FortiADC
Application delivery with WAF, IPS and bot mitigation in the same appliance
- Licensing
- By appliance model or virtual instance
- Capabilities
- SLB, GSLB, LLB, SSL offload, WAF, IPS, bot mitigation
- Deployment
- Appliance, VM or public cloud
FortiADC handles server load balancing, global load balancing across sites, SSL/TLS offload and link load balancing, with WAF, IPS and bot mitigation available in the same box rather than as a separate purchase.
Where it fits, and where it stops fitting
The consolidation is the argument, a conventional stack needs a load balancer and a WAF from two vendors with two management planes. That said, for demanding applications a dedicated FortiWeb is still the stronger WAF, and we will tell you which case you are in rather than defaulting to the consolidated answer.
Highlights
- Load balancing and WAF in one management plane
- Hardware-accelerated SSL/TLS offload
- Global server load balancing across data centres
- Shares threat intelligence with the Fabric
Typical deployments
- Replacing a load balancer and WAF with one platform
- Active-active application delivery across two data centres
- Offloading TLS termination from application servers
What to work out first
FortiADC handles server load balancing, global load balancing across sites, SSL/TLS offload and link load balancing, with WAF, IPS and bot mitigation available in the same appliance rather than as a separate purchase.
The consolidation is the argument. A conventional stack needs a load balancer and a WAF from different vendors with two management planes and two support contracts; FortiADC does both and shares threat intelligence with the rest of the Fabric.
Questions worth answering before you order
How much SSL/TLS do you need to terminate?
SSL offload is usually the binding constraint rather than raw throughput, and it is where under-sizing shows up first under load.
One site or several?
Global server load balancing across data centres is a different feature set from local load balancing and needs to be specified up front.
Do you need the WAF too?
If yes, compare a FortiADC with WAF against a separate FortiWeb honestly, for demanding applications the dedicated WAF is still the stronger product, and we will say which one your case calls for.
What this includes
Fortinet publishes no throughput table for this product; it is licensed per user, endpoint, workload or account. What follows is capability and sizing, not benchmarks.
What you are buying
| Licensing | By appliance model or virtual instance |
|---|---|
| Capabilities | SLB, GSLB, LLB, SSL offload, WAF, IPS, bot mitigation |
| Deployment | Appliance, VM or public cloud |
How this is sized
Fortinet licenses this product per user, endpoint, workload or account rather than by appliance throughput, so there is no comparable performance table to publish. We size it from your actual environment, tell us the numbers and we will work it through with you.
| Licensing | By appliance model or virtual instance |
|---|
Sources
- Fortinet product line overview, retrieved 2026-09-01
Reproduced from Fortinet published documentation and subject to change without notice. Where a figure is load-bearing for your design, ask us to confirm it in writing before you order; we will.