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Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

 

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

Cisco Prime [EOL]
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiManager
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (3rd)
 

Featured Reviews

AR
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
Has an easy implementation process, but the performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive
The project implementation was easy overall. Adapting Cisco's solutions to our specific environment required effort, as their documentation only covers some network scenarios. The deployment didn't happen all at once; it was staged and controlled to ensure a smooth transition. We started with a small test environment before gradually rolling it out to all campuses. This gradual approach helped mitigate the risk of any issues arising across multiple locations simultaneously, especially on a critical day like Monday morning. We have a team of three executives working on the process. Their job roles included network specialists and a manager. It requires maintenance, which is included in the annual cost. We receive updates and support as part of the renewal process.
SudeepMaydeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Head of IT Infrastructure at EPL Americas
Ensures seamless integration and centralized visibility for network security operations
The version upgrade from a single dashboard for all the firewalls in one click is the beauty of Fortinet FortiManager as the most impactful feature in managing our network security. Fortinet FortiManager's policy management enhances our security protocols by enabling us and giving integrated centralized visibility, which has proven to be very healthy. Because of this, we have identified some of the vulnerabilities in our systems, and we mitigated them through Fortinet FortiManager. The central dashboards and the visibility are what appealed to us to go with Fortinet FortiManager. Fortinet FortiManager has adapted to changes in our network scale and complexity as we have geographically 18 international locations, all equipped with firewalls and some cybersecurity initiatives and IT infrastructure initiatives.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is very easy to use, and I absolutely advise using it, as long as your budget has no limits."
"In terms of reliability especially, Cisco is light years ahead."
"Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."
"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is its excellent audio and video conferencing with clear quality and no interruptions."
"Cisco Prime allows us to do a lot of functions with the users and it is flexible."
"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments because it saves time, prevents manual errors during deployment, and is easier to troubleshoot."
"I have found the solution to be scalable."
"I find Fortinet's technical support for FortiManager effective and I would rate it eight out of ten."
"Fortinet has the option of synchronization in the cloud, so you can manage everything if you have a cloud account."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"The best feature of Fortinet FortiManager is its ease of use. It is easy to manage the firewall from Fortinet FortiManager. Additionally, the interface is very good."
"Stability is good within the product."
"The functionality is good; it has good features and it works well for us, with multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment and makes it unique."
"The capability of centralized management is valuable, and we can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."
"The user interface is very easy to navigate."
 

Cons

"The overall management capabilities of Prime need to be improved."
"They can also improve the management of more enterprise devices."
"The reporting could be simplified and the information made clearer to the user."
"If you look at some of the wireless site-survey tools that are available in the commercial space, Cisco should include similar solutions, which would help our on-plant engineers when they're doing a site survey."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"This solution could be improved if it could monitor configuration changes."
"I want the tool to improve data visibility."
"If you think about a centralized monitoring system, Cisco Prime is not good because it does not support third-party vendors like Palo Alto or FortiGate."
"The GUI is not ideal. It needs to be improved. It should be more user-friendly."
"I prefer configuring rules and the VPN on the standalone device, not on the manager."
"Setting up FortiManager can be complex because it involves changes from other devices and a lot of configuration."
"There are a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, for example, the ZTP."
"We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacting technical support on several occasions."
"In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features."
"The user interface can feel clunky, especially for more complex tasks such as managing large-scale policy packages or custom scripts."
"FortiManager could improve by making it easier to port larger policy packages to the FortiGate firewalls. Sometimes, there's an issue when we install a big package of policies. If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices. It's only an issue when you're dealing with thousands of policies and installing them on a large number of devices."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"We update the license every five years."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
"I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"On a scale from one to ten with one being the highest price and ten being the lowest price, I would rate FortiManager's price at three."
"Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
"The pricing model is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
I am satisfied with the licensing cost, and I would rate it an 8.5.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
I think Fortinet FortiManager can be improved as the web page loading is slightly slow.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiManager?
My main use case for Fortinet FortiManager is to manage multiple FortiGate devices. I can confirm that I use Fortinet FortiManager perfectly in my main use case.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Prime Infrastructure
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Skyline Communications and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: August 2026.
909,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.