Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Fortune Madzivo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Good management, easy to deploy policies, and very reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to deploy to licenses."
  • "The documentation could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for management and analysis. We use it for the management of two or three firewalls and the deployment of policies. 

What is most valuable?

This is quite a convenient solution. We can manage a number of items. The wireless management is easy. 

The VPN is easy. I have the ability to do the proper configuration of each of the firewalls. 

It is easy to deploy to licenses. 

The initial setup is very simple. 

The product is stable.

It is scalable. 

The functionality is very high.

We have found the pricing reasonable.

What needs improvement?

I'm still exploring the solution. I have not come across any missing features. 

The documentation could be better. Sometimes information seems lacking, however, maybe I'm not sure where to look for the information I need.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about six months now. 

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiManager
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiManager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. I'd rate it ten out of ten. It is extremely reliable with no bugs or glitches. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. I'd rate it eight out of ten. I haven't tried to scale to any great extent.

We have around five users that are administrating the solution at the moment.

How are customer service and support?

We have never dealt with technical support yet.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did use the Cisco FTD Manager. Fortinet is easy to use and deploy. It's also easy to manage. It's a full-fledged integrated solution, unlike Cisco. Cisco also took longer in terms of committing policies. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup process is simple and straightforward. It is not complex. 

What about the implementation team?

We handled the setup in-house ourselves without any outside help. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is pretty good. I'd rate the affordability nine out of ten. Compared to Cisco and Palo Alto, it's reasonable. 

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. It's a very good solution. I'm still working on learning the solution. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Socipart67 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at TiThink
Real User
Simple to use with easy management and good reliability
Pros and Cons
  • "It can scale well."
  • "The price is a bit too high."

What is our primary use case?

We have two branches and find that this solution makes it easy to implement the same configuration in different firewalls. You don't have to log onto any of the equipment with the VPN of the customer. It is the easiest way to manage a network.

What is most valuable?

This tool is simple to use. It makes management very easy. 

It helps with the underly IT. Things go more smoothly since everything is managed in one place.

The solution is stable.

It can scale well.

The product does help save a lot of time thanks to its efficient management capabilities. 

What needs improvement?

The price is a bit too high. Aside from the price, I do not have any complaints about the product.

It would be ideal if they could bundle the product with others. Right now, you have all of these Forti products and you have to pay for a license for FortiGate and then have other licenses for the Analyzer and Cloud, for example. 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.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for around seven months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has good stability. The product is reliable. I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of reliability. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is great. I would rate it nine out of ten. It expands easily. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use any different products. 

How was the initial setup?

The implementation is simple. It doesn't require an installation. All the products work on the same cloud. You just have to add it to the equation. 

We have seven engineers working on it to support it. They are available for any maintenance requirements. 

What was our ROI?

We have seen a bit of ROI in that we save time providing the service to clients. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is pretty high.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution. 

It's a good solution. I'd suggest others to go ahead and try it without any hesitation. 

I'd rate the product nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiManager
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiManager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Jozef Beliansky - PeerSpot reviewer
Network engineers at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Easy to set up with good central management and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "Stability is good within the product."
  • "I prefer configuring rules and the VPN on the standalone device, not on the manager."

What is our primary use case?

We have 20 Forti Firewalls, including FortiManager. 

We use it for firewall management as we have many objects. In FortiManager, we use one type of object and implementation, the different firewalls.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is having one object on all networks, which allows for implementation only once. We can have that object on one firewall or many, and we don't have to do everything one by one.

It's easy to set up the solution. 

Stability is good within the product.

It is scalable. 

Technical support is helpful and knowledgeable. 

The central management is great.

It's very transparent. If I  am troubleshooting for people who have a problem connecting to the network, then I can just open FortiManager and see all of the history of the connection. It makes it easy if I have to adjust a configuration.

What needs improvement?

The rules need to be more flexible. I prefer configuring rules and the VPN on the standalone device, not on the manager.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's quite stable. It's reliable, and the performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have found the product to be scalable. It's not a problem if you want to expand it. 

For example, if you want to add another 10 or 15 firewalls, will it have any problems

How are customer service and support?

We have technical support in my local language. The person who assists us is senior and he's a master of FortiManager. He knows many options for configurations.

Their technical support is very responsive. They are very knowledgeable.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

It's easy to set up the product. It's an easy deployment. If I have a new box, we just have to create a template, and I add a new FortiGate to FortiManager, and implementation becomes only standard configuration via FortiManager. We do any password policy, proxy pack, and other features we implement, we do so through FortiManager. Other updates, for example, a hostname or object, is from FortiManager. However, if I create any specific rule on a specific VPN, we configure that on the device.

I'd rate the solution four out of five in terms of ease of implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We bought FortiManager as an option as we bought maybe five firewalls plus a license to FortiManager. The implementation site gave me only one price, which included both solutions. It was basically a package. It's moderately priced. I'd rate it a three out of five in terms of affordability.

