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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

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat maps."
"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."
"Cisco Prime is a good tool for inventory monitoring and wireless management."
"The product's most valuable features are monitoring and configuration."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat map."
"The customer service and support for this solution is good."
"Cisco Prime is helpful as it provides us with real-time monitoring, which allows us to be proactive in our environment."
"We use the solution to control the physical service station that is part of the SCADA network. We connect and control them remotely."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"For the whole security fabric from Fortinet, with a simple click you can see if some workstations or services are affected by an attack. You can really easily quarantine it, check the solution, and fix it."
"The most valuable feature is the centralized management console."
"It's a scalable product."
"Technical support is great. When we have sent urgent tickets and they do reply back within fifteen minutes."
"The most valuable features are the centralized management of the firewalls."
"FortiManager offers a full zero-touch provisioning feature that allows us to create a template of our devices and onboard them remotely without visiting the site."
"Technical support was excellent."
 

Cons

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."
"The solution is not easy to configure."
"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."
"The overall management capabilities of Prime need to be improved."
"The overall management capabilities of Prime need to be improved."
"Cisco Prime could improve the graphical user interface."
"This is not a scalable solution."
"The solution is considered legacy and DNAC has overcome it because of centralized controls that allow a complete LAN network to be moved to centralized management."
"Performance issues should be improved. We have problems when we have more mobile connections than local devices."
"When I started, it was a bit difficult, however, now it's okay. It can be a bit complex for basic users."
"The product is not very stable."
"The CLI could be enhanced."
"The price always has room for improvement."
"Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area."
"The user interface itself has areas that need improvement."
"Its licensing model should be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We update the license every five years."
"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"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."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."
"Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers."
"The pricing model is affordable."
"Fortinet FortiManager is a low-priced product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
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.
886,011 professionals have used our research since 2012.