Fortinet FortiGate vs Meraki MX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 21, 2022

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX reviewers agreed that deployment of both solutions was quick and easy.
  • Features: Fortinet FortiGate reviewers say it has great features, including excellent stability and a great firewall and VPN solution. However, there were many mixed reviews regarding the interface; many felt it was overly complex, and the reporting feature was subpar.

    Users of Meraki MX felt that there were great simplistic features and loved the software's ease of use, but there was a need for more monitoring capabilities.
  • Pricing: Users of Fortinet FortiGate felt that the software was expensive, especially since each feature needs a separate license. Reviewers of Meraki MX thought that the price was reasonable compared to other solutions on the market, but still on the expensive side.
  • Service and Support: Users of Fortinet FortiGate noted that, for the most part, it is supported by excellent technical support teams. Users of Meraki MX felt the service and support was at a minimum satisfactory, with many feeling it was great.
  • ROI: Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX reviewers both claimed they saw an ROI after implementing the product.

Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX have a similar user rating regarding ease of deployment, pricing, service and support, and ROI. In terms of features, users of Fortinet FortiGate had mixed reviews on the interface, and felt the reporting feature needed updating. On the other hand, users of Meraki MX felt there was a need for better and more monitoring capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX Report (Updated: May 2023).
708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
Answer: I definitely recommend Fortinet. The Meraki firewall is more intended to be integrated into a Meraki SDWAN infrastructure, with very basic firewall options.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"So far, it has been very stable.""The ASDM (Adaptive Security Device Manager) which is the graphical user interface, works out, and Cisco keeps it current.""It has a good security level. It is a next-generation firewall. It can protect from different types of attacks. We have enabled IPS and IDS.""The most valuable Cisco Secure Firewall features are options, features, and ease of deployment because it's an appliance.""The feature my customers find the most valuable is the exportability.""The most important features are the intrusion prevention engine and the application visibility and control. The Snort feature in Firepower is also valuable.""When I was managing these firewalls, I found them easy to understand, easy to deploy, and easy to maintain as compared to some of the other firewalls I have been involved with earlier. The opinion of my coworkers is that it's easy and quick to establish new zones, expand, and maintain.""The most valuable feature is the anti-malware protection. It protects the endpoints on my network."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Pros →

"This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall.""Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features.""The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution.""The solution is stable.""It is easy to use. We chose this product for the possibility to have virtual domains (VDOMs). We are building another company in the group, and we would like to split the firewalling rules and policies between these two companies. Each company would be able to manage its own policies and security rules, which is an advantage of Fortinet FortiGate. We can define VDOMs, and every company can manage its own VDOM as if it has its own physical firewall, but in fact, we would be using the same physical appliance because we are also using the same internet lines. So, it allows us to reuse the existing resources without the disadvantage of having to compromise on policies and security. Each company can choose its own way of working.""It increases security posture and is helpful for firewall reporting, intrusion protection, web filtering, and SD-WAN implementation.""Overall security features and performance routing is good.""The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"Easy to deploy with a simple configuration.""To me, the analytics feature is one of the most valuable in Meraki MX. I also find that it has good usability as it's cloud-based. Another valuable feature of Meraki MX is that it's simple to use and it's user-friendly.""The solution is easy to set up.""I think cloud management is key. The cloud management and support are the two things that make the product great.""What I like best about Meraki MX is that it's easy to deploy remotely. The product works. It has automatic updates. I also like that Meraki MX is a brilliant device. You turn it on, stick the key in there, activate it, and then you're done. Meraki MX does what my customers need at the end of the day, so I also like that.""The most valuable feature of Meraki MX is I can manage the solution from anywhere remotely, I can throttle bandwidth, and create all rules. Additionally, it is secure for our customers.""Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active.""Point-to-point VPNs can dynamically follow IP changes with no need for static IPs."

