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FireMon Security Manager vs Fortinet FortiGate Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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

FireMon Security Manager
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of FireMon Security Manager is 16.6%, up from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is 5.1%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ganesh-Khutwad - PeerSpot reviewer
Rapid policy insights with robust dashboards and cross-vendor automation
FireMon Security Manager is excellent for real-time compliance management. It allows us to quickly retrieve any policy needed for testing and easily analyze it for loopholes. If a loophole exists, FireMon provides comprehensive details within the policy manager. It alerts us to firewall rule additions or changes that violate compliance policies. It supports various firewall platforms, including Checkpoint, Zscaler, Fortinet, Cisco, and AWS, and provides centralized management for all configured policies through a single console. FireMon Security Manager provides many features, like whether my firewall is compatible with required standards such as NTP and SNMP. Each compliance included in our RFPs is shown in the UI of FireMon. It gives robust and clear dashboards, making it easier to understand risks because the policies have ratings showing usage, and the number of hit attacks. It streamlines our compliance reporting processes by providing comprehensive risk and compliance assessments. It offers a range of features, including verification of firewall compatibility with protocols like NTP and SNMP, and detection of signal charges. FireMon effectively addresses all compliance requirements outlined in our RFPs. For instance, it can determine if firewalls or proxies within a stack are configured in Secure Mode or Active-Active mode. FireMon Security Manager enables us to generate reports on all these aspects, ensuring thorough compliance monitoring and documentation. FireMon Security Manager is robust and can help automate firewall policy changes across large multi-vendor enterprise environments. FireMon Security Manager helps automate firewall policy changes across various environments, including on-premises, cloud, hybrid, SASE, and SD-WAN. It also simplifies cleaning up firewall rules in our environment. The time required to accurately create, approve, and deploy firewall policy rules has been reduced. Tasks that took 30 minutes can now be completed in just five minutes using FireMon. FireMon provides immediate visibility into our policies through a robust and clear dashboard, making it easy to identify errors or misconfigurations based on the policy rating.
IgnitiusMolepo - PeerSpot reviewer
The hub-and-spoke setup is useful because I can manage security from where I am, while the IT engineers in branch offices can handle it on their end.
When we're upgrading, it's sometimes quite challenging, especially firmware. We usually don't upgrade unless we have a bug, and we still feel it's not safe to react instead of being proactive. We often have some delays when updating FortiGuard, too. Nevertheless, I believe that it's okay most of the time with proper management. We also run into some problems using FortiGate as a UTM solution. I feel like maybe they're not giving me a full view of the other components that they have in that box. Their box has some DDoS defense, but I need complete DDoS protection. I must not have light DDoS protection on other UTM boxes because if I'm uncertain about the security posture, it will compromise me. We like having everything in one box because running multiple boxes eats up more resources on the computing level. We need a total solution, not half-half.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are the security assessments and the ability to identify unused rules or objects."
"The most valuable feature for me is its capability for cleanup and managing the complexity of security products."
"The technical support is very good. They've always been helpful."
"Its user-friendly interface allows for easy viewing and searching of network policies, including proxies, all on one console."
"The firewall assessment feature is great."
"It provides us with a single pane of glass for our on-prem environment, to see configuration. We have not implemented into the cloud yet. We can search for an object group and see where it lives on any firewall in the enterprise or find security rules, no matter what firewall they're on."
"We also use the solution’s SASE integration capabilities to extend security policy management for cloud firewall management. It helps in creating one consistent rule across multiple platforms and it improves accuracy."
"The most effective feature is the general reporting on compliance."
"The platform is scalable."
"The solution is very easy to use."
"One firewall box can contain various top-of-the-line services that are packaged together for easy administration."
"The product's valuable features include network management and switching devices from anywhere."
"The solution includes a very stable VPN and IPS."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the stability, it's actually tailored for that."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud are ease of use and the simplicity of maintenance and configuration. Additionally, the modularity of the solution is very easy to handle, it is convenient."
"The Fortianalyzer is the most valuable aspect of this solution"
 

