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Fortinet FortiSIEM vs Observer GigaStor 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

Fortinet FortiSIEM
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (13th), AI Observability (15th)
Observer GigaStor
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (84th), Network Troubleshooting (14th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Fortinet FortiSIEM and Observer GigaStor aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiSIEM is designed for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and holds a mindshare of 2.2%, down 3.3% compared to last year.
Observer GigaStor, on the other hand, focuses on Network Monitoring Software, holds 0.5% mindshare, up 0.2% since last year.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiSIEM2.2%
Splunk Enterprise Security7.6%
IBM Security QRadar5.5%
Other84.7%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Observer GigaStor0.5%
Zabbix3.8%
SolarWinds NPM3.7%
Other92.0%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

SY
Network Engineer at Ogma Consulting
Comprehensive monitoring boosts security, yet incident management features need expansion
Fortinet FortiSIEM should broaden its remediation part to include more features for incident management. Currently, to manage repetitive incidents or for remediation, I need to use a separate software called FortiSOAR. Additionally, the search functionality in FortiAI should be improved to provide more precise results, making it easier for me to understand what actions need to be taken.
Jeroen-Dubbelman - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Bitrate
Aids significantly in the threat-hunting process and provides a score-based evaluation of user experience
There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies. The retrospective network analysis capability of Observer GigaStor has been beneficial. It's a pivotal feature for network performance solutions. However, I prefer to consider the entire solution suite - GigaStor, along with GigaFlow and Apex - for comprehensive network visibility and monitoring. So, I prefer to integrate all three solutions to provide the best visibility. They complement each other well, with Apex aggregating and correlating data from both GigaStor and GigaFlow to enhance environmental understanding and troubleshooting efficiency.

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 feature is the anomaly-reporting alarms."
"These aspects make Fortinet FortiSIEM a valuable choice."
"The most valuable features of the solution is its integration with other technologies, especially its ability to collect logs from Cisco and Aruba devices along with Fortinet products."
"The pricing is very, very affordable; for the value you get, I think it’s about the cheapest solution on the market."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM has its own validated and authentic IP database that marks malicious IP attacks against the firewall and generates an alert for the same."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM provides good detection against advanced threats."
"The Threat Hunting feature provides complete traffic analysis."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiSIEM are the SD-WAN, Global LAN, and application controls."
"I have no regrets using this product, I am very satisfied for what I paid for it and for the things I am able to do with the product."
"It can help to write your rules, organize firewalls, your block, and also your protocols and IP address to come in or out of your network."
"The ability to capture packets. It is not only for monitoring. That is very important for a company that wants to keep an eye on the packets, the transactions, the flows..."
"Industry-leading line rates, packet-capture technology and data-mining capabilities are the most valuable features."
"Go take a look at it. It's a great product and has great capabilities."
"It's able to capture packets and, after a long time, you can come and use that information; to check, to analyze - everything you would want to do. So it's very good and helpful if you want to protect your data. It is stored in a certain place where you can access it every time you want to analyze it."
"There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies."
"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."
 

Cons

"Their technical support is horrible. By horrible, I mean a train wreck of a disaster that has fallen off a bridge and caught fire."
"There are some connectivity issues with FortiAnalyzer and FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM could improve by having a signature update."
"The interface needs some improvements because it's a bit cumbersome when you're trying to view items. It takes some time to get used to. Additionally, sometimes the scrolling does not work."
"The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"With FortiSIEM, the issue has to do with the ways we can generate a report. It's not as flexible compared to that with other SIEM tools, like Splunk."
"The initial setup is complex. They need to make it easier in terms of implementation."
"The reporting feature is not very attractive for the upper management and I am not able to perform complex/nested queries."
"There are some issues, in our environment that puts processing restraints on the Gigastor when turning on trending data to be sent to APEX."
"GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities could enhance its functionality."
"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."
"The interface is pretty complex, so for the average user, it takes a while to get up to speed with it. I would like it to be more user-friendly."
"Graphics need improvement. Because a lot of the information there you have to input first in some case to have full potential. It could be more automated."
"The Observer Console UI is consistent and stable, but could use some updating to be more modern."
"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily. It's already good, but they can work more on it to make it even easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FortiSIEM's licensing is based on EPS, and its pricing is competitive in the market."
"Fortinet's products are not expensive, it is less than the competition."
"There are additional features that cost more than the standard licensing fees."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The license is scalable. If there are 10 devices it is simple to license."
"Pricing is determined based on the customer's budget."
"This is probably more on the lower cost end of the spectrum compared to competing products. Fortinet's license model is based on events per second, which makes sense, but that's not typical. It makes it very hard to calculate what your costs are going to be as you scale the platform because some log sources, such as firewall logs, are very noisy, and there are lots and lots of events per second, but some of them are not. So, it becomes a bit of a science experiment trying to guess what your costs are going to be as you scale the solution. This is where other competing products perhaps have a more straightforward license model."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is cheaper compared to other products."
"We pay for a license for FortiSIEM. We pay for the license and renewal."
"It depends on the requirements you have. There are three types of license. There's the updates license, the work group license, and the workstation license."
"It's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSIEM?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiSIEM is wonderful, as it offers an excellent license compared to other vendors.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSIEM?
Fortinet FortiSIEM is great overall. Performance could be enhanced, but I do not wish to elaborate on needed improvements.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM?
My main use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM is building a SOC and serving as an event management platform for correlating events in my work. I use Fortinet FortiSIEM for event correlation by building a...
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Also Known As

FortiSIEM, AccelOps
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FortiSIEM has hundreds of customers worldwide in markets including managed services, technology, financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers include Aruba Networks, Compushare, Port of San Diego, Cleveland Indians, Infoblox, Healthways, and Referentia.
Cisco Systems, Hawaiian Telecom, Renown Health, State of Nevada, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Allstate Insurance, Jack Henry & Associates, United States Airforce, US Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Chicago Board Options Exchange
Find out what your peers are saying about Splunk, IBM, Wazuh and others in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.