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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

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
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (4th)
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secu...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 13.1%, up 12.2% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, on the other hand, focuses on Ethernet Switches, holds 6.0% mindshare, down 6.2% since last year.
Wireless LAN
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables organizations to control many sites globally with a lean IT team and provides visibility into the user activities
The solution can handle only medium and small businesses. We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises. The solution must be able to expand to larger enterprises. Currently, the MX device can support only up to 10,000 users. It would be good if it can go beyond 1 lakh users. Catalyst 9300 is coming on the Meraki Dashboard. The vendor must also bring in the 9400 and 9600 Catalyst series. It will be very helpful. We will not have any choke on the gateway. There is no active-active concept. It will be very helpful if the solution provides active-active. Now, we are doing an active-passive setup, which is a warm spare. If it is an active-active setup, the gateway bottleneck issue can be resolved. I would be able to segment the Wireless LAN IPs. It will help support 20,000 devices at a go. Meraki does not have a single dashboard. I need to port an on-premise controller. There is a bottleneck while scaling the product. I need to consider a lot of things.
SherifAbdelrahman - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient integration allows streamlined network management with a straightforward setup
I use it for retail business. We are using the FortiSwitch solution for our voice switches and access points as well It has helped us by providing easy management from a single platform through the firewall interface. It's very easy to manage and provides all the insights and vulnerabilities,…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Multiple access ID capabilities, meshing, and the quality of the product itself are all valuable features."
"The interface makes it easy to manage."
"The graphic user interface is very nice."
"I have found it to be stable."
"We use the solution's bandwidth shaping, URL filtering, and group policy configuration features."
"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."
"The product has been very stable over the years."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of deployment."
"The solution is very simple, and it's very easily available."
"The most valuable feature would be network management, separating the network management component from security. It can do both but we promote it on its own. It's a good solution to do network management."
"The powerful integration capabilities allow us to manage all devices from a single interface through the firewall."
"The policies are very good."
"The most valuable feature is the security switch."
"The product is a total solution with the FortiGate, switch, and access point. It is integrated with FortiGate, allowing us to manage all the equipment through it. You can handle everything from a single point."
"What I really love in FortiSwitch: its usability, the graphical user interface, and the ability to be managed by FortiGate."
"What I actually use in this deployment are Forti APs (Fortinet Access Points). So, I can see all my office infrastructure from a single console, which is handy. One FortiGate, one FortiSwitch, and five access points, everything under good control. It's really nice to see it all together like this."
 

Cons

"There's nothing that special about it."
"Despite being enabled, I've encountered an issue where the alert main dashboard fails to detect when any of the devices go down. Hence, the tool's notification feature should improve. We have also faced issues with integration."
"The price could be slightly lowered to make it more competitive in the market."
"The licensing isn't very customer-centric. They may have improved it, but previously, if you forgot to pay on a certain day, your service would be shut off."
"We would like the solution to work on the pricing of the solution. It would be ideal if it could bring the overall costs down."
"The initial setup could be made easier."
"We'd like to have better mapping to showcase low-coverage areas."
"In some cases, they could include enhanced features in the product, such as a firewall console and traffic analysis."
"I would like Fortinet to make this product easier to configure."
"I would rate technical support at eight. It's a potential area for improvement, possibly in terms of response time or quality."
"The solution has SD-WAN but it doesn't have SDN. This should be added."
"Renewing the annual licenses for Secure the Switch FortiSwitch can be cumbersome, especially considering the relatively high cost of Fortinet licenses."
"The product's pricing needs improvement for small and medium businesses."
"I give the stability a seven out of ten because we have noticed when we hook up phones the switching of ELANs et cetera doesn't work as it should."
"The installation is not difficult. However, some features have to be activated from the CLI."
"FortiSwitch offers eight and 24-port models. They don't have a 16-port model, which can be an issue for some clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"Its price is higher than other products. It is above the expectation of customers. So, every time we need to fight for a good price."
"As is always the case, the price could be better, although I do not recall exactly how much this comes out to."
"I would say that they have adequate pricing."
"The pricing is based on a subscription and is a bit high at the moment."
"It is expensive."
"Having a good price is important when we are providing quotations for projects."
"Higher subscription fee may be necessary if extra features are required."
"The pricing for Fortinet FortiSwitch is not expensive."
"Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access requires a license and the price is expensive."
"The product's pricing is good."
"I rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The product pricing seems to be mid-range."
"The product's pricing is less compared to other enterprise solutions."
"The product is costly for SMB customers compared to other brands available in the market."
"It's affordable compared to other switching products, like Cisco switches."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
830,726 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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...
Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet FortiSwitch is an ethernet switch solution that provides security and performance...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
With FortiSwitch, you can easily identify who is connected to each port, disable ports as needed, and retrieve configurations from FortiGate when required.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
The pricing is considered high due to the currency exchange changes in our region. It has increased by about two hundred percent over the past three years.
 

Also Known As

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

Learn More

Video not 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
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: December 2024.
830,726 professionals have used our research since 2012.