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 69 Fortinet FortiManager reviews

4,867 Views
779 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Cisco Prime [EOL]

Fortinet FortiManager

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.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Management Applications Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Network Management Applications

August 2025

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Helped 867,497 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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiManager

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (4th)

Featured Reviews

ZeeshanAli1

Senior Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

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.

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Damitha Anuradha

Head of Presales at AcSys Networks Private Limited

Manage multiple devices with ease but experience complexity in deployment and limited AI features

I use Fortinet FortiManager to manage multiple devices in a single location. Although it does not provide a security posture itself, it depends on the firewall policies and settings in their respective firewalls. Fortinet FortiManager is primarily meant for the management of devices Fortinet…

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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 VLAN mapping function has been most impactful in simplifying our network management tasks."

"The endpoint information Cisco Prime generates helps us troubleshoot, and it's also useful for compliance reporting and endpoint identification."

"Enables oversight in order to tweak and tune."

"The solution helps with the management and support of the enterprise network."

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is its excellent audio and video conferencing with clear quality and no interruptions."

"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."

"Has a good wireless heatmap and search management features."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros

"A fully integrated solution."

"The most valuable feature is the centralized management console."

"Central management system for Fortinet devices that's simple, scalable, and stable, with a straightforward setup."

"FortiManager's most valuable feature is central management."

"FortiManager's most valuable features are web-based or web-rule-based policies, SD-WAN, and the ease of upgrading to new firmware."

"FortiManager helps automate configuration deployment, allowing us to plan and schedule configurations."

"The setup is very simple."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiManager is its ease of use. It is easy to manage the firewall from Fortinet FortiManager. Additionally, the interface is very good."

More Fortinet FortiManager pros

Cons

"The product's pricing can be cheaper."

"Some improvements are needed, specifically in the form of more updates and enhancements."

"I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."

"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."

"The product needs to improve its stability."

"They can also improve the management of more enterprise devices."

"Cisco Prime could improve the graphical user interface."

"Cisco can only be used for Cisco environments and is not compatible with other vendors."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons

"Issues arise when customers experience unstable electricity or poor grounding conditions."

"FortiManager needs to handle different firewall versions more efficiently."

"Fortinet is releasing quite a lot of new versions and I would say that most of the versions are not well tested before they're pushed out. Even the new versions sometimes are a bit buggy before it's all correct."

"We have some visibility issues with the reporting."

"The price is a bit too high."

"You cannot integrate with other solutions."

"The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet."

"Wizards could be improved in pushing policies."

More Fortinet FortiManager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."

"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."

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."

"We update the license every five years."

"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."

More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice

"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."

"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."

"The pricing is based on a licensing model by feature."

"In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."

"The pricing model is affordable."

"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."

More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

14%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	23

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	19

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?

The pricing for Fortinet FortiManager is good and not expensive. It is competitively priced.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?

There are some aspects that Fortinet FortiManager could improve upon. The user interface can feel clunky, especially for more complex tasks such as managing large-scale policy packages or custom sc...

See all answers

Comparisons

NetMaster Network Intelligence vs Cisco Prime [EOL]

Compared 100% of the time

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Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 70% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 7% of the time

AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 4% of the time

Zabbix vs Fortinet FortiManager

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Prime [EOL]

September 2025

Download Cisco Prime [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiManager

September 2025

Download 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

August 2025

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