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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiAP comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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 Meraki Wireless LAN
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiAP
Ranking in Wireless LAN
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.9%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 4.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration
The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…
Yati Gharat - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with Fortinet products, but there are signal issues in the outdoor environment
FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment. That is where we are having certain issues. We are not 100% happy with it. With the indoor environment, we are okay, but we are facing some issues when certain voice-related calls go from wireless points. There are certain drops, and we have faced these issues on an ongoing basis. We also have other vendors such as Aruba and Meraki, and we do not face any issues when there is a Teams or Zoom meeting going on. It could be that FortiAP is okay, but that particular device or appliance is not capable of handling that much load of voice and video. This might be the issue. RF Spectrum Analysis helps to understand what is the coverage and hotspots related to a particular access point, but then when we bought it, we did heat mapping through different vendors. If there are any rogue APs, we can identify them with RF Spectrum Analysis. We can see what the coverage area is, but there are some issues with that. Some of the offices have thick glasses, or the cabins are different, so in the RF coverage, what is shown is not what we get on the practical grounds. There are some issues with signal performance. It has the basic functionality that is mostly used, but there are certain devices that are not able to interconnect. When there is any issue or problem, if the administrator can get some information about that, that will be good. With Meraki and Aruba, we get certain beautiful things. If those can be integrated into this solution, it will be more beneficial, but we understand that being a security company, Fortinet's focus is on security.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It makes the process much easier by providing visibility and centralized control over the network."
"The most valuable features are the management tools, including monitoring and reporting."
"The cloud manageability feature is valuable."
"The product's cloud availability feature is the most valuable for network management."
"The primary value lies in the ease of configuration; these products seamlessly integrate, and work well together."
"This product offers cloud-based configuration, so you can set it up from anywhere."
"The most valuable feature is the technology of the security that is offered."
"The solution has worked very well in our campus environment."
"The solution supports recent security components like encryption or hashing algorithms. We can control the APs from FortiGate Firewalls and integrate those APs into FortiGate. You don't have to purchase a separate controller for it."
"The most valuable aspect of Fortinet FortiAP is the support."
"I like FortiAP's performance and stability. The reporting is also quite good."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy, especially with FortiGate or your FortiManager in place."
"I would give FortiAP a rating of ten out of ten so far."
"FortiAP's integration using SSID configuration for the input/output makes deploying permission rules easier."
"The pricing is reasonable for what it offers."
"Fortinet FortiAPs are useful for small to medium-scale companies where there are budget concerns."
 

Cons

"It is not a very stable solution."
"The customization needs to be improved because it's pretty locked down."
"It is expensive. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion. Juniper has some features that are not there in this solution."
"It is not a budget-friendly solution."
"In the next release, I would like to see a third-party high tech center to connect multiple users to a particular network."
"It would be better if they enable full integration with Cisco's cloud-based network in the next release."
"We'd like to have better mapping to showcase low-coverage areas."
"It's performing well, really well. We don't have any issues. We only have issues if there is a lot of rogue APs in the neighborhood and that not Meraki's fault."
"FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment."
"There could be constraints where a product can't be scaled further without purchasing a new model."
"Technical support is a pain. Fortinet has to get its act together. If you don't pay for premium service, you will have issues."
"The improvement factor could be in APs. Also, it could have a control, like MAC address."
"The product fails to offer default access points to deal with the areas revolving around configurations."
"There is room for improvement in the product by expanding the number of SSIDs that can be broadcast."
"The security integration between the network and firewall has room for improvement."
"The support offered by the solution has certain shortcomings, making it in areas where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a yearly license fee for the solution."
"The price is on the high side when compared to Aruba."
"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is an expensive solution."
"These units cost between $800 and $900 per device and on top of that, you have to pay yearly fees for maintenance."
"It is expensive, but it is a good product."
"We don't like the licensing model and we think that it needs to be improved significantly."
"The platform is expensive."
"Having a good price is important when we are providing quotations for projects."
"On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most expensive, I would rate FortiAP a six."
"The product is available at a very comfortable price for my company compared to the other products available in the market. The prices of products from Meraki and Aruba are high compared to those of Fortinet."
"FortiAP is more expensive than some other options."
"The devices under Fortinet are not expensive. The solution's licensing part is expensive."
"We purchased perpetual licensing, and additional costs may vary depending on the services acquired from Fortinet."
"If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good."
"Fortinet FortiAP offers a more cost-effective solution compared to Palo Alto and Check Point."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
What do you like most about FortiAP?
If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiAP?
Fortinet solutions are more cost-effective compared to Cisco. The license costs for Fortinet are more affordable when considering licensing costs with other leaders like Cisco.
What needs improvement with FortiAP?
I cannot pinpoint the exact improvements needed at the moment. However, security is always a concern for any business, and the network should not be compromised easily. There should be alerts to in...
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.