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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiAP comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

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
1.0
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers financial savings and scalability, justifying initial costs, though competitors may offer similar features cheaper.
Sentiment score
8.0
Fortinet FortiAP offers high ROI with robust security, minimal maintenance, and 80% cost savings compared to competitors.
I do not have to continuously manage them, and their reliability means they are consistently up and running.
Fortinet FortiAP provides value for money, and I can quantify the savings at about 80%.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.0
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN support is generally prompt and knowledgeable, but inconsistencies and delays exist, especially with complex issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiAP's customer service experiences vary, with mixed support quality influenced by region, service tier, and training resources.
It would be better if the SLA of technical support was less than four hours.
We keep a support contract open with Fortinet, so we have instantaneous response from them.
I am not satisfied with Fortinet FortiAP's technical support in India.
The technical support from Fortinet FortiAP is rated 7.5 out of ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.3
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers seamless scalability, easy expansion, and strong adaptability, despite some cost and licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiAP is scalable, supporting thousands of users, but may require new purchases due to technology constraints.
Meraki is not scalable enough since it straightforwardly maps its products to segmented specifications.
There could be constraints where a product can't be scaled further without purchasing a new model.
We have good scalability with Fortinet FortiAP because we have multiple ISPs connected to it through FortiManager.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
4.6
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is stable and reliable, but may experience issues during firmware updates and in high-density areas.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiAP's stability is mixed; some praise performance while others face disconnections and vulnerabilities, influenced by location and setup.
We have experienced many instances where we have experienced a lag in our network, and I am not sure if it is due to their devices or our network.
Stability is not an issue for me because it comes with Cisco's proven manufacturer quality.
I have not experienced any issues, outages, or problems and have not had to interfere with them at all.
The stability of the solution is very high.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN needs improved features, integration, scalability, security, and competitive pricing to match competitors' offerings.
Fortinet FortiAP needs enhancements in wireless functionality, affordability, security integration, configuration, automation, compatibility, support, and reporting.
The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks.
Some of the newer models of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN access point have encompassed the new wireless protocols and increased the strength of their antennas.
I know they're going up to six soon, which will enhance reliability.
Security is always a concern for any business, and the network should not be compromised easily.
We earlier expected that Fortinet FortiAP could be managed through the cloud, which would be very good, but nowadays, FortiNet is providing FortiAPs with cloud management also.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is costly with annual licenses, but valued for quality despite limited renewal discounts and coterminous issues.
Fortinet FortiAP offers competitive enterprise pricing, though licensing costs can be high, generally rated six to nine out of ten.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is on par with other devices in that category, offering competitive pricing.
The pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not competitive enough for the SMB market compared to other brands.
The license costs for Fortinet are more affordable when considering licensing costs with other leaders like Cisco.
Fortinet FortiAP is affordable, not expensive.
The pricing is much better than Cisco pricing.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers cloud management, ease of deployment, security features, and real-time monitoring for versatile network management.
Fortinet FortiAP excels in integration, management, and security, providing stability and performance for small to medium enterprises.
It also manages security clients and switches, providing a single dashboard to manage multiple network infrastructures.
The ability to program all access points from the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN dashboard, view the status of all of them, and examine the individual devices connected to each access point is very valuable.
Fortinet FortiAP is effective in protecting against wireless threats.
Compatibility with Fortinet firewalls allows clients to set up new businesses with integrated firewalls and access points, offering a cost-effective solution while providing excellent wireless coverage.
FortiAPs are an enterprise-level device capable of handling a large number of users and connections, ensuring quality.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Ranking in Wireless LAN
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
120
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiAP
Ranking in Wireless LAN
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 12.3%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 5.8%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration
The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…
JayPrajapati - PeerSpot reviewer
Room for improvement in customer support as overall satisfaction remains low
We earlier expected that Fortinet FortiAP could be managed through the cloud, which would be very good, but nowadays, FortiNet is providing FortiAPs with cloud management also. That requirement has been covered. Currently, I cannot see any areas for improvement because it fulfills my requirements, and I can do everything I need with it.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
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 be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
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 a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
What do you like most about FortiAP?
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.
What needs improvement with FortiAP?
We earlier expected that Fortinet FortiAP could be managed through the cloud, which would be very good, but nowadays, FortiNet is providing FortiAPs with cloud management also. That requirement has...
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.