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Cisco Secure Access vs Fortinet FortiGate-VM comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.1
Cisco Secure Access offers significant ROI by consolidating services, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency and integration with existing products.
Sentiment score
4.4
Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers stability, security, and cost savings, yet requires careful sizing for optimal long-term benefits.
At Amazon, we knew exactly how much it would cost if a fulfillment center was down for an hour.
Director, Network Services at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The AI features further contribute by expediting threat detection and incident response, ensuring tangible returns through operational savings.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is one of those tools that needs to work right out of the box, and thankfully, it does; it is reliable, and the setup time was quick and straightforward.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
I observed a fifty to sixty percent reduction in operational costs after migrating to FortiGate VM.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
They have a platform that organizes their networks and access effectively.
Pre-Sales Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
We haven't used MPLS for over five years now, and it was extremely beneficial to see the changes from MPLS to SD-WAN using Fortinet FortiGate.
Chief Technology Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco's Secure Access support is praised for its efficiency and expertise, despite some challenges with ticket complexity and delays.
Sentiment score
6.3
Fortinet FortiGate-VM's customer service is largely praised for responsiveness, though occasional slow responses affect satisfaction levels.
Cisco TAC is very competent.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
With our established point of contact within Cisco, our experience has greatly improved; we no longer log all issues through technical cases, as we can go directly to our account managers or customer service team, which expedites resolution.
Cyber Security Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate the technical support ten out of ten. Hands down.
Senior Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Their support is helpful and effective.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
The end-user support is delayed at levels L2 and L3.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
They support us almost instantly.
Chief Technology Officer at GM Modular
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.4
Cisco Secure Access efficiently scales with infrastructure growth, offering seamless integration and adaptability despite some multi-organizational challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers scalability and flexibility for enterprises, though cost and module limitations may pose challenges.
We turn the traffic to the Cisco Secure Access cloud, and we can manage and apply the policies that are necessary, making it very easy to scale the solution.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Cisco has a great benefit in that you can integrate with other solutions in an easy way because it has a lot of protocols to integrate with others and sophisticated steps that we can apply for integration.
IT Manager at Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.
I would rate scalability at eight to nine out of ten.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Fortinet FortiGate-VM adapts effectively; for example, you have a limited number of VPN connections on VM01, accommodating around 1,000 remote users, and if the customer needs another endpoint, we can deploy VM02 and manage that transition effectively.
EMEA Enterprise Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Scalability is well-supported, with the notable ability to implement features easily.
Assistant Operation Manger at IIJ Singapore
It can start with a single core and scale up to a 32-core license for a robust deployment.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Cisco Secure Access is praised for stable operations and reliability despite minor Linux or SSL decryption issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
Fortinet FortiGate-VM is praised for its stability and cost-effectiveness, despite occasional issues with upgrades and specific modules.
Cisco is renowned for their reliability, and their products perform well under high data usage.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate the stability of Cisco Secure Access as ten out of ten.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
The solution is stable enough, and I did not experience any latency or performance issues.
Director -Digital Transformation at Convergence
The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is excellent.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
The product has been very stable, based on my ten to eleven years of experience.
Assistant Operation Manger at IIJ Singapore
In the past couple of years, they started releasing numerous new features, and things have become somewhat unstable.
Chief Technology Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure Access requires better integration, licensing, pricing, AI development, management interface, third-party integrations, and global cloud coverage.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM needs improved UI, support, reporting, integration, customization, stability, pricing, deployment, performance, AI, and interoperability.
Modernization is needed, specifically in the enhancement of security features and functionality.
Pre-Sales Solution Partner at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
It was challenging to learn because it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The granular access issue is coming from the product limitation at the moment, as it does not offer us the option to tell it that a particular role can only manage websites, allowed sites, and blocked sites.
Technical Product Owner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
You should not look just at a data sheet, but also look at real tests in the field and load tests from companies who are making them.
Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The API needs better integration to match accounts and objects more effectively.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
Now, these features require separate products like FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and a FortiCloud subscription for reporting.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Secure Access has complex pricing, offering good value for Cisco users, but licensing confusion and pricing flexibility issues exist.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers flexible and competitive pricing, appealing to enterprises despite being pricier than open-source options.
The solution is cheaper than premium options such as Palo Alto, existing Cisco licenses facilitate replacing previous solutions with Cisco Secure Access smoothly and affordably.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is good because you want to push Cisco Secure Access, and regarding the price, it is very much below other products.
Junior Information Technology Consultant Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Improvement on the pricing will help in expanding the market for Cisco Secure Access and then it can be affordable to much more number of companies than what it is right now.
Technical Manager at Ledorbis Solutions
The license for Fortinet FortiGate-VM costs 100K to 150K Philippine pesos per year for VM1 or VM2.
System Engineer at Trends and Technologies, Inc
I don't have this experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM because my colleagues in Germany are reaching better prices than me.
