FortiGate CNF
FortiGate inspection as a managed cloud-native service
- Licensing
- Consumption-based via cloud marketplace
- Platforms
- AWS and Azure
- Management
- Native console or FortiManager
FortiGate CNF delivers FortiGuard-powered next-generation firewall inspection as a managed service in AWS and Azure. There is no instance to size, patch, scale or fail over, Fortinet operates the data plane and you write policy, optionally through FortiManager alongside your physical estate.
Where it fits, and where it stops fitting
Choose CNF where you want a managed service and elastic scale; choose FortiGate-VM where you need full FortiOS feature parity and direct control of the instance. CNF is a service, not an appliance, and the feature sets are not identical, check availability in your regions before designing around it.
Highlights
- No instance to patch, scale or fail over
- FortiGuard inspection with cloud-native elasticity
- Manageable from FortiManager alongside physical firewalls
- Consumption-based billing
Typical deployments
- Cloud teams who do not want to inherit appliance operations
- Elastic workloads where fixed instance sizing does not fit
- Consistent policy across on-premises and cloud
What to work out first
FortiGate CNF is FortiGuard-powered next-generation firewall inspection delivered as a cloud-native managed service. There is no instance to size, patch, scale or fail over, Fortinet operates the data plane and you write policy.
It suits cloud teams who want FortiGate security posture without inheriting appliance operations in an environment where everything else is managed. Policy can be shared with your on-premises estate through FortiManager.
Questions worth answering before you order
CNF or FortiGate-VM?
CNF where you want a managed service and elastic scale. FortiGate-VM where you need full FortiOS feature parity and direct control of the instance. CNF is a service, not an appliance, and the feature sets are not identical.
Which cloud, and which regions?
Availability is region-specific. Confirm your regions are covered before designing around it.
How will policy be managed?
If you already run FortiManager, managing CNF alongside your physical estate in one hierarchy is the main operational win.
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 | Consumption-based via cloud marketplace |
|---|---|
| Platforms | AWS and Azure |
| Management | Native console or FortiManager |
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 | Consumption-based via cloud marketplace |
|---|
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.