface and easy configuration** streamline their security management effectively. (12 reviews) - Users appreciate the **intuitive UI and rich features** of FortiGate-VM NGFW, streamlining their networking experience. (10 reviews) - Users highlight the **exceptional security features** of FortiGate-VM NGFW, providing robust protection against various threats. (8 reviews) - Users value the **comprehensive all-in-one security** of FortiGate-VM NGFW, enhancing visibility and threat detection. (7 reviews) - Users value the **all-in-one security stack** of FortiGate-VM NGFW, enhancing performance and simplifying policy management. (6 reviews) - Easy Setup (6 reviews) - Users commend the **fast and secure firewall efficiency** of Fortigate VM NGFW, enhancing their organizational security. (6 reviews) - Performance Speed (6 reviews) - Users value the **comprehensive security protection** of FortiGate-VM NGFW, ensuring robust defense against sophisticated threats. (6 reviews) - Threat Detection (6 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users experience a **difficult learning curve** with FortiGate-VM NGFW, finding the interface and settings complex initially. (4 reviews) - Users find the **pricing and licensing** of FortiGate-VM NGFW to be quite high, impacting overall affordability. (4 reviews) - Users experience **update issues** with FortiGate-VM NGFW, facing challenges with OS updates and performance slowdowns. (4 reviews) - Users face significant **upgrade issues** with firmware, requiring downtime and complicating integration and configurations. (4 reviews) - Users find the **limited advanced features** in FortiGate-VM NGFW restricts its overall performance and usability. (3 reviews) - Users express frustration with **poor customer support** , as simple issues often take too long to resolve. (3 reviews) - Poor Interface Design (3 reviews) - Compatibility Issues (2 reviews) - Complex Configuration (2 reviews) - Complexity (2 reviews) ## FortiGate-VM NGFW Reviews ### 1. Easy Virtual Deployment and a User-Friendly, Responsive Interface **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Thabet A. | Cloud and Security Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account added to their profile **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW is how easy it is to deploy in virtual environments. The setup process is straightforward, and routing configuration is simple and clear compared to other firewalls I’ve used. The user interface is very user-friendly and responsive, which makes daily management and policy changes much faster and less complicated. FortiGate-VM NGFW works well with other tools in our environment. We use it alongside Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Sentinel, and Fortinet FortiAnalyzer. The integration is smooth, especially with logging and monitoring tools, which helps us centralize security visibility and manage policies more efficiently. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One thing I dislike is that the HA setup can be a bit complicated, especially when configuring it for the first time in a virtual environment. Some advanced features also take time to fully understand. Additionally, the licensing and feature activation process could be more straightforward, and the documentation for certain HA and virtual deployment scenarios is not always clear enough. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW helps us secure our virtual and cloud environments by providing strong firewall protection, intrusion prevention, and traffic control. It solves the problem of managing security across different virtual infrastructures in a simple way. The main benefit is better network security with easier policy management and good performance, which gives us more confidence in protecting our systems without needing complex physical hardware. ### 2. Powerful Virtual Firewall with a Great UI, but Complex Licensing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohamed M. | Freelance Software & Cybersecurity Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The biggest advantage of FortiGate-VM is how easy it is to deploy in a virtualized cloud environment, without needing to purchase expensive physical hardware. The FortiOS GUI is very intuitive and feels much cleaner than older Cisco firewalls I’ve worked with. Creating standard IPv4 policies, managing NAT, and setting up SSL VPNs for remote workers can be done in just a few clicks, rather than having to wrestle with complex CLI commands. I also like that routing, SD-WAN features, and deep packet inspection are integrated into a single pane of glass, which makes it easier to monitor threats and investigate logs. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The licensing model for the VM versions can be confusing and expensive, especially when you’re trying to scale CPU or RAM allocations in a virtualized cluster. Another pain point is that firmware upgrades can be buggy at times. It’s a common rule among network engineers to wait for more mature patch releases, since early firmware updates can sometimes break existing VPN or routing configurations. Finally, while the GUI is excellent for day-to-day tasks, it doesn’t expose all of the advanced diagnostic logs. When you need to do deeper troubleshooting for dropped packets or complex IPSec VPN failures, you’re forced to switch to the CLI, which comes with a fairly steep learning curve. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Before implementing FortiGate-VM, it was challenging to maintain consistent security policies across our on-premise servers and cloud environments. After deploying the virtual NGFW, we were able to integrate security controls smoothly throughout our hybrid network. The initial setup and onboarding were surprisingly straightforward, largely thanks to the strong Fortinet documentation and the helpful support forums. Now we can manage traffic inspection and SD-WAN routing from a single place, which saves us hours of configuration time each week. In addition, the FortiGuard AI-driven threat intelligence feed automatically blocks malicious IPs and zero-day signatures without manual intervention, which has significantly reduced the day-to-day workload for our SOC team. ### 3. Powerful Automation with Cost Concerns **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kwadwo Yeboah A. | QA Automation Tester, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account added to their profile **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 21, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like FortiGate-VM NGFW for its robust REST API and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) support, which integrate perfectly with automation tools like Terraform and Ansible. This allows me to fully automate network configuration without touching a manual dashboard. The REST API and IaC support are incredibly valuable because they let me treat network security just like software code. Using Terraform, I can automate the deployment and setup of the firewall directly inside our CI/CD pipelines, removing all manual configuration. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Running multiple firewall instances simultaneously across parallel CI/CD pipelines demands a high amount of CPU and RAM, which quickly inflates our cloud infrastructure cost. I think this can be looked at and improved. Additionally, the REST API documentation sometimes lags behind major FortiOS firmware updates, forcing me to spend extra time troubleshooting broken API endpoints in my test scripts. The initial setup has a steep learning curve due to complex enterprise routing and licensing. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW to spin up secure, isolated environments for testing pipelines, solving environment instability by keeping test traffic isolated. It helps simulate network issues and validate app security with deep packet inspection and security alerts. ### 4. Comprehensive Cloud Security in One: FortiGate-Reliable NGFW for Azure and Hybrid Cloud Security ⭐ **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sifaat Q. | Cloud Consultant, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 16, 2026 At G2, we prefer fresh reviews and we like to follow up with reviewers. They may not have updated their review text, but have updated their review. **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW is its comprehensive security capabilities combined with ease of deployment in cloud environments like Microsoft Azure. It provides advanced features such as IPS, application control, web filtering, SSL inspection, and IPsec/SSL VPN within a single platform, reducing the need for multiple security solutions. I also appreciate its intuitive management interface, detailed logging, and seamless integration with Azure networking. The firewall has been reliable in securing virtual workloads while maintaining good performance, and creating or modifying firewall policies is straightforward once the initial setup is complete. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** While FortiGate-VM NGFW is feature-rich, the initial deployment and advanced configuration can be complex for users who are new to Fortinet products. Features such as SSL inspection, advanced routing, and policy-based NAT require a solid understanding of networking concepts. The licensing model can also be confusing, as some security services require separate subscriptions. Additionally, the management interface, although powerful, could be more intuitive for navigating advanced settings. Troubleshooting in large deployments may sometimes require deeper CLI knowledge alongside the GUI. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** ortiGate-VM NGFW helped us secure our Azure-based workloads and hybrid network by providing centralized firewall management, intrusion prevention, application control, web filtering, and secure VPN connectivity. Before implementing it, managing network security across cloud resources was more complex and required multiple tools. With FortiGate-VM, we were able to enforce consistent security policies, improve visibility into network traffic, and quickly identify potential threats through detailed logging and monitoring. It also enabled secure site-to-site VPN connectivity between cloud and on-premises environments while maintaining stable performance. Overall, it reduced operational overhead, strengthened our security posture, and gave us greater confidence in protecting business-critical applications and infrastructure. ### 5. Robust Security with Complex Setup **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Osamah A. | Computer Technician, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 14, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like FortiGate-VM NGFW for its strong security and easy management. It combines firewall protection, IPS, web filtering, application control, VPN, and network segmentation all in one platform. The user-friendly interface makes configuring security policies straightforward, and the monitoring tools offer clear visibility into network traffic and potential threats. I also appreciate its flexibility and scalability in virtual and cloud environments. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I find the initial setup and advanced configuration complex for new users. Some advanced features require additional licenses, which can be pricey. Additionally, troubleshooting can be time-consuming, and I think Fortinet could improve by simplifying advanced configurations, providing clearer error messages and documentation, and offering more flexible licensing options. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW to secure enterprise networks, protect against cyber threats, and manage virtual environments. It centralizes visibility and management, controls traffic between segments, and its firewall and filtering features block threats. ### 6. Great GUI and Realistic VM Emulation with EVE-NG and PnetLab **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohammad Aktham Obaid A. | OT/ICS Cybersecurity Engineer - Intern, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 18, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** it can be connected to any virtual machine app like eveng and pnetlab with success real life emulation and we can add as much ram as wanted to emulate real life speed with a great, easy and helpful GUI **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** when i use the VM i could not buy the licence i need, for example i could not buy the ICS/OT license also when i connect it to a software like PnetLab sometimes i lose the access to my GUI and i lose the whole configurations i made but i am not sure if this is a pnetlab problem **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** its solve the "feel worried about changing problems" where you can safely build/emulate your own network to safely test the new configurations and testing new features ### 7. FortiGate-VM: Full Security Stack in One Lightweight VM with Fast Deployment **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in E-Learning | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I appreciate most is the seamless integration of the full security stack into a single VM. Unlike physical appliances or other virtual solutions that require separate boxes for different functions, the FortiGate-VM gives me IPS, web filtering, application control, and SSL inspection all in one lightweight instance. Deployment on our VMware cluster took under 10 minutes, and the Security Fabric visibility across our hybrid environment has been a game-changer for troubleshooting traffic flows. The SD-WAN features are also surprisingly robust—we're load-balancing two ISPs without needing an extra device. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The licensing model is my biggest headache—the performance tiers (VM-02 vs. VM-04, etc.) are confusing, and upgrading to a higher tier requires a full VM reboot, which means scheduling maintenance windows just to adjust throughput. Also, the GUI is great for basic policies, but once you need advanced SD-WAN rules or policy-based routing, you're forced into the CLI, and the documentation often assumes you're coming from a physical box. The learning curve there is frustratingly steep. Lastly, onboard logging fills up way too fast—you practically need a separate FortiAnalyzer or external syslog server if you want to keep more than a few days of historical data. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were stuck with aging physical firewalls that were hitting CPU limits during peak traffic, and upgrading meant costly hardware replacements and long shipping delays. The FortiGate-VM completely solved that by letting us spin up additional capacity on our existing ESXi hosts in minutes—no hardware wait times. It's also helping us consolidate multiple point solutions; we no longer run separate proxy servers and intrusion detection boxes because the VM handles everything inline. The biggest benefit has been agility—when our remote offices grew, we deployed new virtual instances in under 15 minutes instead of waiting days for hardware to ship. Plus, the centralized policy management via FortiManager has cut our rule-review time by half, which frees me up for actual infrastructure improvements rather than just firefighting. ### 8. Centralized, All-in-One Security for Virtualized Environments **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 19, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** FortiGate-VM NGFW stands out for centralized security management, comprehensive threat protection, and smooth integration with Fortinet’s security ecosystem. Having firewalling, IPS, web filtering, application control, and strong visibility all in one platform makes it well suited for monitoring and protecting virtualized environments, while keeping security operations consolidated and easier to manage. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The main drawbacks are the complexity and cost of licensing, as well as the learning curve for more advanced configurations. The interface can also feel somewhat complicated when you’re managing larger environments, and troubleshooting certain issues may require fairly detailed knowledge of Fortinet-specific features and logs. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW provides centralized network security by bringing together firewalling, IPS, application control, web filtering, and traffic visibility in one place. It helps us detect and block threats, manage and control network traffic, investigate security events more effectively, and improve overall visibility across our environment. As a result, it reduces manual effort for our SOC, speeds up incident investigation, and strengthens our overall security posture. ### 9. Consistent Hybrid-Cloud Security and All-in-One Features with FortiGate VM **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Banking | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Several standout aspects make this a preferred choice for IT and security professionals. Consistent security across hybrid and multi-cloud environments is a big one. The same FortiOS everywhere means FortiGate VM runs the exact same operating system as physical FortiGate appliances, so administrators face virtually no learning curve when moving between on-premises hardware and cloud instances like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, VMware, and KVM. With unified policies, organizations can enforce the same security posture, firewall rules, and threat protection standards no matter where workloads live. Another strength is deep feature consolidation. Instead of stitching together separate tools for routing, SD-WAN, VPN, intrusion prevention, and web filtering, FortiGate VM integrates these capabilities natively. Being able to manage firewall rules, review threat logs, and control secure access from a single dashboard reduces operational complexity and can save hours of management time each week. Built-in Secure SD-WAN is also a highlight. FortiGate VM includes robust Secure SD-WAN capabilities out of the box, enabling seamless and secure site-to-site connectivity along with intelligent path selection for cloud applications, without needing added hardware costs. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Performance Drop with Full Security Features EnabledTurning on intensive security inspection features (such as deep packet inspection, antivirus, intrusion prevention, and web filtering) can cause a noticeable drop in throughput capacity. Careful sizing and resource allocation are required to prevent performance bottlenecks. High Cost and Complex Licensing StructureBoth the software licenses and the required security subscriptions (FortiGuard services) are expensive. Additionally, managing license activation files and tying them to specific virtual machine instances or cloud environments can sometimes be an overly rigid and frustrating process.Resource and Cloud Networking ComplexitiesInitial setup and networking configuration in public cloud environments (like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) can be complex compared to traditional on-premises deployments. Administrators also report occasional CPU utilization spikes and packet latency during high-traffic events or simultaneous administrator logins. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** The FortiGate VM Next Generation Firewall solves several critical infrastructure and security challenges, and those solutions translate into major operational benefits: Solving Cloud Security Blind Spots and Inconsistency Problem: Managing security across a mix of on premises data centers and public clouds like AWS or Azure usually means dealing with disjointed tools and different vendor interfaces. Benefit: Because FortiGate VM runs the exact same operating system everywhere, it allows organizations to enforce uniform firewall rules and security policies across hybrid environments, eliminating blind spots and reducing human error. Solving Fragmented Infrastructure and Tool Sprawl Problem: Relying on separate point products for routing, virtual private networks, web filtering, and intrusion prevention creates high overhead and complex maintenance. Benefit: By consolidating these features natively into a single virtual appliance, it slashes the time spent managing multiple security vendors and simplifies daily administrative workflows. ### 10. Single Pane of Glass for IPS, VPN, SD-WAN, and Segmentation **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** August 12, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** A single pane of glass for everything IPS, VPN, SD-WAN, and segmentation. It gives me consistent policies across both cloud and on-prem environments. There are no hardware hassles, the performance is solid, and everything runs through one management interface. Overall, it keeps my workload light and my networks tight. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The license is quite pricey, especially with feature add-ons. Logging and monitoring could be more intuitive; going through CLI for certain features is a hassle sometimes. Occasional upgrade between versions. Great box, but not perfect. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** A virtual firewall that locks down multi-cloud workloads, removes the policy sprawl between AWS and Azure, handles IPS, VPN, and SD-WAN on the same box, scales up with a single click, costs is high but saves me from late night problem calls, and gives me a dashboard to keep all traffic in check so I can stop babysitting the network and focus on actually building things. ### 11. Flexible and Hardware-Free Next-Gen Security for Virtual Environments **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 14, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Since it is a virtual appliance, it eliminates all the common issues associated with physical hardware. Backing up the VM is significantly easier, and the same applies to license management. Furthermore, scaling resources up or down as needed is highly flexible and straightforward. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Occasionally, new firmware updates introduce stability issues and bugs. Additionally, the initial licensing and renewal costs are quite high, and the lack of flexible bundle licensing options makes cost management more difficult. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It eliminates physical hardware dependency, allowing us to deploy fast and flexible security across our virtual and cloud environments. Additionally, its seamless backup capabilities simplify our disaster recovery processes, ensuring strong data and system security. ### 12. Ideal for Learning Network Security in a Cost-Effective Way **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Musa A. | Full Stack Engineer, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like FortiGate-VM NGFW's easy deployment as a VM and the user-friendly interface. The clear firewall policy management is something I appreciate, and I really love the VPN setup wizard, which makes configurations straightforward. These features make FortiGate-VM NGFW very valuable for use in a lab environment. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** For me in the lab, the initial setup can be a bit confusing if you are new. I think the documentation could include step-by-step lab examples for beginners. Some advanced features require additional licenses, which can be expensive for personal learning. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me practice real security problems safely and block unauthorized traffic without costly hardware. The easy-to-deploy VM, user interface, firewall policy management, and VPN setup wizard make it very valuable in my lab. ### 13. Powerful, Scalable NGFW—But Initial Setup and Licensing Can Be Complex **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like most about FortiGate-VM NGFW is its strong combination of security features and ease of deployment in virtual environments. It provides reliable firewalling, IPS, VPN, application control, and web filtering through a centralized interface. The policy management is straightforward, performance is consistent, and integration with cloud platforms and the broader Fortinet ecosystem simplifies network security management. Overall, it is a scalable and dependable NGFW solution for securing enterprise and hybrid cloud environments. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One drawback of FortiGate-VM NGFW is that the initial configuration and policy tuning can be complex, especially for organizations with large or segmented networks. Some advanced features require additional licensing, which can increase overall costs. The management interface, while functional, can feel overwhelming due to the number of available options, and troubleshooting complex policy or VPN issues may require a solid understanding of Fortinet-specific concepts. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW helps secure virtual and hybrid cloud environments by consolidating firewalling, intrusion prevention, VPN, application control, and web filtering into a single platform. This reduces the complexity of managing multiple security solutions while improving network visibility and policy enforcement. It has helped simplify security administration, strengthen threat protection, and provide consistent security across virtual workloads. ### 14. Cost-Effective Firewall with CLI Familiarity, GUI Challenges **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 24, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I mainly use FortiGate-VM NGFW as the main firewall for our AWS environment. I really like the price and performance of FortiGate-VM NGFW. The cost is a significant factor because at renewal, IPS and web filtering are bundled, so we're not paying per feature. The CLI is another aspect I appreciate; for admins coming from a Cisco background, it feels quite comfortable and familiar. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The GUI slows down under load, so I end up in the CLI more than I'd like. It's worst when I'm pulling logs or big policy lists; pages take several seconds. I would like better pagination and faster log search. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It replaced our VPN setup that didn't scale and was hard to manage. The price is great since IPS and web filtering are bundled, and the CLI is familiar for those with a Cisco background. ### 15. Reliable NGFW in a VM: Stable Protection with Minimal Downtime **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 17, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** it a vm so it wont go down unless the server is down so no component failure for the firewall if its in a VM so its a good thing to have a firewall in a vm rather then putting inside an actual component or a device **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** to be honest i dont have any issues with NGFW so i dont think i have downsides to talk about concernaning this VM FW so if im pleased with the product so no downsides hahaha **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** it benefits me in trying to find another firewall better than this one i actually looked for one that works in a vm and iwas looking for one that tested and proved i used it in a server with a network card that have 4 portsd and after that the fw enabled me to do ip fail over from diffeent ISP and also create networks and implement ddos prevention system ### 16. Robust Security with Top-notch Performance **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ramanaji B. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 11, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW to secure enterprise networks by managing firewall policies, VPNs, IPS, web filtering, and traffic monitoring. I appreciate its ability to protect our network from cyber threats by enforcing security policies. What I like most about FortiGate-VM NGFW is its security and performance, which stand out the most for me. Additionally, the initial setup was easy and straightforward. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I find the usability of FortiGate-VM NGFW to be an area that could be improved. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW to secure enterprise networks by managing firewall policies, VPNs, and traffic monitoring, protecting our network from cyber threats. ### 17. Flexible FortiGate-VM Hybrid Management, but Firmware Updates Can Be Buggy **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Fakher R. | Solar Technician, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** As a network administrator and engineer, I’ve found that FortiGate-VM runs the exact same FortiOS as the physical hardware. Users appreciate the seamless hybrid management, the flexible licensing options, and the low RAM footprint, which makes it easy to fit into different environments. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Buggy firmware updates: Fortinet frequently releases firmware updates that include frustrating bugs. Because of this, engineers often steer clear of the newest “Feature” releases and instead stick with older “Mature” software tracks to keep things stable. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM stops advanced cloud malware via deep packet inspection, unifies hybrid security under one OS, and scales instantly to cut costs.and this is very helpful ### 18. Easy to Deploy and Test, but Support Can Be Slow **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Media Production | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 07, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The solution is easy to deploy and fast to spin up a test system. A great community to get help from if you run into a problem. The price is ok compared to other solutions. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Getting help from support can be a bit bureaucratic. You have to be careful when upgrading to a new release, as it can sometimes affect the existing setup. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** One of the leaders in NGFW. The AI is being implemented more and more in the product, and that is, of course, important for staying safe in today's AI threats. ### 19. Cybersecurity uses of FortiGate's newest firewall solution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The application control feature is the most useful for me. As a cybersecurity specialist I want to be able to set as much specific rules as possible. This allows me to filter traffic not only by IPs or port numbers, but also by software. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It is not easy to get to know how to use this firewall. Newcomers might skip it because of that even though it is one of the most useful firewalls at the moment. Another thing is the high pricing. It is a little bit over the top in terms of expenses. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a cybersecurity specialist my goal is to defend organizations to the best of my abilities. FortiGate's NGFW allows me to be prepared for the current threats. As the name implies - it is next-generation. ### 20. Strong Security, Easy Management, and Reliable Performance **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrew R. | Information Technology Support Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Its strong security features, easy management, and good performance. It provides effective protection while being flexible and scalable for different network environment. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The main thing I dislike is that some advanced features can be complex to s configure, especially for new users. The licensing and costs can also be a little difficult to manage. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It actually helps protect the network from cyber threats, control network traffic, and improve visibility. This benefits me by making security management easier, reducing risks, and helping maintain a more secure and reliable network. ### 21. Simple Setup, Modern UI, and Easier Firewall Management at a Lower Cost **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 26, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** They're relatively simple to configure, they have a modern user interface compared to Palo Altos offerings and i much prefer dealing with cluster FW management through them. for example, if i have to manage 10 firewalls from Forti vs Palo it's easier with fortimanager and quicker compared to panorama. They're also significantly cheaper compared to Palo. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I've been made aware from reliable sources that their threat intelligence data is slighlty worse than palo alto's, this makes it a little hard for enterprise environments to consider them when you have heavy fines if you fail. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Personally, I don’t have any particular problems using FortiGate VM NGFWs. Performance has been good, and the integrations are strong, including the dynamic list integrations, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say I have issues with them. ### 22. Strong Multi-Cloud Support for FortiGate, with Secure Hybrid Environments **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joshua O. | Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It supports multiple cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS and secure hybrid and multi-cloud environments as expected for a FortiGate **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I don't think I have anything to dislike about FortiGate. we haven't found any issues while using it, and none of our customers have complained about it either. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW has made it easy to consistently secure virtual environments. It has improved network visibility, and strengthened threat protection which has reduced the time required to deploy and manage security policies on all cloud environment. ### 23. Advanced Threat Protection and Flexible Deployment with FortiGate -VM **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Networking | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2026 At G2, we prefer fresh reviews and we like to follow up with reviewers. They may not have updated their review text, but have updated their review. **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** There are a lot of things to like about FortiGate -VM to mention some 1 advanced threat protection - using intrusion prevention, application behavior analysis threat intelligence and others it detects sophisticated attacks and it also helps to identify malicious behavior even if the attacker is already inside the network. 2 Security fabric integration - like FortiSandbox, FortiNDR FortiAnalyzer which helps to improve visibility and automated response across the network. 3 Its flexibility in virtual environments - such as VMware, Hyper-V, AWS, Azure, and GCP. which helps for fast deployment and easy scaling. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One thing i dislike about its licensing might be complex, it have different license types like CPU cores VM models makes it a little confusing. the others are like the dependance in the performance of the VM as we know it is a VM based unlike the hardware appliance this one depends on the RAM, Hyper-V performance, and also its CPU allocation. so the firewall performance is dependable on the VM. if the VM resources are not optimized the firewall may not perform as expected. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** 1 Reducing Security tool Complexity - as we know many organization this days use separate tools, FortiGate-VM integrates multiple security capabilities like antivirus IPS, VPN in a single platform and integrates with Fortinet Security Fabric. 2 It Support Business scalability - it can scale easily by adjusting VM resources or deploying additional instances. ### 24. Reliable, User-Friendly FortiGate-VM NGFW with Strong Automation and SIEM Logging **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** March 19, 2026 At G2, we prefer fresh reviews and we like to follow up with reviewers. They may not have updated their review text, but have updated their review. **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** We have been using FortiGate-VM NGFW for the past 8 years, and it has proven to be a highly reliable and flexible firewall solution. One of the key strengths is its ease of use—both in initial deployment and ongoing management. The interface is intuitive, which makes configuration and troubleshooting efficient. We also appreciate the strong automation capabilities, which help streamline routine tasks and improve operational efficiency. Additionally, the ability to seamlessly collect and forward logs to our SIEM system has been extremely valuable for monitoring and security analysis. Overall, FortiGate-VM NGFW is a powerful, user-friendly firewall that meets both our security and operational needs very well. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** At times, depending on the software version, we have experienced issues related to increased CPU and memory utilization. Additionally, there are situations where the number of sessions grows excessively, which can impact overall system performance and stability. These issues can be challenging to manage and may require additional effort for troubleshooting and optimization. