# Fortinet cost report

Fortinet solutions are widely used for network security, firewall management, and threat protection. These workloads often run across multiple cloud providers and scale dynamically based on traffic demand, which makes cost visibility and control important.

Managing Fortinet costs becomes more complex in a multi-cloud setup due to differences in pricing models, traffic patterns, and deployment structures across providers. CloudSpend provides a unified view of your Fortinet spending across [AWS](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/aws-integrate.html), [Azure](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/azure-integrate.html), and [GCP](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/gcp-integration.html) environments, helping you track usage, analyze cost drivers, and optimize your overall cloud spending.

## What is Fortinet cost management?

Fortinet cost management involves tracking and optimizing expenses related to firewall clusters, scaling groups, and traffic processing. Costs are influenced by how traffic flows through the network and how resources scale to handle that traffic.

Effective management involves:

- Attributing costs to clusters and scaling groups.
- Monitoring traffic inspection patterns.
- Identifying cost drivers, such as high throughput or inefficient scaling.
- Forecasting and budgeting.

## How does CloudSpend manage Fortinet costs in a multi-cloud environment?

CloudSpend maps cost data to Fortinet resources using tags such as the cluster ID, scaling group, and group name. This enables you to clearly understand how each deployment contributes to your overall spending.

Fortinet workloads often rely on compute and networking resources. CloudSpend separates these costs so you can determine whether increases are caused by Fortinet-related infrastructure. Trend analysis and anomaly detection help you [identify unusual traffic or scaling patterns](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/anomaly-report.html), and [budget alerts](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/budget.html) enable proactive cost control.

## Fortinet tagging entities for cost allocation

CloudSpend uses the following entities to tag and track your Fortinet resources across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.

| Report category | Report display name | Description | Tag key | Tag value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet | Fortinet Cluster ID | The Fortinet cluster ID | fortinet:cluster-id | <cluster id> |
| Fortinet | Scaling Group | The Fortinet scaling group | fortinet:scaling-group | <scaling group> |
| Fortinet | Group Name | The Fortinet group name | fortinet:group-name | <group name> |

## How CloudSpend uses Fortinet tags for cost tracking

CloudSpend uses the above entities to tag and track your Fortinet resources across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments. These entities help connect cloud billing data with how your Fortinet security deployments are structured, making it easier to understand how costs are distributed.

The Fortinet Cluster ID tag (*fortinet:cluster-id*) represents the logical grouping of Fortinet firewall instances handling network traffic. By using this tag, CloudSpend attributes costs to specific clusters, enabling you to analyze how different deployments contribute to your overall spending.

The Scaling Group tag (*fortinet:scaling-group*) represents the group of Fortinet instances that scale based on traffic demand. CloudSpend uses this tag to track how scaling behavior impacts costs, helping you identify whether increased spending is driven by higher traffic throughput or scaling configurations.

The Group Name tag (*fortinet:group-name*) represents a higher-level grouping of Fortinet resources, often used to organize deployments by the environment, application, or team. CloudSpend uses this tag to map costs to these logical groupings, improving visibility and establishing ownership across deployments.

By organizing cost data using these Fortinet-specific tags, CloudSpend enables granular cost attribution across firewall deployments. You can break down costs by the cluster, scaling group, and group name; compare usage patterns; and identify optimization opportunities such as refining scaling strategies or balancing traffic across clusters. This structured tagging approach improves cost visibility, helps teams take ownership of their deployments, and supports more informed decisions when it comes to controlling and optimizing cloud security spending.

## Benefits of the Fortinet cost report

- Visibility into traffic-driven security costs.
- Identification of inefficient scaling configurations.
- Improved cost attribution across deployments.
- Proactive monitoring and cost control.
- Better optimization of network security infrastructure.

## Interpreting the Fortinet cost report

With the Fortinet cost report, you get a unified view of your Fortinet spending across AWS, Azure, and GCP environments.

To view the Fortinet cost report follow these steps:

1. Log in to CloudSpend and go to **Reports**.
2. Select the **Fortinet** cost report.
3. Use filters to narrow down the report by the account, region, or resource.
4. Select the required account to view the *Spend Analysis* dashboard.

## Spend Analysis in the Fortinet cost report

The [Spend Analysis](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/cost-centers-overview.html#Cost_Analytics) dashboard helps you understand how traffic processing and scaling behavior impact Fortinet costs. It combines cost data with usage patterns so you can identify the root cause of cost changes.

You can track the total cost and identify high-spending deployments. Cost spikes are often linked to increased traffic throughput or scaling activity, and anomaly detection highlights these patterns.

The *Cost by Component* view helps you separate Fortinet processing costs from infrastructure costs such as compute and networking. This is useful when traffic increases result in higher back-end resource usage.

The *Cost by Resource* view enables you to drill down into specific clusters or scaling groups that are driving costs. Trend analysis shows when changes began, and location-based views help you identify regions contributing to higher costs.

The *Spend Analysis* dashboard helps you optimize the traffic flow, scaling policies, and deployment architecture.

## Resource Explorer in the Fortinet cost report

The [Resource Explorer](https://www.manageengine.com/cloudspend/help/resource-explorer.html) dashboard provides deeper visibility into Fortinet costs by breaking them down across different dimensions. You can analyze costs across accounts, subscriptions, projects, regions, services, and tags.

The tags dimension enables you to drill into the cluster ID, scaling group, and group name to understand which deployments are contributing the most to costs. For example, a specific cluster may show a higher cost due to an increased traffic load or inefficient scaling. Similarly, regional analysis can reveal whether traffic routing is increasing costs.

The Resource Explorer dashboard enables clearer ownership and targeted optimization of Fortinet deployments.