Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Aruba Airwave vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Fortinet are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.1. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 7.9% mindshare in NMA, compared to Fortinet’s 5.0% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.
Aruba Airwave
Read 20 Aruba Airwave reviews
  • 1,963 Views
  • 1,390 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
Fortinet FortiManager
Read 63 Fortinet FortiManager reviews
  • 1,151 Views
  • 818 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between Aruba Airwave and Fortinet FortiManager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Management Applications solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager Report (Updated: December 2024).
Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager
December 2024
Download the complete report
Helped 824,145 peers since 2012
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiManager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 7.9%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 5.0%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution has multi-vendor support, and it can be used for network management
Aruba Airwave is an on-prem solution, so you have to manage it with your servers to be deployed. You can also deploy it on the cloud if you have your own private cloud. All the configuration guides and the different types of designs you need are available from Aruba Airwave's portal. I would recommend Aruba Airwave to other users. Overall, I rate Aruba Airwave ten out of ten.
Read full review
HamedWasel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices
We've faced an issue when we need to move devices. Templates need to be recreated instead of having the policies, et cetera, cut and pasted over. Everything should just move over when we need to move devices instead of recreating everything from scratch. For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its dashboard and simplicity."
"The most valuable features are the error log and intrusion log. It also provides an overview of your assets. It gives a good database for wireless coverage."
"It's scalable because it's licensed per device and we bought licenses with each device. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability."
"The most beneficial feature for network monitoring in Aruba Airwave is the Live Heat Map. It helps identify interferences, coverage issues, and user connectivity issues. The device management capability of Aruba Airwave is good. It provides end-to-end visibility from the user to the access point, the switch, and the internet breakout. From a monitoring, management, and orchestration standpoint, it is very effective and can manage any scale of deployment."
"This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities, and it has a very good interface."
"This solution is definitely stable."
"It can interact with other vendors better than Cisco, which is a good point of AirWave. It is easy to use, and its reporting is good."
More Aruba Airwave pros
"It's very easy to install, and it's easy to discover and communicate with your device."
"The features are good."
"I pushed templates from FortiManager to our site, and they were deployed successfully."
"It has multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment. This is something that makes them unique."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"The user interface, along with user-friendly planning features, makes it straightforward to configure desired settings."
"We look at the traffic to segment the network and it improves and increases the performance. When we have a mobile connection and local laptops are on the same network. We have seen a big performance upgrade."
"Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location."
More Fortinet FortiManager pros
 

