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Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Prime [EOL]
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiManager
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (3rd)
 

Featured Reviews

AR
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
Has an easy implementation process, but the performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive
The project implementation was easy overall. Adapting Cisco's solutions to our specific environment required effort, as their documentation only covers some network scenarios. The deployment didn't happen all at once; it was staged and controlled to ensure a smooth transition. We started with a small test environment before gradually rolling it out to all campuses. This gradual approach helped mitigate the risk of any issues arising across multiple locations simultaneously, especially on a critical day like Monday morning. We have a team of three executives working on the process. Their job roles included network specialists and a manager. It requires maintenance, which is included in the annual cost. We receive updates and support as part of the renewal process.
SudeepMaydeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Head of IT Infrastructure at EPL Americas
Ensures seamless integration and centralized visibility for network security operations
The version upgrade from a single dashboard for all the firewalls in one click is the beauty of Fortinet FortiManager as the most impactful feature in managing our network security. Fortinet FortiManager's policy management enhances our security protocols by enabling us and giving integrated centralized visibility, which has proven to be very healthy. Because of this, we have identified some of the vulnerabilities in our systems, and we mitigated them through Fortinet FortiManager. The central dashboards and the visibility are what appealed to us to go with Fortinet FortiManager. Fortinet FortiManager has adapted to changes in our network scale and complexity as we have geographically 18 international locations, all equipped with firewalls and some cybersecurity initiatives and IT infrastructure initiatives.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."
"Technical support is great, and we find them to be helpful and responsive."
"The customer service and support for this solution is good."
"The endpoint information Cisco Prime generates helps us troubleshoot, and it's also useful for compliance reporting and endpoint identification."
"The solution's configuration management tool is amazing because it centralizes and pushes configurations which saves a lot of volume and effort."
"The solution provides data that allows us to time travel through logs and perform remote operations or troubleshooting."
"Cisco Prime allows us to do a lot of functions with the users and it is flexible."
"Our clients are happy with Prime, the stability is good and it's easy to manage."
"Technical support is great. When we have sent urgent tickets and they do reply back within fifteen minutes."
"FortiManager's most valuable feature is central management."
"My advice to anybody who is researching this product is that it is quite easy to use and the learning curve is not steep."
"Fortinet FortiManager can centrally manage all FortiGates and is effective for the deployment of updates and patches."
"The functionality is good; it has good features and it works well for us, with multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment and makes it unique."
"The templates are great, they are very helpful, you make a template and push it to the FortiGate, and it's been working fine."
"The main benefit I receive from Fortinet FortiManager is that it streamlines every device."
"The central management feature is the most valuable to me."
 

Cons

"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."
"If you look at some of the wireless site-survey tools that are available in the commercial space, Cisco should include similar solutions, which would help our on-plant engineers when they're doing a site survey."
"The solution is considered legacy and DNAC has overcome it because of centralized controls that allow a complete LAN network to be moved to centralized management."
"The solution is not easy to configure. It's not user-friendly for admins."
"The solution needs to include centralized management that aligns with the Greenfield network and its focus on real-time, scenario-based applications."
"Lacking in integration with a SIEM tool."
"We would like to see the inclusion of detailed alerts."
"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."
"We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacting technical support on several occasions."
"FortiManager could be more user-friendly."
"The pricing and support could be improved."
"Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area."
"Regional support in African countries needs to be improved."
"The price is a bit too high."
"Troubleshooting for Fortinet products is more difficult than competing products like Cisco and Palo Alto."
"When I installed it, I found it somewhat difficult to set up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We update the license every five years."
"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The cost is quite high."
"You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
"The price of Cisco Prime was reasonable because we purchased it as part of a Cisco One package. The package was a bundle of Cisco solutions together, such as Cisco ISE and CMX. The price is reasonable com compared to other solutions."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."
"The pricing model is affordable."
"Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."
"The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"Fortinet FortiManager is not expensive at all if you compare it with other vendors like Check Point and Cisco. Fortinet products are the least expensive on the market in the category of firewalls."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
I am satisfied with the licensing cost, and I would rate it an 8.5.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
I think Fortinet FortiManager can be improved as the web page loading is slightly slow.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiManager?
My main use case for Fortinet FortiManager is to manage multiple FortiGate devices. I can confirm that I use Fortinet FortiManager perfectly in my main use case.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Prime Infrastructure
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare
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: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.