Fortinet FortiGate vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FortiGate
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
FortiNet FortiGate is a firewall option with high integrability. It offers a variety of deployment options and next-gen firewall capabilities, including integration with IaaS cloud platforms and public cloud environments.N/A
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) for Azure, on-premises, and multicloud (Amazon AWS and Google GCP) resources.N/A
Pricing
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFortiGate pricing starts at $250 for home office use, up to $300,000 for large enterprise appliances. Must contact sales team for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Features
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
8.7
53 Ratings
1% above category average
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
-
Ratings
Identification Technologies8.951 Ratings00 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.351 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Inspection8.852 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.953 Ratings00 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.750 Ratings00 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.752 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging8.353 Ratings00 Ratings
VPN9.152 Ratings00 Ratings
High Availability9.348 Ratings00 Ratings
Stateful Inspection9.251 Ratings00 Ratings
Proxy Server8.539 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 8.6 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.2 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.1 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(79 ratings)
8.1
(56 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(5 ratings)
8.9
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(21 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(27 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Fortinet FortiGateMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Fortinet
Fortinet FortiGate addressed an immediate security issue we had a few years ago. The device gave us a much clearer picture of the activities on our network and also more importantly, increased our awareness of threats from the internet as a whole. Fortinet FortiGate helps us to mitigate these threats with regular signature updates from Fortiguard labs, identifying certain characteristics which, once recognised by Fortinet FortiGate, can be harnessed to deploy powerful 'playbooks'.
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Microsoft
Microsoft is well-suited with its definitive cloud, and I also like its Microsoft Intune ID. The conditional policies are great with that, and they're really good and well situated, so you can't beat them at that conditional policy level. Less appropriate, as I said, some of these low-hanging fruit features, like being good in phishing campaigns, and then I feel like maybe doing better at their seam products. So we'll see how that goes.
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Pros
Fortinet
  • SD-WAN - Load balancing of Internet traffic is a USP of Fortigate and makes it stand tall in the competition. Be it 3 or more Internet Links, multiple Subnets/segments of users to distribute and bandwidth load balancing for links and users. SLA based monitoring of Internet Links / MPLS links, makes it even better to choose the links on the basis of performance (Latency, packet loss, Jitter etc).
  • SSL VPN configuration - As we all have WFH force (to some extend or all employee) during Covid-19, it is impossible to plan BCP without having a SSL VPN. In Fortigate, the SSL VPN configuration is very easy with the help of wizard. The deep CLI-level debugging is also very helpful in troubleshooting. Type of tunnel can be easily configured - Full Tunnel or Split Tunnel for SSL.
  • Explicit Proxy - This is also a great feature to shape and re-route the traffic, configuring the Proxy on the Firewall itself. We are using this feature in Pilot for now, and planned to rollout in few weeks looking at the success rate of the POC.
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Microsoft
  • I like that with Microsoft Defender for Cloud you can track your secure score to see how well you are doing with your security controls.
  • There are remediation steps for findings with the platform and some can be fix automatically with a few clicks.
  • There are recommendations for exactly what controls to put in place to ensure a more secure environment for Azure.
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Cons
Fortinet
  • Documentation is missing a great deal of detail and assumes the customer and just guess and fill in the blanks themselves
  • Fortinet has lots and lots of video guides on topics that only a small percentage of customers would ever need
  • The documentation and video guides do not get updated so most is only relevant to older software versions
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Microsoft
  • Granular permissions and role-based access management could improve security. This would enable organizations to control who has access to and can set specific features.
  • While it offers integration with various Microsoft services, expanding support for third-party cloud platforms and applications would enhance its versatility. Many organizations use multiple cloud providers, and broader compatibility would be advantageous.
  • The cost structure could be more transparent, especially for larger organizations with extensive cloud resources. Clearer cost breakdowns and predictions would help organizations budget more effectively.