More Meraki MX Pros →

Cons
"We have seen some bugs come up with Cisco Secure Firewall in terms of high availability. The solution should be improved to avoid these bugs.""We have encountered problems when implementing new signatures and new versions on our firewall. Sometimes, there is a short outage of our services, and we have not been able to understand what's going on. This is an area for improvement, and it would be good to have a way to monitor and understand why there is an outage.""We only have an issue with time sync with Cisco ASA and NTP. If the time is out of sync, it will be a disaster for the failover.""We cannot have virtual domains, which we can create with FortiGate. This is something they should add in the future. Additionally, there is a connection limit and the FMC could improve.""I would like it if they made the newer generation a bit simpler. You can do ASA code and FXOS. It is just a bit confusing with the newer generational equipment on what it can do.""One of my colleagues is using the firewall as an IPS, but he is worried about Firepower's performance... With the 10 Gb devices, when it gets to 5 Gbps, the CPU usage goes up a lot and he cannot manage the IPS.""There is room for improvement in the stability or software quality of the product. There were a few things in the past where we had a little bit of a problem with the product, so there is room for improvement.""The solution is overcomplicated in some senses. Simplifying it would be an improvement."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Cons →

"The stability could be a bit better.""The pricing could always be better.""It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features.""There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved.""With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic.""My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint.""It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics.""The cloud management and automation capability could be improved."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"They're very complacent and I find the rule set to be a little arcane.""Meraki tech support staff have a lot more visibility into your network than you do, which is frustrating at times. I understand the approach is to keep the dashboard easier to understand. This will frustrate more advanced users at times.​""Meraki has some hidden features and information that is only privy to their engineers. If that information became available to us, then it would improve our ease of management, and we would be able to make certain adjustments instead of having to go to them.""We had minor issues with Meraki MX. We had a couple of RMAs, so that could be an area for improvement, but in terms of how the RMAs went, the turnaround time and getting those back into redeployment were quick. Another area for improvement in Meraki MX is that when you're scaling for multiple locations, you need to use the same model, but the model you'd need is only available for a short time. The specific model you require could be out of stock, or Meraki isn't making that model anymore, so Meraki should improve that.""Meraki MX firewalls are great for small to medium-sized businesses, but other solutions are better for enterprise-sized companies.""We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem.""MX can only be managed via a web interface, but I'm accustomed to using a CLI or a graphical interface. I would also like to see more reporting features. It doesn't provide enough information for me to know precisely about some clients.""An area for improvement in Meraki MX is that it needs some provision, as supplying the unit through Cisco can be tedious at times, but as far as the product itself and its offerings, Meraki MX is five-star all the way."

More Meraki MX Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "This solution is expensive and other solutions, such as FortiGate, are cheaper."
  • "Its pricing is good and competitive. There is a maintenance cost. It includes SecureX that makes it cost-effective as compared to the other solutions where you have to pay for XDR and SOAR capabilities."
  • "When we are fighting against other competitors for customers, whether it is a small or big business, we feel very comfortable with the price that Firepower has today."
  • "Pricing is the same as other competitors. It is comparable. The licensing has gotten better. It has been easier with Smart Licensing."
  • "It is expensive. There is a cost for everything. There is per year license cost and support cost. There is also a cost for any training, any application, and any resource. Things are very costly to do with Cisco. Other brands are cheaper. They are also more flexible in terms of training, subscription, and licensing. They give lots and lots of years free. They provide more than Cisco."
  • "When we bought it, it was really expensive. I'm not aware of the current pricing. We had problems with licensing. After our IPS subscription ended, we couldn't renew it because Cisco was moving to the next-generation firewall platform. So, they didn't provide us with the new license."
  • "Its price is moderate. It is not too expensive."
  • "I like its licensing because you buy the license once, and it is yours. We don't have to go for a subscription. So, I liked how they licensed Cisco ASA. Our clients are also very satisfied with its licensing model."
  • More Cisco Secure Firewall Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Fortinet Secure SD-WAN delivered the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) per Mbps among all other vendors."
  • "I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."
  • "It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."
  • "The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
  • "Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."
  • "Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
  • "The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."
  • "The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "We just have to pay for the product and the license. We have a license for three years, and it is renewed every three years. It costs $1,200 for three years for one endpoint. Meraki had a good promotion for remote workers or remote workforce. The discount is very good. This promotion continues till the next fiscal year of Cisco."
  • "​Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution."
  • "I think the price is comparable with other solutions of the same kind. Depending on the use case it could be cheaper or more expensive, I think it offers good value."
  • "The price of Meraki MX is between $8 and $1,200. Additionally, we typically purchase a three-year enterprise license, and we pay approximately $899 and mark it up a bit."
  • "The pricing for Meraki MX is all right, but as the hardware needs to be licensed, the cost depends on the complexity of the device and the term. Pricing could be $100 to $10,000 yearly or even more for a more complex device."
  • More Meraki MX Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Anonymous User
    Mufeed Siaj - PeerSpot reviewerMufeed Siaj
    MSP

    definitely the FortiGate , I can assist you with configuration and support if needed .



