Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiWLM comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3, while Fortinet is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.5. Cisco holds a 13.1% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to Fortinet’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

18,236 Views
14,660 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiWLM

Read 24 Fortinet FortiWLM reviews

2,649 Views
2,474 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Fortinet FortiWLM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Fortinet FortiWLM are top competitors in wireless network management. Cisco Meraki is more suitable for smaller IT teams due to its cloud-based, user-friendly management system, while Fortinet FortiWLM excels in security features and seamless integration with security products, catering to organizations with strict security requirements.

Features: Cisco Meraki offers cloud-based management with an easy-to-use dashboard, supporting multiple SSIDs, RADIUS, and seamless systems integration. Its centralized management simplifies deployment and updates. Fortinet FortiWLM uses Fortinet’s Security Fabric for secure management, integration with firewalls, switches, and access points, providing robust analytics and centralized management, ideal for end-to-end security.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could refine its pricing, enhance logging details, and address GDPR compliance, while sometimes lacking the depth of non-cloud solutions. Fortinet FortiWLM could improve reporting capabilities, ease of setup, and guest management without relying on additional tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki facilitates deployment across various cloud environments with generally positive customer service. Fortinet FortiWLM, mostly on-premises, offers strong technical support and easy access to assistance, receiving high service ratings.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki is perceived as costly due to its licensing model requiring annual renewals, although it offers powerful features and stability. Fortinet FortiWLM provides competitive, transparent pricing with cost-effectiveness, beneficial for budget-conscious organizations like schools.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiWLM Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiWLM

January 2025

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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

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiWLM

Ranking in Wireless LAN

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 13.1%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWLM is 2.0%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at Bharti Airtel ·

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.

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Zachary Wheeler

President / CEO at Secure Solutions Center LLC

Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy

They need to do more with their marketing. That's what's wrong with them. Nobody knows they do all this other stuff. I love the product. For an enterprise-level system, you never have to explain why you're recommending Fortinet, whereas you might have to do that if you want to use the Ubiquiti Professional or the new Netgear line, but you don't have to explain Fortinet. It has been remarkable to work with. It would be nice if they had some smaller switches or hubs. They should offer two-port, three-port, or four-port devices so that you don't have to buy an eight-port switch, and you don't have to use an unmanaged element, but their product line is very complete, and I can't say enough about it.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the solution's bandwidth shaping, URL filtering, and group policy configuration features."

"The interface is excellent. We've been really happy with it."

"The product's cloud availability feature is the most valuable for network management."

"The solution is very stable. It is a very manageable and secure system."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."

"The emailing of statuses is the most valuable feature."

"Cisco's technical support is very good and better than other vendors."

"There are many valuable features of Cisco Meraki, including the switches, stacking, and layer 3 routing."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The security is a valuable feature."

"The Fortinet FortiWLM system can be controlled through the cloud controller, which is convenient when the solution is not installed in our environment, as it allows us to manage the entire WiFi or access points and provides more adaptability."

"For me, the ease of setup and the rugged nature in harsh environments are most valuable. So, durability and ease of use have been its best features."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to connect and broadcast to different networks without using a VLAN or a layer two switch, which allows you to easily create guest networks."

"At the moment, particularly with the COVID-19 situation, the most valuable feature is probably the IPsec VPN, which is easy to implement with Fortinet."

"Fortinet FortiWLM is good for tracking assets, monitoring, and overall management."

"The product is a stable solution."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiWLM is the single management pane and integrated controller inside the firewall."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pros

Cons

"The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks."

"The customization needs to be improved because it's pretty locked down."

"Its price could be improved."

"We're are not fully utilizing the features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN to know a more in-depth analysis of what areas need to be improved. However, the security could improve. It would be a benefit to be able to lock out particular clients that are trying to connect from outside the building."

"Documentation could be improved, but everything else has been spot-on."

"The solution's pricing could be improved."

"The ease of use is average. It could be more user-friendly."

"Overall the solution needs to have more time to mature."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"Technical support is very poor. We are not satisfied with the technical support because there is not any direct person from Fortinet for any troubleshooting, which we expected."

"The range needs some improvement and also the stability."

"The pricing model can be improved to encourage use by small business and individuals and the hardware could stand to be redesigned."

"The pricing for the solution is expensive and can be improved."

"This solution should be easier to set up in a production environment."

"I cannot emphasize enough that I would always wish pricing would be a little better."

"Cost is something that could be improved, but you have to pay for what you get."

"The initial setup is complex and has room for improvement."

More Fortinet FortiWLM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The price is good, but it could be improved."

"It is an expensive solution."

"Cost could be better."

"I haven't conducted a price comparison yet, but based on information, it appears to be more affordable than the current environment. Therefore, I consider the price to be reasonable."

"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is an expensive solution."

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It can be for three, five, or ten years. I'm happy with the pricing. You basically pay for what you get. It is that simple. When you look at Ubiquiti or Aruba, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN far outweighs what you get. If you're in the UK, Ubiquiti gives a three-year or five-year warranty, whereas here in the UAE, they only give a one-year warranty, which is no good to me. Who buys a piece of equipment with only one year warranty on it? It doesn't make sense."

"The platform is more expensive than other solutions."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"Licensing has become easier. There is no longer a per-AP license needed on the controller."

"The solution is fairly priced."

"The price of Fortinet FortiWLM is reasonable compared to the other vendors. We are using a five-year license."

"In the last few years, due in part to the impact of COVID on the market, Fortinet has increased its prices by 35 percent."

"To save yourself from increased setup and maintenance costs, I highly recommend undertaking a proper site survey from the beginning."

"There is a perpetual license required for this solution and the price could be reduced."

"If a customer already is a FortiGate customer, the cost to go to the FortiAP is incredibly affordable, because you already have the controller."

"Fortinet FortiWLM's pricing is regular and competitive."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

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...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiWLM?

The security is a valuable feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWLM?

The product is highly expensive. I rate the pricing a ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWLM?

The platform's pricing needs improvement.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 18% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 10% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

ExtremeWireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 1% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Aruba Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 25% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 21% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 16% of the time

Omada Access Points vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 7% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 6% of the time

More Fortinet FortiWLM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

January 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWLM

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiWLM product report

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN

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Cisco

Fortinet

Overview

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

Consolidate security and wireless LAN management with our integrated wireless solutions. Single-pane-of-glass management for security and access without the need to add point products simplifies deployment and reduces management complexity. These solutions are highly scalable to support even the largest organizations and distributed enterprises.

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiWLM

January 2025

Free Report: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiWLM

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