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Cisco Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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 Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 10.6%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 8.1%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Wireless WAN10.6%
Fortinet FortiExtender8.1%
Other81.3%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

BS
Network Security at Tech Mahindra Limited
Support teams have simplified deployment while the interface provides accessible configuration options
Based on my experience, I would generally recommend Cisco Wireless WAN to others. At present, our company is using Cisco WAN only. Based on that company, their budget and other factors will be involved in the decision. For metrics to evaluate the efficiency of Cisco Wireless WAN, I refer to the Cisco website or sometimes YouTube to get the details through videos. Overall, I am giving Cisco Wireless WAN an eight rating out of ten. Any Cisco product is most useful and is being majorly used in the network. I would like to see features in Cisco Wireless WAN that involve a GUI. Cisco also uses GUI mostly to configure or create any wireless SSIDs or any other things, which is fine now. I am providing this review with an overall rating of eight out of ten for Cisco Wireless WAN.
SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This stability is one of the major reasons to stick with this product."
"Provides good visibility and insights into what is happening."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is its fast transition."
"Recently, the most valuable and in-demand feature that users are enjoying is WiFi 6 support on the access points. The other good thing about Cisco Wireless LAN is how easily it provides clean access to the WiFi network."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The manageability and control are excellent."
"Our most valuable feature involves the 802.11ac, which operates at a very high level and has updated technology."
"The most valuable features are user and handling capacity, indoor and outdoor access points and antennas, and the inbuilt intrusion prevention system."
"With Fortinet, it's cheaper and we don't sacrifice quality."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"You don't need to have two different vendors to interoperate and get into comparability issues or inter-operability issues."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"Management can be carried out from a central point."
"The most valuable feature is that management can be carried out from a central point, as a result, the Fortinet Firewall's management is centralized, making things easier."
"Having the FortiExtender as a part of an SD-WAN topology is a major competitive value."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
 

Cons

"Cisco's complex structure was a factor that led us to consider replacing it."
"The product can be more cost-effective."
"We feel that Cisco is quite expensive, so we're looking for a reasonable alternative. We are considering Aruba and some other brands that are less expensive. Cisco works fine, but the issue is the annual licensing and support costs."
"Cisco Wireless WAN's interface could be simplified in the future. Simplification would make it more helpful to see how the user is connecting."
"The price of Cisco Wireless WAN could improve, it is expensive."
"The solution is pretty expensive. We'd like to see lower pricing in the future."
"There are limitations on the SSIDs that could improve. We cannot enable two ways of authenticating users on one SSID. For a number of places, we have to provide different modes of certification for the user which requires us to create another SSID for the broadcast."
"A lot of the time, for users, it comes down to pricing. Many would like to see it be a bit less costly."
"There is a huge downside because we need to remove and insert the SIM to get it working."
"The solution would be a lot better if it was a little bit more intuitive. Additionally, the help menu would be a lot better if it was easier to identify the items that I was looking for. I find the graphical interface a little bit difficult to navigate. And I find the font that is used on the HTML interface not conducive to being able to be read in low light situations."
"The Fortinet FortiExtender should be more suitable for outdoor use. Currently, the vehicle model can be used outdoors, but there are no dedicated outdoor devices."
"The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement."
"The support could be faster and more responsive."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is expensive."
"Cisco's pricing is quite costly and should be cheaper for both licensing and hardware."
"The tool is expensive."
"Cisco products generally have high list prices, but substantial discounts are available."
"It is very expensive."
"Cisco is much more expensive than the other vendor solutions."
"We pay the licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"I don't know the exact cost as I'm only on the technical side, but I do know this solution is very expensive. With one being the most expensive and five being affordable, I would give Cisco a two out of five."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
20%
Construction Company
17%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
18%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Wireless WAN?
I think the pricing of Cisco Wireless WAN must be reasonable at present.
What needs improvement with Cisco Wireless WAN?
Cisco Wireless WAN's interface could be simplified in the future. Simplification would make it more helpful to see how the user is connecting. We are able to see the connectivity details, and we al...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Wireless WAN?
We are still working with Cisco products, and I am supporting the Cisco devices. We are working with Cisco switches, routers, and we have guest Wi-Fi now. Regarding Cisco Wireless WAN, I am not tha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless WAN vs. Fortinet FortiExtender and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.