Sold by: Fortinet Inc.
Deployed on AWS
AWS Free Tier
Fortinet FortiGate allows mitigation of blind spots to improve policy compliance by implementing critical security controls within your AWS environment. FortiGate firewall includes all of the security and networking services common to FortiGate physical appliances.
4.4
Overview
Video
Video 1
Video
Video 2
Video
Product video
FortiGate-VM on AWS delivers next-generation firewall and VPN/SD-WAN capabilities for organizations of all sizes. It enables broad network protection and automated security management for consistent enforcement and visibility across your AWS VPCs and hybrid cloud infrastructure. FortiGate natively integrates with AWS Gateway Load Balancer, AWS Transit Gateway and other AWS security services to simplify and deliver enterprise class security for applications and workloads running on AWS.
FortiGate-VM reduces complexity by combining secure connectivity with advanced threat protection capabilities such as powerful intrusion prevention (IPS), malware detection and protection, and continuous threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs security services. It offers a management console that provides comprehensive network automation and unified visibility across multi-cloud environments.
FortiGate-VM, in concert with other elements of the Fortinet Security Fabric, enables common deployment scenarios such as cloud security services hub, secure remote access, container security, web application security, and critical workload protection.
Visit the FortiGate-VM on AWS Community Resource Hub to find onboarding, deployment, and technical information and join in discussions: https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate-VM-on-AWS/gh-p/fortigate-vm-on-aws
Please contact AWSsales@fortinet.com with questions.
Highlights
- Delivers complete content and network protection by combining stateful inspection with a comprehensive suite of powerful security features to meet PCI DSS compliance.
- IPS technology protects against current and emerging network-level threats. In addition to signature-based threat detection, IPS performs anomaly-based detection which alerts users to any traffic that matches attack behavior profiles.
- New Docker application control signatures protect your container environments from newly emerged security threats.
Details
Sold by
Categories
Delivery method
Delivery option
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Latest version
Operating system
OtherLinux 7.6.5
Deployed on AWS
New
Introducing multi-product solutions
You can now purchase comprehensive solutions tailored to use cases and industries.
Features and programs
Buyer guide
Gain valuable insights from real users who purchased this product, powered by PeerSpot.
Financing for AWS Marketplace purchases
AWS Marketplace now accepts line of credit payments through the PNC Vendor Finance program. This program is available to select AWS customers in the US, excluding NV, NC, ND, TN, & VT.
Pricing
Pricing and entitlements for this product are managed through an external billing relationship between you and the vendor. You activate the product by supplying a license purchased outside of AWS Marketplace, while AWS provides the infrastructure required to launch the product. AWS Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time. However, the cancellation won't affect the status of the external license.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
Vendor refund policy
This is a BYOL product - there're no refund and cancellation policy applied.
Legal
Vendor terms and conditions
Upon subscribing to this product, you must acknowledge and agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the vendor's End User License Agreement (EULA) .
Content disclaimer
Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.
Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
Additional details
Usage instructions
After deploying the instance, click on Manage in AWS Console to see the running instance and public DNS address to continue the configuration of the FortiGate-VM. Connect to the secured Web UI via the public DNS address: https://<public DNS address>. For any CLI configuration/settings, SSH is required to log into the CLI. Default login credentials are with a username of admin and the AWS Instance ID value as the password. You can reference the FortiGate-VM AWS admin guide is located at: https://docs.fortinet.com/document/fortigate-public-cloud/7.6.0/aws-administration-guide/
Support
Vendor support
By subscribing to these services, you'll receive a timely response to any technical issues as well as complete visibility on the ticket resolution progress. FortiCare Support Services include firmware upgrades, Support portal access, and associated technical resources. FortiGuard Security Services include up-to-the minute threat intelligence delivered in real time to stop the latest threats. http://www.fortinet.com/support/contact_support.html
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
Similar products
FortiGate-VM delivers next-generation firewall capabilities for organizations of all sizes to protect against malware, exploits, malicious websites, and known and unknown attacks. It enables broad protection and automated management for consistent enforcement and visibility across your cloud environment.
Fortinet Federal FortiGate allows mitigation of blind spots to improve policy compliance by implementing critical security controls within your AWS environment. FortiGate firewall includes all of the security and networking services common to FortiGate physical appliances.
Fortinet FortiGate allows mitigation of blind spots to improve policy compliance by implementing critical security controls within your AWS environment. FortiGate includes all of the security and networking services common to FortiGate physical appliances.
