Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiAP comparison

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Fortinet FortiAP based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Wireless LAN solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP Report (Updated: June 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP

June 2024

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Featured Reviews

Mark Houtz

Senior Network Engineer at Northeastern Utah Educational Services

Jul 22, 2022

Useful reporting, integrates well, and highly superior support

We use Juniper Wireless AP in schools. We have one Juniper Wireless AP covering two classrooms. They are helping kids with their daily connectivity needs in the classroom, such as studying and homework Juniper Wireless AP has allowed my IT directors and other IT personnel to not have to focus on…

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reviewer1231155

Senior Network Admin at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees

Dec 22, 2023

Terrible licensing, trouble with updating, and unhelpful support advice.

The licensing model is a terrible idea. Don’t buy a license for seven years, you will be stuck with old hardware that doesn’t work properly anymore, and can’t be replaced and you are expected to pay yourself to replace in order to fix their issues. If they can't fix the issues anymore in 7-year-old hardware they should replace the hardware at their expense, however, all they say is you have to buy new hardware. A maximum of a five-year license is my recommendation. WiFi technology moves fast and seven-year-old hardware is no longer workable. The limit of two weeks on rolling back a firmware update is ridiculous. If you report a problem that affects a whole location they should let you roll back the firmware after any amount of time, not limited to two weeks. Then you have to spend a month every day on the phone trying to persuade them that you have a serious issue with their firmware.

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Yati Gharat

Chief Technology Officer at Litmus

Mar 27, 2024

Integrates well with Fortinet products, but there are signal issues in the outdoor environment

FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment. That is where we are having certain issues. We are not 100% happy with it. With the indoor environment, we are okay, but we are facing some issues when certain voice-related calls go from wireless points. There are certain drops, and we have faced these issues on an ongoing basis. We also have other vendors such as Aruba and Meraki, and we do not face any issues when there is a Teams or Zoom meeting going on. It could be that FortiAP is okay, but that particular device or appliance is not capable of handling that much load of voice and video. This might be the issue. RF Spectrum Analysis helps to understand what is the coverage and hotspots related to a particular access point, but then when we bought it, we did heat mapping through different vendors. If there are any rogue APs, we can identify them with RF Spectrum Analysis. We can see what the coverage area is, but there are some issues with that. Some of the offices have thick glasses, or the cabins are different, so in the RF coverage, what is shown is not what we get on the practical grounds. There are some issues with signal performance. It has the basic functionality that is mostly used, but there are certain devices that are not able to interconnect. When there is any issue or problem, if the administrator can get some information about that, that will be good. With Meraki and Aruba, we get certain beautiful things. If those can be integrated into this solution, it will be more beneficial, but we understand that being a security company, Fortinet's focus is on security.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."

"The most valuable feature of Juniper Mist is the Virtual Network Assistant, powered by artificial intelligence."

"The AI capabilities of Mist Wireless are superior to other OEMs."

"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is Marvis, the AI-driven network management system."

"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."

"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."

"The solution is very secure."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points pros

"The functionalities are quite professional and complete. It offers good integration with other Meraki products, like switches and the firewall. You can get an overview of all networks and the host. It's really great; nobody else can do that."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."

"The product's most beneficial feature impacting network security is the ability to provide centralized security management."

"Meraki WLAN is easy to deploy, includes a cloud controller, and updates continuously. It also offers high visibility."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is that it is fast and does the job."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"The management console is valuable."

"The solution is easily scalable. There are not really any limits for the customer in terms of expanding if they need to."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it."

"FortiAP's integration using SSID configuration for the input/output makes deploying permission rules easier."

"The most valuable aspect of Fortinet FortiAP is the support."

"The pricing is reasonable for what it offers."

"The product's deployment phase is very easy since its documentation part is available in the public domain."

"We really don't need to call technical support. Any time we have had to call, they've been great."

"The product's initial setup phase was easy, especially with FortiGate or your FortiManager in place."

"The setup was straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiAP pros

Cons

"Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement."

"They should include SD-WAN features to it."

"The solution is expensive."

"Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage."

"The pricing is very high in the Indian market."

"The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location."

"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."

"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points cons

"The signal coverage radius could be extended."

"The licensing isn't very customer-centric. They may have improved it, but previously, if you forgot to pay on a certain day, your service would be shut off."

"The product's pricing needs improvement."

"It is expensive. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion. Juniper has some features that are not there in this solution."

"There should be better Spanish-language technical support."

"If you lose connectivity with the controller, your Wi-Fi network is immediately impacted."

"It is not a very stable solution."

"There's nothing that special about it."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"FortiAP could be a little cheaper."

"I would like to have automation capabilities that would help us reduce the configuration steps."

"The product fails to offer default access points to deal with the areas revolving around configurations."

"The wireless functionality is not the best."

"The security integration between the network and firewall has room for improvement."

"The support offered by the solution has certain shortcomings, making it in areas where improvements are required."

"FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment."

"There is room for improvement in the product by expanding the number of SSIDs that can be broadcast."

More Fortinet FortiAP cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is something Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) can work on. The pricing is very high compared to the competition."

"We pay maybe 1000 SEK per year, per access point."

"The pricing is too high."

"I rate the product price as a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is inexpensive, and ten is expensive. It is a reasonably priced tool."

"I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."

"The pricing is fair."

"The solution is expensive."

"Juniper Wireless AP's price is a little more expensive than other solutions, but you get what you pay for."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points pricing and cost advice

"It could be more affordable than other solutions."

"It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."

"We pay a yearly license fee for the solution."

"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The price is on the high side when compared to Aruba."

"The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"Cost could be better."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most expensive, I would rate FortiAP a six."

"If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good."

"We purchased perpetual licensing, and additional costs may vary depending on the services acquired from Fortinet."

"The product is available at a very comfortable price for my company compared to the other products available in the market. The prices of products from Meraki and Aruba are high compared to those of Fortinet."

"The devices under Fortinet are not expensive. The solution's licensing part is expensive."

"Fortinet FortiAP offers a more cost-effective solution compared to Palo Alto and Check Point."

"FortiAP is more expensive than some other options."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series)?

The solution is very secure.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series)?

Juniper Mist is very reasonable in terms of pricing, especially when compared to competitors like Cisco.

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What needs improvement with Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series)?

Someone enrolled in the tool will deploy it in our organization. Later, I could not enroll in the account until they ...

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What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they h...

See all answers

Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to...

See all answers

How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are...

See all answers

What do you like most about FortiAP?

If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordles...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiAP?

If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good. I would rate it a 9 out of 10 for pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FortiAP?

FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment. That is where we a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

Compared 20% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

Compared 7% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

Compared 3% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

Compared 1% of the time

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Competitors

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 10% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 8% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ruckus Wireless vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 48% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 15% of the time

Aruba Access Points vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 6% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points

June 2024

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points report

Download Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

June 2024

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiAP

June 2024

Download Fortinet FortiAP product report

Also Known As

Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series), Mist Access Points

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

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Juniper

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Cisco

Fortinet

Overview

Juniper Wireless Access Points work in conjunction with Juniper Mist Cloud Services and Mist AI to deliver premier wireless access capabilities. The Juniper Mist Edge extends microservices to the campus to bring agility and scale while enabling new applications at the edge.

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

Fortinet’s wireless LAN equipment leverages Secure Networking to provide secure wireless access for the enterprise LAN edge. Our solution tightly integrates with the Fortinet Security Fabric to offer built-in security, end-to-end network visibility, and automated threat response. You can easily manage your wireless network and security with a single console to minimize administration time.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP

June 2024

Free Report: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.

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See our Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP report.

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