# Fortinet FortiGate: how AI models rank it, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Named in 39 judge labels across 2 categories by 12 of 12 models. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/fortinet-fortigate/

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Next-generation firewalls | 61% | 1 | 8% | 38 |
| Zero trust network access | 0% | 54 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "The Overall Best Value & Price-Performance: Fortinet FortiGate ... go with the Fortinet FortiGate. It offers the most future-proof scalability" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Firewalls)
- "The Best All-Rounder: Fortinet FortiGate (Series 600) ... market leader for mid-sized businesses because it offers the best price-to-performance ratio" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, Firewalls)
- "For a 500-person company, Fortinet FortiGate is frequently recommended as the sweet spot—enterprise-grade features at mid-market pricing." (Kimi K2, Firewalls)
- "a physical appliance (like Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos) at your edge with virtual firewalls in the cloud would provide the best balance" (Claude Haiku 4.5, Firewalls)

## And against it

- "Older models of Fortigate, Palo Alto, and other NGFW devices can become security liabilities if not regularly updated." (Mistral Small, Firewalls)
- ""Caution" in NSS Labs 2025 (79.24% effectiveness). Massive CVE volume (100+ tracked)" (Grok 4.1 Fast, Firewalls)
- "Verdict: Caution (High Maintenance)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Firewalls)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.