Fortinet vs Google: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Fortinet reported $6.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $1.9B of net income. Google reported $402.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $132.2B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Fortinet
Fortinet grew revenue from $1.28 billion in 2016 to $6.80 billion in 2025, while GAAP net income rose from $32 million to $1.85 billion. After the 2021-2022 surge, product sales slowed in 2023-2024 as customers digested firewall inventory, and revenue growth fell to 12% in 2024. Growth recovered to 14% in 2025, when free cash flow hit a record of roughly $2.21 billion and the buyback authorization was expanded by $1 billion. 2026 has been stronger again: Q1 billings grew 31% and Q2 billings grew 33% to $2.37 billion, Q2 GAAP EPS rose 44% to $0.82, and Q2 free cash flow was $966 million. On July 29, 2026 the company raised 2026 guidance to revenue of $8.02-$8.18 billion (about 19% growth at the midpoint) and billings of $9.35-$9.55 billion.
Alphabet's FY2025 Form 10-K reported $402.836 billion of revenue and $132.170 billion of net income, making it one of the most profitable companies in the world. Growth accelerated in 2026: Q2 2026 revenue rose 24% year over year to $119.8 billion, operating income rose 30% to $40.8 billion and operating margin reached 34.0%. Reported Q2 net income of $112.1 billion was inflated by a $99.0 billion gain, mostly unrealized gains on equity holdings, so operating income is the cleaner measure. The trade-off is spending: management raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195-205 billion, and analysts flagged negative free cash flow in Q2 2026 as data-center investment outpaced operating cash flow.
Revenue and profit by year
Fortinet
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $6.8B | $1.9B | 27.3% | +14.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $6B | $1.7B | 29.3% | +12.3% | Source |
| FY2023 | $5.3B | $1.1B | 21.6% | +20.1% | Source |
| FY2022 | $4.4B | $857.3M | 19.4% | +32.2% | Source |
| FY2021 | $3.3B | $606.8M | 18.2% | +28.8% | Source |
| FY2020 | $2.6B | $488.5M | 18.8% | +19.9% | Source |
| FY2019 | $2.2B | $331.7M | 15.3% | +19.9% | Source |
| FY2018 | $1.8B | $334.9M | 18.6% | +20.7% | Source |
| FY2017 | $1.5B | $31.4M | 2.1% | +17.2% | Source |
| FY2016 | $1.3B | $32.2M | 2.5% | — | Source |
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $402.8B | $132.2B | 32.8% | +15.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $350B | $100.1B | 28.6% | +13.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $307.4B | $73.8B | 24.0% | +8.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $282.8B | $60B | 21.2% | +9.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $257.6B | $76B | 29.5% | +41.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $182.5B | $40.3B | 22.1% | +12.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $161.9B | $34.3B | 21.2% | +18.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $136.8B | $30.7B | 22.5% | +23.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $110.9B | $12.7B | 11.4% | +22.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $90.3B | $19.5B | 21.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Fortinet
- Service Revenue67%
FortiGuard subscriptions, technical support, SASE, SecOps, SaaS, and other services generated $4.5812B in FY2025 revenue.
- Product Revenue33%
FortiGate appliances, secure networking hardware, and software licenses generated $2.2184B in FY2025 revenue.
- Google Search advertising~12%
Auction-based text and shopping ads served alongside organic search results, generating approximately $198 billion in FY2024 through cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing.
- YouTube advertising~12%
Video advertising across pre-roll, mid-roll, display, and Shorts formats, plus subscription revenue from YouTube Premium, Music, and YouTube TV, totaling approximately $36 billion in ad revenue for FY2024.
- Google Cloud~12%
Infrastructure-as-a-service, platform tools, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Mandiant cybersecurity, and Google Workspace subscriptions, generating significant FY2025 revenue.
- Google Network~12%
Ads placed on third-party websites through AdSense, AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, generating approximately $31 billion in FY2024 with revenue shared with publishers.
- Other Bets~12%
Revenue from Waymo autonomous ride-hailing, Verily health technology, hardware sales (Pixel, Nest, Fitbit), Google Play commissions, and other non-advertising sources.
Business model and strategy
Fortinet
How it makes money
Fortinet makes money in two ways. First, it sells products: FortiGate firewalls (physical appliances and virtual/cloud versions), plus switches, Wi-Fi access points and other secure-networking hardware and software licenses. Product revenue was $2.22 billion, or 33% of FY2025 sales.
Growth strategy
Fortinet is trying to grow beyond the firewall into three adjacent markets. Unified SASE combines FortiGate SD-WAN with cloud-delivered secure web gateway, ZTNA and firewall-as-a-service for remote users. Security operations (FortiSIEM, FortiSOAR, FortiAnalyzer, FortiEDR) targets the SOC. OT security sells ruggedized FortiGates and related tools to factories, utilities and transport operators.
Competitive advantage
Fortinet's main edge is custom silicon. It designs its own security processors (network processors such as NP7 and content processors such as CP9) that offload packet inspection, encryption and threat matching from general-purpose CPUs. That lets FortiGate deliver high throughput at a lower price and power draw than many rivals.
How it makes money
Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention. Google Search & other, YouTube ads and the Google Network together account for roughly three quarters of revenue. Advertisers bid in real-time auctions to appear next to queries or videos, and Google charges per click, view or conversion.
Growth strategy
Alphabet's growth plan has four parts: put Gemini into Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Workspace, Android and Chrome to keep users and advertisers engaged; sell AI infrastructure, TPUs and Gemini models through Google Cloud, backed by the Wiz security platform acquired in March 2026; grow subscriptions such as YouTube Premium, YouTube TV and Google One AI plans;
Competitive advantage
Alphabet's edge is a stack few rivals own end to end: default distribution through Android and Chrome, the largest pool of search-intent data, YouTube's video audience, its own TPU chips and global data centers, and frontier models from Google DeepMind.
Questions about Fortinet vs Google
Which company has higher revenue — Fortinet, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc. reported $6.8B (FY2025), while Alphabet Inc. reported $402.8B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. is the larger business, with Fortinet, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Fortinet, Inc. vs Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $127.3B, while Alphabet Inc.'s is $4.31T. Alphabet Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Fortinet, Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Fortinet, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc. generates $450k / employee in revenue per employee, while Alphabet Inc. generates $2.11M / employee. Alphabet Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. make money?
Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Fortinet, Inc.: Fortinet makes money in two ways. Alphabet Inc.: Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Fortinet, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Fortinet, Inc. trades at 18.7x P/S and Alphabet Inc. at 10.7x P/S. Fortinet, Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Alphabet Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Fortinet, Inc. bigger than Alphabet Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. ($402.8B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Fortinet, Inc. ($6.8B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Fortinet vs Google overview