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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
7.2
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Network Topology...
Ranking in Network Management Applications
21st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 5.5%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is 1.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

HamedWasel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices
We've faced an issue when we need to move devices. Templates need to be recreated instead of having the policies, et cetera, cut and pasted over. Everything should just move over when we need to move devices instead of recreating everything from scratch. For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate.
SS
Very user-friendly and stable
I'm still learning how the solution works, figuring out how to check reports and system information. I'm a student and customer of SolarWinds The tool seems to be widely used and I find it user-friendly The Network Topology Mapper is on the expensive side - it would be helpful if it were less…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There is something called zero-touch provisioning, where you can add a new device without any configuration. You just add it to FortiManager and then forget about it."
"The user interface is very easy to navigate."
"It would normally take us a handful of days to install one FortiGate instance on one site. But with this technology, zero-touch deployment, we need just one hour or maybe as little as 30 minutes to install one site. It is much more efficient."
"The firewall configuration has more capabilities than the other firewall management systems that I have worked with."
"The capability of centralized management is valuable. We can configure all firewall boxes with the same configuration."
"The central management feature is the most valuable to me."
"I find Fortinet's technical support for FortiManager effective and I would rate it eight out of ten."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the consolidation and the single point of administration solution."
"It's user-friendly."
 

Cons

"The response times from technical support need to be a bit quicker."
"The solution should be more open to other products."
"Fortinet FortiManager could improve them by adding more portfolio components."
"The product is not very stable."
"The areas that need improvement are implemenation and support. In terms of implementation, it mainly needs clear documentation."
"Pricing-wise, it could always be less, even though it is less expensive than Palo Alto."
"The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly."
"The SD-WAN solution is difficult to manage on FortiManager because you need to share some configurations on the firewall side. Sometimes you lose all connectivity with the firewall, so it is challenging to apply the default configuration to the SD-WAN solution."
"This is a relatively expensive product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For the licensing fee, we paid around 10,000 to 15,000 euros."
"Fortinet FortiManager operates on a licensing system that is dependent on the number of devices being managed. Yearly subscription renewal is necessary to continue using the service. Although there is a cost associated with Fortinet FortiManager, its price is undoubtedly justified by the value it provides in terms of the purpose it serves."
"FortiManager is reasonably priced - I pay around US$40,0000 per year, which covers fifty locations."
"Fortinet FortiManager can be expensive."
"FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"The price point is very good."
"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
11%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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 needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly. Better integration of Fortinet ADC into FortiManager would be beneficial.
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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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.