FortiAuthenticator is a centralized user Identity Management solution to transparently identify network users and enforce identity-driven access policy in a Fortinet fabric. It supports FortiToken Two-factor authentication, Certificate and Wireless Guest management and Single Sign On capability.
Fortinet professional design and implementation services for network, application, and cloud-native (CNAPP) security for AWS, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.
The Fortinet FortiManager provides easy centralized configuration, policy-based provisioning, update management and end-to-end network monitoring for your Fortinet installed environment.
The FortiWeb web application firewall (WAF) defends web-based applications from known and zero-day threats. Its AI-based machine learning identifies threats with virtually no false positive detections.
Customer reviews
Mohamed Fouad
Centralized management has improved branch security operations and simplified threat prevention
Reviewed on Dec 19, 2025
Review provided by PeerSpot
What is our primary use case?
I have been dealing with Fortinet FortiGate-VM and have implemented it many times at customer sites. We are providing both hardware and VM solutions to connect branch sites and implementing FortiManager to manage Fortinet FortiGate-VMs as a cloud solution or as a dedicated VM to manage all of Fortinet FortiGate-VMs.
I utilize Fortinet FortiGate-VM Hybrid Mesh Firewall feature. We have used it as a demo and have purchased it already, but have not fully configured it.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, Fortinet FortiGate-VM is stable, and the best aspect is usability. Fortinet has many good things regarding usability. It has a great user interface and you can easily manage it, easily view information, and easily generate reports. This applies not only to Fortinet FortiGate-VM but to all Fortinet products. The support is also one of the most good features of Fortinet.
My impression of Fortinet FortiGate-VM Security Fabric real-time threat response capabilities is that it is a first-world security fabric compared to others.
In assessing the impact of Fortinet FortiGate-VM threat detection on my IT security operations, it relies on FortiGuard. If you have an IP and the correct license, it has powerful capabilities with IPS signatures and updated signatures from FortiGuard about attacks. One of the standout features is providing some models with a WAF module. This can help many customers, including small customers, by providing them with WAF functionality to protect web application servers. I think threat prevention is excellent on Fortinet FortiGate-VM.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate-VM can be improved in certain areas. It has most of the features I want, and honestly, it is one of my favorite VMs and one of my favorite vendors. Compared to others, Palo Alto is excellent, and I work with Palo Alto as well, but Fortinet offers a good quality product at a lower price point compared to Palo Alto.
It would be beneficial if Fortinet FortiGate-VM could set up high availability with hardware. Some Fortinet products already have this feature, but I do not think Fortinet FortiGate-VM will do it now. You can make high availability with hardware rather than on the same VM or with the same license requirements. If you have a VM, you can make it a high availability solution with hardware, which would be a great feature. FortiNAC from Fortinet has this feature already, but not Fortinet FortiGate-VM.
For how long have I used the solution?
I would generally recommend Fortinet FortiGate-VM to others. I would strongly recommend using Fortinet FortiGate-VM if you have a requirement to implement a firewall.
How are customer service and support?
The support is one of the most good features of Fortinet. Compared to others, such as IBM, I have had many issues with IBM support. It does not have enough engineers to support many customers. You can open a ticket and expect to receive a response in four business days if you have a medium impact case, which is very critical in SOC environments.
I would rate the technical support by Fortinet at a 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is straightforward and is the best aspect. It is easy to set up and easy to maintain. All Fortinet portfolio products have a default IP of 192.168.1.99. You can upgrade it in seconds. Compared to others, this is one of the standout features.
Sankha Rajaguru
Cloud firewalls have strengthened real-time threat protection but still need smoother updates
Reviewed on Dec 11, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
We are mainly using Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewalls which are particularly hosted in cloud environments. It will connect cloud environments with on-premise networks and secure cloud-hosted VM traffic, both outgoing and incoming traffic. Those are the main requirements we are receiving.
What is most valuable?
Real-time threat response is really good, and sandboxing and all the signatures are most of the time accurate. They are aligned with recent threats, and Fortinet also has Fortinet Labs where they do their own research and publish new signatures and threats in real-time to the firewalls and all the devices, so I think it is pretty good.
When comparing with Sophos, I think Fortinet's Security Fabric is really nice because they do have more signatures. When we talk about IPS and all these security features, I think Fortinet is good in that aspect.
Fortinet does provide a lot of visibility in Fortinet FortiGate-VM , and some devices do not have an inbuilt HDD. For logs and data retention, they provide the FortiCloud free service for seven days. Using those features, we gather information to troubleshoot and find root causes. They also have a FortiView section, which is very useful to find out the top sources, top destinations, and which sessions are running. It is very useful.
