Honestly, the thing I appreciate most is how much control it gives me without making me fight the interface for it. Coming from managing physical FortiGate applicances, moving to the VM version felt seamless - same FortiOS, same policy logic, so there was almost no learning curve for my team.

The best thing what I like the best is:

Unified visibility:

I can manage firewall policies, VPNs, IPS, and web filtering all from one console instead of juggling five different tools. That alone saves me hours a week.

Flexibility in virtualized environments:

Being able to it up on VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, or in the cloud means I can protect workloads wherever they live, without needing separate hardware for every environment.

Performance with Security Fabric Integration:

It plays really well with other Fortinet products. If I already have FortiAnalyzer or Forti Manager in place, the VM slots right in and starts reporting/logging without extra config headaches.

Granular policy control:

I can get very specific with rules — by user, group, application, even geography - which makes tightening things up for compliance a lot easier.

Scalability:

When workloads spike, I'm not stuck waiting on hardware procurement. I just resize the VM resources or spin up another instance.

It gives me enterprise-grade firewall capability with the flexibility of virtualization, without feeling like a watered-down version of the physical appliance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to point to as a real downside, more just a few things that require some upfront planning. The licensing structure took a little getting used to at first, with different VM tiers, vCPU allocations, and FortiGuard subscription bundles, so it's worth spending time with your account team early on to map out exactly what you need so renewals don't catch off guard.

Resource sizing is also something to plan for carefully, especially if you're enabling the full suite of UTM features like IPS, antivirus, SSL inspection, and web filtering all at once, but once it's sized properly upfront, performance has been solid.

Overall, these feel like normal operational considerations rather than actual shortcomings, and none of them have affected our overall confidence in the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.