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Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiGate Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
4.7
Cisco DNA Center enhances time efficiency despite high costs and complex licensing, yielding high return on investment ratings.
Sentiment score
4.0
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud boosts efficiency, reduces costs by 40%, and offers significant savings over alternatives like Palo Alto or Cisco.
Although Cisco DNA Center is expensive, we have seen a return on investment in terms of time savings.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
The cloud aspect provides flexibility in disaster recovery and cost management.
Vice President of Infrustructure at Core Technologies Limited
In terms of cost savings or efficiency in our company's IT network management, I would say that the tool is very efficient because we have no problems with it at all.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
The return on investment is very good due to the reliability and stability of the devices.
Systems & Network Administrator at Giampaolo Group Inc.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Cisco DNA Center's customer service is generally helpful, but inconsistency and delays in technical support are frequently noted.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud support is praised for knowledge and reliability, though response times vary; premium support enhances satisfaction.
Overall, Cisco DNA Center rates eight out of ten as a complete solution.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
I would rate Cisco support easily at nine out of ten.
Cloud Infrastructure Architect at POST Luxembourg
The support for Cisco DNA Center is good.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
I have received good support from FortiGate, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.
Group IT Manager at Araliya Group of Companies
The team is responsive, and most cases are handled promptly.
Vice President of Infrustructure at Core Technologies Limited
Waiting in the queue for a technician is too time-consuming when the business is down.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco DNA Center is scalable and efficient for large networks but may face limitations with IPv6 support and costs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is praised for scalability and flexibility, despite potential hardware limitations requiring careful sizing.
From my experience, we can easily manage numerous devices.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
The solution is designed for large enterprise companies.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
I have a few sites running on high availability with FortiGate models that are sufficient to handle the load of users.
Systems & Network Administrator at Giampaolo Group Inc.
It is a scalable solution.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
The cost is reasonable if you compare it to maybe a SIEM or FortiAnalyzer.
Security Engineer at Exclusive Networks
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Users generally rate Cisco DNA Center highly for stability, with minor issues often resolved effectively by Cisco support.
Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is highly stable and dependable, with minimal issues and high user satisfaction ratings.
When we communicate problems, they solve them effectively.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
It is a very stable solution.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
Once we configure the devices, the solution is stable.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud as eight out of ten.
Group IT Manager at Araliya Group of Companies
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco DNA Center needs integration, UI, security, and support improvements, with high pricing, complex deployment, and feature parity desired.
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud needs better integration, security, interface, support, scalability, and cost reduction, plus SD-WAN features.
The AI-driven insights have contributed significantly to faster troubleshooting and predictive analytics.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
The deployment part is definitely an area for improvement.
Cloud Infrastructure Architect at POST Luxembourg
The client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
They could improve the product features for telemetry and interoperability with third-party monitoring tools.
Vice President of Infrustructure at Core Technologies Limited
I feel that the product should be made cheaper because the customers are always a little bit scared about the tool's prices.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
Sometimes, the FortiAP causes a lot of problems with the Wi-Fi.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco DNA Center is costly, suited for large enterprises, with advanced features requiring extra fees, and challenging for SMBs.
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud pricing varies, with mixed perceptions of cost-effectiveness, especially where security value outweighs expense concerns.
A FortiGate box costs less than 2000000 Naira, while Palo Alto might range between 3000000 to 4000000 Naira.
Vice President of Infrustructure at Core Technologies Limited
Every year, the product's prices go up and it has been continuing since the past three years.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
The solution's pricing is good compared to that of Cisco and Meraki devices.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco DNA Center provides centralized management, automation, AI-based insights, and security, enhancing network operations with scalable automation and comprehensive visibility.
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud provides robust security, centralized management, and scalability, excelling in SD-WAN, VPN, and integration features.
The most valuable features include AI-driven insights which make troubleshooting much easier.
Sr. Director, Business Development & Sales Operations at connect professional services
If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use.
Chief Executive Officer at EE Solutions GmbH
The most effective features for managing cyber threats are IPS and application control.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud provides effective threat protection by blocking unwanted IP addresses and websites.
Group IT Manager at Araliya Group of Companies
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (20th), Network Automation (2nd)
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Firewall Security Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco DNA Center and Fortinet FortiGate Cloud aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco DNA Center is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 7.8%, down 23.5% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Firewall Security Management, holds 5.4% mindshare, up 4.7% since last year.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco DNA Center7.8%
DataMiner5.6%
OpenText Network Node Manager5.3%
Other81.3%
Network Management Applications
Firewall Security Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud5.4%
AlgoSec16.6%
Tufin Orchestration Suite16.1%
Other61.9%
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mahir Öztürk - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Client history has helped resolve past network issues more efficiently
I mostly use the client history feature of Cisco DNA Center. I didn't use the real-time monitoring capability of Cisco DNA Center because I primarily used it for client history regarding issues and problems. I don't use it for real-time monitoring. If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.
FS
Security Engineer at Exclusive Networks
Cloud logs have supported long-term auditing but security vulnerabilities still raise concerns
It depends on the user. When he needs maybe data retention for one year, for three months or more, I recommend Fortinet FortiGate Cloud. If he doesn't want to set the log on FortiAnalyzer, I will recommend him with Fortinet FortiGate Cloud. It depends. As I mentioned before, if they don't have a syslog server or any other SIEM, I will recommend it. If they need an audit for one year of data retention, I will recommend it because it's worth the money for one year of log retention. It's straightforward. If I enable Fortinet FortiGate Cloud feature on the FortiGate on-premise or VM, it will copy the configuration on the cloud. Depending on my license, I can configure it or have it as read-only with a limited license. That's one of the main purposes of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud for me. The report doesn't have many templates, but the log retention is so good with one-year retention. If you compare it with the FortiAnalyzer or maybe with any other product such as a FortiSIEM template, with the limited license, you only get the 360 template, it's called. I think the security function, I mainly use it for configuration purposes and log retention purposes. The security is the same as the VM or the hardware, I think. The sandbox. I think it has it, but not a lot if you only have the default capability with only 10 files per minute. I think the user needs to be selective with the files that they want to send to the sandbox on the cloud.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
The deployment of Cisco DNA Center was complex due to the fact that on the data center side, we have a Juniper infrastructure, which created some complexity, though not significant. The deployment ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco DNA Center?
In my organization, we currently have some Cisco devices such as access switches, and we also have infrastructure, but that is not part of our responsibility. We do not manage that infrastructure. ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
I am very satisfied with the price and licensing cost of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud, rating it an eight out of ten.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
It needs to improve the vulnerability that I found recently regarding the single sign-on from Fortinet FortiGate Cloud account. That became a concern for my user. The CVE that was leaked recently a...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?
I am not a user at this time. I am a system integrator. Mostly firewall and network protection. Rarely with endpoint protection. I can say a partner and reseller, I think.
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
FortiCloud, FortiGate Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Skyline Communications and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: August 2026.
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