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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

"I have found the solution to be scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat maps."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is its excellent audio and video conferencing with clear quality and no interruptions."
"Enables oversight in order to tweak and tune."
"The VLAN mapping function has been most impactful in simplifying our network management tasks."
"We use this solution to troubleshoot our wireless systems, specifically regarding signal strength."
"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat map."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"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. It is much more efficient."
"Central management system for Fortinet devices that's simple, scalable, and stable, with a straightforward setup."
"The user interface, along with user-friendly planning features, makes it straightforward to configure desired settings."
"The best feature of Fortinet FortiManager is its ease of use. It is easy to manage the firewall from Fortinet FortiManager. Additionally, the interface is very good."
"Provides good and detailed log management."
"The solution has the best stability for application control and inspections."
"The initial setup of Fortinet FortiManager was easy."
 

Cons

"The product's pricing can be cheaper."
"The solution is not easy to configure."
"The reporting could be simplified and the information made clearer to the user."
"The solution can be slow at times."
"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."
"Some improvements are needed, specifically in the form of more updates and enhancements."
"The user interface of Cisco Prime could be more user-friendly and increase its performance."
"I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."
"The information extraction through command lines was could improve to some extent. Although there were some command lines available, there were not enough options. For instance, I needed to obtain the management IP address of my two Fortigates, but the Fortinet FortiManager did not provide me with the IP address on the LAN interface. I attempted to find this information through the command line but was unsuccessful. I also searched for articles on the internet, but could not find a solution. This is an aspect that could be improved or potentially there is a method to access this information that I have yet to discover."
"Having FortiManager work with all of the Fortinet products would be a good improvement."
"It requires a lot of resources. This is the main challenge."
"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."
"The user interface can feel clunky, especially for more complex tasks such as managing large-scale policy packages or custom scripts."
"The CLI could be enhanced."
"In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features."
"Troubleshooting for Fortinet products is more difficult than competing products like Cisco and Palo Alto."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We update the license every five years."
"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
"The cost is quite high."
"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."
"Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users."
"In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable."
"Fortinet FortiManager can be expensive."
"Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers."
"The price point is very good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

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: February 2026.
884,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.