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Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

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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

"We use the solution to control the physical service station that is part of the SCADA network. We connect and control them remotely."
"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."
"The customer service and support for this solution is good."
"The solution provides data that allows us to time travel through logs and perform remote operations or troubleshooting."
"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."
"Technical support is great, and we find them to be helpful and responsive."
"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."
"Cisco Prime is user-friendly, so we are comfortable using it."
"The solution has the best stability for application control and inspections."
"FortiManager helps automate configuration deployment, allowing us to plan and schedule configurations."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiManager are the overall management it provides and its ease of use."
"The setup is very simple."
"Technical support was excellent."
"You can configure it at your ease."
"The user interface, along with user-friendly planning features, makes it straightforward to configure desired settings."
"Setup, setting policies, and reporting were all very easy. We had no issues whatsoever getting the solution up and running."
 

Cons

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"The product needs to improve its interface and reporting."
"They can also improve the management of more enterprise devices."
"They could consider offering more flexible pricing options for their customers."
"I want the tool to improve data visibility."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"The reporting feature of Cisco Prime should be improved."
"Cisco Prime's initial setup is complex."
"The user interface can feel clunky, especially for more complex tasks such as managing large-scale policy packages or custom scripts."
"In future updates, I would like to see more customization and AI integration."
"My rating is not perfect due to the threat intelligence of Fortinet FortiManager, which has a lot of false positives."
"The deployment of Fortinet FortiManager is quite complex and should be easier. It requires improvement in vulnerability management and should integrate automated AI features to enhance its reliability."
"I prefer configuring rules and the VPN on the standalone device, not on the manager."
"Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area."
"When we have a specific configuration pushed it does take some time to be deployed on the actual firewall."
"The price always has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"The cost is quite high."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"We update the license every five years."
"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."
"This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."
"Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
"Fortinet FortiManager is a low-priced product."
"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."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiManager operates on a licensing system that is dependent on the number of devices being managed. Yearly subscription renewal is necessary to continue using the service. Although there is a cost associated with Fortinet FortiManager, its price is undoubtedly justified by the value it provides in terms of the purpose it serves."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
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.
911,493 professionals have used our research since 2012.