Cons

"Whenever you get an error it doesn't immediately tell you what the thing is that is causing the error. You have to sit down and research it. If it could say what error is causing the issue, it would make my troubleshooting a lot quicker."
"More devices or vendors should be onboarded to Aruba Airwave."
"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The main challenge we've faced with Aruba Airwave is its high cost, especially regarding high availability and failover licenses, which can be relatively expensive for customers. As for recommendations for improvement, considering that Aruba is planning to retire Airwave soon and introduce a new solution, it's crucial that the new product meets or exceeds the current Airwave's feature set. Customers expect a seamless transition without losing any functionality, so Aruba needs to ensure that the new solution is ready with all the essential features and capabilities from day one to avoid any gaps or dissatisfaction among users and partners."
"We're looking for more device compatibility. Like compatibility with third-party devices."
"We encounter delayed ETAs in the manufacturing of hardware."
"I want a management solution to manage and monitor everything from a single dashboard. This is not there with Airwave."
"I would like to see an integration of services into one system, rather than having multiple systems to do multiple things."
More Aruba Airwave cons
"Fortinet FortiManager could improve them by adding more portfolio components."
"Performance issues should be improved. We have problems when we have more mobile connections than local devices. Most of us have two to three devices."
"The SD-WAN solution is difficult to manage on FortiManager because you need to share some configurations on the firewall side. Sometimes you lose all connectivity with the firewall, so it is challenging to apply the default configuration to the SD-WAN solution."
"Configuring Fortinet without internet access is challenging."
"We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacted technical support on several occasions."
"It requires a lot of resources. This is the main challenge."
"When I started, it was a bit difficult, however, now it's okay. It can be a bit complex for basic users."
"The graphics interface between Fortinet FortiManager and any Forti products should be standardized."
More Fortinet FortiManager cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing is on an yearly basis."
"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."
"AirWave is a very expensive solution. If you implement it in a wide range network, it will cost a lot. There is no option to sell it outside that price segment, which is a problem."
"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."
"The licensing cost for Aruba Airwave increased from $72 to $210 within a few months. It would be better if the pricing for the solution were cheaper."
"We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution."
"The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well."
"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."
More Aruba Airwave pricing and cost advice
"Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
"Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."
"FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten."
"Fortinet FortiManager is costly."
"Fortinet FortiManager is not expensive at all if you compare it with other vendors like Check Point and Cisco. Fortinet products are the least expensive on the market in the category of firewalls."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."
More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Management Applications solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
824,145 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Airwave?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Airwave?
The tool is expensive. If one is bad or expensive, and ten is very good or cheap, I rate the product's price as a six.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required. The product's scalability can be improved.
See all answers
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
FortiGate offers the same features as Palo Alto yet at a more reasonable price. The ROI justifies the investment.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
FortiManager needs to handle different firewall versions more efficiently. If FortiGate devices have different versions, managing them is challenging. There's also a need to upgrade firewalls or ch...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Cisco DNA Center vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Cisco DNA Center vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 44% of the time
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Aruba Airwave Logo
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 28% of the time
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 7% of the time
Aruba ClearPass vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Aruba ClearPass vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 5% of the time
Huawei eSight vs Aruba Airwave Logo
Huawei eSight vs Aruba Airwave
Compared 5% of the time
More Aruba Airwave Competitors
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager
Compared 65% of the time
Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager
Compared 9% of the time
Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager
Compared 8% of the time
AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager
Compared 5% of the time
SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper vs Fortinet FortiManager
Compared 1% of the time
More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave
December 2024
Aruba Airwave reportDownload Aruba Airwave product report
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiManager
December 2024
Fortinet FortiManager reportDownload Fortinet FortiManager product report
 

Learn More

Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Fortinet
 

Overview

Offering granular visibility into wired and wireless networks, AirWave is the only management platform designed with mobile devices and apps in mind. By proactively monitoring the health and performance of all things connected, AirWave lets IT gain the insights they need to support the digital workplace.

Fortinet FortiManager is used for centralized management of FortiGate firewalls, utilizing zero-touch deployment techniques to optimize configuration and deployment, reducing installation time and errors while improving network security and efficiency.

By centralizing policy management and monitoring across devices and locations, Fortinet FortiManager enhances security and operational efficiency. Automation tools simplify management, control, and consistent configuration across environments. It offers scalability for managing large numbers of devices, beneficial for organizations seeking unified threat protection and streamlined administration from one console. The platform integrates effortlessly with Fortinet products, supporting zero-touch provisioning, SD-WAN, and traffic analysis. Although intuitive, the graphical interface and overall performance require refinement, alongside enhanced support and documentation for troubleshooting and configuration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiManager?
  • Centralized Management: Streamlines device configuration across multiple systems.
  • Automation Tools: Simplifies implementation and maintenance of configurations.
  • Zero-Touch Provisioning: Reduces setup time and minimizes errors.
  • SD-WAN Support: Enhances wide-area network efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Traffic Analysis: Monitors network traffic for improved security insights.
  • Policy Pushing: Facilitates efficient deployment of security rules.
What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?
  • Operational Efficiency: Reduces installation time and configuration errors.
  • Scalability: Supports management of numerous devices.
  • Improved Security: Centralized management enhances threat protection.
  • Time Savings: Automation reduces manual intervention needs.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Simplified administration can lower management costs.

Fortinet FortiManager is implemented across diverse industries like telecommunications, finance, and healthcare, where centralized management and enhanced security are crucial. Its ability to streamline processes and integrate with existing Fortinet products makes it ideal for organizations looking to maintain robust network security standards.

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Buyer's Guide
Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager
December 2024
Free Report: Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
DOWNLOAD NOW
824,145 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our Aruba Airwave vs. Fortinet FortiManager report.
See our list of best Network Management Applications vendors.

We monitor all Network Management Applications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.