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW addresses several critical security and network management challenges, including protection against cyber threats, traffic visibility, and secure access control. It provides advanced security features such as intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering, which help safeguard our network from various types of attacks. ### 25. Straightforward Setup, Strong Security, and Reliable Performance with FortiGate‑VM NGFW **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 23, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It’s easy to appreciate FortiGate‑VM NGFW for its straightforward setup, strong security features, and reliable performance. It feels lightweight to manage yet powerful enough to handle complex threats without slowing things down. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The main drawback is that the interface can feel a bit complex at first, and some advanced features require extra fine‑tuning to get right. Updates and licensing can also be a little cumbersome. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate‑VM NGFW is helping tackle network security challenges like intrusion attempts, malware, and unauthorized access. By consolidating firewall, VPN, and threat protection in one platform, it reduces complexity and keeps traffic safe. The benefit is clear: stronger protection with smoother performance and less manual overhead, which means more time focused on actual work instead of troubleshooting security gaps. ### 26. Easy Site-to-Site VPN Setup with a User-Friendly FortiGate UI **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 13, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** the ability to easily setup site to site VPN's. Ability to configure this on any cloud or virtual environment. FortiGate UI is probably one of the easiest to use and understand **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** when it comes to licensing it is not the most straightforward. licensing activation can be tricky at some times. The cost to licensing is also high compared to others i have used. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Site to Site VPN to connect different office buildings. Web Filtering certain content that is not allowed by company policies for end users. Assist with remote employees to connect directly. I must say the performance on VPN is good. Administration and integration to current network was easy ### 27. Robust Security with a Need for a Better UI **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dev S. | Network Security Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was not provided any incentive by G2 for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I love the firewall performance of FortiGate-VM NGFW. It filters traffic smoothly and blocks unwanted access without slowing down the network, keeping the system stable even during high traffic. I also like the VPN feature because it's secure and reliable, allowing remote users to connect easily and keep connections stable. This is really important for daily work. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It does not work very well sometimes. One thing that could be improved is the user interface. For new users, it can feel a little complicated. A more user-friendly design will make it easier for beginners to understand and manage the settings. Another improvement could be better documentation and step-by-step guidance. Sometimes when setting advanced features, clear instruction is needed to configure correctly. It would also help if troubleshooting was easier when a problem happens. Clear alerts and suggestions could solve issues more quickly. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW to protect my network, control Internet traffic, block unwanted websites, and manage firewall rules. It enhances network visibility, blocks malware, and ensures secure VPN connections for remote users, making network management easier and safer. ### 28. Powerful, User-Friendly Security for Virtual and Cloud Deployments **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ashit C. | Software Engineering Specialist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW is its strong security capabilities combined with flexible deployment in virtual and cloud environments. It provides multiple security features such as intrusion prevention, antivirus, application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN in a single platform, which simplifies network protection. The interface is user-friendly, making configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting easier for administrators. I also appreciate its integration with the Fortinet Security Fabric, which allows centralized visibility and management across different security components. This helps organizations maintain better control over network security while scaling easily in cloud infrastructures. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One thing I dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW is that the licensing and pricing structure can be complex, especially when multiple security subscriptions and add-ons are required for full functionality. The initial setup and configuration can also have a steeper learning curve for new administrators due to the wide range of features and policies available. In virtual environments, the firewall can be resource-intensive, requiring sufficient CPU and memory to maintain optimal performance under high traffic loads. Additionally, firmware updates may sometimes introduce compatibility or stability issues that require careful testing before deployment. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW helps solve key network security challenges by providing advanced threat protection, traffic visibility, and centralized policy management in virtual and cloud environments. It protects the infrastructure from malware, unauthorized access, and application-level threats through features like intrusion prevention, web filtering, and application control. This benefits our team by improving overall network security, simplifying firewall management, and enabling secure connectivity for users and applications across hybrid or cloud deployments while maintaining good performance and scalability. ### 29. Precise Support and Onboarding That Strengthens Client Capacity **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** GCT F. | District Advisory Councillor - Tamavua, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** July 14, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Securing a VAR for Fortigate in the Year 2020, our relationship reached on a high note through support and onboarding process. It is very precise on capacity building to support client. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The key disadvantage is most physical devices last in market for 3-5 years after which it needs to be replaced and small entities may be unable to afford compared to Cisco and HP **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Running virtual and cloud integrations to make troubleshooting affordable while ensuring decentralisation of infrastructure across various platforms both with LAN and WAN ### 30. Powerful FortiOS Cloud Flexibility, But Tiering and Subscription Costs Add Friction **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Qaiser T. | Audit Supervisor, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Same OS: Runs the identical FortiOS image as physical units.Cloud Flexibility: Deploys easily across multiple public and private clouds. Automation: Supports robust REST APIs and infrastructure as code. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Complex tiering and activation issues Management console slows down during heavy traffic. Advanced troubleshooting requires deep command-line knowledge and finally High pricing for premium security subscriptions. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Fixes inconsistent policies between physical offices and cloud platforms. Exposes hidden threats lurking inside encrypted cloud traffic. Replaces slow, manual firewall provisioning with automated code templates. ### 31. Robust Security with Minor Usability Challenges **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yonas N. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** This review contains authentic analysis and has been reviewed by our team **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like how FortiGate-VM NGFW combines enterprise-grade security with flexibility for virtual and cloud environments. It stands out with its all-in-one security features, including firewall, IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and application control, which makes security much easier to manage and more consistent across environments. I appreciate the strong performance; even with deep inspection enabled, it handles traffic efficiently without noticeable performance degradation. The granular policy control allows me to create detailed security policies that help with proper network segmentation and protecting sensitive workloads. The seamless integration with the Fortinet ecosystem simplifies management and improves visibility. Its scalability and flexibility as a virtual appliance make it easy to scale resources up or down as requirements change, especially in cloud or hybrid setups. I also find the good visibility and logging features incredibly helpful as they make troubleshooting and security analysis much easier. Overall, it is a powerful, reliable NGFW solution that fits perfectly in modern virtualized and cloud infrastructures. