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mateoS26
New Member
June 16, 2026
Question

Expired license renewal with backdated prorata – is this normal?

  • June 16, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 132 views

Hi everyone,

I have a question about renewing a Fortinet license that has been expired since 2024.

My reseller is telling me that in order to regularize the situation, I have to take a license with 6 months of backdated prorata. Concretely, the license would start in January 2026, meaning that for a 1-year license purchased today (June 2026), I would only get 6 months of actual use until the end of 2026 — since the first 6 months (January to June 2026) have already passed.

Is this really Fortinet's standard policy for expired licenses? Is it normal to have to pay for a period that has already elapsed when renewing late? Has anyone been in a similar situation, and is there any way to negotiate directly with Fortinet to get the start date set to the actual purchase date?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

3 replies

Anthony_E
Staff
Anthony_E
Staff
June 16, 2026

Hello,

I guess the best in this situation, is to contact your Fortinet sales representative or authorized partner to discuss the renewal options. They can provide guidance on backdated prorata renewals.

Best Regards
    Toshi_Esumi
    SuperUser
    Toshi_Esumi
    SuperUser
    June 16, 2026

    It’s the FTNT’s policy if you like or not. Contact a Sales as ​@Anthony_E suggests. If you renew with a longer term like 3-years, they might waive the penalty term.

    Toshi

    christian_89_
    christian_89_
    Explorer II
    June 16, 2026

    The reseller is not inventing anything here. This is Fortinet's standard Continuous Service policy, and the 6-month figure is actually the cap working in your favour, not against you.

    FortiGuard/FortiCare services are designed to be continuous, so any lapse in service requires coverage back to the contract expiration date. That is the baseline rule. Fortinet

    What saves you from paying back to 2024 is the backdating cap. For a 1-year renewal, Fortinet backdates the contract by a maximum of 6 months; if the lapse is shorter than six months, the new contract simply starts on the original expiration date. So even though you have been expired since 2024, you are not billed back to 2024. The 1-year term is backdated 6 months (to ~January 2026), which is exactly why you end up with coverage running out at end of 2026. The reseller is quoting you the standard treatment. 

    The lever to avoid losing those 6 months is the term length. Fortinet will often waive the backdating policy for multi-year renewals, so you get full coverage from your registration date without paying for the lapsed time. In practice that means buying a 3-year instead of a 1-year. That is what Toshi was pointing at, and it is the normal way out of this situation. Datacenter360

    On dealing directly with Fortinet: as an end customer you generally cannot. Fortinet sells through the channel, so any date alignment or penalty exception is requested by your partner upward to distribution, not by you. Push your reseller to quote the 3-year with the backdating waived. Before you finalise, you can check the new contract's start and end dates in the support portal, so you will see exactly what you are paying for. 

    Short version: the 1-year backdated 6 months is correct and standard. Go 3-year if you want to drop the penalty.

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