Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Cisco is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0, while Fortinet is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1. Cisco holds a 28.1% mindshare in NMA, compared to Fortinet’s 5.0% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Cisco DNA Center

Read 41 Cisco DNA Center reviews

6,795 Views
3,997 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiManager

Read 64 Fortinet FortiManager reviews

997 Views
744 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Cisco DNA Center

Fortinet FortiManager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Fortinet FortiManager and Cisco DNA Center compete in centralized security and network management. Cisco DNA Center has the upper hand in network visibility and analytics, while FortiManager excels in the centralized management of Fortinet environments.

Features: Fortinet FortiManager provides centralized management for up to 100,000 devices with automation for deployments and policy creation. Its integration with Fortinet solutions offers seamless zero-touch provisioning and management capabilities. Cisco DNA Center excels in automation and provides comprehensive network visibility and analytics, enhancing security integration with Cisco devices.

Room for Improvement: FortiManager users report issues with documentation, real-time troubleshooting, and integration with external products. The VPN manager and user interface could be more intuitive. Cisco DNA Center experiences challenges with pricing, integration with non-Cisco products, and more detailed failure reporting, alongside desires for improvement in flexible configurations and intuitive interfaces.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both FortiManager and Cisco DNA Center offer on-premises deployment options, with FortiManager additionally thriving in cloud environments. FortiManager provides solid technical support, though sometimes lacking in speed and expertise. Cisco's support is more dependable but at a higher cost, providing consistent customer service due to its global reach.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiManager is seen as affordable with pricing flexibility based on device numbers, offering a significant ROI by optimizing management tasks. Cisco DNA Center, perceived as expensive, offers value in centralized management for large enterprises but may deter smaller businesses due to its cost. While offering comprehensive management tools, Cisco's high pricing impacts its ROI perception.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco DNA Center vs. Fortinet FortiManager Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Fortinet FortiManager

January 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 838,640 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center

Ranking in Network Management Applications

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (15th), Network Automation (2nd)

Fortinet FortiManager

Ranking in Network Management Applications

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 28.1%, up from 28.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 5.0%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal

Senior Network Engineer at Inside Global

Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features

The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

Read full review

HamedWasel

Senior Network Security Engineer at Orange

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

"Cisco VXLAN is a protocol that has been around for some time, but the practical implementation and operational capability of Cisco DNA Center bring it to life."

"We can monitor all devices and get the required information using the product."

"It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out the configuration to branch networks. It also provides visibility into the health of user network devices."

"It offers automation, security enforcement, analytics, and integration with other Cisco technologies, making it a key driver for efficient network operations and compliance with security protocols."

"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."

"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"

"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."

"DNA Center is scalable."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"Central management system for Fortinet devices that's simple, scalable, and stable, with a straightforward setup."

"The central management feature is the most valuable to me."

"Fortinet FortiManager allows you to manage multiple FortiGate devices from a single console, and this is a valuable product feature."

"There is something called zero-touch provisioning, where you can add a new device without any configuration. You just add it to FortiManager and then forget about it."

"The capability of centralized management is valuable. We can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiManager is the ease of manageability and policy-pushing functionality."

"It is easy to deploy to licenses."

"The most valuable feature is the centralized management console."

More Fortinet FortiManager pros

Cons

"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."

"Cisco DNA Center was a new technology for us, at the beginning, it was not easy to do, but Cisco did a lot of training with us to a level we could handle everything. The team is managing itself now without the assistance of Cisco."

"The product doesn’t have good monitoring capabilities."

"It seems to be a little bit more centered toward wireless than wired. You've got more options you can do wirelessly than you can with the wired switches, but it works for what we need it to do. We would like to see a little bit more about the traffic, and we're looking at what's out there to see about that. We are looking at something that might give us a bit more insight into the actual traffic. If they had the full functionality on the wired side, as they do on the wireless side in terms of being able to view traffic and everything, it would be good."

"The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."

"As a user, it would be good if I could plug in controllers, suites, and devices from other vendors to Cisco DNA Center."

"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."

"The tool's IoT integration should be better."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"The documentation could be better."

"There is a degradation of performance if we activate logs on FortiManager."

"We have some visibility issues with the reporting."

"FortiManager could be more user-friendly."

"The FortiManager is more complex and they can make it easier to use the VPN manager. All other features are okay. However, the VPN manager is more difficult and can cause some issues in the environment, if you do not have the experience to use it."

"The product is not very stable."

"The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker."

"There may be a communication issue. However, other items may be the culprit, such as network connectivity. It depends on the customer's network."

More Fortinet FortiManager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."

"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."

"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."

"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."

"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."

"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."

"I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."

"Licensing for Cisco DNA Center is a little bit expensive, just like any Cisco solution. Its cost could still be improved."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."

"Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers."

"This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."

"In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable."

"The solution requires you to have a license for every device, as well as for any advanced features being used, which makes it costly for high-volume users. However, for a large-scale environment with a lot of customers we have found it to be a worthwhile investment."

"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."

"The price point is very good."

"Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."

More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice

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

838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?

The cost is very high.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

The system is working fine for me currently.

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?

Pricing is reasonable and does not pose challenges.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?

The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly. Better integration of Fortinet ADC into FortiManager would be beneficial.

See all answers

Comparisons

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 8% of the time

Meraki Dashboard vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

NetBrain vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 67% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 9% of the time

AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center

February 2025

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiManager

February 2025

Download Fortinet FortiManager product report

Also Known As

DNA Center

No data available

Overview

Cisco DNA Center offers a comprehensive platform for network automation and management, providing detailed analytics, enhanced security, and streamlined operations for both wired and wireless networks.

Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco infrastructure to deliver efficient network automation and management, helping organizations improve network visibility, security, and control. It supports AI-driven analytics and automated workflows to enhance operational efficiency and reduce errors. Challenges include compatibility with third-party systems, steep learning curve, and complex deployment. Its interface facilitates centralized control, vital for troubleshooting, policy management, and configuration management, with support for zero-touch provisioning and SD-Access.

What are the key features of Cisco DNA Center?

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into network health with AI-driven analytics.
Centralized Security: Integrates with ISE for comprehensive security management.
Automated Device Management: Simplifies device provisioning and configuration transfers.
Wi-Fi Analytics: Offers deep insights into wireless network performance.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Streamlines new device deployments with minimal human intervention.
Scalable Segmentation: Efficiently segments network traffic ensuring security and performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces potential errors and streamlines workflow.
Enhanced Security: Integration with Cisco ISE bolsters security capabilities.
Network Visibility: Comprehensive dashboards and analysis tools enhance monitoring.
Troubleshooting: Real-time monitoring aids in identifying and resolving issues swiftly.

In sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail, Cisco DNA Center is utilized for its ability to enhance security and compliance, manage large-scale networks, and provide detailed analytics for better operational decision-making. Its support for location tracking and policy automation ensures efficient network management across diverse environments.

Cisco

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.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Buyer's Guide

Cisco DNA Center vs. Fortinet FortiManager

January 2025

Free Report: Cisco DNA Center vs. Fortinet FortiManager

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. Fortinet FortiManager and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco DNA Center 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.