Cons

"We're working on implementing FireMon with our ticketing system service now. Having that would be an improvement."
"It comes as a Linux appliance on a server and we're not a Linux shop, we're more of a Windows shop. It would be great if they could automate or integrate the backups into it and other things through their GUI interface, just to make the management of Linux a little more transparent."
"The stability has been fairly decent, but there have been a few issues. My coworker has had some issues in the past where he has had to work with support."
"Sometimes, there is a problem related to the sizing itself. If we have many devices added or if the firewall complexity is huge, we might experience some lag in processing. It may relate to the hardware specifications."
"The issue for me started with Fortinet not being able to see things correctly. It lost its appeal in terms of what it could do for me from a security standpoint, so I do not pay as much attention to it."
"The advanced features are complex in setting up the rules."
"When it comes to documentation, they need to start putting together a basic command manual. With Cisco, you can look up a command and it gives you examples of three or four different ways that command can be used. It tells you how to put it into the GUI and the CLI. FireMon does need to start doing that."
"FireMon could be easier to use and flexibility regarding reporting could be improved."
"Everything related to the graphical user interface should be improved."
"The solution should allow users to keep the data for longer than the current periods. I can't get any historic data after more than a month. I would like to be able to, after a year, look for trends from the past 12 months. It would make things much easier."
"I would like to see more reporting from the analysis improved in the future."
"We do find we get a bit of a lag."
"There is room for improvement in the analytics reports. Other products in the market offer superior analytics, like a next-generation antivirus, CounterStrike, which provides excellent analytics reports."
"There are some areas that need improvement regarding customer support."
"The Linux version currently lacks some of the latest features, notably in the IPv6 tool stack, which is available for Windows clients."
"Currently with the solution, if you want to manage more than one FortiGate you have to use a VM, and a VM can control up to 10."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing was very good during our initial year, but they increased it this year a little bit. The price is okay. It is not cheap, but it is still average."
"Regarding additional costs, if you want things like Policy Optimizer, extra features, that's extra."
"Pricing is reasonable."
"We pay for it yearly."
"We don't license all of the devices in our network, so it does not provide us with a comprehensive visibility of all devices in a hybrid network at this time."
"Pricing model seems fair."
"FireMon is very expensive. I think that they charge a premium. In general, they are very pricey. Compared to their competitors, they cost a little more than the other solutions that we evaluated."
"It's a good value. From a licensing standpoint... it's very simple to understand, and gives us a good bang for the buck."
"Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is cheaper than VMware and Cisco in the Bangladeshi market. Its pricing is reasonable."
"The price of the solution is high compare to competitors."
"Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is moderately priced. I rate Fortinet FortiGate Cloud a five out of ten for pricing."
"I would not say that the product is cheaply priced. If I consider the long-term value for the service I receive, the price of the product is excellent."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a one or two. The pricing is suitable for our company."
"The price of FortiGate Cloud is generally cheaper than other similar products."
"Unlike other firewalls, the cost of Fortinet FortiGate is low, and the functionality is nearly identical, which is why we chose it."
"The license does not include many of the features that are necessary, which means that you have to pay extra for them."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FireMon?
I like the Security Manager console where we can see any changes that have been made or pull the results of an assessment and control the policies that we implement.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FireMon?
Comparatively, FireMon has a very good price and is below the general competition in cost. I have not seen any additional fees beyond the general contract fees for the usage I have. So, I have not ...
What needs improvement with FireMon?
For one company I work with, I use Fortinet, and FireMon is not able to understand the zones that Fortinet uses. Part of that compliance piece does not provide me with the necessary information. An...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud has valuable firewall, SSL VPN, and web filtering features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is very competitive when compared to other industry-leading products such as Palo Alto and Cisco devices.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
There are some areas that need improvement regarding customer support. Fortinet could enhance their customer service by offering more direct remote sessions to resolve issues, as relying solely on ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
FortiCloud, FortiGate Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Convey, MGM Resorts International, Southwest Airlines, Alkami, Costco, Aetna, IBM, Verizon, Wells Fargo
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about FireMon Security Manager vs. Fortinet FortiGate Cloud and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.