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Likelihood to Renew
Fortinet
Fortinet's products have kept improving with new software releases and they continue to deliver great value. Their support is also very good. I believe that as a small enterprise, their products have given us competitive advantage delivering features and functionality that enable us to innovate and do things better. They also continue to be a leader in the markets they serve.
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Microsoft
It is a great product that integrates nicely when running an Azure platform and even multi-cloud environment. Not looking for point-solutions but a suite that answers most requirements. It is very comfortable being able to use KQL, workbooks and automation that is native to the azure platform
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Usability
Fortinet
The firewall runs very well, firmware updates are fairly quick but you must follow the upgrade path. Neglecting this step will cause a lot of pain. If you decide to go with Fortinet FortiGate switches and/or access points, they can be managed within the firewall which is great. We're also using the FortiAnalyzer which easily plugs into the firewall for any reporting you may require.
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Microsoft
My visibility is limited because I'm only doing very small pieces of what the overall org does. And also, we have limitations on what we're allowed to use. It's not like we get a new product as users or leadership level users, and everything is on, and we can just do whatever we want. We're very restricted in what we can use any tooling within the org because of the different levels of regulatory constraints we have, because of just the nature of who we are inherently. So that's why. I don't think it's necessarily the product. I think it's more or less of what we're able to do with the product.
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Reliability and Availability
Fortinet
We had didn't any hardware failures at our two main office locations and upgraded our units last year after using them for about 5-6 years
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Fortinet
Good performance and really good integration. We have integration with Microsoft AD.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Fortinet
The Support team at Fortinet is excellent. They can not only help you configure the device for what you are trying to do, they offer suggestions on improving rules, and troubleshooting issues. Their response time is fast, ensuring you are up and running immediately with no questions asked. We had a hard drive failure in one of our Fortinet Fortigate appliances. The tech answered immediately, and started rebuilding the drive after some preliminary investigations. After rebuilding, there were still errors and issues, so they dispatched a brand new Fortinet Fortigate appliance. The tech then backed up the configurations for when the new device came in, which showed up in a few hours. A restore of the configuration took less than a minute, and there were no more errors or issues.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
Fortinet
I received it a couple years afters use it and it was just to confirm my knowledge about the tool.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Fortinet
Make sure that you have the most current version of FortiOS. Make sure all Fortigates are on the same version
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Fortinet
[Fortinet] FortiGate is not only cost effective but it gives the comprehensive security against the APT attacks and gives the complete traffic visibility and granular control. You can easily create the VDOMs (Virtual firewall) within a Fortigate firewall and customize the dashboard as per your requirement if you have multiple VDOMs within a single firewall.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is definitely the choice with the latest market trend and attacks that are currently happening. Microsoft has been able to safe guard a lot after the recent serious attacks happening globally in the digital world. There is a trust in this software and with the latest updates and machine learning capabilities, Microsoft Defender for Cloud should be the choice.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Fortinet
No changes needed to terms and conditions.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Fortinet
My environments are pretty small (less than 100 users per location) so no issues here.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Fortinet
  • The pricing given to us for our firewall was well within what we were already spending for other vendors solutions and had the added value of eliminating a separate expense for a dedicated web filtering appliance.
  • We have also adopted Fortinet's security fabric approach and thus changed vendors for our switch and AP devices. These devices have come at reduced prices as compared to another previous vendor we were using, particularly in relation to ongoing annual maintenance costs.
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Microsoft
  • It simplifies security management and saves time. I'm not sure, but I'm very confident it saved me a couple of paychecks by centralizing the data I need to secure the cloud environment.
  • I also utilize the inventory overview to monitor my team's activities and verify they are following internal regulations, as well as cost overruns.
  • The recommendations can be utilized as a valuable instructional tool. I have the team explain why they are receiving them, why they are not following them, and what they are doing differently.
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ScreenShots

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of Remediation of critical issues in codeScreenshot of Cloud security benchmark mapped to industry FramworksScreenshot of Prioritization of critical risks with contextual threat analysisScreenshot of Workload protectionScreenshot of Unified DevOps VisibilityScreenshot of Visualizations to improve security posture proactively