FortiMonitor vs Spiceworks comparison

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FortiMonitor

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Spiceworks and FortiMonitor compete in network monitoring and IT management. Spiceworks holds an edge in user-friendliness and cost, while FortiMonitor offers superior advanced features and performance.

Features: Spiceworks provides network monitoring, asset management, and helpdesk tools designed for ease of use. It is cost-effective, offering functions without additional expenses. FortiMonitor features proactive monitoring, extensive security capabilities, and advanced tools, tailored for demanding IT environments.

Room for Improvement: Spiceworks may require enhancements in scalability and integration for larger organizations, as well as improved security features. FortiMonitor could benefit from cost reduction, simplification of user interface for ease of access, and expansion of community support to aid in independent troubleshooting.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Spiceworks supports easy installation with vibrant community forums aiding integration into existing systems. FortiMonitor offers straightforward deployment with professional guidance, supported by robust customer service for enhanced user satisfaction.

Pricing and ROI: Spiceworks is free, providing strong ROI via extensive free features and minimal setup costs. FortiMonitor requires a significant upfront investment but delivers substantial ROI through its comprehensive functionalities, suited for organizations needing advanced monitoring.

To learn more, read our detailed FortiMonitor vs. Spiceworks Report (Updated: April 2025).

FortiMonitor vs. Spiceworks

April 2025

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Helped 848,207 peers since 2012

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

FortiMonitor

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

14th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (14th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (7th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (3rd)

Spiceworks

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

45th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (17th), IT Asset Management (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of FortiMonitor is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 0.4%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

JaimeVasquez

Commercial Manager at IT-Experience

Monitoring capabilities keep operations running smoothly and alerts enhance proactive system management

We use FortiMonitor to monitor the infrastructure of our customers. We check on what is happening with their operations, monitor bandwidth, ensure configurations are appropriate for the customer, and identify if anything is going wrong The most valuable features of FortiMonitor are its redundancy…

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Jeetendar Kumar

Information Technology Analyst at The Aga Khan University Hospital (Pakistan)

Customizable, easy to use, easy to manage, and provides multiple features

I have used many software, but Spiceworks is the best. The tool provides multiple features. It is a valuable product for inventory. It is also useful as a ticketing system. The solution is easy to use and easy to manage. Many people can use it very easily. The features are not complicated. It is very easy to run, install, and understand. That is why my organization decided to use it. The solution’s asset management capabilities have benefitted us in many ways. We are able to manage all the inventory. We have a complete database. We have a record of everything. It is very valuable. I rate the usability of the user interface and dashboard a nine out of ten. The tool is easy to learn compared to other software.

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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

"The tool continuously improves, adapting to support new vendors and technologies. Importantly, it automates the process, triggering alerts when devices require attention, and eliminating the need for manual intervention."

"Overall, I would recommend FortiMonitor to others."

"In FortiMonitor, we're linked up with our Netgear, CactusServer, and NOC. It's really valuable because everything's migrating to one dashboard for us system engineers. We can keep an eye on traffic, blocked sites, and the health of our hardware. That last part, about knowing if something's going to fail soon, is super important. It gives us time to sort things out before any big problems happen. As a system engineer, I need to keep tabs on everything – temperature, monitoring systems, and network operations. This data is really handy because it helps me ensure our site runs smoothly, whether it's turning systems on or off. Just last night, there was a system failure, but thanks to real-time monitoring, I quickly identified the problem and got the necessary replacement parts."

"FortiMonitor offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities, allowing me to track network traffic in and out effectively."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is what the devices are used for. We have big backups for our Cradlepoint solutions, but FortiMonitor is a great routing device and we love working with them."

"The solution helps to see client infrastructure. It has many boxes and blinks green or red when the station goes up or down. We have different domains for the device groups that we monitor."

"FortiMonitor's dashboard is very informative and user-friendly."

"FortiMonitor has a very intuitive dashboard, which makes it particularly helpful for analyzing traffic, alerts, and other information."

More FortiMonitor pros

"It shows the users that are currently logged in, which is not something that Active Directory by default will ever let you know up front."

"Spiceworks' dashboard allows you to drill down to the notes, where I can take an inventory of the network and see the devices I need to monitor."

"Spiceworks is generic and free."

"The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally."

"The solution can find all asset details automatically, whether it's a Mac address, computer name, IP address, models, etc. It's very helpful."

"The solution is easy to use and easy to manage."

"It's easy to understand."

More Spiceworks pros

Cons

"FortiMonitor could be improved by making it more convenient for smaller workloads, such as when configuring a few branches."

"Additionally, there are no AI features in FortiMonitor, which might be an area for enhancement."

". Enhancements in the dashboard, such as clearer alerting, maintenance window management, software version tracking, and better visualization, would be beneficial."

"We use FortiToken, and it's a pain to use because you have to send things through your phone and then confirm by email. Only after this can you log in. It's dual-factor authentication. I wish that I could just log in or bring up a dashboard where I could log in from."

"There is room for improvement in the FortiMonitor report. It is not ideal for showcasing to tech customers or managers, especially when trying to display high CPU usage from logins within a specific range of months or the most recent month."