Network Administrator at THK Co Ltd
They could be slightly cheaper, however, Fortinet offers a good cost-benefit ratio.
Pre-Sales Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure Access provides cloud-based security tools, AI-driven enhancements, and seamless integration, ensuring efficient management and robust threat detection.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers ease of use, robust security features, and integration, valued for affordability, scalability, and strong interface.
It eliminates the hassle of switching on VPNs and provides a direct connection to resources via Cisco Secure Access.
General Manager at Datasoft Comnet
They are sending the traffic encrypted and categorizing the traffic based on the type, whether web traffic or internet traffic, and doing the security mechanism that is needed for the traffic type.
Solution Architect at Velocis Systems
Using ZTNA in Cisco Secure Access has positively affected my transition and my clients' transition to Zero Trust and least privilege principles, reinforcing the security posture.
Ts Senior Technical Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The more integrated we become, the less we spend on solving bugs and issues, allowing us to reduce time focusing on understanding and improving our network.
Pre-Sales Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Fortinet is the only provider to have successfully set up a unified operating system on all its products in the network security ecosystem.
System Administrator, Security Engineer, Security Result at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
For what we need to do, which is setting up a VPN connection between both sides and using it for SSL VPN connections for remote users, it works effectively and we haven't encountered vulnerabilities.
EMEA Enterprise Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Access
Ranking in Firewalls
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (5th), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (3rd), ZTNA (6th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (4th), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (2nd)
Fortinet FortiGate-VM
Ranking in Firewalls
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Access is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Access0.4%
Fortinet FortiGate-VM2.2%
Other97.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2788500 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Operations Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Secure access has unified zero trust and web protection while AI assistance automates tasks
From a feature perspective, I have not experienced any issues, drawbacks, or shortcomings. However, the cost of Cisco's products and licensing is high. My clients usually prefer cheaper options if possible. Mid-size or smaller businesses typically cannot afford Cisco Secure Access. Additionally, there is a steep learning curve, as it is very intensive. Someone with significant knowledge can work on it, but a new professional would have to spend considerable time to get accustomed to it. It is hard to find engineers who can work on it. Overall, we get what we pay for, as it is a pretty good feature and service. The pricing of Cisco's products and licensing is higher than competitors. If they could be more reasonable, that would help. The support offered for two years also has higher costs. Overall, the client's IT budget gets affected. It was challenging to learn because, as mentioned, it has a significant learning curve and requires considerable training to become proficient.
KO
Network Administrator at THK Co Ltd
Faced hardware limitations and setup challenges but have improved network protection over time
I spent much time finding exact firmware on Aruba which was working with these guns, but it is not optimal because it is not the latest version, so there could be potential security problems. We decided to replace those access points with another one. I personally have trouble because I don't know the exact life cycle of Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes. I don't know if the life of boxes is five years or something else; we moved from our previous company, which sold us to other companies. Before 10 years, we had a special department that took care of core networks, including firewalls. After that, this responsibility fell to me and my colleague. It is not easy to set up these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes properly because we didn't have previous experience with this kind of solution. At first, we set up only a few rules that were not secure enough, and over a couple of years, we improved the settings and security of these Fortinet FortiGate-VM boxes. Currently, I have one Fortinet FortiGate-VM that needs to be replaced next year, and this box is not so powerful, so I need to redirect some traffic to another Fortinet FortiGate-VM. It is stable, but because the CPU processor of this box is not powerful, I need to redirect some traffic to another box. In the future, I need to choose a higher-level box to prevent potential troubles with the power of this box.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise39
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Access?
Pricing for Cisco Secure Access has been very reasonable in the context of the entire world of SASE solutions. Setup costs for customers coming off of Umbrella, because of the fact that it is an ev...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Access?
Our main use case for Cisco Secure Access is providing security for hybrid and mobile workforces. One of the big challenges these days is the fact that you will have users in the office, working re...
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Secure Access?
One of the things about policy verification is with Cisco Secure Access and modern security products in general, policies can become very complicated, very quickly, especially once you start doing ...
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate-VM?
From our perspective, it's quite good. When we have the visibility, we will make our policies depending on the threats that are coming because we are using many different other security measures. F...
 

Also Known As

No data available
FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Google 5. Apple 6. Cisco Systems 7. Oracle 8. Intel 9. HP Inc. 10. Dell Technologies 11. Verizon Communications 12. AT&T 13. Comcast 14. T-Mobile 15. Sprint 16. Vodafone 17. Orange 18. BT Group 19. Deutsche Telekom 20. Telefonica 21. Nokia 22. Ericsson 23. Samsung Electronics 24. Sony 25. Panasonic 26. LG Electronics 27. Siemens 28. General Electric 29. Ford Motor Company 30. General Motors 31. Toyota Motor Corporation 32. Volkswagen Group
Security7 Networks, COOPENAE
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Access vs. Fortinet FortiGate-VM and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.