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Cisco Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series comparison

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Executive Summary

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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
580
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Cisco Meraki MX
Ranking in Firewalls
21st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (7th)
Hillstone T-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
44th
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.1%, down from 20.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 3.5%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate19.1%
Cisco Meraki MX3.5%
Hillstone T-Series0.2%
Other77.2%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Experience improved network management with flexible and secure connections
I recommend that Meraki MX should improve to be a better solution for the next release by being more competent so that we can offer it as a primary solution among all other brands, although I don't have any specific feedback, while the competitors are also ahead of these solutions. Enhancing user experience is always required. Enhancing the seamless connectivity is crucial and user experience enhancement is needed daily, otherwise people find it outdated. New features should look and be dynamically connected, and users should not be bothered frequently when connectivity issues occur. It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Is stable and has a user-friendly dashboard and a good interface
We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good We cannot secure a specific IP class with this firewall. Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job."
"Fortinet FortiGate brings numerous benefits to my company."
"We have found it to be very reliable and that's why our teams and various users in our company use it as our main firewall every day."
"It is user friendly, and has all the features you need."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are its simplicity, ease of installation, and ease of functionality."
"I like the common administration and the possibility of adding Fortinet defense systems."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."
"The solution effectively blocks unwanted traffic."
"Its ease of configuration and management is very useful for us and for other companies that don't have an onsite IT person. It is easy to configure and easy to manage. It is easy to configure the VPN with the Auto VPN feature."
"We've had no issues with the scalability or the stability of this solution"
"It is easy to manage, which is one of the most important things for us. It is also flexible, stable, and scalable."
"Easy to deploy with a simple configuration."
"The dashboard is very intuitive and easy to understand."
"Easy to administer and saves time when you have many smaller locations that you have to manage."
"Point-to-point VPNs can dynamically follow IP changes with no need for static IPs."
"The technical support people from Meraki are brilliant."
"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."
"It has been stable so far."
"The only firewall able to monitor traffic from a CCTV network. Can detect unauthorized devices plugged into the network, which standard firewalls can't do."
 

Cons

"The most important feature to have is zero trust, which is lacking in Fortinet FortiGate IPS."
"There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues."
"They can add automation for monitoring and policy optimization on the firewall. I think using AI to do some optimization on the policies would be beneficial, such as providing alerts about policies that haven't been used for a long time or identifying overlapping policies."
"Its price could be better."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"Someone without certification and experience with other firewalls might find it a bit more challenging to grasp the FortiGate format and its platform layout."
"I would like some automated custom reporting."
"Some of the software stability could improve."
"The product doesn't support route summarization and BGP dynamic routing protocol."
"Right now, you can postpone the update but eventually, if you don't do the update, it will install the updates automatically for you and that's something that is not working for me."
"The hardware solution for Cisco Meraki MX comes with a higher price."
"It would be great if the Meraki devices let us see, in real time, the internet demand on a single device."
"We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."
"Load balancing options and ability to manage a couple of Internet connections."
"Expensive licensing and firewall stops immediately working if the license is not renewed at expiration date."
"It can be hard to get a hold of the solution’s technical support team."
"Licensing is not cheap."
"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."
"Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the hotspot get all the functions, and the security does not work."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution."
"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."
"It's one of the more expensive brands. The 100 series costs around $4,000. They are similar in pricing to what you might get from Cisco solutions and probably other similar ones. They're not more expensive than other similar solutions, but they're certainly not cheaper either."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution with a yearly subscription."
"The Indian market is different than the European and American markets. When you compare they need to be a bit more aggressive on pricing."
"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"
"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."
"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."
"The price varies depending on the hardware platform as well as the type of license and whether you're adding security or not."
"It is a good global solution in terms of the price and features, but because we sell this solution in dollars, sometimes we don't get to sell this solution in Brazil because the dollar is very expensive. The price of every project is different. It varies depending upon the project, scenario, and client."
"The product’s price is reasonable."
"Meraki MX is an expensive solution."
"The price is slightly increased, but reasonable."
"The larger MX products are on the expensive side."
"The solution is expensive compared to other vendors but you can get good discounts if you know the account manager. The product is less expensive than a normal Cisco subscription. The tool's hardware warranty is a lifetime but you need to purchase support which comes in three, five, and seven years subscriptions."
"Our customers pay for the solution on a monthly basis."
"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."
"On a scale from one to ten, with one being low and ten being high price, I would rate the price of Hillstone T-Series at three. There are no additional costs other than renewal costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise132
Large Enterprise188
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise16
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL I...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports netw...
What do you like most about Meraki MX?
I am happy with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
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Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Hyatt, ONS
University of Córdoba
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki MX vs. Hillstone T-Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.