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

Cisco Meraki Systems Manager (MDM+EMM) vs Fortinet FortiGate comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Microsoft Intune
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
244
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (2nd), Remote Access (1st), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (1st)
Cisco Meraki Systems Manage...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (3rd), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (6th)
Fortinet FortiGate
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
318
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
Firewalls
 

Q&A Highlights

CV
Jun 12, 2024
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Merusi - PeerSpot reviewer
Everything has worked better since we started using it
Sometimes the syncing is inconsistent. I'm confident that the devices are checking in every eight hours, but sometimes the devices aren't picking up the settings as quickly as I would expect. Some features haven't been updated in a while, and Microsoft doesn't seem interested in developing them. Unless you talk to an engineer, you don't know whether there will be an update. There are communication issues, so you might start working with a feature without knowing if it will be deprecated six months from now. Some reporting areas still need development. For example, I noticed that the reporting for driver updates is still confusing.
GaneshKhutwad - PeerSpot reviewer
A central portal where you can add, stack, configure, and maintain your devices
Nearly 35,000 users are connected to Systems from America because their network is configured to cover worldwide areas. I have approximately 450 devices connected, which can scale based on requirements. For instance, if you have around five hundred to six hundred users in one office, the MR14 and MR24 series are suitable. For environments with a larger number of standard device users, the MR24 series is recommended. Cisco Meraki provides various series to meet your requirements, allowing you to manage your users efficiently. I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten.
EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable
In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the biggest advantages of Microsoft Intune is that it brings the management of Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and even Linux under a single pane of glass."
"Microsoft Intune has been a time saver and reduces the time and effort IT admins have to invest."
"What I like most about the tool is that it's now very easy to set up a device for someone to use. It also helps us tremendously in managing security. Before, we used on-premise management with a domain controller. It was difficult to manage security comprehensively. For example, it was hard to know which computers were updated. We weren't able to do that easily with our previous solution."
"Mobile device management is most valuable."
"The biggest asset is the range of device management options available with Intune, whether it is a Windows device, a Linux device, a Mac device, or mobile devices."
"Being able to manage the devices remotely is most valuable. We can push security requirements through Microsoft Intune."
"I believe that the solution is actually in Gartner's top quadrant at the moment for mobile device management."
"Conditional access helps me control uncontrolled access."
"It's extremely competitive and very good for a product in this sphere."
"The product provides a universal dashboard."
"Security is the main feature because the company is reliable."
"The remote security feature, as well as the ability to control devices from anywhere, is one of the more beneficial features of Cisco Meraki Systems Manager (MDM+EMM)."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Meraki Systems Manager (MDM+EMM) are its ability to do geofencing for devices, manage thousands of devices with only a push of a button, and quick application deployment in seconds. It's amazing. For example, in an education scenario, you can deploy an application update for thousands of iPads in two clicks."
"The cloud manager is user-friendly, and I can manage everything from one dashboard."
"We can reconfigure a client’s setup remotely with minimal effort."
"It's robust, and we like the device availability, ease of purchase, and supplier stock availability."
"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"The most valuable features are the policies, filtering, and configuration."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network."
 

Cons

"Manually syncing devices to enforce policies is cumbersome."
"The closest Microsoft Intune can be to GPOs, the better. There needs to be more granularity on application deployments. However, they have done better recently with the application deployments."
"The most significant challenge is reporting and monitoring. The reporting accuracy for deploying applications and all aspects of Intune needs to be improved."
"Intune's areas for improvement revolve around security and certificate management."
"Intune could be enhanced by automating application upgrades, similar to how it automates operating system upgrades."
"Microsoft needs to enhance device-level security, as sometimes when using Microsoft Intune, the device's operating system becomes stuck and requires a full uninstall to remove the Intune bug."
"The time we have to wait to deploy policies has room for improvement."
"We faced issues with macOS support. The product should have better inventory and asset management."
"The maintenance is average."
"The tool's pricing needs to be more flexible like Cisco's."
"While the graphical user interface is user-friendly and easy to configure, I see room for improvement in integration with third-party tools."
"The solution's integration with other products could be improved."
"Meraki is limiting our connections."
"We've really only experimented with their iOS client. This is due to the fact that their Windows client has a lot to be desired. We first tried experimenting with the Windows one but very quickly determined that it wasn't going to cut it for most Windows cases. The Windows portion of this product needs improvement. I'd say that it's not really viable."
"Integration with other tools, such as, ConnectWise Automate."
"Sometimes, the integrations are a bit tough."
"Palo Alto has a feature called WildFire Analysis that is unavailable in FortiGate. WildFire is better than a sandbox because it can address zero-day threats and vulnerabilities. It can immediately identify zero-day threats from the cloud."
"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."
"The support system could be improved."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is competitive, but it is not cheap."
"There is a cost benefit of using Microsoft Intune because of the packaging with other Microsoft products."
"The price for Intune is fair."
"We don't pay for Intune because it is bundled with the premium subscription to Office 365. It includes Intune and Defender. I don't have to buy two extra products to manage my enterprise."
"I recently got to know that the AD P1 license is compulsory to use Intune Autopilot, which was surprising for me. Earlier, this was not the case. It is the wrong thing to do. We now need to purchase AD P1 licenses for us and for our customers. I would rate it a seven out of ten for pricing."
"There are licenses required for this solution. We enable licenses on the devices we need to manage."
"Intune is included in the Microsoft 365 licensing package that we have."
"We spend a lot of money on Intune licensing, and some of our users have to be double licensed just because of how our dev and corporate environments are segmented."
"My customers at times have issues with the price of the solution. It is expensive, but overall it is worth it. The licensing model cost is based on how many devices you require."
"Meraki MDM is the cheapest solution we have used."
"This product is reasonably priced."
"It's extremely competitive and very good for a product in this sphere."
"My clients find it a bit expensive compared to other systems."
"Cisco Meraki Systems Manager is an expensive solution."
"The cost of installing this solution can be more expensive depending on who is doing the installation. Cisco is very expensive."
"The storage is affordable and the system has some price-related issues. Therefore, keeping the price in mind, I would rate it seven out of ten."
"Fortinet FortiGate's price can be reduced."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate when compared to other solutions is high. However, my knowledge of the price is from third parties and I am not sure how accurate it is. I typically work in the technical area of my organization."
"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."
"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."
"Easy to understand licensing requirements."
"The price of the license and warranty can be better because it is very expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solutions are best for your needs.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
48%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Government
4%
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Microsoft Intune compare with VMware Workspace One?
Microsoft Intune is a great tool for managing a mobile device fleet while keeping access control. The solution makes ...
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a great configuration management tool and has a lot of good things going for it. Here are some of...
How does Google Cloud Identity compare with Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune offers not only an easy-to-deploy data protection and productivity management solution, but also ...
Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
 

Also Known As

Intune, MS Intune, Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Meraki MDM
FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitchells and Buzzers, Callaway
Hafen Hamburg & Empire Riverside Hotel, Eastview Church, Tourism Holdings, Colegio Sagrada Familia Hijas de Jesús, Tommy Bahama's, Canadian School Mexico, Rosebank College
Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, JAMF, Omnissa and others in Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM). Updated: March 2025.
842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.