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Fortinet FortiAP vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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

Fortinet FortiAP
Ranking in Wireless LAN
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi
Ranking in Wireless LAN
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 4.7%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiAP4.7%
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi1.1%
Other94.2%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Shahnawaz Nusrat - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
Has simplified wireless integration while needing better throughput and captive portal features
The product can be improved depending on the model selected as per requirements. Support is good and throughput is good. What we need to do is select a better product as per our requirement and environment. If proper working is done in terms of wireless heat map or radio connectivity in our environment, I believe it's good. There is always a chance to improve. Throughput can be better in terms of other vendors, but currently, it's working fine. One feature that I still need to explore is the captive portal. When we deploy a unit in a public environment, users need to sign in with a pop-up box to connect.
reviewer2562924 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT System Support Administrator at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
Configuration offers flexibility but response to incidents needs improvement
We recommend using WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi, but when incidents occur, it can be very difficult to identify why they happen. Normally, the issues are simple to fix, but we recently faced a major incident. We are still trying to identify the cause, which is why I would rate it seven out of ten. Without this incident, I might have rated it eight to nine. Overall, I give the solution a rating of seven.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The pricing is reasonable for what it offers."
"The product's deployment phase is very easy since its documentation part is available in the public domain."
"The most valuable aspect of Fortinet FortiAP is the support."
"The stability of the solution is very high."
"Fortinet FortiAPs are useful for small to medium-scale companies where there are budget concerns."
"We really don't need to call technical support. Any time we have had to call, they've been great."
"I always recommend to customers who have a FortiGate firewall to choose Fortinet FortiAP instead of deploying any other wireless controller or OEM because it provides a single posture of security and a single management console, is easy to use, easy to deploy, and offers central management with FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiAP's zero-touch deployment feature with FortiManager is utilized in the current deployment, enabling deployment and configuration that is very useful, leading to huge cost savings."
"The solution is priced high compared to competitors, however, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."
"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."
"The solution has been stable."
"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."
"We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use."
"If I were tasked to set up new WiFi at a single site, or at multiple locations for hundreds of sites, I would make this solution my first choice."
"They're very easy to set up and get running."
"It makes it easy to obtain all information about the client experience."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the product by expanding the number of SSIDs that can be broadcast."
"There is nothing that particularly comes to mind for improvement."
"The improvement factor could be in APs. Also, it could have a control, like MAC address."
"Throughput can be better in terms of other vendors, but currently, it's working fine."
"There could be constraints where a product can't be scaled further without purchasing a new model."
"I would like to have automation capabilities that would help us reduce the configuration steps."
"Technical support is a pain. Fortinet has to get its act together. If you don't pay for premium service, you will have issues."
"The product fails to offer default access points to deal with the areas revolving around configurations."
"If a client device had issues with authentication due to out of date browser or similar difficulties, it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the client onto the portal via one click."
"The solution can be scaled but it has limitations from my experience."
"Inability to import a user with one click."
"The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention."
"One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level."
"If a client device had issues with authentication due to out of date browser or similar difficulties, it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the client onto the portal via one click."
"The price of this solution needs to reviewed, as it is currently high enough to deter customers from trying it."
"In terms of improvement, one issue I have is that I can't import a user with one click."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most expensive, I would rate FortiAP a six."
"The product is available at a very comfortable price for my company compared to the other products available in the market. The prices of products from Meraki and Aruba are high compared to those of Fortinet."
"If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good."
"Fortinet FortiAP offers a more cost-effective solution compared to Palo Alto and Check Point."
"FortiAP is more expensive than some other options."
"We purchased perpetual licensing, and additional costs may vary depending on the services acquired from Fortinet."
"The devices under Fortinet are not expensive. The solution's licensing part is expensive."
"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."
"Your licensing and cost, as would be required for many other solutions, being considered for eighty to two hundred and eighty different physical locations, is just about the same amount per access point."
"The solution is priced high compared to competitors. However, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with FortiAP?
A point for improvement for Fortinet FortiAP would be improvements in the GUI, which is adequate but could be improved. Additionally, wireless coverage and the mapping area are fairly static and co...
What is your primary use case for FortiAP?
Fortinet FortiAP is currently used mainly on branch deployments because of the single pane of management across the whole branch using the FortiGate, FortiAP, and FortiSwitch. I have utilized Forti...
What needs improvement with WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?
The support response can be time-consuming because sometimes issues are very sensitive and require instant attention. Also, when an incident occurs, the impact can be significantly huge. A recent p...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?
We use WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi because we have used different tools as well, like Ubiquiti. The complexity of Ubiquiti is much more compared to WatchGuard, which provides more flexibility and is ea...
What advice do you have for others considering WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi?
We recommend using WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi, but when incidents occur, it can be very difficult to identify why they happen. Normally, the issues are simple to fix, but we recently faced a major inc...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Portsmouth Grammar School, HILOTEC
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiAP vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.