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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 hardware Cisco provides is excellent. It's a well-made product."
"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."
"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 manage all the wireless controllers and access points."
"In terms of reliability especially, Cisco is light years ahead."
"Cisco Prime, from a management perspective, has good reporting."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat maps."
"What I found most beneficial from Cisco Prime is that it gives you an insight into what your network does, even when you're not actively monitoring what's going on with your network."
"FortiManager is for the syncing of devices, and when companies are using multiple devices from Fortinet, such as FortiGate, FortiSwitches, and FortiAP, it is required so that a single person can centrally manage all of the devices, making it a very useful application."
"The firewall configuration has more capabilities than the other firewall management systems that I have worked with."
"Stability is good within the product."
"You can configure it at your ease."
"I like the features on offer, for example SD-WAN; it's one single configuration point for everything, especially when you have a headquarters and branch, and the VPN is also beneficial, with very good correlation between FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager, and we find the pricing to be fair."
"The capability of centralized management is valuable, and we can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."
"Fortinet FortiManager's best features allow me to operate multiple devices in one template, which helps me in my daily work as it reduces time and has positively impacted my organization by making it easy to centrally access and manage around 15 FortiGate devices from one portal instead of accessing every device standalone."
"It is easy to deploy to licenses."
 

Cons

"The reporting could be simplified and the information made clearer to the user."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."
"I rate Cisco Prime seven out of 10 for affordability. All Cisco solutions are expensive."
"Cisco Prime's initial setup is complex."
"That is unacceptable and it's the biggest downfall of the solution."
"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 needs to improve its interface and reporting."
"FortiManager should improve the integration with third-party platforms."
"The CLI could be enhanced."
"Can be difficult to configure."
"The price always has room for improvement."
"The graphics interface between Fortinet FortiManager and any Forti products should be standardized."
"It requires a lot of resources. This is the main challenge."
"The fabric for integrations or connections could be improved."
"When I started, it was a bit difficult, however, now it's okay. It can be a bit complex for basic users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
"The price of Cisco Prime was reasonable because we purchased it as part of a Cisco One package. The package was a bundle of Cisco solutions together, such as Cisco ISE and CMX. The price is reasonable com compared to other solutions."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"The cost is quite high."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."
"Fortinet FortiManager can be expensive."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"The pricing model is affordable."
"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."
"For us, it is a little bit expensive."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software 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 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 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, Skyline Communications and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: July 2026.
904,016 professionals have used our research since 2012.