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Change Auditor for Windows File Servers vs Fortinet FortiAnalyzer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

Change Auditor for Windows ...
Ranking in Log Management
31st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer
Ranking in Log Management
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Change Auditor for Windows File Servers is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer1.8%
Change Auditor for Windows File Servers0.2%
Other98.0%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

KF
Provides granular queries of security logs and real-time alerting helps me mitigate risks
The real-time alerting helps me mitigate risks. For example, someone adds a member to the domain admin group. We have an alert set up, so if someone does this unexpectedly, we get notified. Then, we can check and verify if the action is legitimate or a potential threat to the environment.
Manikandan Kannan - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifying log management by displaying detailed access information
The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is its ability to simplify and display logs clearly, providing details like which IPs are accessing the system, the destination, and the policies applied. This visualization and detail make managing logs more straightforward. In conjunction with our VMware setup, Fortinet FortiAnalyzer enhances organizational efficiency, meeting the standard log retention period for up to a year.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In terms of features, the querying is great."
"The solution's most valuable aspect is that it can be fully integrated with Microsoft solutions and it doesn't impact the productivity order."
"The program is stable and it gives me great visibility."
"Based on the logs of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer you can have it trigger actions. For example, if the log has a word or a sentence you specified it can send an alert or Syslog to an email address."
"There are a lot of monitoring features available."
"The features that our customers have found most valuable are their different type of reports including the drill down report, as well as the flexibility to connect to any number of appliances which can be connected to it centrally."
"The IBS (Intent Based Segmentation) and application web filtering are the most valuable aspects of the solution."
"The reporting and organizing part of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is very interactive, smooth, and easy to use."
"FortiAnalyzer has a user-friendly interface with a quick response and good analytics. It's very secure because it's taking the log from the devices on a secure channel, so there is no problem with that in your network."
"The product works well with other products."
 

Cons

"The pricing could be improved. It needs to be reduced."
"The customer service and support could improve their approach to questioning issues. They tend to ask questions one at a time, which creates a lot of back-and-forth communication."
"The technical support is not very reliable."
"The solution lacks business intelligence features. It's much too basic."
"The solution could use more graphics and be more specific in the dashboard. This way, I'm able to understand everything and effectively understand what's going on, including what's incoming and outgoing. Right now, I have to look up everything. I need a dashboard so that I can see specific items right there in one place."
"The UI needs to be improved in future updates."
"The pricing could be better."
"The product should be integrated with other third-party solutions for context exchange."
"The user interface could be a bit more user-friendly."
"The FortiAnalyzer is not scalable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is per user. The cost is approximately $15/user on a yearly basis. If you need to, you can always upgrade as well."
"It is expensive for small business customers. It is only available for customers with a high number of firewalls to manage or to report. If a customer has only five boxes of FortiGate, the price of FortiAnalyzer can be more than the five boxes. So, we can't easily put this solution for small business customers."
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"The pricing model is subscription-based."
"We found the price of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer to be reasonable."
"The product’s price is much better than its competitors."
"We pay for an annual license."
"The hardware has a one-time cost and maintenance is paid by annual subscription."
"The program is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business57
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Change Auditor for Windows File Servers?
They've already made improvements! They have a tool called IT Security Search, which lets you perform queries outside of Change Auditor. It's much faster. This is a really good addition and helps u...
What is your primary use case for Change Auditor for Windows File Servers?
I use Change Auditor for Windows File Servers to log history. It's helpful when we have critical changes in Active Directory, like adding or removing items. I use it extensively for monitoring.
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
The reporting features, which offer customization, real-time insights, and compliance support, are particularly noteworthy aspects.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
I have experience with pricing, licensing, and setup costs as I prepare quotes for clients. While Fortinet FortiAnalyzer might be more expensive than some other solutions, it remains very competiti...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
When I had contact with FortiManager and Fortinet FortiAnalyzer, it was not so easy, but with some reading or training on the platform, it becomes easy to use.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dragon Capital, Howard County MD
General Directorate of Information Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Change Auditor for Windows File Servers vs. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.