What needs improvement?
We mainly get firmware upgrades from time to time, and there are bugs. For the moment, I do not have any features in my mind to mention regarding improvements.
Since I have not worked with VMs so frequently, I cannot tell exact points. Overall, you are asking about the improvements which have to be done on the VM side. They are updating frequently, but sometimes it depends on internet connectivity. Those databases are not getting updated in such cases, so external threat feeds are helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I can say it has been about one to two years using it as a company. We use both the platforms.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not experienced any stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable, but as per my knowledge, the license is bound to the hardware it comes with, which I have read.
How are customer service and support?
I have worked with the customer team and also the technical team. When we come to technical support, they provide very professional support to mitigate threats or troubleshoot issues. They provide the expected support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Three years ago, I worked in a different company. Now I work in a different one.
How was the initial setup?
I think someone who is new to firewalls can do the initial setup without any issue if they follow the guide. It is not that complex.
What about the implementation team?
Most of the time, we are purchasing it through our local partners and local distributors.
What was our ROI?
Obviously, when a customer hosts their firewalls in VMs, they will get ROI because they do not need that many specifications or hardware requirements to host a firewall.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am actually working with Fortinet and Sophos, and also I am looking partially for a rival to Checkpoint as well.
What other advice do I have?
Both Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance are available. The difference between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and appliance is the platform which you are hosting. In the appliance, I am really seeing the appliance already with the required OS and everything. When we go to the VM side, we have to host the VM according to the defined specifications, and we have to get the licensing for it. Basically, in the firewall maintenance and configuration part, I cannot see any huge difference. It is the same. When we go to the VM side, all the network cable management and some things are happening virtually.
Feature-wise, as per my knowledge, there are no additional features when you go to the VM or the appliance. You can have the same features either you go with the appliance or VM.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM, mainly affordability and flexibility because some customers do have their infrastructure in cloud environments. Some customers do not prefer to use the cloud platform's native firewalls. In those cases, customers are listing to host their own firewall. For cases in those situations, the customer can get the benefit for those areas since it is affordable. I think it is more affordable than cloud-native firewalls.
Benefits mean the main benefit is when a customer is trying to purchase a firewall. They do not need to pay a price for the appliance. They only need to purchase a license. For the appliance, they can use their own platform to host the firewall. I think that is the main benefit when it comes to the VM side.
Overall network security posture: when a customer implements their firewall in the VM in the cloud environment, they can monitor their hosted VMs' outgoing and incoming traffic. They can restrict access, and they can include IPS, AV, ATP, all these things to secure the traffic. I think it is a huge benefit rather than using the native cloud firewall that is provided by the platform.
When we come to threat detection, I can mention IPS as well. Also under the threat landscape, since as I remember, Fortinet FortiGate-VM has the largest signature base in the IPS. They help us to prevent a lot of known threats using their signature database, which updates continuously.
When we compare it with Sophos, I think the most benefits are their security posture. They have a strong security posture in Fortinet FortiGate-VM compared to Sophos. Also the utilization: Fortinet FortiGate-VM OS is very suitable for small hardware because Sophos OS runs on Linux, which requires huge CPU and RAM utilization. Those are the pros and cons when you compare it with Sophos.
We are using that. Recently we have done an implementation where when someone tries to scan our ports in the firewall for a few times, we have scripts to block those IPs. It is very useful and user-friendly. We can get a lot of tasks done through that automation feature.
Rather than depending on Fortinet's security posture, they provide us the possibility to integrate our firewalls with external threat feeds, which is a huge benefit. If Fortinet misses any host or signature update, we can get it updated through the external threat database.
It is very flexible. We can use several external authentication platforms to integrate with our firewall, for example, SAML or LDAP. They provide so many integration points, and as I remember, they are free of charge as well.
You have to size your firewall depending on your connection types and the threat sources. Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewall is based on that. You have to do proper sizing on the VM that you are putting the firewall on.
In our country, Sri Lanka, most of the customers use their internal firewall and perimeter firewalls. When we take all the customers, it is about more than thirty to forty percent using Fortinet FortiGate-VM as their internal or perimeter firewalls. Huge customers, so we do have a high demand for Fortinet for the internal and perimeter levels.
I would rate this product a seven out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Karel Ondracek
Faced hardware limitations and setup challenges but have improved network protection over time
Reviewed on Oct 21, 2025
Review provided by PeerSpot
What is our primary use case?
