New Sessions/sec: 35,000 TCP (one reseller lists 37,000)
Interfaces: 3 x GE RJ45 internal, 1 x GE RJ45 WAN/DMZ, 1 x GE RJ45 FortiLink, 1 x console RJ45, 1 x USB 3.0 Type-A (FortiWiFi variant adds Wi-Fi)
Form Factor: Desktop
Curation Review
✔ Pros:Strong 5 Gbps firewall throughput for its size; 4.4 Gbps IPsec VPN throughput; Low hardware-only price for a FortiOS firewall; Supports 200 gateway and 250 client VPN tunnels; FortiLink support for managing FortiSwitch units; 700,000 concurrent sessions suits small offices
✘ Cons:Threat prevention throughput of 600 Mbps is low for security-heavy traffic; Only four RJ45 Gigabit ports, with no multi-gigabit or SFP uplink; Full security features require paid FortiGuard licensing, which raises total cost well above hardware price; Desktop form factor with no built-in Wi-Fi on the base model; Specs and prices come from reseller listings, not an official Fortinet datasheet I could access
Est. Price:
$350 - $417
Compare Against
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
★ 4.9 Value Score
Technical Specifications
Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti in the sources reviewed
Threat Prevention Throughput: 2.3 Gbps IDS/IPS per Ubiquiti spec page (older listings show 1.5 Gbps)
IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; third-party reviews report about 800-1,000 Mbps for WireGuard and 300-400 Mbps for OpenVPN
Max Sessions: Not published in the sources reviewed
New Sessions/sec: Not published in the sources reviewed
Interfaces: 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN, 4x GbE RJ45 LAN (one LAN port can be reconfigured as a second WAN for multi-WAN)
Form Factor: Compact desktop; UCG-Max-NS variant includes 512GB NVMe storage
Curation Review
✔ Pros:Low entry price at $199 MSRP; Compact desktop form factor; Five-port layout with multi-WAN support via a reconfigurable LAN port; Runs UniFi OS with integrated IDS/IPS, site-to-site and remote VPN options (IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN, L2TP); Manages 30+ UniFi devices and 300+ clients per Ubiquiti listing
✘ Cons:Routing and IPS throughput (2.3 Gbps) is modest for multi-gigabit WANs with inspection enabled; Published throughput figures conflict across sources (1.5 vs 2.3 Gbps IPS, varying VPN numbers); Only one 2.5GbE port, with the remaining ports at 1GbE; Vendor does not publish IPsec tunnel, session, or new-connection limits; Some resellers list prices well above MSRP (one US listing at $394.79)