    Paul Yuen - PeerSpot reviewerPaul Yuen
    User

    I recommend that using a Sonicwall as the peripheral firewall as you can easily configure the firewall rules to block certain countries. Its ease of use and SSL inspection and many other features and reporting features are more than sufficient for a small company. 


    You don't need a dedicated IT department, Sonicwall provide cloud-based support services that can assist you 24hrs/ 7 days.   


    To enhance the firewall protection further, we also deploy ZoneAlarm and webroot security firewalls at the desktops level.  We also have several firewalls routers to safeguard very important servers, giving an onion-like "layers defense" structure. 

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and… more »
    Top Answer:One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. Fortinet… more »
    Top Answer:It is easy to integrate Cisco ASA with other Cisco products and also other NAC solutions. When you understand the Cisco… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite… more »
    Top Answer:We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL… more »
    Top Answer: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports… more »
    Top Answer:Meraki equipment requires a current license in order to operate. This also gets you hardware replacement and tech… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of Meraki MX is I can manage the solution from anywhere remotely, I can throttle bandwidth… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Cisco ASA Firewall, Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Cisco ASA, Adaptive Security Appliance, ASA, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
    Learn More
    Overview

    Cisco Secure Firewall, including Firepower, is a powerful perimeter security solution used for network security, data center protection, advanced malware protection, and site-to-site VPNs. Its most valuable features include NGIPS, application visibility and control, VLAN implementations, intrusion prevention, threat defense, and NAT. 

    The solution has helped organizations discover their environment, improve security, implement dynamic policies, reduce operational costs, and protect against threats from outside and within the data center. Overall, Cisco Secure Firewall is a valuable tool for securing organizations and providing visibility into threats.

    Fortinet FortiGate is an innovative line of firewalls that aim to protect organizations from all types of web-based network threats. They come in a wide variety of product types. Fortinet FortiGate’s solutions are available in a large range of sizes and form factors and are key components of the Fortinet Security Fabric, which enables immediate, intelligent defense against known and new threats throughout the entire network.

    Fortinet FortiGate provides users with next-generation firewall solutions that provide proven protection with unmatched performance across the network, from internal segments to data centers to cloud environments. You can protect every part of your network without exception. Additionally, your protections can be managed from a single central location. This ensures that the task of protecting your network is infinitely easier to accomplish.

    Benefits of Fortinet FortiGate

    Some of the benefits of using Fortinet FortiGate include:

    • The ability to manage your firewalls from a centralized automated control console. Fortinet FortiGate’s FortiManager enables administrators to exercise control of their firewalls in a streamlined manner. Administrators have full visibility and control over their system from a single location. It utilizes automation that collects information in real time, which greatly simplifies and reduces the cost of running various types of workflows. Administrators can free up resources by automating the most basic tasks.
    • The ability to produce uniform, appropriate, and coordinated responses to threats across networks. Fortinet FortiGate’s FortiGuard feature generates system protections in near real time. This allows administrators to address threats to the system with custom-made solutions that can be uniformly enforced.
    • The ability to scale up your security to fit your changing security needs. Fortinet FortiGate’s design allows users to accelerate the transfer of data between users and escalate the number of users that are covered without compromising security of performance. This means that users can grow their networks and continue to collaborate without worrying about the system slowing down or coming under attack.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Fortinet FortiGate’s firewall solutions are cutting edge. They stand out from competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the robustness and power of their firewalls. Fortinet FortiGate’s firewall provides users with many valuable features that allow them to maximize what they can do with the solution. These firewalls enable users to use a single piece of software to accomplish tasks that often require the use of multiple pieces of software.

    PeerSpot user Eric S., a Solutions Engineer and Consultant at a tech-services company, notes the robustness of this solution when he writes, "One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface.”

    PeerSpot user Jim M., a network admin at Penobscot Valley Hospital, notes the power of Fortinet FortiGate’s security software when he writes, "It does a lot for you for intrusion protection and as an antivirus. The threat management bundle is worth the money. You don't need another company to monitor your web traffic for you. You can do everything yourself on the firewall. You restrict your own black list for people on the firewall.”