What other advice do I have?

We had average security knowledge about management, and we started with a demo project. It was from Fortigate Support. They gave me two or three months free to try out FortiManager. I'd advise people to take the time to test it and see how it works. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
ChristianBenjamin - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre-Sales Engineer at Cable & Wireless Communications
Reseller
Great pricing, good support, and very customizable
Pros and Cons
  • "Setup, setting policies, and reporting were all very easy. We had no issues whatsoever getting the solution up and running."
  • "Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area."

What is our primary use case?

We had a customer that had about five locations and at each location, they needed a management device. We installed FortiManager at the head office and all locations report back to it. 

What is most valuable?

Setup, setting policies, and reporting were all very easy. We had no issues whatsoever getting the solution up and running. 

The ability to manage multiple devices is great. We have one set up and one pane of glass for management. The reporting features are customizable for the customer. We would normally just show them some default reports and they would customize them. So far, there are no problems customizing your reports.

What needs improvement?

I haven't had any issues with the product.

Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for a while. The company I work with now exclusively uses Fortinet products.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For network monitoring, I've previously used SolarWinds. The major differences are the ease of use of Fortinet and its single pane of glass. It's also easier to get reports. SolarWinds can require a little more technical knowledge. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple. I'd rate the process eight out of ten in terms of ease of setup. The deployment takes, on a complex install, about two days. On a simpler install, it would take less than a day.

Usually, we have one solution implementation engineer managing the deployment. 

Once we have implemented it, it goes over to our support center and they handle it under a managed service.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Fortinet has the best pricing currently on the market. They are very competitive, especially if you are a preferred partner (which we are). 

What other advice do I have?

I'd advise others to use it. It's a powerful tool. It makes managing multiple Fortinet products very easy. You can tie in FortiSwitches, Fortigates, et cetera, and gain one central point of management with great reporting functionality.

I'd rate the solution an eight out of ten. It's best of breed and always on the cutting edge of security technologies. they keep abreast of upcoming trends and emerging technologies. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Presales Consultant at Redington (India) Ltd
Reseller
Feature-rich with good centralization of management and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The features are good."
  • "There may be a communication issue. However, other items may be the culprit, such as network connectivity. It depends on the customer's network."

What is our primary use case?

We had clients that wanted to manage multiple devices such as Fortigate firewalls. The customer had an environment with multiple devices or multiple branches. Now, they can centrally manage everything with this one product.

What is most valuable?

The features are good.

The reporting functionality is centralized. You can see policies and monitor the entire infrastructure. It makes administration very easy.

What needs improvement?

I cannot comment on what needs to be improved, although there are always potential areas for improvement in every product.

The Fortinet team is always very responsive and resolves issues quickly. For example, sometimes there may be a communication issue. However, other items may be the culprit, such as network connectivity. It depends on the customer's network. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. The solution can be scalable or maybe not scalable enough in some use cases. If you are working with a private or public cloud, it is very scalable. If you go for a hardware-based client, you may need to upgrade the hardware to scale. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good. They could always be better. Sometimes certain issues take more time, especially in terms of escalation. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very easy. Documentation is very easy to find on the partner portal.

Configuration can be a big task. It depends on the scope of work. However, a fresh install might take about one hour. 

One person can easily deploy the product. That said, it depends on the environment. For example, if some devices are located in another location, another person may need to be there. You might need some credentials for that location as well.

There is some maintenance for proper monitoring and updating to the latest version of firmware. If you get any error messages or alerts, you'll have to action them. One person can handle maintenance tasks. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is competitive. It's neither cheap nor expensive. The solution can be paid annually. If you use a cloud, you will have to pay for subscription charges. 

What other advice do I have?

I work as a reseller.

I'd advise the solution to users that have a big organization and if they are using Fortigate Firewalls, It helps centralize anything.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. They have so many features. It's very feature-rich. From one central location, you can monitor everything. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
Prasanth Kailasam - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Client Manager at GBM
Real User
Top 5
Straightforward setup, and simple policy and management
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiManager is the ease of manageability and policy-pushing functionality."
  • "Fortinet FortiManager could improve them by adding more portfolio components."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiManager can provide visibility for other Fortinet solutions across the company's environments, such as multiple branch offices. You are able to manage all these devices efficiently.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiManager is the ease of manageability and policy-pushing functionality.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiManager could improve them by adding more portfolio components.

In a future release, it would be beneficial if Fortinet FortiManager could improve by adding more devices able to be managed the solution, including  switching, routing, and wireless,

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiManager for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fine but could improve.

I rate the stability of Fortinet FortiManager an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiManager is a scalable solution.

I have a considerable number of clients who currently use FortiManager - at present, I can recall more than five. Since effective policy management and centralized upgrades are critical for multi-location management, FortiManager is an essential tool for such purposes. FortiManager is installed in the majority of my clients' locations.

