FortiGate 3500F
595 Gbps firewall with 348 million Hyperscale sessions
- Threat protection
- 63 Gbps
- Firewall throughput
- 595 Gbps
- IPsec VPN
- 165 Gbps
- Concurrent sessions
- 140 Million
Front panel
- QSFP cage
- SFP cage
- RJ45 copper
The 3500F pushes firewall throughput to 595 Gbps and, with Hyperscale, 348 million concurrent sessions at 5 million new sessions per second. Thirty-two 25GE SFP28 ports alongside six 100GE QSFP28 give it very high port density in 2 RU.
A session-scale and port-density box. Its 63 Gbps threat protection is respectable but the 3500G delivers 105 Gbps in the same chassis. Choose the F where you need the Hyperscale session ceiling or the 32-port 25GE density; choose the G where you need inspection.
What to order alongside the FortiGate 3500F
The published threat protection figure for this model is measured with IPS, application control and malware protection all running. Those arrive as a FortiGuard subscription, so the bundle you choose decides whether the hardware can reach the number you sized it on. Every bundle already includes FortiCare Premium 24x7 support.
| Bundle | What it adds | 1 yearlist price | 3 yearslist price | 5 yearslist price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise ProtectionENT | The broadest bundle. Everything in UTP, plus the services that cover data, SaaS posture and attack-surface visibility, plus inline zero-day malware prevention. | $493,230FG-3500F-BDL-809-12 | $911,430FG-3500F-BDL-809-36 | $1,329,630FG-3500F-BDL-809-60 |
| Unified Threat ProtectionUTP | The traditional mid-tier: perimeter defence covering network, file, web and email threats. Everything most sites actually switch on. | $456,330FG-3500F-BDL-950-12 | $800,730FG-3500F-BDL-950-36 | $1,145,130FG-3500F-BDL-950-60 |
| Advanced Threat ProtectionATP | The narrow bundle: IPS and the full malware stack including cloud sandboxing, without the web and email filtering layers. | FG-3500F-BDL-928-12 | FG-3500F-BDL-928-36 | FG-3500F-BDL-928-60 |
These are Fortinet list prices. You will not pay them.
Every quote we write is discounted from list, and how far below depends on quantity, term and whether we register the deal with Fortinet. Longer terms also price better per year, which is why three and five year bundles are usually the better buy on a device you intend to keep through a refresh cycle. Part numbers follow Fortinet’s standard bundled convention; not every model carries every combination, so we confirm the exact orderable SKU before anything is placed.
FortiGate 3500F is number 5 of 11 in this family
Ranked on threat protection throughput, the figure that separates these models. All values are Fortinet’s own and cited on each product page.
FortiGate 4200F
45 Gbps
40% less than the FortiGate 3500F. Worth it only if your measured requirement genuinely fits inside it.
FortiGate 3500F
63 Gbps
11 models in this family span 25 Gbps to 200 Gbps.
FortiGate 3700F
75 Gbps
19% more headroom. Worth costing if you expect growth inside the refresh cycle, replacing early is dearer than buying up once.
Highlights
- 595 Gbps firewall throughput, 165 Gbps IPsec
- 32x 25GE SFP28, very high density for 2 RU
- Hyperscale: 348M sessions, 5M new sessions/sec
- 2x 1.92 TB local storage
Typical deployments
- High-density 25GE aggregation in a data centre
- Carrier and hosting environments with extreme session counts
- Large-scale IPsec concentration at 165 Gbps
The numbers, with their conditions
Every figure below is Fortinet's own, with the test conditions it was measured under.
Performance
Fortinet's published figures. Firewall throughput is measured on UDP with no inspection enabled, size your deployment on threat protection throughput instead, which is measured with firewall, IPS, application control and malware protection all running against an enterprise traffic mix.
| Firewall throughput (1518 / 512 / 64 byte UDP) | 595 / 590 / 420 Gbps |
|---|---|
| IPsec VPN throughput (512 byte)IPsec VPN performance test uses AES256-SHA256. | 165 Gbps |
| IPS throughput (enterprise mix)IPS, application control, NGFW and threat protection are measured with logging enabled. | 72 Gbps |
| NGFW throughput (enterprise mix)NGFW performance is measured with firewall, IPS and application control enabled, enterprise mix traffic. | 65 Gbps |
| Threat protection throughput (enterprise mix)Threat protection performance is measured with firewall, IPS, application control and malware protection enabled, enterprise mix traffic. | 63 Gbps |
| SSL inspection throughput (IPS, avg. HTTPS)SSL inspection performance values use an average of HTTPS sessions of different cipher suites. | 63 Gbps |
| Application control throughput (HTTP 64K) | 135 Gbps |
| Firewall latency | 2.98 µs |
Capacity
| Concurrent sessions | 140 Million / 348 Million |
|---|---|
| New sessions / second | 1 Million / 5 Million |
| Firewall policies | 200,000 |
| Max gateway-to-gateway IPsec tunnels | 40,000 |
| Max client-to-gateway IPsec tunnels | 200,000 |
| SSL VPN throughput | 16 Gbps |
| Concurrent SSL VPN users (recommended max, tunnel mode) | 30,000 |
| Virtual domains (default / max) | 10 / 500 |
Security Fabric capacity
How much of the rest of the Fabric this model manages directly, with no separate controller.
| Max managed FortiAPs (total / tunnel) | 4,096 / 2,048 |
|---|---|
| Max managed FortiSwitches | 300 |
| Max FortiTokens | 20,000 |
Hardware
| Interfaces | 6x 100GE QSFP28/40GE QSFP+, 32x 25GE SFP28, 2x GE RJ45 |
|---|---|
| Local storage | 2x 1.92 TB (3501F) |
| Power supplies | Dual PS |
| Form factor | 2 RU |
| Variants | , |
Model-specific caveats
Fortinet conditions that apply to this model in particular. Worth reading before you order.
| Note 1 | The second figure requires a Hyperscale license. |
|---|
Sources
- Fortinet Product Matrix, FortiGate Network Security Platform (July 2026), retrieved 2026-09-01
- Fortinet Partner Portal price list, 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.
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