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Fortinet FortiAP vs WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi comparison

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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
7th
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
22nd
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 October 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 3.4%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi is 1.2%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiAP3.4%
WatchGuard Secure Wi‑Fi1.2%
Other95.4%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

StaffordSlater - PeerSpot reviewer
Co Founder And Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Unified branch management has simplified deployment and improved wireless security and visibility
Fortinet FortiAP's zero-touch deployment feature with FortiManager is utilized in the current deployment. Zero-touch provisioning with FortiManager enables deployment and configuration that is very useful, leading to huge cost savings. As long as everything is deployed and plugged in, you can push an image to the firewall, and it pushes it out to the switches and all the APs. The deployment time is a lot quicker as a result. Currently, there is not a lack of function in Fortinet FortiAP. The organization is satisfied with it. Everything is managed via FortiManager in a multi-tenanted, cloud deployment model, as the organization is an MSP, so it works well. Pricing for Fortinet FortiAP is rated as an eight, as it is a lot cheaper than Meraki. I would recommend Fortinet FortiAP to other users. I would give this review an overall rating of nine out of ten.
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 product's deployment phase is very easy since its documentation part is available in the public domain."
"If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy, especially with FortiGate or your FortiManager in place."
"FortiAP's integration using SSID configuration for the input/output makes deploying permission rules easier."
"I would give FortiAP a rating of ten out of ten so far."
"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."
"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."
"We really don't need to call technical support. Any time we have had to call, they've been great."
"Cloud analytics that provide all its attributes."
"We like that WatchGuard works and integrates directly with the firewalls we use."
"They're very easy to set up and get running."
"The configuration part of WatchGuard is very flexible."
"The solution is priced high compared to competitors, however, for the features that are included in the solution, the price becomes more reasonable."
"All you have to do is take it out of the box, plug it in and you're ready to go."
"It makes it easy to obtain all information about the client experience."
"The Wi-Fi security features of this solution have been great for our customers who need to strictly control access to their network."
 

Cons

"The wireless functionality is not the best."
"There could be constraints where a product can't be scaled further without purchasing a new model."
"The support offered by the solution has certain shortcomings, making it in areas where improvements are required."
"The radio band support could be improved, especially for legacy devices."
"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 security integration between the network and firewall has room for improvement."
"The improvement factor could be in APs. Also, it could have a control, like MAC address."
"I would like to have automation capabilities that would help us reduce the configuration steps."
"The solution can be scaled but it has limitations from my experience. The access points are rated for 500 people but I think the max is closer to 200."
"In terms of improvement, one issue I have is that I can't import a user with one click."
"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."
"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."
"I don't think they're available at the best price."
"One of the things is if you buy it with a certain subscription, you can't easily change the subscription level."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We purchased perpetual licensing, and additional costs may vary depending on the services acquired from Fortinet."
"FortiAP is more expensive than some other options."
"On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most expensive, I would rate FortiAP a six."
"Fortinet FortiAP offers a more cost-effective solution compared to Palo Alto and Check Point."
"If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good."
"The devices under Fortinet are not expensive. The solution's licensing part is expensive."
"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."
"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."
"WatchGuard is on the upper scale for pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise3
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: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.