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Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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 FortiAuthenticator
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (5th), Identity Management (IM) (15th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st), Access Management (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 3.7%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 3.0%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator3.7%
Symantec Siteminder3.0%
Other93.3%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2848395 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Business Development Manager at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Multi-factor security has improved device protection but still needs broader application coverage
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator could be improved in its cost structure. Although it is not expensive, other solutions offer more value for less money. Cisco Duo provides better value in this regard and connects to web applications much more easily, scaling effectively in that sense. While I have never used Cisco Duo to secure other devices in IoT environments, I know Cisco Duo is capable of doing so, whereas Fortinet FortiAuthenticator cannot. Additionally, Cisco Duo is also cheaper. These are the main reasons why we switched away from Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, as it was very limited compared to other solutions available. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator was primarily missing the ability to scale to web applications.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
Improved user experience with seamless integration and easy installation
The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows. Additionally, it is very beneficial for deploying single sign-on sessions between different windows on a web browser, provided I am connected to the right identity provider. That seamless integration significantly improves user experience and efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiAuthenticator has helped a lot of our customers in the way that they do the business when they onboard their clients to the data center."
"The solution is an integral part of our security for our email network, and like I said, we'll begin using it for other cloud applications."
"I like the self-registration capabilities."
"I really like the two-step authentication, it provides a higher level of security that we didn't have previously."
"Customer service and support are excellent."
"The product’s most valuable feature is integration with FortiGate, FortiToken, FortiTalk, and multi-factor authentication."
"FortiCare can provide prompt replies."
"If you want a more efficient way to manage two-factor authentication for your users, or implement the unit as a cluster member role, the FortiAuthenticator can be incorporated very well into your environment."
"Once we have our authentication and authorization policies set, they are easy to duplicate across all our applications instead of trying to develop them into each application individually."
"This is the only access management product that I have come across which configures end-to-end and hosts resources."
"Authentication Authorization for our websites are important because all the sites need authentication for security purposes and that has been handled pretty well all these years with SSO."
"SiteMinder is an industry leading solution as everyone is using it."
"It provides us with authentications, authorizations, and basically providing the client with better secure services."
"Obviously, the most valuable feature is the flexibility of the solution, it being able to be integrated with a number of applications and solutions, and also the configurability of the solution."
"The product greatly facilitates a centralized identity and access management system."
"All of our applications get a point, click, and you are in, while we increase security at the same time."
 

Cons

"There is a room for improvement. The log is a bit difficult to access, and searching the log codes is also a bit difficult. So it would be much better if, when we open a log, it could provide detailed information about errors, reasons for failure, and such."
"Initially, we deployed Fortinet FortiAuthenticator on VMware and faced challenges when migrating to an OpenStack environment, which required reconfiguration. I recommend Fortinet make its images migratable between environments."
"The user interface and clustering are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"These are the main reasons why we switched away from Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, as it was very limited compared to other solutions available."
"The customization capability of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is not very flexible."
"Integration with some other enterprise applications could be improved."
"Improvements in the product could start from the dashboard, overall customization, and configuration."
"I would like to see more support from Fortinet with tech support people who have as much expertise on the authenticator as they do on their firewalls."
"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."
"There is a considerable improvement in the product from previous versions, but a few items we feel need a little attention are the web agent installation process and steps – as it behaves differently on the same OS."
"There are certain integration points that can be leveraged and made more easy to deploy, like the REST APIs and things like that."
"The support team could work on their response time and overall competence."
"The tech support has not been very good for us so we don't use them anymore. We have had some issues. Nobody is perfect."
"I'd like to see a rework of the user directory configuration."
"I would like to see more usability; more customer usability."
"The look and feel was not good in the earlier product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator a three out of five."
"I rate the product price as two or three on a one-to-ten scale, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"The price seems okay. It's not that expensive compared to other authenticators."
"It's not expensive."
"I would start off with a VM including the base license and scale according to the number of users you need to authenticate."
"The cost of the license could be less expensive. The license is paid on a yearly basis."
"The product has affordable pricing compared to other vendors."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price and ten is a low price, I rate the pricing a seven."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"Siteminder is a little costly. You pay for licensing, and they offer packages, so if you have less users, then you have to buy different products at different prices. If you have more of a user base, then the package is different. They also include other features—for example, if you have a database and you're using Siteminder, then it's good to use a Semantic-specific database, but if you are using less, then you have to purchase the database separately. Whereas if you are going for a bigger license, then it comes within the package. It depends on which plan you are using."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiAuthenticator better by having a cloud version of it. Currently, Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is only available for on-premises, and it is an on-premises solution. It...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is primarily used for authenticating admin users, including remote admin use cases. Remote admin use cases utilize Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to securely authenticate a...
What needs improvement with Symantec Siteminder?
Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features. Currently, multi-factor authentication is available as a separate solution, and it ...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Siteminder?
I deploy and support Symantec Siteminder ( /products/symantec-siteminder-reviews ). I have been a partner and reseller.
 

Also Known As

FortiAuthenticator
SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,805 professionals have used our research since 2012.