We use the solution to manage the firewall and the policies and objects associated with it.
The solution is easy to use, and it integrates all devices on a single platform
Pros and Cons
- "The product is easy to use and manage."
- "FortiManager should improve the integration with third-party platforms."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The product is easy to use and manage. It integrates all the global devices into one platform.
What needs improvement?
FortiManager should improve the integration with third-party platforms. Though the solution is easy to manage, we need adequate training to use it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for the past two years.
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiManager
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiManager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. Around 20 to 30 IT employees use the solution in the organization.
What about the implementation team?
It is a cloud-based solution. Around 20 people are needed for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution.
What other advice do I have?
Only IT employees in the organization can use the platform. I would recommend the solution to others. I would rate the product a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Security Specialist at GBM
User-friendly, straightforward, and works incredibly well
Pros and Cons
- "FortiManager offers a full zero-touch provisioning feature that allows us to create a template of our devices and onboard them remotely without visiting the site."
- "The scalability has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiManager acts as a centralized platform for overseeing our entire Fortinet security infrastructure, which includes FortiGate firewalls, switches, and access points. From a single user interface, we can manage and configure these components to ensure maximum protection of our networks. The TNA concept is where we can have Zero Touch Provisioning.
What is most valuable?
FortiManager offers a full zero-touch provisioning feature that allows us to create a template of our devices and onboard them remotely without visiting the site. This is an excellent benefit of using FortiManager for our Firewall assets.
Fortinet FortiManager is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The scalability has room for improvement. The solution is available in both a hardware and a virtual machine model. The VM model is scalable by simply adding additional licenses, but the hardware model has scalability limitations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I give the stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I give the scalability an eight out of ten.
We have over 30 customers using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
Once we have set up our template, it should take only two to three days to deploy. After that, we can quickly and easily add firewalls without any further automation.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
I would highly recommend FortiManager; in my experience, it is much simpler than any other central management solution I have seen. FortiManager is user-friendly, straightforward, and works incredibly well. Pushing policies and other tasks is made incredibly easy and uncomplicated.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiManager
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiManager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Owner at Omma Consulting
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
General Manager/ Owner at Security Parameter
Helps simplify security policy management, receives good updates, and is easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
- "The firmware version upgrades are the most valuable feature."
- "The price always has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiManager to monitor our customer's firewalls.
How has it helped my organization?
FortiManager simplifies security policy management for our clients, even though their configurations differ. This is because it allows us to easily copy and administer base policies across all deployments.
What is most valuable?
The firmware version upgrades are the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The price always has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiManager for a year.
How are customer service and support?
I used the technical support one time and it was a good experience.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end. I would rate the price 8 out of 10 with 10 being the most expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiManager 8 out of 10.
I've been working with Fortinet firewalls for over ten years now. Everything works consistently well, including the hardware, software, operating system, and all the features. They're easy to configure, and using firewalls together with FortiManager for central administration and monitoring of all our devices makes everything much simpler.
I recommend Fortinet FortiManager because you can administer the firewalls from one tool.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner/Reseller
Architect at IT Systems and Solutions sp. z o.o.
It's an essential tool for managing complex environments across multiple sites
Pros and Cons
- "Without FortiManager, you cannot manage a complex environment across several sites with multiple firewalls."
- "FortiManager could improve by making it easier to port larger policy packages to the FortiGate firewalls. Sometimes, there's an issue when we install a big package of policies. If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices. It's only an issue when you're dealing with thousands of policies and installing them on a large number of devices."
What is our primary use case?
FortManager is a tool for centrally managing multiple FortiGate firewalls.
What is most valuable?
Without FortiManager, you cannot manage a complex environment across several sites with multiple firewalls.
What needs improvement?
FortiManager could improve by making it easier to port larger policy packages to the FortiGate firewalls. Sometimes, there's an issue when we install a big package of policies. If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices. It's only an issue when you're dealing with thousands of policies and installing them on a large number of devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used FortiManager for about 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate FortiManager eight out of 10 for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Fortinet support nine out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with Cisco and Aruba. We decided to switch to Fortinet a couple of years back because we determined that Fortinet offered the best solution.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying FortiManager is straightforward. The initial installation is simple and can be completed in a few minutes, but configuring the devices and sending the policy packages to the firewalls can take a few hours. We have around seven engineers maintaining this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate FortiManager six out of 10 for affordability. The pricing is decent. It isn't the most expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
I rate FortiManager eight out of 10. I recommend it for those who use FortiGate firewalls. It's a management unit for Fortinet solutions, so if you don't use FortiGate, it makes no sense.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Scaling Engineer at Lutessa 2S
Robust with decent pricing and lots of features
Pros and Cons
- "The integration is quite good."
- "There is a degradation of performance if we activate logs on FortiManager."
What is our primary use case?
FortiManager is used just to manage a lot of devices from Fortinet, especially FortiGate. We can push the configuration, we can push the packages, and we can change the configuration from the FortiManager via centralized management.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of features that are important to us. For example, we like that we can roll back to the previous configuration, or push configuration on devices remotely. We also have the ability to save the configuration on FortiManager. If there is an issue with the devices, we can report the configuration remotely.
It's a very rich, robust product.
The integration is quite good.
Its pricing is decent.
This solution is easy to set up.
The solution is able to scale quite well.
What needs improvement?
We are not missing any features at this time. I don't have any expectations about additional features.
