Fortinet vs Microsoft: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Fortinet reported $6.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $1.9B of net income. Microsoft reported $331.8B of revenue in FY2026 and $133.7B 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.
Microsoft
Microsoft's FY2026 revenue rose 17.8% to $331.8 billion, operating income rose 21% to $155.2 billion, and GAAP net income rose 31% to $133.7 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue was $90.0 billion (up 18%) with net income of $35.8 billion, helped by a $3.2 billion gain on its Anthropic investment. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $59.3 billion in Q4, up 27%. The main pressure point is capital intensity: AI data center spending has pushed free cash flow growth well below earnings growth.
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 |
Microsoft
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $331.8B | $133.7B | 40.3% | +17.8% | Source |
| FY2025 | $281.7B | $101.8B | 36.1% | +14.9% | Source |
| FY2024 | $245.1B | $88.1B | 36.0% | +15.7% | Source |
| FY2023 | $211.9B | $72.4B | 34.1% | +6.9% | Source |
| FY2022 | $198.3B | $72.7B | 36.7% | +18.0% | Source |
| FY2021 | $168.1B | $61.3B | 36.5% | +17.5% | Source |
| FY2020 | $143B | $44.3B | 31.0% | +13.6% | Source |
| FY2019 | $125.8B | $39.2B | 31.2% | +14.0% | Source |
| FY2018 | $110.4B | $16.6B | 15.0% | +14.3% | Source |
| FY2017 | $96.6B | $25.5B | 26.4% | — | 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.
Microsoft
- Productivity And Business ProcessesMajor
Office, Microsoft 365, LinkedIn, Dynamics, and related cloud services.
- Intelligent CloudMajor
Azure, server products, enterprise services, and cloud infrastructure.
- More Personal ComputingMajor
Windows, devices, gaming, search, and advertising.
- AI Services And CopilotsGrowth
AI features and model-powered services embedded across Azure, Microsoft 365, GitHub, security, and developer tools.
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.
Microsoft
How it makes money
Microsoft reports three segments. Intelligent Cloud covers Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server, GitHub, Nuance, and enterprise services; server products and cloud services alone brought in $129.4 billion in FY2026, and Azure passed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
Growth strategy
Microsoft's growth plan centers on AI capacity and AI subscriptions. It is spending heavily on data centers and chips to meet Azure demand that management says remains capacity constrained, and it is selling Microsoft 365 Copilot as a paid add-on, which passed 30 million paid seats by the end of FY2026.
Competitive advantage
Microsoft's main advantage is distribution inside enterprises. Identity (Entra), email and documents (Microsoft 365), collaboration (Teams), developer tools (GitHub, Visual Studio), and cloud infrastructure (Azure) are often bought together, which raises switching costs and lets Microsoft attach new products such as Copilot to existing contracts.
Questions about Fortinet vs Microsoft
Which company has higher revenue — Fortinet, Inc. or Microsoft Corporation?
Fortinet, Inc. reported $6.8B (FY2025), while Microsoft Corporation reported $331.8B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, Microsoft Corporation is the larger business, with Fortinet, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
What is the market cap of Fortinet, Inc. vs Microsoft Corporation?
Fortinet, Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $127.3B, while Microsoft Corporation's is $3.83T. Microsoft Corporation 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 Microsoft Corporation?
Fortinet, Inc. generates $450k / employee in revenue per employee, while Microsoft Corporation generates $1.49M / employee. Microsoft Corporation 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 Microsoft Corporation make money?
Fortinet, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Fortinet, Inc.: Fortinet makes money in two ways. Microsoft Corporation: Microsoft reports three segments.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Fortinet, Inc. or Microsoft Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Fortinet, Inc. trades at 18.7x P/S and Microsoft Corporation at 11.5x P/S. Fortinet, Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Microsoft Corporation. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Fortinet, Inc. bigger than Microsoft Corporation?
By last reported revenue, Microsoft Corporation ($331.8B (FY2026)) 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 Microsoft overview