Cisco Meraki MX vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

Cisco Meraki MX vs. Stormshield Network Security

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 24.9%, down from 36.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 8.4%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Stormshield Network Security is 3.7%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Unified Threat Management (UTM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	24.9%
Cisco Meraki MX	8.4%
Stormshield Network Security	3.7%
Other	63.0%

Unified Threat Management (UTM)

Featured Reviews

Paul-Drew

IT Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Cloud features enhance security measures and simplify network management

I've dealt with many firewalls, such as SonicWalls, UniFi, pfSense, and Cisco. We found SonicWall very confusing for the average network engineer or network administrator. I don't recommend SonicWall due to its hard-to-find auditing process for exploits. Although they have fewer exploits, when they do occur, they're significant. With Fortinet FortiGate, you can access the whole firewall, with no hidden spots. pfSense is great, however, it requires a lot of manual work and has no Cloud Connect or easy management from an MSP's perspective. Palo Alto is another option that's great, but their price point isn't for everyone, especially for medium and small businesses; a $10,000 investment doesn't necessarily fit into most budgets. UniFi is another product we've started to use more alongside Fortinet FortiGate, as they have almost all features without a license, with advanced rules that are relatively inexpensive compared to Fortinet FortiGate's $1,500 a year. Fortinet FortiGate and UniFi are the two firewalls we primarily deal with. My opinion is that UniFi has better integration and oversight of the environments compared to Fortinet FortiGate.

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Sanjay Gaiswal

Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies

Cloud-based solution simplifies network management with excellent support

There have been no issues with stability after deployment. There have been no complaints. For stability, I would suggest that Cisco Meraki MX is the most stable device from the security processor. Regarding content filtering features, we are using content filtering and malware access, along with all security features in Cisco Meraki MX9500. We have received good feedback from customers because since installing Cisco Meraki MX9500, we have not received any complaints. There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits. It is compatible with all different OEMs, and for VPN, site-to-site VPN has been configured with other firewalls as well. We are getting very good responses from customers as there have been no complaints where we have deployed Cisco Meraki MX9500.

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Zsolt Jónás

System Administrator at NaxoNet

Advanced GUI and layered security have supported compliance and simplified intrusion prevention

I haven't had a task that I couldn't solve with Stormshield Network Security. The active-active high availability solution would be beneficial because currently, if you build a high availability solution with Stormshield Network Security, you have a main device and another one is a backup device. The HA can switch between them, but it would be good to have a master-master solution, not just a master-slave one. I could set a URL that I can call to update the DNS record. Currently, Stormshield Network Security devices support DynDNS, which is not a usual feature request from a server environment. I have my own solution instead of DynDNS because I don't prefer it, so I have my own service for that. However, the GUI does not support using a custom service instead of DynDNS. I had to solve it in the console on Stormshield Network Security device, but it would be much better if it was reachable on the GUI. I had to figure out a trick for the IPsec configuration. In the IPsec config, we have to provide the remote side's IP address, but it's always changing. This means that an office, for example a company that has an office but without a fixed IP address, cannot be used with IPsec VPN.

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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

"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."

"The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"In terms of cost, features, and security, everything is top-notch."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."

"The features that prevent internet connections, the filtering are the most valuable because we did not have any internet protection before."

"In terms of ROI, they're inexpensive, and because they're inexpensive, they're just everywhere, in the Federal Government, schools, everywhere where budgets are fairly tight, and it is a very good product."

"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has IBS/IPS systems"

"My company never had any complaints about the tool in terms of performance or stability."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"By increasing these user experiences, productivity has been enhanced across companies and client employees."

"Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active."

"It is a very straightforward solution to manage."

"Both the scalability and the scalability are great with Meraki MX."

"Point-to-point VPNs can dynamically follow IP changes with no need for static IPs."

"Easy to administer and saves time when you have many smaller locations that you have to manage."

"It is very easy to configure."

"I've been in this industry for 40 years and this is the simplest and easiest product that I've ever used."

More Cisco Meraki MX pros

"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed."

"The performance of this solution is good."

"A very robust product."

"Stormshield Network Security is a very stable solution and the solution works perfectly so we never had to contact technical support."

"Fortinet, Dell SonicWall and Check Point because these products offer a wide range of features that are not available with Netasq."

"I can see what traffic is going on. I can easily block any programs from attacks."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"There could be improvements in the mathematical algorithms used for behavior analytics of traffic."

"The things we require are already sorted out, so there isn't any scope for improvement as far as our requirements go. However, its price can be better."

"The people we are working with are not able to configure MFA. They are having some technical issues. Fortinet needs to ensure that its partners are well-trained."

"There are some issues with the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate. Certain products and models need to be scalable, but they're not."

"The area that Fortinet may improve is customer support."

"In the past I encountered serious bug regarding SCTP and GTP supports."

"If you have the firmware version 6.4.3 and are using FortiLink in VLAN, it has trouble with tunneling networks for a wireless network; it won't give it a route to the internet."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the VPN. There are times it is slow."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"It can always improve pricewise regarding throughput."

"It can be improved in many areas, because it has many proprietary models for many different areas."

"It would be nice if the different services, including the SIEM SOC and endpoint detection and response (EDR) were integrated into one, so that I don't have to go to different vendors for different services."

"FortiGate is cheaper than Meraki. Even the license renewal is less than Meraki."

"There are a few things that are odd that I can do with other firewall products that I can't do with a Meraki."

"Could possibly use deeper configurations."

"Meraki tech support staff have a lot more visibility into your network than you do, which is frustrating at times. I understand the approach is to keep the dashboard easier to understand. This will frustrate more advanced users at times."

"I do wish you could control some ports locally from a console, but this is not the case."

More Cisco Meraki MX cons

"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."

"The main area of this product that has room for improvement is pricing. Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"The technical support for this solution in Poland is not good."

"The stability is not that good based on my experience. We have a lot of disruptions when it comes to Stormshield."

"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."

"The product must improve its pricing."

"Support is always an issue because they're constantly busy."

"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think that the pricing is fair."

"It is more affordable than Check Point and Palo Alto. Another thing is that all the features and the OS remain the same irrespective of the size of the device. Pricing-wise, Fortinet typically provides one-year support with the firewall appliance. There is also an option for three years which is how their licensing works."

"If you compare the price of Fortinet FortiGate IPS to other firewalls, Check Point is priced very high followed by Palo Alto and Sophos. Fortinet FortiGate IPS price is more reasonable."

"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."

"Fortinet is reasonable in pricing and licensing. Overall, FortiGate is affordable. The licensing fee can be a little high, depending on the budget for your project."

"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."

"The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."

"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The product is a little expensive."

"The price is slightly increased, but reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution. There is a five-year licensing requirement. We already renewed licenses for all our devices."

"The price could be lower, but compared to the TCO of other products, it's not really that expensive."

"Meraki is the best option — based on the price and the features available."

"Meraki MX's pricing is cheaper as compared to Cisco's standalone products."

"The product's price depends on use cases."

"Meraki MX is an expensive solution."

More Cisco Meraki MX pricing and cost advice

"The pricing could be better."

"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."

"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."

"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."

"I think the price is good."

"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."

"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."

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900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	369
Midsize Enterprise	139
Large Enterprise	195

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	43
Midsize Enterprise	22
Large Enterprise	19

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that we went through a third party who negotiated all the pr...

What needs improvement with Stormshield Network Security?

I haven't had a task that I couldn't solve with Stormshield Network Security. The active-active high availability sol...

What is your primary use case for Stormshield Network Security?

I already use Stormshield Network Security, and I am now looking for a new solution. I am already working with Storms...

What advice do you have for others considering Stormshield Network Security?

The pricing is increasing, and I would say it is a bit expensive. Palo Alto and others are much more expensive, but S...

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Cisco Meraki MX

Compared 25% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Cisco Meraki MX

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Cisco Meraki MX

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Cisco Meraki MX

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs Cisco Meraki MX

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Meraki MX Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 11% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 8% of the time

OPNsense vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 6% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 5% of the time

Juniper SRX Series Firewall vs Stormshield Network Security

Compared 2% of the time

More Stormshield Network Security Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Cisco Meraki MX

Download Cisco Meraki MX product report

Stormshield Network Security

May 2026

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600

NETASQ Firewalls

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Cisco Meraki MX offers cloud-managed security with user-friendly setup and efficient management, enhancing VPN and firewall functionalities for businesses.

Cisco Meraki MX is known for its robust cloud-based network management, featuring AutoVPN, SD-WAN, and advanced security. Its centralized control over firewall, traffic shaping, and monitoring ensures excellent connectivity and security. The interface allows easy management by non-technical staff, offering remote access and seamless network performance through real-time alerts and troubleshooting. It supports global connectivity with minimal effort, addressing needs across small to enterprise environments. Despite its strengths, users point out areas needing improvement like load balancing, VPN features, more flexible logging, and session capabilities. Pricing, integration limits, and licensing need enhancement.

What are the key features of Cisco Meraki MX?

AutoVPN: Enables automatic VPN configuration for secure, site-to-site connections.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routes for increased performance and reliability.
Advanced Security: Offers unified threat management, intrusion prevention, and content filtering.
Centralized Management: Simplifies operations with remote monitoring and configuration.
Traffic Shaping: Prioritizes critical business applications to maximize performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Ease of Deployment: Simplified installation reduces setup time and cost.
Real-Time Alerts: Ensures proactive issue identification and resolution.
Scalability: Supports growth with seamless integration and management of multiple sites.
Global Connectivity: Maintains efficient connections across geographic locations with minimal effort.

In industries like retail, finance, and education, Cisco Meraki MX provides enhanced security and connectivity. Retail chains benefit from easy VPN setups for secure multi-site networking, while educational institutions find value in its ability to manage large campuses efficiently. Financial services leverage its robust security features to protect sensitive data, ensuring compliance and trust.

Cisco

Stormshield Network Security offers comprehensive protection with features like backup inspection, scalable interface, and load balancing, suitable for network security management.

Stormshield Network Security is designed for organizations requiring reliable IT infrastructure protection, providing firewall capabilities, intrusion detection, and application control. Users find VPN support, URL filtering, and UTM functions beneficial for network management. Models like SN200 and SN910 are used globally in clustered configurations, addressing different demands. Challenges include pricing, interface friendliness, filtering configurations, and technical support.

What are the key features of Stormshield Network Security?

Backup Inspection: Enhances reliability and recovery options.
Antivirus Controls: Provides robust virus protection.
Intrusion Detection: Alerts on potential threats.
Load Balancing: Distributes network traffic efficiently.
URL Filtering: Blocks malicious websites for safe browsing.

What benefits should users seek in reviews?

Scalability: Adapts to each organization's growing needs.
Reliability: Supports clustered configurations for uptime.
Management Ease: Intuitive dashboard aids network oversight.
Performance: High throughput with efficient clustering.

Stormshield Network Security is widely implemented in industries needing IT infrastructure protection, like finance or healthcare. Organizations deploy it in data centers or branch offices, benefiting from features ensuring safety and performance. The tool supports environments that demand high security levels and robust network monitoring.

Stormshield

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

ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location

Cisco Meraki MX vs. Stormshield Network Security