How are customer service and support?

The support of Fortinet FortiManager is good. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiManager is straightforward. We can push out the policies centrally. From a hardware or a component perspective, the implementation is simple.

The initial implementation can be completed in just a few days. However, over the course of a week or a week and a half, we could potentially refine and simplify the process. Nevertheless, it's an ongoing endeavor, as each organization's needs dictate the policies that must be established and maintained.

What about the implementation team?

One person is enough for the deployment of the solution. However, it can depend on the environment. If there are a lot of modifications there might be a need for more people for the deployment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Fortinet FortiManager operates on a licensing system that is dependent on the number of devices being managed. Yearly subscription renewal is necessary to continue using the service. 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.

What other advice do I have?

Fortinet FortiManager is highly recommended as a crucial component of any comprehensive solution offered to clients. This is especially true for clients operating in multi-location and multi-branch environments, where individually managing, upgrading, and patching each location can be a significant burden. In such scenarios, Fortinet FortiManager can greatly alleviate these challenges and streamlines the management process.

I rate Fortinet FortiManager an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
PeerSpot user
AliHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Leader - Telecom & Network at 2B Operating Co.
Real User
Easy to setup but dashboard could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The main benefit of Fortinet FortiManager is the ability to control all the devices from a central location, view their statuses, and manage their configurations and updates from a single management console."
  • "The dashboard could use some improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We are using a virtual machine for the FortiManager. It's already installed, and we just collected the seven units under the FortiManager. So we don't need to access each device separately. It collects all the FortiGate units in one console. We see the statistics and the status for all machines from the FortiManager. It is easy to control and monitor all the remote devices.

What is most valuable?

The main benefit of Fortinet FortiManager is the ability to control all the devices from a central location, view their statuses, and manage their configurations and updates from a single management console. 

What needs improvement?

The price may only be applicable for bigger companies, and there is room for improvement in the FortiManager in license models. In general, the SIM license can be a bit complicated. You have to order licenses for different endpoints and devices, and calculating the costs can be confusing. Simplifying the ordering process for the SIM license would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the SD-WAN solution for almost a year now. It was implemented in 2021. For Fortinet FortiManager, it's been less than a year since we connected after the implementation of the SD-WAN. It's on-premise but as a virtual machine.

We are using the latest version of Fortinet FortiManager because we updated it before and after the installation.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

How are customer service and support?

We ordered the product from a local company, which also provided the installation service for the firewall and SD one. We have not yet utilized the Fortinet technical support services.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. We did it without any training.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed the solution myself. When I installed it, I made sure that I installed the latest version of FortiManager, and then I added the devices one by one. I provided the credentials for each device, and the information was automatically synchronized with the remote devices. So, I did it one by one. It is installed in the VM environment, so it is not difficult to maintain it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

As we are an oil company, the price was manageable for us because we had a budget for it. But for small businesses, it could be costly.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use SolarWinds for scenarios like network performance monitoring, configuration management, and IP address management. And for the FortiGate firewalls, we are using Fortinet FortiManager.

We have different modules for SolarWinds, but for FortiGate firewalls, we use FortiManager.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I will rate it a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the worst and ten is the best because the dashboard could use some improvement.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Owner at Omma Consulting
Real User
Good features and fair pricing but needs better connectivity with FortiManager and FortiSwitch
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very stable."
  • "I didn't like the connectivity with FortiManager and FortiSwitch, which was buggy and annoying and had fewer features."

What is most valuable?

I like the features on offer. For example, SD-WAN. It's one single configuration point for everything, especially when you have a headquarters and branch.

The VPN also is beneficial also.

The correlation with the FortiAnalyzer is very good with FortiManager. 

The solution is very stable.

We find the pricing to be fair. 

What needs improvement?

I didn't like the connectivity with FortiManager and FortiSwitch, which was buggy and annoying and had fewer features. For example, sometimes you could change something in FortiManager, and then you had to upload another version of the configuration. If you changed something on the suite side, you had a problem. The correlation between FortiManager and the Forti suites was not that good.

I'd like more visibility and more troubleshooting features for the whole VPN. I'd like a better quality of service and maybe more features. We always compare features with what other vendors offer to see if there is added value from a certain product. From what I've seen, for example, with SD-WAN that Cisco used to build, which was similar to the VPN for FortiManager, it was quite easy to implement in comparison. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used this solution for the last four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. The performance is good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable if you have many devices. It makes things easier, especially if you want to have a VPN and stuff like that. When you have lots of devices, it's very helpful as a solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I work with a variety of Fortinet products, including FortiGate, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiWiFi with access points.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is quite reasonable.

I can't speak to exact pricing as I don't handle the licensing aspects. In some cases, where customers have two or three devices, it comes for free.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a Fortinet partner. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiManager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: September 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiManager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.