I am the network administrator at THK Rhythm Automotive.
What is most valuable?
The features and capabilities of Fortinet FortiGate-VM that I have found most valuable are not only specific to Fortinet FortiGate-VM , but generally for most sites: a valuable web filter and DNS filter work together. For some sites, application filtering is important. The most important feature is IPS, which is the main reason for using Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. The current solution is only on the border of our network, between the company network and the internet.
What needs improvement?
I spent much time finding exact firmware on Aruba which was working with these guns, but it is not optimal because it is not the latest version, so there could be potential security problems. We decided to replace those access points with another one. I personally have trouble because I don't know the exact life cycle of Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes. I don't know if the life of boxes is five years or something else; we moved from our previous company, which sold us to other companies.
Before 10 years, we had a special department that took care of core networks, including firewalls. After that, this responsibility fell to me and my colleague. It is not easy to set up these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes properly because we didn't have previous experience with this kind of solution. At first, we set up only a few rules that were not secure enough, and over a couple of years, we improved the settings and security of these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes.
Currently, I have one Fortinet FortiGate-VM that needs to be replaced next year, and this box is not so powerful, so I need to redirect some traffic to another Fortinet FortiGate-VM. It is stable, but because the CPU processor of this box is not powerful, I need to redirect some traffic to another box. In the future, I need to choose a higher-level box to prevent potential troubles with the power of this box.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for more than 10 years. We are currently running version 7.2.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Currently each company needs a firewall. All types of firewalls such as Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Cisco, and others have different capabilities, but regarding our financial situation, when we compare the price of Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewalls against other firewalls from other companies, we choose Fortinet FortiGate-VM because of price. Other firewalls have better capabilities, but we have a limited amount of money for that.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I expect that many threats are blocked by the IPS system because dynamic temporary rules are created. It works adequately, but I am not a security expert to compare this kind of firewall against another.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service experience has been rated 5 out of 5.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Ten years ago we started with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. I don't have experience with other firewalls.
How was the initial setup?
General settings are very easy and could work in about half an hour. But after the initial setup, it is necessary to create security rules according to the company's needs. I am glad that the default settings block all traffic, and only directly set up traffic is allowed.
What about the implementation team?
After 10 years, we had a special department that took care of core networks, including firewalls. After that, this responsibility fell to me and my colleague.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are only initial costs and after that yearly maintenance for the exact level of hardware support and hardware and security support. I am from Czech Republic, and I have experience that prices for our area are a little bit lower than in other areas for some goods. I don't have this experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM because my colleagues in Germany are reaching better prices than me.
What other advice do I have?
In the past, we were using that technology, but we had a problem with some wireless guns and found a solution with Aruba Networks. We are using Microsoft 365 with some version E5 license. Regarding the network, we are mainly using Cisco systems. My colleague is working on the SIEM and SOC system with some external companies that support us after the ransomware attack. I am referring to hardware boxes and also virtual machines.
I expect that generally logs can improve our security because currently we don't have someone who works through these firewall logs, so we don't have information about potential security problems. We are expecting that it will be better after these logs will be connected to the SIEM system.
These firewalls are very easy to set up or manage. It is easy to set up each box individually, but currently, I don't have experience or training for central management of these Fortinet FortiGate-VM firewalls. I have been working as an IT specialist for about 30 years. I use it only for the backup of the firewall configuration. It is helpful because I have a backup of each firewall configuration every day, and I can return back several days. However, it is another difficulty because if the configuration of Fortinet FortiGate-VM changes, many other items will change. Generally, all passwords are regenerated, so it is not easy to find changes when comparing two configurations of one firewall. I can see this feature, but it is not so important because everything is working adequately. I start to focus on the logs only when I have problems or if I need to set up new applications or allow new traffic. I only look at how much percentage of connections are used, and if it is below some limits, it is acceptable. This solution has received a rating of 31 out of 100.
Eric_Martinez
A robust solution with automated threat response and easy setup
Reviewed on Oct 15, 2025
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
I have experience in deployment for banking processes and at the perimeter of a financial institution. I have experience in configuration for PCI DSS compliance.
What is most valuable?
The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the deployment. I applied best practices for deployment with Fortinet FortiGate-VM. By the VPN connection into the site, on-premise and cloud or hybrid for segmentation of level of security, the perimeter and inside zone.
It's very robust. It's a solution that is very complete with accessible support. The feature for deep inspection (DPI) for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is used for generating alerts or to automate threat response.
