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Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Additionally, 91% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.
Cisco Prime [EOL]
Read 35 Cisco Prime [EOL] reviews
    91% willing to recommend
    Fortinet FortiManager
    Read 66 Fortinet FortiManager reviews
    • 881 Views
    • 667 Comparison Views
    94% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

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    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between Cisco Prime [EOL] and Fortinet FortiManager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications.

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    To learn more, read our detailed Network Management Applications Report (Updated: April 2025).
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Management Applications
    April 2025
    Download the complete report
    Helped 850,671 peers since 2012

    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
    7.2
    Number of Reviews
    66
    Ranking in other categories
    Network Management Applications (4th)
     

    Featured Reviews

    ZeeshanAli1 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Robust, cost-effective, and provides good visibility, but the scalability could improve
    We are extremely satisfied with the reliability and robustness of Cisco Prime Infrastructure, which we have been using for many years. Compared to newer products such as DNS centers or others, it has proven to be much more stable, which is important for large-scale operations. Stability is a primary concern for us, and we are glad that Cisco Prime Infrastructure meets our expectations in that regard. Furthermore, in regards to Legacy Plus new hardware, Cisco Prime has proven to be a reliable and adaptable solution thus far. Not only can it support older hardware, but it also has the capability to handle new features with the latest updates. If we consider new solutions such as DNS Center, we may have to sacrifice some legacy features that we still rely on. We may need to continue using these legacy features for a few more years due to various reasons such as budget constraints or the site not being a high priority. However, if we switch to a new product at this stage, we may lose a lot of the monitoring and other capabilities that we have with Cisco Prime. We have a close relationship with Cisco and understand that they are not prioritizing investments in Cisco Prime as they are encouraging customers to adopt the Cisco DNA Center. This means that we don't anticipate many new features to be added to the product in the future. While we know that we will eventually have to transition to a new solution, in the meantime, we plan to do a quick refresh of our legacy products.
    Read full review
    HamedWasel - PeerSpot reviewer
    Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices
    We've faced an issue when we need to move devices. Templates need to be recreated instead of having the policies, et cetera, cut and pasted over. Everything should just move over when we need to move devices instead of recreating everything from scratch. For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate.
    Read full review

    Quotes from Members

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

    Pros

    "We use Cisco Prime for network mapping and surveys."
    "Cisco Prime can help customers fix their Wi-Fi issues with scientific and digital data."
    "It helps us manage and monitor analytics and fix issues."
    "We use the solution to control the physical service station that is part of the SCADA network. We connect and control them remotely."
    "Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."
    "Cisco Prime, from a management perspective, has good reporting."
    "Cisco Prime is helpful as it provides us with real-time monitoring. This allows us to be proactive in our environment."
    "It gives you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros
    "Everybody is quite happy with the way that the graphical user interface works."
    "It is stable."
    "Stability is good within the product."
    "The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiManager is the ease of manageability and policy-pushing functionality."
    "The integration is quite good."
    "The initial setup of Fortinet FortiManager was easy."
    "I appreciate the ability to connect via SSH through Fortinet FortiManager to the FortiGates I manage. This feature allows me to gather information about the interfaces without having to physically connect to the device. This is a convenient aspect that I find valuable."
    "The reports feature is excellent."
    More Fortinet FortiManager pros
     

    Cons

    "I rate Cisco Prime seven out of 10 for affordability. All Cisco solutions are expensive."
    "This solution could be improved if it could monitor configuration changes."
    "They could consider offering more flexible pricing options for their customers."
    "We would like to see the inclusion of detailed alerts."
    "Lacking in integration with a SIEM tool."
    "The solution needs to include centralized management that aligns with the Greenfield network and its focus on real-time, scenario-based applications."
    "Cisco needs to improve Prime's monitoring tab. If any device goes down, there is a 15-second lapse before we know. It would be much better if we were alerted two or three minutes before a device is about to fail, so we can dispatch a field engineer and avoid network downtime. I would like to see a feature that allows you to access the devices directly from Prime's monitoring tab. That would make work easier for us."
    "Cisco Prime's initial setup is complex."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons
    "The GUI could be updated. It's not as good as it could be and is something the solution should improve in an upcoming release."
    "Within the management of some features on FortiManager, specifically the management of user objects used for VPN service, FortiManager is quite weak."
    "It requires a lot of resources. This is the main challenge."
    "Having FortiManager work with all of the Fortinet products would be a good improvement."
    "The price always has room for improvement."
    "The documentation could be better."
    "We have some visibility issues with the reporting."
    "The solution should be more open to other products."
    More Fortinet FortiManager cons
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "We update the license every five years."
    "I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
    "I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
    "I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
    "The cost is quite high."
    "If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
    "The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
    "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."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice
    "This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."
    "For us, it is a little bit expensive."
    "Pricing could improve a little bit so I rate it a seven out of ten."
    "The solution requires you to have a license for every device, as well as for any advanced features being used, which makes it costly for high-volume users. However, for a large-scale environment with a lot of customers we have found it to be a worthwhile investment."
    "Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
    "The pricing model is affordable."
    "Fortinet FortiManager is costly."
    "I hope that the prices will become more competitive in subsequent releases, as the current pricing is perceived as somewhat elevated."
    More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice
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    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Computer Software Company
    16%
    Government
    14%
    Manufacturing Company
    8%
    Educational Organization
    6%
    Computer Software Company
    17%
    Financial Services Firm
    10%
    Manufacturing Company
    8%
    Comms Service Provider
    7%
     

