Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs Fortinet FortiPortal comparison

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Fortinet FortiPortal

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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

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiPortal

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 1.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiPortal is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewall Security Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center	1.9%
Fortinet FortiPortal	1.6%
Other	96.5%

Firewall Security Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer2290770

Sr. Solutions Architect, Consulting Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Centralized firewall policies have strengthened security posture and simplified threat management

So far, I find that everything related to Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is adequate. The only thing that was missing in the portfolio was SD-WAN, which I would like to use similar to Fortinet. Now Cisco has published the 120 series and the 1100 series, which support SD-WAN features in the firewall. I have not tried it myself yet, but I intend to use it and configure it as an SD-WAN gateway. When I use it, I will be able to provide feedback on whether there is anything new or if everything is adequate, but I have not used it or configured it by my hand till now.

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MikeDytch

Customer Service Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Offers comprehensive reporting and helps track offline devices effectively

Fortinet FortiPortal provides the ability to see which firmwares are out of date and indicates which firewall licenses have expired. It allows us to track which firewalls are offline, offering a read-only view if on-site access is unavailable. This overview, coupled with comprehensive reporting, is quite beneficial for managing our firewalls.

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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 product's user interface is very easy to use and convenient."

"The overall product rating is eight out of ten."

"The policy management capabilities streamline security tasks by facilitating policy configuration. This ensures the impactful implementation of security policies during product installation, enhancing overall security measures."

"The applied policy inside the firewall is good."

"The solution is quite scalable."

"My clients have never contacted me with any issues, so I believe the solution is stable."

"All companies are looking to protect their data centers from unapproved access or server misuse and this product works."

"The technical support team is responsive and supportive."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pros

"I like the product's asset management which gives clear hardware details."

"It does a pretty good job of rolling out the environment and making most tasks actionable, and it does a little bit better than some of the other products health-wise and updates-wise."

"The documentation has been satisfactory."

"From a scalability perspective, I found the solution to be completely fine...The solution's technical support is absolutely fine."

"The role-based access controls give us granular control over what features to present to a customer, and the integration into FortiAnalyzer is the most valuable feature."

"I am very comfortable with it, including it's reporting on threats and through its activities."

"I like the tool's controller facility."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is application control."

More Fortinet FortiPortal pros

Cons

"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center's logging functionality could be improved."

"The tool is a little bit pricey. I was not involved much with finance, but it appeared to be really expensive."

"The product could be improved by simplifying its user interface and reducing complexity."

"The performance of the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center could be improved."

"The IOS and the deploy option could be improved."

"The interface is an area that could be improved."

"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center could improve by being less expensive."

"Areas for improvement include pricing points and the range of products available at any given time."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center cons

"Fortinet FortiPortal could improve by providing a learning portal and better security."

"The product must have in-built SD-WAN connectivity."

"There can be defects in Fortinet FortiPortal when functioning at high temperatures."

"Fortinet FortiPortal could improve by providing a learning portal and better security."

"The only complaint about Fortinet FortiPortal is the need for frequent firmware upgrades, as it requires constant updating due to potential security vulnerabilities."

"The tool should provide a 10-15 days extension for customers when their license expires."

"The solution is more expensive than other products."

"I find their logging a little bit trickier to manage. The logging of events is broken up into a lot of different categories. Instead of breaking up my logs into several different places, I personally like to have all the events in one spot and then filter them down. In particular, I find that troubleshooting on Fortinet takes a little bit longer just because of those functional breakups in the logs."

More Fortinet FortiPortal cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"The product pricing is reasonable and falls in the mid-range."

"The solution is not expensive."

"When you are using a Cisco solution you know it will be expensive. Cisco makes you pay for everything individually. We pay for the licenses that we need."

"The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."

"Technical support is an additional annual cost and is not included with the license."

"I rate the tool's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing costs are yearly."

"It could be considered relatively cheaper when compared to some other vendors in the market."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pricing and cost advice

"Fortinet FortiPortal is relatively expensive, but being an industry-leading firewall, it does come with a cost."

"The solution is quite expensive."

"Fortinet FortiPortal is not expensive."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"Fortinet FortiPortal is expensive in Pakistan."

"I am satisfied with the pricing for this solution."

"The licensing costs attached to the solution make it an expensive product."

"On average, it tends to be cheaper than other enterprise solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Marketing Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Media Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

I find the pricing for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center to be very reasonable, as they offer the license for both virtual and hardware options. For the virtual option, they have minimum lice...

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiPortal?

The cost of Fortinet FortiPortal is affordable, particularly for our subscription. Compared to other solutions like Cisco, it's significantly cheaper. I would rate the price as a six out of ten.

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiPortal?

The only complaint about Fortinet FortiPortal is the need for frequent firmware upgrades, as it requires constant updating due to potential security vulnerabilities. With a proper license, the abil...

What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiPortal?

Currently, I use Fortinet FortiPortal ( /products/fortinet-fortiportal-reviews ) in a read-only mode to manage firewall configurations and monitor devices. Although we haven't fully integrated it d...

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

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Compared 20% of the time

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Compared 19% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Product Reports

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

Download Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center product report

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center report

Fortinet FortiPortal

Download Fortinet FortiPortal product report

Also Known As

No data available

FortiPortal

Overview

The Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the administrative nerve center for select Cisco security products running on multiple platforms. It provides unified management of Cisco Secure Firewalls with Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software for port and protocol control, application control, IPS, URL filtering, and malware protection functions. Firewall Management Center is the centralized event and policy manager for:

● Cisco Secure Firewall with the Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) OS

● Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services

● Cisco Secure IPS (Firepower Next-Gen IPS / NGIPS)

● Cisco FirePOWER Threat Defense for ISR

● Cisco Malware Defense (AMP)

Cisco

FortiPortal gives MSPs a comprehensive set of hosted Wi-Fi and security management features for FortiGate, FortiWiFi, and FortiAP products. With multitenancy, you can securely manage your customers through a centralized management console. This lets you respond quickly to customer requests and easily monitor customer networks. Our virtual appliance can be deployed on a hosted services infrastructure, allowing you to build highly-customized private-cloud services for customers.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Fortinet FortiPortal