Fortinet now charging a $200 “Handling Fee”

About the $200 FortiGate Handling Fee

We’ve been using FortiGate firewalls for years—the 30, 60, and 80 series have been our go-to for SMB customers. As the FortiGate 60E reaches End of Life, we’ve been ordering a lot of 60F and 80F models to replace them.

Recently, Fortinet added a non-negotiable $200 “handling fee” to these orders. This isn’t something we can absorb or remove—it shows up on every quote and invoice.

What we’re doing about it

We’ve reached out to our Fortinet account manager for clarity on what this fee covers and why it was added. So far, it appears this is a permanent change, not a temporary charge.

Our position

We still believe FortiGate firewalls offer the best performance and value for small-to-medium businesses in their class. That hasn’t changed. But we also believe you deserve transparency about what you’re paying for, which is why we’re flagging this now rather than letting it show up as a surprise line item.

If you have questions about this fee or want to discuss alternatives before your next hardware refresh, let us know.

There’s a Reddit thread with additional discussion on it here.