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** While FortiGate-VM NGFW is a strong solution overall, there are a few areas that could be improved based on real usage: Licensing complexity: The licensing model can be confusing at first, especially when choosing between different bundles and understanding what features are included. Learning curve: The platform is very powerful, but that also means it can feel overwhelming for beginners. UI and policy navigation: The interface is functional, but when managing many policies and objects, navigation can become less intuitive. Resource tuning in virtual environments: In some cases, fine-tuning CPU and memory allocation requires trial and error. Log analysis without additional tools: Basic logging is good, but deeper analysis often requires additional Fortinet tools. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW provides unified security across virtual environments, strong protection without performance loss, and better segmentation and policy control. It reduces complexity by integrating firewall, IPS, antivirus, and more in one platform, helping me apply consistent security policies efficiently. ### 32. Strong Security with Easy Deployment **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Priyanka J. | Program Coordinator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** February 28, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I really like FortiGate-VM NGFW's capability for exhibit and deployment anywhere, which provides all-in-one security. The strong visibility logging feature is a standout, and the dashboard is very clear, making it easy for me to understand. One of the strongest points is its faster troubleshooting; whenever something breaks, I can check forward traffic logs to see which policy might have allowed or denied traffic, and use real-time packet monitoring if needed. I also appreciate its immediate threat detection, where it clearly shows the top threats and blocked applications, enabling faster incident response. This has been crucial for making clear decisions. Additionally, the installation was very easy and straightforward. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I am highly satisfied with the product visibility login capabilities dashboard design and over the performance from reliable however are improvement good naked better like policy and GUI simplification , performance monitoring granularity, reporting customisation and licence. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It gives deep visibility with application control user based policies and retail login with help me detect cyber thread smile were ran somewhere IPS attacks the dashboard and real time logs help me demonstrate life attack detection policy behaviour traffic flow analysis ### 33. Solid price point for enterprise firewall, scalable for company with 50+ offices without issues. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Douglas H. | Executive Vice President of IT Infrastructure, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It works as intended, feature requests take to long but eventually comes down to us smaller customers. Having it run in cloud with 50+ on prem firewalls on our separate SD-WAN is a nice feature and easily scalable when we add new offices. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** There's not much to dislike, it gives you what you need, cli for the users who need it and UI for the new users who dont understand the cli. If anything the identity piece can benefit from some scim automation. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Needed to have a firewall supporting our cloud infrastructure and it solved our problem with VPN tunnels to azure firewall by adding the fortigate to our already existing sd-wan. ### 34. Powerful, Flexible Security for Cloud and Hybrid Deployments **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Luis José Enrique R. | Project Development Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like most about FortiGate-VM NGFW from Fortinet is the strong balance it strikes between security capabilities, performance, and flexibility in virtualized environments. From my experience working on system architectures and migrations, I especially appreciate how straightforward it is to deploy across cloud and hybrid infrastructures, which makes it a good fit for modern microservices and distributed systems. The centralized management, advanced threat protection, and deep traffic inspection also deliver solid network visibility and control, without introducing significant additional complexity. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One thing I find challenging about FortiGate-VM NGFW from Fortinet is that the initial setup, as well as configuring more advanced features, can involve a steep learning curve. This tends to be even more noticeable in complex environments or for teams without deep network security experience. On top of that, licensing and resource sizing in virtual environments can be difficult to plan accurately. It’s especially tricky when you’re scaling infrastructure or trying to optimize performance in cloud deployments, where getting the sizing right can take extra effort. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW from Fortinet addresses key challenges around network security, visibility, and protection in today’s virtualized and cloud environments. It helps secure distributed infrastructures by combining advanced threat prevention, deep packet inspection, intrusion prevention, and centralized policy management into a single platform. From my perspective, this gives me stronger control over network traffic and helps reduce security risk across hybrid and cloud-based systems. It streamlines security policy management, improves visibility into network activity, and supports meeting security standards without relying on multiple separate tools. It also offers scalability and flexible deployment, which is especially useful during system migrations, in microservices architectures, or as infrastructure grows. This helps organizations keep security consistent while still adapting to changing technical and business requirements. ### 35. Effortless Deployment, Scalable Security Solution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rohan K. | Area Sales Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** February 27, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like FortiGate-VM NGFW for its faster deployment, lower infrastructure dependency, and easier expansion, especially as customer environments grow. It makes things much easier for me and my team during both presales and customer discussions. Since it's a virtual firewall, we can quickly deploy it in cloud or virtual environments without waiting for hardware delivery. Plus, the initial setup was kind of easy for me. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The licensing model can sometimes be confusing, especially when explaining different bundles and add-ons. It would help if Fortinet simplified the packaging to make it easier to position during sales discussions. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW because it helps us offer a scalable and flexible security solution to customers. It allows faster proof of concept deployments, helping me demonstrate security capabilities quickly during presales discussions. It makes deployments easier in cloud or virtual environments without waiting for hardware. ### 36. Strong Enterprise Security Suite, But High Resource Use and Licensing Costs **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It has IPS it has VPN , Web Filtering and application control which is a nice package to have for enterprise networks. strong performance and scalability for virtual aswell as cloud environments. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** THe CPU usage on some of the more advanced features is allot aswell as memory usage. the licensing costs can be quite high for full functionality Aswell as some newer people mmight have trouble because it can be complex/ **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Its simple, It stopes unauthorised access aswell as detects and blocks malicious traffic, The best features are the VPNs in my opinion because of the encrypted connections it filters malicious traffic ### 37. All the Fortinet Features in a Fast, Impressive Virtual Machine **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Paper & Forest Products | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 16, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The fact that you have basically all the features and settings of the other Fortinet physical devices. The performances of the virtual machine are also quite impressive **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The pricing isn’t very competitive compared to physical firewalls. On top of that, the licensing model feels quite complex and difficult to navigate. The VM also lacks acceleration performance for decryption, which impacts overall efficiency. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Sometimes, for specific deployments, we can’t use a hardware firewall, so having a single ESXi node with the firewall embedded is essential for our organization. ### 38. Great OS, Faster Learning Curve, and Better Value Than Competitors **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** August 13, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The OS you provide as well as less time and learning curve compared to your competitors. And lower price per dollar also compared to your competitors. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I dont have issue so far . Maybe there will be issues in the future but so far so good . Thank you for your product Fortigatr VM NGFW ………………………………….. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** The internal cloud blind spot where other firewalls fail to do so. We have users in our paas where mulitiple vms are there and we monitor detect any issues using your product ### 39. FortiGate-VM NGFW: Powerful All-in-One Security Made Simple **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** gagan p. | Security Analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like most about FortiGate-VM NGFW is how it combines strong security features with simplicity. It gives me everything in one place—firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, and web filtering—without making things overly complicated. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One thing I don’t like as much is the licensing structure—it can get a bit confusing and sometimes expensive depending on the features you need. Also, while the interface is generally user-friendly, there are moments where certain settings feel buried or not very intuitive, especially for new users. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW helps me deal with multiple security challenges in one place, like protecting the network from threats, controlling user access, and managing VPN connections. Before using it, handling these separately was more time-consuming and harder to keep track of. ### 40. A Useful VM That Makes Day-to-Day Tasks Easier **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 22, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It’s a pretty useful VM, with new functionalities that make day-to-day tasks easier. In my personal experience, I prefer using it for its capabilities and for what it allows me to do. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** There are some setbacks, like the UI not being very user-friendly, and some features can be hard to use. But overall, it’s a nice VM that helps me day to day. Thanks. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I’ve been using Fortigate as a central tool for my day-to-day applications. Since I need to work with different software, this VM has been really helpful and makes it easier to manage everything. ### 41. All-in-One Security Stack with Strong Performance and Straightforward Policies **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** naty d. | Security Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account added to their profile **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** February 25, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** There are many reasons, the most relevant ones are having all in one stack like getting IPS, ssl inspection and web filtering in one place and it's better performance efficiency compared with paloalto and checkpoint. additionally, the policy design logic is much staraight forward and unambigious. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** When we talk about the drawbacks, it has complex licencing model and the security features are resource intensive. and the GUI is functional but a little bit challenging for new user, it is not intuitive. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps a lot, It fills Perimeter security gaps which we can not get on traditional firewalls like application aware firewalling, IPS and SSL inspection,TI updates. and what i really love about FortiGate is its feature on Encrypted threat visibility like deep SSL inspection and encrypted threat detection. ### 42. Easy-to-Deploy, Strong Threat Protection with Smooth Active Directory Integration **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mustafa L. | Network Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **G2 Icon:** Our network of Icons are G2 members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions and commitment to helping others through their expertise. **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** FortiGate-VM NGFW is your ultimate guard from hackers and cyber-attack. It's easy implementation on the network makes it essential to any organization. Detecting threat and filtering unwanted traffic protect your network from sniffers and malwares. Integrating FortiGate firewall with other systems and applications such as Active directory is smooth and easy. Its friendly UI help network engineer manage the firewall fast to take quick action for threat. FortiGate customer support and its updates help keep the organization protected and UpToDate. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Some tools require more in-depth check for malware and unwanted traffic. Purchasing license and technical support a bit pricy. Sometime after sudden power loss the device will corrupt so it's better to have a backup image ready. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate helped protect our network and save millions from data loss, controlling traffic to datacenter systems and separating outside zone from inside zone traffic. ### 43. Deep Application Visibility and Control for Modern Threats **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lotfy A. | Head of Product Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Deep application visibility and control — it can inspect and control thousands of applications, even encrypted traffic, which is critical for modern threat landscapes. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Complexity of initial configuration — The sheer number of features and options can make initial setup and tuning complex, especially for teams newer to Fortinet's ecosystem. It has a steep learning curve. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** As workloads move to the cloud, perimeter security becomes harder. FortiGate-VM extends consistent firewall policies across on-premises and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), giving me unified security without managing separate tools. ### 44. FortiGate NGFW VM: Security Simplified for Hybrid Clouds & Powerful VM firewall **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 24, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The best thing about Fortigate VM is its solid working model and high-performance security. It can be deployed across different cloud environments, and it also works as a cloud-native firewall. I have deployed multiple VM's on VMware cloud like 02, 04,08 and its much user friendly compared to other vendors. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The main thing I would point out is the licensing, which is a bit complex. I still remember we had an issue importing the license: I had deployed firmware 6.4.x, and the license could not be imported. I raised a TAC case and found out that the license can only be imported after upgrading to 7.0.x, but there was no proper documentation about this limitation. Fortinet needs to improve the documentation on issues like this so we don’t get stuck. Frequent firmware bugs are another problem, and because of that we end up upgrading FortiOS quite often. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Cost-wise, it’s effective, and it has features like Fabric connectors, where we can upgrade all the devices from there. FortiOS 8.0 is going to offer much more with AI things, which I read about in an article. I’m waiting for that OS to explore. ### 45. Powerful, Hassle-Free Security That Shines in Cloud and Virtual Deployments **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eduardo F. | Consulate Assistant, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal incentive as thanks for completing this review. **Source: Organic Review from User Profile:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal incentive as thanks for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** January 28, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like the most is that it does a lot without being a pain. You get Firewall,VPN, IPS, web filtering, app control, etc. It’s also really solid in virtual and cloud setups. Whether it’s VMware, AWS, or Azure, it spins up fast and behaves exactly like the physical FortiGates. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It can feel clunky at first. The interface isn’t bad, but it’s busy. If you’re new to FortiOS, menus and options don’t always feel intuitive, you’ll click around a bit before you know where things actually are. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM gives me one place to handle security instead of juggling multiple tools. Firewall, VPN, and threat protection are all together, so management is simpler and faster. It also lets me use the same security rules in the cloud and on-prem, which saves time and avoids mistakes when moving or scaling systems. ### 46. Powerful Network Visibility, but the Trial Limits Real-World Testing **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) This reviewer's identity has been verified by our review moderation team. They have asked not to show their name, job title, or picture. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** July 18, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Great CLI diagnostics paired with a seamless UI, offering granular visibility into network traffic. It’s a highly reliable and flexible powerhouse for modern infrastructure. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The free trial is basically useless. You can’t even set up a realistic test environment without having to ask a sales rep for a temporary evaluation license. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** Fortigate-VM NGFW integrates seamlessly with the broader Fortinet Security Fabric, including FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager, and it also connects well into cloud architectures such as AWS and Azure vWAN. ### 47. Impeccable and Reliable Performance on Azure **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Janquiel K. | DevOps Analyst, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Current User:** The reviewer uploaded a screenshot or submitted the review in-app verifying them as current user. **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: Organic:** Organic review. This review was written entirely without invitation or incentive from G2, a seller, or an affiliate. **AI Translated:** This review has been translated from Portuguese using AI. **Reviewed Date:** December 11, 2025 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I use the Fortigate-VM NGFW in my Azure infrastructure and the equipment works very well, it meets all my demands, it has never crashed or needed to be restarted for something to work again. Additionally, the graphical interface is very user-friendly and easy to use. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** The LOG screen could be more detailed, as debugging a VPN is a bit complicated. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** The Fortigate-VM NGFW helped me solve security and routing issues, as by placing it at the edge of my Azure, I was able to unify all incoming and outgoing packets at a single point, meaning I improved security, reduced the attack surface, and simplified the infrastructure. ### 48. Effortless Remote Management with FortiGate-VM NGFW **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gowtham S. | Sr. Network & systems Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was not provided any incentive by G2 for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like the ease of management and the dashboard of FortiGate-VM NGFW. The VPN templates are really useful, and I appreciate the interface speed and session support compared to other firewalls and security mechanisms. The initial setup was very easy. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** Nothing **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use FortiGate-VM NGFW for security and VPN setup, managing remote sites, handling critical security risks, with ease due to its management tools, dashboard, and interface speed. ### 49. Powerful Virtual NGFW with Strong Threat Detection **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Momen M. | Incident Response Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through a business email account **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** What I like best about FortiGate-VM Next-Generation Firewall is its strong visibility into network traffic and integrated security features like IPS, application control, and web filtering, which help quickly detect and respond to threats in virtual environments. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** One downside of FortiGate-VM Next-Generation Firewall is that policy configuration can be complex for new users, and performance in virtual environments depends heavily on proper resource allocation. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM Next-Generation Firewall helps solve the problem of limited network visibility and advanced threat detection by providing deep traffic inspection, intrusion prevention, and centralized logging, which allows us to detect threats faster and respond to incidents more efficiently. ### 50. Simplified Traffic Management, Robust Policy Control **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohamed K. | Network Security Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Validated Reviewer:** Validated through LinkedIn **Incentivized:** This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Source: G2 invite:** Invitation from G2. This reviewer was offered a nominal gift card as thank you for completing this review. **Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2026 **What do you like best about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** I like FortiGate-VM NGFW for its simplicity and the easy GUI that lets me configure whatever I want. The SDWAN functionality is also easier compared to any other vendor. Additionally, setting it up was easier than I thought. **What do you dislike about FortiGate-VM NGFW?** It's not strong enough to handle a lot of sessions, and I think the physical hardware is better for this option. **What problems is FortiGate-VM NGFW solving and how is that benefiting you?** FortiGate-VM NGFW lets me create policies to control network access and acts as a gateway to the internet, managing content access. It resolved issues with traffic inspection that we faced with Sophos. ## FortiGate-VM NGFW Discussions - [What is FortiGate NGFW used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-fortigate-ngfw-used-for) - 1 comment - [What is FortiGate-VM used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-fortigate-vm-used-for) - 2 comments - [Is FortiGate and fortinet the same?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-fortigate-and-fortinet-the-same) - 1 comment - [What three key additional security features do next generation firewalls provide that legacy firewalls do not?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-three-key-additional-security-features-do-next-generation-firewalls-provide-that-legacy-firewalls-do-not) - 1 comment - [View FortiGate-VM NGFW pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/fortigate-vm-ngfw/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-09-01+20%3A03%3A16+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=727ddb8c-8ffd-496a-9585-b0f44cca6ed3&secure%5Btoken%5D=19dbb57ac3b4b2a8f4c064def954a60ec74216d91c1bf1680339d70589eba35a&format=llm_user) ## FortiGate-VM NGFW Features **Additional Functionality** - Penetration Testing - Alerts/Notifications - Audit Trail - Anti Virus - Vulnerability Scanning - Remote Monitoring & Management - VPN - Behavior Analytics - Reporting/Analytics - Real-Time Notifications - Access Controls/Permissions - SSL Security - Patch Management - Event Logs - Anomaly/Malware Detection - DNS Leak Protection - Third-Party Integrations - Server Monitoring - Real-Time Monitoring - Compliance Management - Network Provisioning - API - Email Alerts - Security Auditing - Intrusion Detection System - Data Visualization - Two-Factor Authentication - Generative AI - Firewalls - AI Copilot - Anti Spam - Threat Response - Activity Monitoring - Risk Alerts - Data Loss Prevention - Single Sign On - Intrusion Prevention System - Secure Login - Policy Management - Activity Dashboard **Security - Unified Threat Management** - Antivirus - Whitelists - Antispam Filtering - Content Filtering - Web Filtering - Firewall **Prevention** - Intrusion Prevention - Firewall - Encryption - Security hardening **Administration** - Policy Management - Logging and Reporting - Application Gateway - Concurrent Sessions - Uptime Reporting - Web Traffic Reporting - Compliance Management - Access Management - Incident Management - Audit Management - Remote Monitoring & Management **Agentic AI - Firewall Software** - Autonomous Task Execution - Adaptive Learning - AI/Machine Learning **Compliance** - Access Management - At-Risk Analysis - DLP Configuration - Sensitive Data Compliance **Administration** - Reports & Analytics - Dashboard **Detection** - Intrusion Detection - Security Monitoring - Anti-Malware / Malware Detection **Functionality** - Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Antivirus - URL Filtering - Availability - IP Filtering - Content Filtering **Administration** - Database Management - Backup - API / integrations **Administration** - Compliance - Administration Console - - API / integrations **Monitoring** - Load Balancing - Continuous Analysis - Intrusion Prevention - Intrusion Detection - Intrusion Detection System - Intrusion Prevention System **Security ** - Multi-Factor Authentication - Data Transport - Security Tools **Generative AI** - AI Text Summarization - Generative AI **Artificial Intelligence - Firewall** - AI Firewall **Additional Functionality** - Spam Blocker - Alerts/Escalation - Role-Based Permissions - Network Monitoring - Visual Analytics - Customizable Reports - Real-Time Analytics - Reporting & Statistics - Anti Spam - Activity Dashboard - Real-Time Monitoring - Real-Time Notifications - Activity Tracking - Hardware Integration - Summary Reports - Alerts/Notifications - Access Controls/Permissions - Real-Time Data - Server Monitoring - Two-Factor Authentication - Log Access - Reporting/Analytics - Multi-Location - SSL Security - Behavior Tracking - AI Copilot - API - Event Logs - Vulnerability Scanning - Risk Alerts - Single Sign On - Dashboard Creation - Monitoring ## Top FortiGate-VM NGFW Alternatives - [Check Point Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs)](https://www.g2.com/products/check-point-next-generation-firewalls-ngfws/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (515 reviews) - [WatchGuard Network Security](https://www.g2.com/products/watchguard-network-security/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (249 reviews) - [SonicWall Next Generation Firewall](https://www.g2.com/products/sonicwall-next-generation-firewall/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (145 reviews)