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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
6.9
Number of Reviews
72
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

"It gives you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."
"Technical support is great, and we find them to be helpful and responsive."
"Cisco Prime can help customers fix their Wi-Fi issues with scientific and digital data."
"The most valuable is the assistance for network support."
"I have found the solution to be scalable."
"The installation is easy."
"If an AP or any wireless device goes into critical mode, Cisco Prime sends an alert. That is the most helpful feature."
"Cisco Prime is very good management-wise, giving you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."
"The solution has the best stability for application control and inspections."
"I find Fortinet's technical support for FortiManager effective and I would rate it eight out of ten."
"The capability of centralized management is valuable, and we can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."
"The integration is quite good."
"Fortinet FortiManager allows you to manage multiple FortiGate devices from a single console, and this is a valuable product feature."
"A fully integrated solution."
"We like the central management capabilities."
"FortiManager helps automate configuration deployment, allowing us to plan and schedule configurations."
 

Cons

"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."
"I rate Cisco Prime seven out of 10 for affordability. All Cisco solutions are expensive."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"The solution is a bit pricey."
"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."
"Cisco Prime could improve the graphical user interface."
"The user interface of Cisco Prime could be more user-friendly and increase its performance."
"Cisco Prime could improve the notifications in the system. Having more details about what is happening would be useful, such as traffic numbers or who is connected."
"Fortinet is releasing quite a lot of new versions and I would say that most of the versions are not well tested before they're pushed out. Even the new versions sometimes are a bit buggy before it's all correct."
"In future updates, I would like to see more customization and AI integration."
"When I installed it, I found it somewhat difficult to set up."
"The user interface itself has areas that need improvement."
"Performance issues should be improved. We have problems when we have more mobile connections than local devices. Most of us have two to three devices."
"When we have a specific configuration pushed it does take some time to be deployed on the actual firewall."
"There is a degradation of performance if we activate logs on FortiManager."
"Fortinet FortiManager could improve them by adding more portfolio components."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"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 rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The cost is quite high."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"The solution requires you to have a license for every device, as well as for any advanced features being used, which makes it costly for high-volume users. However, for a large-scale environment with a lot of customers we have found it to be a worthwhile investment."
"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 price point is very good."
"For us, it is a little bit expensive."
"Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers."
"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."
"This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."
"I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Prime?
The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management.
What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?
The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?
We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
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 do not use Fortinet FortiManager daily, but I can speak with my security team and ask them what areas need future improvement for Fortinet FortiManager. When I installed it, I found it somewhat d...
 

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: March 2026.
886,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.