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ExtremeManagement vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 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

ExtremeManagement
Ranking in Network Management Applications
22nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiManager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of ExtremeManagement is 1.9%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 4.4%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiManager4.4%
ExtremeManagement1.9%
Other93.7%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

LuisBrown - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Security Officer at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Mature and robust platform; can be used to manage Cisco switches
ExtremeManagement is excellent. It is a very mature platform and robust in that it covers most of the functionality of the devices. One of ExtremeManagement's advantages over its competitors is that it is capable of managing Cisco switches if you have their on-prem manager. So you can take your legacy Cisco switches and manage them directly in the Extreme platform.
SudeepMaydeo - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Head of IT Infrastructure at EPL Americas
Ensures seamless integration and centralized visibility for network security operations
The version upgrade from a single dashboard for all the firewalls in one click is the beauty of Fortinet FortiManager as the most impactful feature in managing our network security. Fortinet FortiManager's policy management enhances our security protocols by enabling us and giving integrated centralized visibility, which has proven to be very healthy. Because of this, we have identified some of the vulnerabilities in our systems, and we mitigated them through Fortinet FortiManager. The central dashboards and the visibility are what appealed to us to go with Fortinet FortiManager. Fortinet FortiManager has adapted to changes in our network scale and complexity as we have geographically 18 international locations, all equipped with firewalls and some cybersecurity initiatives and IT infrastructure initiatives.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technical support services are good."
"The report model is one of the valuable models. We are able to see all the information concentrated in reports, which is very useful. We are able to get the information about the performance of the equipment and check that everything is okay. You can get very useful information across applications, so we have very good experience with their management solutions. It has many functionalities to simplify the administration and monitor the development of the switches or AP. It is easy to deploy, easy to configure. and easy to develop. Its price is also good."
"ExtremeManagement brings in the most value by reducing the technical debt to the organization in terms of having to hire personnel to maintain it or contract it."
"The best thing about the solution is that it is all managed from just a single application window. We call this feature a single pane of glass due to the fact that almost all the features are all managed within a single application, or a browser, to be more specific."
"I need fewer people to do implementation and support, and I don't have to go on-site to change the configuration or otherwise support the switch."
"It can scale well."
"Without FortiManager, you cannot manage a complex environment across several sites with multiple firewalls."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"It makes management very easy."
"Being able to push consistent firewall rules and configuration changes across multiple FortiGates saves a ton of time and reduces errors compared to managing each device individually."
"It would normally take us a handful of days to install one FortiGate instance on one site. But with this technology, zero-touch deployment, we need just one hour or maybe as little as 30 minutes to install one site. It is much more efficient."
"We look at the traffic to segment the network and it improves and increases the performance. When we have a mobile connection and local laptops are on the same network. We have seen a big performance upgrade."
"The reports feature is excellent."
 

Cons

"There could be better integration with third-party equipment and vendors."
"It would be great to not need an on-premises SiteIQ license for running a Fabric OS cloud or managing third-party devices."
"Some features are quite difficult to configure and they are very complicated to figure out. Maybe the vendors should introduce a more driven configuration that can clarify the processes a bit more to make the processes more clearly defined."
"It would be helpful if this solution had support for configuring and managing third-party hardware devices."
"They can improve the information period. Currently, we are able to have information for only 14 or 15 days, but we would like to have information for an extended period of maybe 30 days. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of the response time to the tickets."
"There is room for improvement in Fortinet FortiManager because there is no option for roaming profiles, and the cloud console is not available, which is different compared to Cisco Meraki, and the cloud connectivity is not sufficiently good."
"The information extraction through command lines was could improve to some extent. Although there were some command lines available, there were not enough options. For instance, I needed to obtain the management IP address of my two Fortigates, but the Fortinet FortiManager did not provide me with the IP address on the LAN interface. I attempted to find this information through the command line but was unsuccessful. I also searched for articles on the internet, but could not find a solution. This is an aspect that could be improved or potentially there is a method to access this information that I have yet to discover."
"FortiManager would be improved by putting everything into a single console, including Microsoft O365 integration."
"The areas that need improvement are implemenation and support. In terms of implementation, it mainly needs clear documentation."
"In the next release, FortiManager should include more protection features."
"The reporting details have room for improvement."
"The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker."
"FortiManager could be more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has a good price. There is a good relationship between the cost and the performance."
"While they don't consider it affordable, they don't find it overly expensive."
"The support is billed on a yearly basis, and there are no additional costs."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"Compared to Check Point or Cisco, Fortinet FortiManager is more affordable but it is still on the higher end."
"FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten."
"Fortinet FortiManager is not expensive at all if you compare it with other vendors like Check Point and Cisco. Fortinet products are the least expensive on the market in the category of firewalls."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"On a scale from one to ten with one being the highest price and ten being the lowest price, I would rate FortiManager's price at three."
"The pricing model is affordable."
"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."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ExtremeManagement?
The technical support services are good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeManagement?
I don't know the exact pricing or licensing details. However, based on feedback from our customers, they haven't raised significant complaints about the cost. While they don't consider it affordabl...
What needs improvement with ExtremeManagement?
There could be better integration with third-party equipment and vendors. While ExtremeManagement technically supports monitoring various devices like firewalls, the integration may not be as seaml...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
I am satisfied with the licensing cost, and I would rate it an 8.5.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
I do not use Fortinet FortiManager daily, but I can speak with my security team and ask them what areas need future improvement for Fortinet FortiManager. When I installed it, I found it somewhat d...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about ExtremeManagement vs. Fortinet FortiManager and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.