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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
73
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 most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is its excellent audio and video conferencing with clear quality and no interruptions."
"The solution's configuration management tool is amazing because it centralizes and pushes configurations which saves a lot of volume and effort."
"Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."
"In terms of reliability especially, Cisco is light years ahead."
"As a large organization, it is difficult to individually monitor every device. Instead, we use Cisco Prime to keep an eye on the network and services. We do not use it as a node tool, as we have other tools for network operation centers. When services go down, it can cause issues, we rely on Cisco Prime to monitor and notify us of any service disruptions. We mainly use Cisco Prime Infrastructure for configuration-level tasks."
"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."
"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."
"Operationally, Prime is quite easy to use and I like the wireless heatmap and search management features."
"FortiManager is a benefit to our clients who have several Fortinet products in their ecosystem."
"If we use the Fortinet FortiManager to replicate the configuration and want to install ten FortiGate on ten sites, you don't have to set configuration on all ten because you can configure one FortiGate and the Fortinet FortiManager will replicate the configuration on all FortiGate devices."
"The firmware version upgrades are the most valuable feature."
"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 has the option of synchronization in the cloud, so you can manage everything if you have a cloud account."
"The user interface, along with user-friendly planning features, makes it straightforward to configure desired settings."
"I find Fortinet's technical support for FortiManager effective and I would rate it eight out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is having one object on all networks, which allows for implementation only once."
 

Cons

"I want the tool to improve data visibility."
"Cisco Prime's initial setup is complex."
"Cisco Prime could improve the graphical user interface."
"The product needs to improve its interface and reporting."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"The solution is not easy to configure. It's not user-friendly for admins."
"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."
"This solution could be improved if it could monitor configuration changes."
"FortiManager should improve the integration with third-party platforms."
"The graphics interface between Fortinet FortiManager and any Forti products should be standardized."
"I didn't like the connectivity with FortiManager and FortiSwitch, which was buggy and annoying and had fewer features."
"The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly."
"The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker."
"Can be difficult to configure."
"The SD-WAN solution is difficult to manage on FortiManager because you need to share some configurations on the firewall side. Sometimes you lose all connectivity with the firewall, so it is challenging to apply the default configuration to the SD-WAN solution."
"The solution should be more open to other products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
"We update the license every five years."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"For us, it is a little bit expensive."
"I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"If you compare Fortinet and Palo Alto, Fortinet is cheaper, but if you compare Cisco and Fortinet, sometimes Cisco is cheaper because Cisco gives us more discounts because of the size. Cisco isn't cheap, but sometimes, we get a big discount from them."
"Fortinet FortiManager is a low-priced product."
"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
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 Enterprise20
 

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 would like to see functionality that simplifies my life. I understand that adding new devices should be simplified.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiManager?
I am using FortiGate 200E. I am mostly working with Fortinet FortiManager. Overall, I am using Fortinet FortiManager for everything. The dashboard is used frequently. I use Fortinet FortiManager mo...
 

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, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: June 2026.
899,283 professionals have used our research since 2012.