What needs improvement?
Licensing could be easier to understand.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate-VM for around six years and Cisco for around 10 years.
How are customer service and support?
The support deserves a rating of ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also worked with Cisco firewalls. The main differences between FortiNet and Cisco include the price, which is very different. The variant of Cisco ASA , Cisco Firepower, is more difficult for configuration. Firepower is more complicated. Fortinet FortiNet is easier to deploy and also less expensive.
How was the initial setup?
I find that the initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is easy. Of course, I am very experienced in the area of telecom, and this setup and configuration is friendly. I see that other people find Fortinet FortiGate-VM to be user-friendly. The setup and learning curve is short.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate-VM a 10 out of 10. It is very good.
Samuel-Mottet
User-friendly, easy to set up, and works very well for SMB customers
Reviewed on Oct 15, 2025
Review provided by PeerSpot
What is our primary use case?
Being a cloud service provider with data centers using VMware technology, we primarily use it as a firewall and for Disaster Recovery in Hybrid Cloud Solution. We faced some issues with changes from NSX-V to NSX-T on VMware Cloud Foundation Infrastructure, which is no longer able to provide SSL VPN remote connections for end-users, so we replaced it with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for our customers as a new endpoint in the cloud, enabling us to create a VPN and utilize SSL VPN solutions. My customers mostly deploy Fortinet FortiGate-VM on the cloud.
What is most valuable?
We are using VM01 most of the time, as we have more customers, although sometimes we can use VM02. In the EMEA region, we mainly have customers related to Fortinet FortiGate-VM. My favorite capabilities are VM01 and VM02.
We use it in a hybrid cloud solution, meaning the customer on-premise is using another technology or the same. It's better for us if they are using Fortinet, and we don't face issues with this solution. For what we need to do, which is setting up a VPN connection between both sides and using it for SSL VPN connections for remote users, it works effectively and we haven't encountered vulnerabilities.
It's user-friendly and easy to set up. It's designed with the customer in mind. As someone who is precise, I understand the importance of selling the solution effectively while ensuring it meets the customer's needs. This means that my focus is on gathering customer feedback. It's not just about what I see; it's about understanding the customer's perspective. Customers often want to know how they can use the solution and how to set it up, which is the main concern I address.
Fortinet Security Fabric 's Real-time Threat Response capabilities are satisfactory; it's a good solution.
What needs improvement?
There are vulnerabilities to address regarding security, as customers often ask about that. The main concerns are vulnerability detection and identification. Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet FortiGate-VM in providing high-level security for high-level customers, we have some visibility issues, so it doesn't seem high level; there's definitely room for enhancement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate-VM for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We provide reliability; if one VM is up, the other can be down, so if there's a problem with the first, the backup can be activated. It's more about the design than the solution itself.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For SMB customers, it is a very good solution; I am unsure about enterprise customers.
Flexibility and scalability are very important for our customers. They primarily use this solution for SSL VPN and VPN connections, and most of the time it's for disaster recovery as a service in our cloud, functioning as a hybrid solution where they use something in their on-premise environment and just need an endpoint in the cloud.
We provide managed services, handling the setup to create the necessary VPN connections for secure data transfer. If a customer wants to move from VM01 to VM02, it's not difficult for us to manage. Fortinet FortiGate-VM adapts effectively; for example, you have a limited number of VPN connections on VM01, accommodating around 1,000 remote users, and if the customer needs another endpoint, we can deploy VM02 and manage that transition effectively.
How are customer service and support?
Our support is good; we are the ones providing technical support to our customers. As a cloud service provider, our value is in offering solutions with our expertise, so we don't rely on Fortinet for support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We moved to this new solution at the end of 2024. I have three customers using Fortinet solutions and haven't faced any issues.
How was the initial setup?
It's user-friendly, and we can set it up easily with customers.
Most of our customers appreciate FortiManager, as the tools are interesting for easy setup of the product. Feedback regarding the interface is good; it's easy to understand, and the documentation from the Fortinet partner portal provides comprehensive information on product setup and management, which is beneficial for them.
What about the implementation team?
My customers mainly use a managed services solution, meaning they don't have a lot to do by themselves; our services provide the solution. If customers want to deploy it by themselves and are already Fortinet customers, we just provide resources on the cloud. They can directly set up what they want on the VM we provide in the cloud.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is interesting for the customer; if you compare this solution with Competitors, it is maybe more suitable for SMB customers. The price is better than the competition.