---
title: Licensing and Security Subscriptions
---

# Licensing and Security Subscriptions

Your FortiGate Firewall uses **FortiFlex dynamic licensing** from Fortinet. Your license is managed automatically throughout the lifecycle of your firewall — you do not need to enter license keys, activate licenses manually, or contact support for routine licensing operations.

## What Happens at Each Action

| Action | What you do | What happens to the license |
|---|---|---|
| **Create Firewall** | Fill in the creation form and confirm | License is provisioned and activated automatically |
| **Power Off** | Click Power Off and confirm | License is paused |
| **Power On / Start** | Click Start and confirm | License is reactivated automatically |
| **Reinstall** | Click Reinstall and confirm | License is re-applied to the VM automatically after reinstall |
| **Delete** | Click Delete and confirm | License is released automatically — nothing further needed |

## FortiGuard Security Subscriptions

Your FortiGate Firewall's built-in firewalling can be extended with optional Fortinet-managed security subscriptions — additional threat-intelligence and inspection services kept up to date by Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs. Fortinet groups these into three bundles that build on one another: **ATP** (Advanced Threat Protection), **UTP** (Unified Threat Protection), and **Enterprise Protection**.

Reviewing what each bundle covers can help you decide which additional protections are worth enabling for your workloads, on top of the firewall rules you configure yourself.

| Capability | ATP (Essential) | UTP (Web & Network) | Enterprise (Full Attack Surface) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intrusion Prevention (IPS) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Antivirus / Advanced Malware Protection | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Application Control | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cloud Sandbox (zero-day detection) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| URL, DNS & Video Filtering | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Anti-Botnet / C2 Protection | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Data Loss Prevention (DLP) | — | — | ✅ |
| AI-based Inline Malware Prevention | — | — | ✅ |
| Attack Surface & IoT Visibility | — | — | ✅ |

For the full, up-to-date details, see Fortinet's own resources:

- [FortiGate Security Bundles](https://www.fortinet.com/support/support-services/fortiguard-security-subscriptions/fortigate-security-bundles) — compares the ATP, UTP, and Enterprise bundles and what each one covers.
- [FortiGuard Security Services Datasheet (PDF)](https://www.fortinet.com/content/dam/fortinet/assets/data-sheets/og-fortiguard.pdf) — describes each individual FortiGuard security service in detail.

:::note
These are optional, Fortinet-provided subscriptions layered on top of your FortiGate Firewall. Raise a request with E2E support to add one of these bundles to your firewall.
:::

## Troubleshooting

**Firewall not ready after creation**

If your firewall is still not in a Running state after creation for an extended period, the license activation may not have completed. Raise a support ticket with your firewall name and creation time.

**Firewall not licensing after Reinstall**

If the firewall is not working correctly after a reinstall, the license may not have been re-applied. Wait a few minutes and check the firewall status. If the issue persists, raise a support ticket.

**Firewall not coming up after Power On**

If the firewall fails to reach Running state after a Power On, raise a support ticket with your firewall name.

## Related Resources

| Resource | Use it for |
|---|---|
| [Get Started with Firewall](/docs/myaccount/network/firewall/getting-started) | Create and manage your FortiGate firewall |
| [Firewall FAQ and Troubleshooting](/docs/myaccount/network/firewall/troubleshoot/faq) | Self-service fixes for plan-upgrade and license sync issues |
| [FortiGate IPSec VPN Setup](/docs/myaccount/network/Guides/FortiGate_IPSec_VPN_Tunnel_Setup) | Configure a site-to-site VPN tunnel on your firewall |
| [VPC](/docs/myaccount/network/vpc) | Attach VPCs to your firewall |