The storage could be better for logs. There is a degradation of performance if we activate logs on FortiManager.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. We haven't faced any performance issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. It's easy to expand.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex to implement.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable. It varies. Sometimes we need to buy many appliances and sometimes just a few.
There are some additional costs sometimes from our partner. It depends on the size of the environment of our clients. We can negotiate on and maybe lower the price if a lot of devices are needed.
What other advice do I have?
We are a VMware vendor. We work with a local partner. We are a kind of integrator.
With respect to the requirements, new users should consider performance and be sure to tune the solution correctly during the configuration and integration. It will ensure it works well once it is up and running.
I'd rate the solution nine 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
Group Head of IT at a maritime company with 501-1,000 employees
Good Protection with multiple features in one box, but there are visibility issues and the price could be reduced
Pros and Cons
- "It has multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment. This is something that makes them unique."
- "We have some visibility issues with the reporting."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as our core Firewall.
How has it helped my organization?
As our core firewall, it provides us with good protection.
What is most valuable?
The functionality is good. It has good features and it works well for us.
It has multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment. This is something that makes them unique.
What needs improvement?
We have some visibility issues with the reporting. As the reporting is not properly available, we have to use many tools to get a meaningful outcome of the reports.
There should be training available for the clients. Cisco, for example, provides training hours or credits at the time of purchase. People should get some kind of coaching on how to use this solution and various features rather than depending upon the support partners.
The reports are available separately, but they should be a part of the standard product.
For how long have I used the solution?
With this company, I have been working with Fortinet FortiManager for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has good stability. It's reliable as far as the production environment is concerned. It is working well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For us, it is fine as it is, because we don't have a large environment, and don't need such requirements.
It does provide the scalability for larger organizations with more sites. They may need to upgrade or maybe attach more devices.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have good access to the portal, and the information can be pulled from there. The department is also helpful.
Our experience with technical support has been good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used another solution. We did a complete overhaul of our network architecture, which was the main reason we brought Fortinet FortiManager into our environment.
How was the initial setup?
With some help, the initial setup was fine.
What about the implementation team?
We had engaged the partner to implement this solution for us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet is a high-end product and the cost is high. They should consider reducing the price, especially for existing customers.
If you want to add something or if you want to resubscribe, there should be some advantage given to the existing customers.
In my opinion, in general, the prices are high.
What other advice do I have?
Currently, it is fulfilling our requirements. We don't have any immediate plans to change, and we don't have any expansion possibility as such, because there is no expansion in our environment.
It is everyone's own choice what they want in their environment and what they want to prioritize.
Because I have some reservations, I would rate Fortinet FortiManager a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Operations Engineer at Inara Technologies
User-friendly and very clear with easy to push templates
Pros and Cons
- "I pushed templates from FortiManager to our site, and they were deployed successfully."
- "When I started, it was a bit difficult, however, now it's okay. It can be a bit complex for basic users."
What is our primary use case?
FortiManager, we're just managing our FortiGates deployed in our different sites, and we are monitoring our MSSP solution there from the FortiManager. There are different sites and different clients that have their different FortiGates. The FortiManager manages all FortiGates. We push templates. If there are any changes in the FortiGate, we're just not doing that directly to the FortiGate, we are managing it via FortiManager.
What is most valuable?
It was very amazing. The things were very clear. I pushed templates from FortiManager to our site, and they were deployed successfully. It was quite enjoyable.
The templates are great. They are very helpful. You make a template and push it to the FortiGate, and it's been working fine.
It's pretty user-friendly.
Technical support is helpful.
The solution can scale.
It's stable.
What needs improvement?
I didn't use the alternative FortiManager yet, so I'm happy with the FortiManager right now. If I use some other product, then I should be able to isolate things, and I'd like some sort of isolation feature in the product. There's nothing I can say that's a negative point.
When I started, it was a bit difficult, however, now it's okay. It can be a bit complex for basic users.
If I'm defining a subnet, I need to define it in two different locations. We have to create the subnet and then name it as well. So there are two different ways to define a single subnet, and it should only be one.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We have a lot of customers on the product and some are expanding.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very helpful and responsive. Every time we open a ticket, they help us and make sure it's resolved.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't deploy FortiManager. I'm just operating it. When I joined the company, it was already deployed, and we didn't deploy any other FortiManager. I didn't work on implementation. My understanding, however, is that it would not be that difficult.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to competitors like Cisco, Fortinet is very reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't research any other solutions. We like and prefer FortiManager.
What other advice do I have?
We are Fortinet partners.
The solution is deployed on-premises in our data center.
I'd rate the solution 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: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiManager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Product Categories
Network Management ApplicationsPopular Comparisons
Cisco DNA Center
DX Spectrum
Aruba Airwave
HPE Intelligent Management Center
Junos Space Network Director
OpenText Network Node Manager i
SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiManager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- What is your opinion on Fortinet FortiManager vs AlgoSec? Are they complementary?
- Which Network Management System is better, IBM Netcool or HP Node Manager?
- When evaluating Network Management Applications, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- Which Network Analyzer and Network Configuration Manager do you recommend?
- Which device do you recommend to use for traffic shaping & bandwidth optimization between P2P links?
- Installing the new IBM Tivoli "NOI" Application
- How has the Facebook outage (October 2021) happened? Could it have been prevented?
- Why is Network Management Applications important for companies?