    Cisco Meraki MX appliances are next-generation firewalls with all the advanced security services needed for today’s IT security. The appliances are ideal for organizations considering a unified threat management (UTM) solution for branch offices, data centers, distributed sites, or campuses. Since Meraki MX is 100% cloud-managed, installation and remote management are simple and zero-touch.

    Meraki MX’s hardware and virtual appliances are configurable in Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, and private cloud support is offered through Cisco NFVIS and Alibaba Cloud.

    Organizations of all sizes and across all industries rely on Meraki MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi-cloud environments, as well as application quality of experience (QoE) through advanced analytics with machine learning.

    Cisco Meraki’s advanced QoE analytics offers:

    • End-to-end health of web applications at a glance across the LAN, WAN, and application server.
    • Autonomous machine-learned smart application thresholds applied to identify true anomalies that are based on past behavioral patterns.
    • Ability to monitor the health of all MX WAN links across an entire organization.
    • Ability to detail hop-by-hop VoIP performance analysis across all uplinks.

    Cisco Meraki’s SD-WAN offers:

    The Meraki MX’s SD-WAN is unique in that it can be easily extended to deliver optimized access to resources in public and private cloud environments with virtual MX appliances. Its SD-WAN lowers operational costs and improves the performance of remotely-accessed resources. Users can ensure the availability of the apps and services their employees use most through dynamic path selection, policy-based routing, support for application-layer profiles, and VPN.

    Meraki MX offers industry-leading cloud management that has template-based settings which can scale easily from small deployments to tens of thousands of devices. It features an intuitive web-based dashboard for managing mobile devices, united firewalls, switching, and wireless LAN. Users can also benefit from role-based administration, configurable email alerts for a variety of important events, and easily auditable change logs. Meraki MX is capable of producing summary reports with device, user, and application details archived in the cloud.

    Meraki MX Key Features

    MX has a robust suite of network services in an all-in-one device, which saves you money by eliminating the need for multiple appliances. These services include:

    • SD-WAN capabilities
    • SNORT®-based intrusion detection and prevention
    • Layer 7 fingerprinting
    • Web caching
    • Application-based firewalling
    • Anti-malware
    • Geo-based firewalling
    • Content filtering
    • Site-to-site auto VPN and client VPN
    • Web search filtering
    • Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP)
    • 4G cellular failover
    • Dynamic path selection
    • Web application health and VoIP health

    Reviews from Real Users

    Meraki MX stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its easy management and its ability to be accessed remotely. Below is some feedback from PeerSpot users who are currently using Meraki MX as their firewall security solution.

    Craig B., a central services engineer at Liberty Technology, writes, “The web console for managing everything keeps everything on Meraki and keeps us from going somewhere else. It is why I think a lot of people like Meraki. Comparing it to SonicWall or even a different Cisco firewall, like traditional ASAs, managing Meraki is a thousand times easier because of fluidity. You don't have to rebuild a table just to change one rule. It's much more readable for a human.”

    Edgardo C., an IT director, notes,”By using the VPN, we can connect remotely. We have two offices, and we could connect them through the VPN. We could establish a network between two sites, and that has improved and increased communication and productivity. Our remote site is able to access the server remotely.”

    Offer
    Learn more about Cisco Secure Firewall
    Learn more about Fortinet FortiGate
    Learn more about Meraki MX
    Sample Customers
    There are more than one million Adaptive Security Appliances deployed globally. Top customers include First American Financial Corp., Genzyme, Frankfurt Airport, Hansgrohe SE, Rio Olympics, The French Laundry, Rackspace, and City of Tomorrow.
    Pittsburgh Steelers, LUSH Cosmetics, NASDAQ, Verizon, Arizona State University, Levi Strauss & Co. Whitepaper and case studies here
    Hyatt, ONS
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Educational Organization10%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Educational Organization13%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider26%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Performing Arts9%
    Consumer Goods Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Educational Organization15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise29%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise46%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business60%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX
    May 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
    708,461 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 99 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 3rd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 9 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Meraki MX is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Provides good visibility, easy to configure and manage, and good for small businesses". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with pfSense, Sophos XG, WatchGuard Firebox, Check Point NGFW and Cisco SD-WAN, whereas Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Sophos XG, pfSense, SonicWall NSa and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX report.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.