"I think the current features are really good for me, nothing else comes to mind right now. Maybe some small improvements could be made in the customization and configuration part of the UI to make it easier or more intuitive. Customizable UI options, like we saw in the demo, could be helpful for everyone. But in our operational environment, having clear health status and system details is crucial for us system engineers. One feature I'd really like to see is a credential management system. It would help us keep track of who's logged in and how many times, which is important due to user restrictions. Sometimes, we need to manage logins more efficiently, like logging off other users to free up credentials. So having a feature like that would be really helpful."

"FortiMonitor's monitoring could be much better. It should be like, in Palo Alto."

"Sometimes, we get corruption when upgrading from firmware to the new generation, causing a lot of issues."

More FortiMonitor cons

"It would be nice to have remote access to the solution via a tablet. They also need remote control from a PC. Right now, to complete the technical support process, you have to have a tool to access the PC, and check the problems."

"The GUI must be improved."

"The SNMP sniffer requires a lot of work to get right."

"They've also tried to integrate it with social logins, like Twitter and LinkedIn, and that type of login authentication has no place in a corporate application."

"There are a lot of disadvantages to Spiceworks because it's not an agent-based solution."

"One of the biggest ways in which Spiceworks could improve is by developing better and more automated workflows. For example, in another solution called ServiceDesk by ManageEngine, you can have levels of approval in the event that there is a request for new software, or when someone requests a VPN or WiFi connection. This kind of multi-stage approval feature provided by ServiceDesk does not appear to exist in Spiceworks, and it is one of their main shortcomings for me."

"Having an integrated asset management tool, where I can plug in things that are offline, would be good."

"I would like to see more information when drilling down into access permissions, assignments management, or tagging. When I click a note or a device, I should be able to see more details about the router and modem. For example, I want to see the version, downtime, availability, latency, etc. I should have easy access to everything about our assets at a glance."

More Spiceworks cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale from one to ten, I rate the pricing a nine since it is a good solution that is available at a cheap price."

"We have a large customer base for Fortinet, and the additional buying power got us really great discounts."

"The tool's pricing model in Vietnam is a bit high. I rate the product price as an eight out of ten."

"There are additional costs needed for certain functionality, such as scalability."

"In terms of licensing, while it may not be the most expensive option on the market, it's relatively cost-effective. You can obtain licenses at a lower cost, with the calculation being straightforward. For example, if you onboard around 5,000 devices, you'll need approximately 5,000 licenses, as each device typically counts as one license."

"FortiMonitor's price is very high."

"The price of FortiMonitor is approximately $200 annually for 225 users. The price is competitive."

"Compared to other solutions, FortiMonitor is a very expensive solution."

"The product is free! Get it now."

"Seeing that it is a low-cost solution, I would advise you to go ahead with Spiceworks and experiment with it to see if you can get things working properly, especially if you currently don't have any existing service desk software in place."

"It might be about $300 annually for a bigger company. If you pay annually, it's better and cheaper."

"The tool is cheap."

"It's free."

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

29%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Non Profit

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

University

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have a clear bias because I work for Panopta. We aren't a fit for everyone, but I can confirm that Panopta is a lot less work to stand up and maintain. It's also a lot easier to use and onboard n...

What do you like most about FortiMonitor?

In FortiMonitor, we're linked up with our Netgear, CactusServer, and NOC. It's really valuable because everything's migrating to one dashboard for us system engineers. We can keep an eye on traffic...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiMonitor?

FortiMonitor does save time but not significantly on costs, as there are still expenses related to procurement, installation, and licensing.

What do you like most about Spiceworks?

The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spiceworks?

The tool is cheap.

What needs improvement with Spiceworks?

I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, there do not seem to be any issues.

ThousandEyes vs FortiMonitor

Comparisons

Compared 19% of the time

Datadog vs FortiMonitor

Compared 18% of the time

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs FortiMonitor

Compared 17% of the time

Zabbix vs FortiMonitor

Compared 13% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs FortiMonitor

Compared 9% of the time

More FortiMonitor Competitors

Zabbix vs Spiceworks

Compared 30% of the time

ServiceNow vs Spiceworks

Compared 26% of the time

Lansweeper vs Spiceworks

Compared 21% of the time

Freshdesk vs Spiceworks

Compared 8% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs Spiceworks

Compared 6% of the time

More Spiceworks Competitors

Product Reports

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)

March 2025

Download FortiMonitor product report

Download Spiceworks product report

March 2025

Also Known As

Panopta

No data available

Overview

FortiMonitor is a comprehensive, SaaS-based digital experience monitoring (DEM) platform that helps organizations modernize their performance-monitoring tools. It provides visibility into endpoint application performance and digital experience—no matter where the user resides or where the application is hosted.

Fortinet

From network inventory and network monitoring to help desk software, and mobile device management (MDM) to cloud services detection, Spiceworks helps you manage everything about your IT workday from one easy place.

Sample Customers

SONY, GoDaddy, HCL, ING, ARMOR, billboard

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino