Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Additionally, 91% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Cisco Prime [EOL]

Read 35 Cisco Prime [EOL] reviews

91% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiManager

Read 73 Fortinet FortiManager reviews

5,522 Views
1,215 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Cisco Prime [EOL]

Fortinet FortiManager

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Prime [EOL] and Fortinet FortiManager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in Network Management Applications.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Management Applications Report (Updated: March 2026).

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Network Management Applications

March 2026

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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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiManager

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (3rd)

Featured Reviews

ZeeshanAli1

Senior Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Robust, cost-effective, and provides good visibility, but the scalability could improve

We are extremely satisfied with the reliability and robustness of Cisco Prime Infrastructure, which we have been using for many years. Compared to newer products such as DNS centers or others, it has proven to be much more stable, which is important for large-scale operations. Stability is a primary concern for us, and we are glad that Cisco Prime Infrastructure meets our expectations in that regard. Furthermore, in regards to Legacy Plus new hardware, Cisco Prime has proven to be a reliable and adaptable solution thus far. Not only can it support older hardware, but it also has the capability to handle new features with the latest updates. If we consider new solutions such as DNS Center, we may have to sacrifice some legacy features that we still rely on. We may need to continue using these legacy features for a few more years due to various reasons such as budget constraints or the site not being a high priority. However, if we switch to a new product at this stage, we may lose a lot of the monitoring and other capabilities that we have with Cisco Prime. We have a close relationship with Cisco and understand that they are not prioritizing investments in Cisco Prime as they are encouraging customers to adopt the Cisco DNA Center. This means that we don't anticipate many new features to be added to the product in the future. While we know that we will eventually have to transition to a new solution, in the meantime, we plan to do a quick refresh of our legacy products.

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SudeepMaydeo

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.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Operationally, Prime is quite easy to use and I like the wireless heatmap and search management features."

"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."

"The technical support team is very good."

"The installation is easy."

"It helps us manage and monitor analytics and fix issues."

"The solution's configuration management tool is amazing because it centralizes and pushes configurations which saves a lot of volume and effort."

"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."

"The endpoint information Cisco Prime generates helps us troubleshoot, and it's also useful for compliance reporting and endpoint identification."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros

"It can scale well."

"Technical support was excellent."

"It would normally take us a handful of days to install one FortiGate instance on one site, but with this technology, zero-touch deployment, we need just one hour or maybe as little as 30 minutes to install one site."

"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."

"It's a very rich, robust product."

"I pushed templates from FortiManager to our site, and they were deployed successfully."

"We are managing a research and education network, and we have about 200 Fortinet FortiGate devices dispatched in the country, and we are managing all of them with FortiManager, which has simplified the management and reduced the time to configure the devices."

"The solution brings device management into one single pane of glass and is a pretty good product."

More Fortinet FortiManager pros

Cons

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."

"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."

"The user interface of Cisco Prime could be more user-friendly and increase its performance."

"This solution could be improved if it could monitor configuration changes."

"Cisco needs to improve Prime's monitoring tab. If any device goes down, there is a 15-second lapse before we know. It would be much better if we were alerted two or three minutes before a device is about to fail, so we can dispatch a field engineer and avoid network downtime. I would like to see a feature that allows you to access the devices directly from Prime's monitoring tab. That would make work easier for us."

"The solution is not easy to configure."

"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."

"Cisco Prime is slow at times, we often have to restart the database to run reports or to gain access."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons

"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."

"We have some visibility issues with the reporting."

"The areas that need improvement are implemenation and support. In terms of implementation, it mainly needs clear documentation."

"One of the biggest limitations is the grammar of the API – not the API itself."

"Setting up FortiManager can be complex because it involves changes from other devices and a lot of configuration."

"When we have a specific configuration pushed it does take some time to be deployed on the actual firewall."

"Within the management of some features on FortiManager, specifically the management of user objects used for VPN service, FortiManager is quite weak."

"In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features."

More Fortinet FortiManager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."

"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."

"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."

"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 would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"The cost is quite high."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."

"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, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"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."

"The pricing model is affordable."

"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."

"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."

"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."

More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

12%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	24

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	35
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	19

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?

The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?

We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?

The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 10% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

Junos Space Network Director vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

More Cisco Prime [EOL] Competitors

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 41% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 4% of the time

AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Prime [EOL]

April 2026

Download Cisco Prime [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiManager

April 2026

Download Fortinet FortiManager product report

Also Known As

Cisco Prime Infrastructure

No data available

Overview

Cisco Prime products deliver next-generation management by supporting an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience and integrated lifecycle operations across Cisco architectures, technologies, and networks.

Cisco

Fortinet FortiManager offers centralized management for FortiGate devices, ensuring easy synchronization with cloud accounts, automation, and policy deployment, enhancing network security and performance.

Fortinet FortiManager provides comprehensive oversight and streamlined operations for FortiGate environments. It centralizes the administration of firewalls and other Fortinet devices, simplifying their configuration and deployment. Users benefit from its efficient automation and policy management capabilities, which reduce implementation times and enhance security protocols. FortiManager features seamless integration and robust monitoring within a single interface, offering visibility across network operations. While it requires improvements in documentation, platform integration, and licensing clarity, it remains an essential tool for large-scale network management.

What are the standout features?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration of multiple devices from one console.
Automation: Speeds up policy deployment and reduces manual tasks.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Facilitates easy device setup and deployment.
SD-WAN Management: Provides tools for managing wide area networks effectively.
Intuitive GUI: Offers a user-friendly management interface.

Why should users consider Fortinet FortiManager?

Ease of Use: Users appreciate the straightforward management processes.
Scalability: Adaptability to large-scale network demands.
Comprehensive Visibility: Detailed insights into network performance and security.
Reduced Implementation Time: Faster setup and configuration processes.

In the finance and healthcare industries, Fortinet FortiManager enhances security and compliance by streamlining policy management and deployment across multiple sites. Retail sectors benefit from its scalable network management, ensuring continuous and reliable connectivity across branches. Education institutions use it to manage complex security infrastructures, effectively handling multiple devices and networks to safeguard sensitive data.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

March 2026

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