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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 technical support team is very good."
"Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat map."
"The customer service and support for this solution is good."
"Cisco Prime is a good tool for inventory monitoring and wireless management."
"The solution's configuration management tool is amazing because it centralizes and pushes configurations which saves a lot of volume and effort."
"What attracts customers to Cisco Prime is it is readily available."
"The product's most valuable features are monitoring and configuration."
"There is something called zero-touch provisioning, where you can add a new device without any configuration; you just add it to FortiManager and then forget about it."
"The most valuable features are the centralized management of the firewalls."
"Everybody is quite happy with the way that the graphical user interface works."
"The product is easy to use and manage."
"The user interface is very easy to navigate."
"The centralized policy management helps with the creation of policies because it is easy to monitor and facilitates installation."
"With Fortinet FortiManager, we can manage multiple firewalls and devices from a central point."
"The initial setup of Fortinet FortiManager was easy."
 

Cons

"The solution is not easy to configure."
"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."
"Now, the complexity has increased, so the quality of work also has taken a slight hit with respect to their TAC support especially."
"The solution has issues with real time monitoring of devices and NetFlow such as inadequate visualization for reports, sources, and destinations."
"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"It should be able to monitor Palo Alto, Juniper, and Check Point products - not just Cisco solutions."
"The solution is not easy to configure. It's not user-friendly for admins."
"The product needs to improve its interface and reporting."
"The fabric for integrations or connections could be improved."
"Issues arise when customers experience unstable electricity or poor grounding conditions."
"We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacted technical support on several occasions."
"The areas that need improvement are implementation and support."
"The GUI is not ideal. It needs to be improved. It should be more user-friendly."
"If you have more than one FortiMail device, you can't manage it then with FortiManager on FortiGate."
"We have some visibility issues with the reporting."
"I didn't like the connectivity with FortiManager and FortiSwitch, which was buggy and annoying and had fewer features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"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."
"The cost is quite high."
"We update the license every five years."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The price point is very good."
"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten."
"Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
"The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users."
"The pricing model is affordable."
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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.
886,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.