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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 solution's configuration management tool is amazing because it centralizes and pushes configurations which saves a lot of volume and effort."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat map."
"If an AP or any wireless device goes into critical mode, Cisco Prime sends an alert. That is the most helpful feature."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is its excellent audio and video conferencing with clear quality and no interruptions."
"We use the solution to control the physical service station that is part of the SCADA network. We connect and control them remotely."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management."
"Enables oversight in order to tweak and tune."
"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."
"The central management feature is the most valuable to me."
"With Fortinet FortiManager, we can manage multiple firewalls and devices from a central point."
"FortiManager is the best suite for SMBs."
"The integration is quite good."
"I find Fortinet's technical support for FortiManager effective and I would rate it eight out of ten."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiManager, in my opinion, are SD-WAN and the manageability console."
"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, and it's very good from a security perspective."
"For the ROI, for a five-year project, Fortinet FortiManager would be the best option to use."
 

Cons

"I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"This solution could be improved if it could monitor configuration changes."
"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."
"I want the tool to improve data visibility."
"The solution has issues with real time monitoring of devices and NetFlow such as inadequate visualization for reports, sources, and destinations."
"The reporting feature of Cisco Prime should be improved."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"The graphics interface between Fortinet FortiManager and any Forti products should be standardized."
"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."
"The GUI is not ideal."
"In future updates, I would like to see more customization and AI integration."
"The SD-WAN solution is difficult to manage on FortiManager because you need to share some configurations on the firewall side. Sometimes you lose all connectivity with the firewall, so it is challenging to apply the default configuration to the SD-WAN solution."
"If you have more than one FortiMail device, you can't manage it then with FortiManager on FortiGate."
"The GUI could be updated. It's not as good as it could be and is something the solution should improve in an upcoming release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"We update the license every five years."
"The cost is quite high."
"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"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 with one being the highest price and ten being the lowest price, I would rate FortiManager's price at three."
"In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable."
"Fortinet FortiManager is costly."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."
"Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
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 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: July 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.