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).

Buyer's Guide

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

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

"The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat maps."

"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."

"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."

"Cisco Prime can help customers fix their Wi-Fi issues with scientific and digital data."

"We use the solution to control the physical service station that is part of the SCADA network. We connect and control them remotely."

"In terms of reliability especially, Cisco is light years ahead."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros

"Technical support is great. When we have sent urgent tickets and they do reply back within fifteen minutes."

"Even without the security orchestration, just the fact that the customer could request the firewall team to configure a job that would roll out a configuration on the firewalls and it could be deployed across all the firewalls through the FortiManager was a big improvement compared to deploying the new firewall rule on each firewall sequentially."

"Being able to push consistent firewall rules and configuration changes across multiple FortiGates saves a ton of time and reduces errors compared to managing each device individually."

"The main benefit of Fortinet FortiManager is the ability to control all the devices from a central location, view their statuses, and manage their configurations and updates from a single management console."

"It has multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment. This is something that makes them unique."

"The general policy, its integration, and deployment are all easy."

"In general, I have no serious concerns about this product so I have no problems recommending it."

"FortiManager's best feature is the integration of administrator users."

More Fortinet FortiManager pros

Cons

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."

"Some improvements are needed, specifically in the form of more updates and enhancements."

"The solution has issues with real time monitoring of devices and NetFlow such as inadequate visualization for reports, sources, and destinations."

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

"The solution is not easy to configure. It's not user-friendly for admins."

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."

"That is unacceptable and it's the biggest downfall of the solution."

"Lacking in integration with a SIEM tool."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons

"For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate."

"The GUI is not ideal."

"Areas for improvement in Fortinet FortiManager are scalability and stability."

"Fortinet develops many different solutions but only some of them can be managed using FortiManager."

"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."

"It's a difficult process to transfer one interface from one virtual domain to another."

"Having FortiManager work with all of the Fortinet products would be a good improvement."

"It would be nice to have a virtual appliance as well."

More Fortinet FortiManager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is quite high."

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

"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."

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

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

"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."

"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."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"If you compare Fortinet and Palo Alto, Fortinet is cheaper, but if you compare Cisco and Fortinet, sometimes Cisco is cheaper because Cisco gives us more discounts because of the size. Cisco isn't cheap, but sometimes, we get a big discount from them."

"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."

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

"Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers."

"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."

"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."

"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."

More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

11%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

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 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...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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

Compared 11% 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 42% 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

AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN 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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