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Fortinet FortiManager vs SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 FortiManager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Network Topology...
Ranking in Network Management Applications
11th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
2.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 5.0%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiManager5.0%
SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper2.1%
Other92.9%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Damitha Anuradha - PeerSpot reviewer
Manage multiple devices with ease but experience complexity in deployment and limited AI features
I use Fortinet FortiManager to manage multiple devices in a single location. Although it does not provide a security posture itself, it depends on the firewall policies and settings in their respective firewalls. Fortinet FortiManager is primarily meant for the management of devices Fortinet…
reviewer2687874 - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective tools simplify network mapping and analysis
I can't really articulate any areas that could be improved with the product right offhand. Just as long as they keep it around, since I know things are going into subscription models. One thing we do appreciate about the tool is that it's essentially a perpetual tool. Once you purchase it and the Engineer's ToolBox, it's been beneficial, serving as another utility tool on the network. I can't think of anything specific offhand for how SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper could improve, because I treat it as a simple utility tool that serves those needs. It scans the network for SNMP and ICMP echoes to map the topologies of the existing network. It's a small utility tool that's very helpful and beneficial, another option for us to utilize, and while there's always room for more features, that typically comes with a cost that we have to weigh.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The centralized management of policies and certificates, coupled with the capability to handle multi-site deployments effectively, provides streamlined operations."
"Centralized configuration is the most helpful feature. I like the ability to create templates and push them to all the devices at the same time. I also like that I can see the the logs with one device to provide zero touch on all other products."
"It has multiple features in one box, which helps to avoid needing a lot of equipment. This is something that makes them unique."
"It is easy to deploy to licenses."
"The integration is quite good."
"The SD-WAN deployment environment, and the SD-WAN templates are particularly useful. Managing the solution is very intuitive. The initial setup of the solution was very straightforward."
"The most valuable feature is the central configuration for firewall policies."
"Provides good and detailed log management."
"One of the best features of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is that it has over 60 utility tools to utilize, so it offers a lot of different features, more than I have time to discuss at this moment, making it a good extra set of utility tools that we can incorporate onto our network."
"It's user-friendly."
 

Cons

"FortiManager could be more user-friendly."
"The CLI could be enhanced."
"The product is not very stable."
"The GUI could be updated. It's not as good as it could be and is something the solution should improve in an upcoming release."
"The fabric for integrations or connections could be improved."
"The solution has to be enhanced to manage new switches."
"The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet."
"Troubleshooting for Fortinet products is more difficult than competing products like Cisco and Palo Alto."
"This is a relatively expensive product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."
"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."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"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."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiManager can be expensive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise19
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The pricing for Fortinet FortiManager is good and not expensive. It is competitively priced.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
There are some aspects that Fortinet FortiManager could improve upon. The user interface can feel clunky, especially for more complex tasks such as managing large-scale policy packages or custom sc...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
I can't really articulate any areas that could be improved with the product right offhand. Just as long as they keep it around, since I know things are going into subscription models. One thing we ...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
In general, I use it for scanning IT and OT devices for networks and laying out their topology mapping. The industry I use it for is manufacturing. We specifically don't use it as our network manag...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper?
The Engineer's Toolset is something I use hand-in-hand with the Topology Mapper, and it complements it well. Regarding pricing and licensing with SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper, I haven't faced...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SolarWinds NTM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiManager vs. SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.