How to Buy a Used FortiGate Firewall: Key Checks Before You Spend

Used FortiGate firewalls offer significant savings, with models like the 100F available for €400–600 versus a retail price of around €4,000, making them attractive for homelabs and small offices. FortiOS supports core functions such as stateful firewalling, VPN, VLAN, routing, and NAT even without an active license, though threat-intelligence features like IPS signatures and web filtering stop updating once a license expires. Buyers should verify the license status and firmware version via the CLI command 'get system status', and check Fortinet's product lifecycle page to confirm the model has not reached end-of-support. Older units such as the 80E are nearing or past end-of-life, making them suitable for isolated or homelab environments but risky for internet-facing production use. Prospective buyers should also confirm whether the unit has been factory-reset, and be aware that a console cable and a documented BIOS-interrupt procedure can recover access if the admin password is unknown.