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Fortinet FortiClient vs Fortinet FortiNAC 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiClient boosts productivity, supports remote work, enhances security, and offers significant ROI and VPN cost savings.
Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiNAC boosts security, reduces costs and configuration time, offering financial benefits and substantial ROI with minimal post-sale support.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Fortinet FortiClient's support gets mixed reviews, with satisfaction dependent on package level; 24/7 availability varies in effectiveness.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiNAC support is responsive and helpful but criticized for slow responses, knowledge gaps, and lacking UK-based support.
They initiate the troubleshooting process quickly and resolve issues in a timely manner.
They have room to improve by deploying more support resources.
The main issue revolves around addressing bugs in the endpoint.
They provide sessions to help with various questions.
They could do more to improve, not because of the product itself but because of the support they provide.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiClient efficiently scales for various enterprise sizes, offering easy user expansion and minimal deployment resources.
Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiNAC is generally scalable, flexible, suitable for enterprises, but user experiences vary due to licensing and integration challenges.
The scalability could use improvement as you need to ensure that routes and policies are aligned, which can be complex.
I hope Fortinet will start an insider developer program where professionals can provide feedback on new releases to ensure improvements.
We can recommend FortiClient for small organizations with 50 to 60 users as well as for larger enterprises due to its extensive features.
The pricing model makes it challenging as the cost is substantial due to the per-node licensing model.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiClient is stable and reliable, with minor VPN issues, improved stability, and high user ratings.
Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiNAC's stability receives mixed reviews, with praises for improvements but concerns about initial issues and support challenges.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiClient needs improved management simplicity, support, pricing, usability, stability, integration, and advanced features like AI and better VPN options.
Fortinet FortiNAC faces issues with integration, user interface, training, support, and network visibility, while being costly.
FortiClient needs improvement in restricting user information and ensuring more secure customer data to better protect source code and reduce the risk of security breaches.
The routing and policy need to be tailored between both to ensure proper functionality.
There are advanced features like Zero Trust that I currently do not use but could be beneficial for security.
Improvement in the interface design would make FortiNAC a better solution.
The graphical user interface (GUI) of Fortinet FortiNAC is very poor compared to competitors like Forcepoint and Cisco ISE.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiClient offers competitive mid-range pricing with free VPN, yearly subscriptions, bulk discounts, but faces recent price increases.
Fortinet FortiNAC offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing, good value, and affordability, especially in larger deployments.
FortiClient is a value-for-money product and is not considered expensive compared to similar products on the market.
Recently, Fortinet has increased prices for its products.
Justifying the price to clients can be difficult.
Fortinet FortiNAC is relatively cheap compared to other solutions.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiClient offers robust security, seamless integration with Active Directory, and remote access, ensuring efficient management and user-friendly interface.
Fortinet FortiNAC provides strong security with device visibility, seamless integration, user management, compliance checks, and effective reporting tools.
The most valuable feature of FortiClient is its high security level.
We appreciate its VPN capabilities and the features that offer extra security functionalities like antivirus and malware scanning.
It enhances our business by allowing our agents to work remotely, which we had not been able to do before.
I appreciate the feature where it can connect with different vendor equipment, regardless of the network devices from other vendors.
The main advantage of Fortinet FortiNAC is its integration with the entire Fortinet product portfolio.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiClient
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (16th), Endpoint Compliance (1st), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (2nd)
Fortinet FortiNAC
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiClient is designed for Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) and holds a mindshare of 2.1%, down 2.8% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiNAC, on the other hand, focuses on Network Access Control (NAC), holds 18.5% mindshare, up 15.7% since last year.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

MuhammadJahangir - PeerSpot reviewer
Users only need to install the VPN and authenticate with their email address
I primarily use remote VPN solutions to connect securely. We have configured both site-to-site VPN and remote VPN, and it is connected to FortiClient Implementing this solution has streamlined time management in our organization. Without SSO, we would need manual configuration for each PC, but…
Boaz Katabazi - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless device discovery with integration and discovery capabilities
FortiNAC is very good in terms of device discovery and integration. I appreciate the feature where it can connect with different vendor equipment, regardless of the network devices from other vendors. That's something I appreciate about it, particularly in terms of adaptability. Despite the complexity of its interface, its discovery capabilities are commendable.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
43%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Government
4%
Educational Organization
34%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What is the biggest difference between Aruba ClearPass and FortiNAC?
I've done quite a lot of work with ClearPass, and not a lot with FortiNAC/Bradford. ClearPass incorporates a number of different functions including ClearPass Guest for creating complex wireless g...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiNAC?
The support responds to our queries within two to four hours.
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
FortiNAC, Bradford Networks, Bradford Networks Sentry, Network Sentry Family
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Isavia, Pepperdine University, Medical University of South Carolina, Columbia University Medical Center, Utah Valley University
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiClient vs. Fortinet FortiNAC and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
842,651 professionals have used our research since 2012.