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Fortinet FortiManager vs Fortinet FortiOS 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
7.4
Fortinet FortiManager offers cost-effectiveness and ROI benefits, enhancing security and reducing administration costs with improved configuration visibility.
Sentiment score
8.2
Fortinet FortiOS is valued for scalability, ease of use, and cost-saving benefits, offering competitive pricing and reliable performance.
We have seen a bit of ROI in that we save time providing the service to clients.
Once it is deployed, I do not have to revisit or replace the hardware.
The pricing of FortiOS is competitive and reasonable compared to other leading products such as Palo Alto and Check Point.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiManager's customer service is praised but experiences delays, wait times, and variable expertise among support engineers.
Sentiment score
8.4
Fortinet FortiOS receives mixed reviews for support; praised for responsiveness but criticized for delays with complex issues.
I'd rate their support a nine out of ten.
Fortinet's support has proven to be reliable, particularly as we've been engaged with them since the project's initiation.
Technical support is helpful.
Fortinet technical support is very responsive and helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Fortinet FortiManager is scalable and suitable for large enterprises, supporting multiple devices but may have hardware and cost limitations.
Sentiment score
8.9
FortiOS offers scalable solutions for various organizations, supports easy user expansion, but hardware upgrades may be needed at capacity.
It expands easily.
I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of scalability.
You can raise the capacity as you go, and there is no limit for hardware.
It allows for the expansion of users and devices without additional licensing costs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Fortinet FortiManager is considered stable and reliable, with minimal bugs, occasional reboots, and infrequent minor upgrade issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiOS is reliable with minimal bugs; minor issues are swiftly fixed, ensuring consistently stable performance and dependability.
I rate the solution's stability ten out of ten.
There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.
It is extremely reliable with no bugs or glitches.
I would rate the stability of FortiOS as an eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiManager requires enhanced documentation, integration, support, stability, scalability, and improved usability for configuration, VPN management, and automation capabilities.
Fortinet FortiOS users seek simplified VPN setup, better support, centralized management, improved performance, and enhanced security features.
Instead of paying separately and having all of these licenses, it would be nice to centralize everything and maybe reduce the price for a bundle.
You have to order licenses for different endpoints and devices, and calculating the costs can be confusing.
They need to have a local footprint and local support.
There should be more documentation on how to use the CLI or how to perform CLI versions of tasks that can be done through the GUI.
Compared to other market leaders like Palo Alto and Check Point, FortiOS has many bugs in its initial releases.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiManager offers competitive pricing for enterprises, particularly in large deployments, though smaller installations may find it costly.
Fortinet FortiOS offers competitive pricing for medium to large enterprises, though renewal costs may deter smaller businesses.
Although there is a cost associated with Fortinet FortiManager, its price is undoubtedly justified by the value it provides in terms of the purpose it serves.
It isn't like other solutions where you need to pay for SD-WAN or additional bandwidth.
Fortinet has the best pricing currently on the market.
Fortinet products are somewhat pricey, similar to Cisco equivalents, however, they have justified their price point.
I am satisfied with the pricing, licensing, and setup costs of FortiOS, rating it nine out of ten compared to other familiar leading firewalls.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiManager excels in centralized firewall management, scalability, automation, and integration, enhancing network efficiency and security.
Fortinet FortiOS is renowned for its powerful threat management, seamless integration, and strong support with a user-friendly interface.
The product does help save a lot of time thanks to its efficient management capabilities.
I can automate the installation of configurations using different programming languages like Python or HPE, and it's a GUI solution, so it's pretty easy to use, even for basic users.
The solution is stable.
It is user-friendly when it comes to turning on features, and it has been reliable and effective.
The threat intelligence in FortiOS is very high, and the system is scalable without additional licensing costs.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiManager
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (3rd)
Fortinet FortiOS
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Fortinet FortiManager and Fortinet FortiOS aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiManager is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 5.0%, down 5.4% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiOS, on the other hand, focuses on Firewalls, holds 0.9% mindshare, up 0.9% since last year.
Network Management Applications
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

HamedWasel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices
We've faced an issue when we need to move devices. Templates need to be recreated instead of having the policies, et cetera, cut and pasted over. Everything should just move over when we need to move devices instead of recreating everything from scratch. For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate.
Harshama Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
We have improved network security with user-friendly controls and high threat intelligence
FortiOS is very user-friendly and easy to configure for L1, L2, and L3 personnel. Its web filtering, application control, and IPS features are very user-friendly, easy to manage, and deploy. The threat intelligence in FortiOS is very high, and the system is scalable without additional licensing costs. FortiOS allows us to expand the number of users and devices as our network needs grow.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly. Better integration of Fortinet ADC into FortiManager would be beneficial.
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiOS?
The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?
I am aware that Fortinet products are somewhat pricey, similar to Cisco equivalents, however, they have justified their price point.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: February 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.