    Company Size

    By reviewers
    Large Enterprise
    Midsize Enterprise
    Small Business
     

    Questions from the Community

    What do you like most about Cisco Prime?
    The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management.
    See all answers
    What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?
    The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive.
    See all answers
    What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?
    We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.
    See all answers
    What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
    The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
    See all answers
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
    I find Fortinet FortiManager to be a bit more expensive, especially when considering the environment. It shows cost-effectiveness when managing more than ten devices, whereas it is less effective w...
    See all answers
    What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
    The deployment of Fortinet FortiManager is quite complex and should be easier. It requires improvement in vulnerability management and should integrate automated AI features to enhance its reliabil...
    See all answers
     

    Comparisons

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    Compared 40% of the time
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    Huawei eSight vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 19% of the time
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 13% of the time
    Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 12% of the time
    NetMaster Network Intelligence vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    NetMaster Network Intelligence vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 7% of the time
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] Competitors
    Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 68% of the time
    Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 9% of the time
    Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 7% of the time
    AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 4% of the time
    Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 3% of the time
    More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors
     

    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Prime [EOL]
    May 2025
    Cisco Prime [EOL] reportDownload Cisco Prime [EOL] product report
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiManager
    May 2025
    Fortinet FortiManager reportDownload Fortinet FortiManager product report
     

    Also Known As

    Cisco Prime Infrastructure
    No data available
     

    Overview

    Cisco Prime products deliver next-generation management by supporting an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience and integrated lifecycle operations across Cisco architectures, technologies, and networks.

    Cisco

    Fortinet FortiManager is used for centralized management of FortiGate firewalls, utilizing zero-touch deployment techniques to optimize configuration and deployment, reducing installation time and errors while improving network security and efficiency.

    By centralizing policy management and monitoring across devices and locations, Fortinet FortiManager enhances security and operational efficiency. Automation tools simplify management, control, and consistent configuration across environments. It offers scalability for managing large numbers of devices, beneficial for organizations seeking unified threat protection and streamlined administration from one console. The platform integrates effortlessly with Fortinet products, supporting zero-touch provisioning, SD-WAN, and traffic analysis. Although intuitive, the graphical interface and overall performance require refinement, alongside enhanced support and documentation for troubleshooting and configuration.

    What are the key features of Fortinet FortiManager?
    • Centralized Management: Streamlines device configuration across multiple systems.
    • Automation Tools: Simplifies implementation and maintenance of configurations.
    • Zero-Touch Provisioning: Reduces setup time and minimizes errors.
    • SD-WAN Support: Enhances wide-area network efficiency and effectiveness.
    • Traffic Analysis: Monitors network traffic for improved security insights.
    • Policy Pushing: Facilitates efficient deployment of security rules.
    What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?
    • Operational Efficiency: Reduces installation time and configuration errors.
    • Scalability: Supports management of numerous devices.
    • Improved Security: Centralized management enhances threat protection.
    • Time Savings: Automation reduces manual intervention needs.
    • Cost-Effectiveness: Simplified administration can lower management costs.

    Fortinet FortiManager is implemented across diverse industries like telecommunications, finance, and healthcare, where centralized management and enhanced security are crucial. Its ability to streamline processes and integrate with existing Fortinet products makes it ideal for organizations looking to maintain robust network security standards.

    Fortinet
     

    Sample Customers

    Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Management Applications
    April 2025
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