

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Meraki MX because of the time saved through cloud management.
You can eliminate some positions because it manages itself.
It greatly helps out when I am moving away from the expensive MPLS circuits or MPLS hardware.
I observed a fifty to sixty percent reduction in operational costs after migrating to FortiGate VM.
They have a platform that organizes their networks and access effectively.
We haven't used MPLS for over five years now, and it was extremely beneficial to see the changes from MPLS to SD-WAN using Fortinet FortiGate.
When we raise a ticket with Meraki MX, they instantly become available to support us for configurations or troubleshooting.
Cisco's TAC support for Cisco Meraki MX is excellent because no other OEM provides support at this level.
Cisco is one of the best vendors in the market.
Their support is helpful and effective.
The end-user support is delayed at levels L2 and L3.
They support us almost instantly.
When you have hundreds of thousands of people it is very difficult to scale in Meraki.
The scalability of Cisco Meraki MX is rated 10 out of 10; you can scale up and scale down with no effort.
Cisco Meraki MX scales with my growing needs for my organization very well because they are easy to deploy.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM adapts effectively; for example, you have a limited number of VPN connections on VM01, accommodating around 1,000 remote users, and if the customer needs another endpoint, we can deploy VM02 and manage that transition effectively.
Scalability is well-supported, with the notable ability to implement features easily.
It can start with a single core and scale up to a 32-core license for a robust deployment.
There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits.
I have had zero downtime at all with Cisco Meraki MX.
I assess the stability and the reliability of Cisco Meraki MX as good, and I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is excellent.
The product has been very stable, based on my ten to eleven years of experience.
In the past couple of years, they started releasing numerous new features, and things have become somewhat unstable.
It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
Data is the only path, so optimization is essential.
An improvement would be to use Cisco Meraki MX as a software solution as well, which might reduce the cost.
You should not look just at a data sheet, but also look at real tests in the field and load tests from companies who are making them.
The API needs better integration to match accounts and objects more effectively.
Now, these features require separate products like FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and a FortiCloud subscription for reporting.
I get it for $25,000, a device that can connect up to 75-100 users, whereas in Meraki MX, it goes to 75,000-80,000 per access point.
The price could be reduced by around 30% to make it more comfortable.
If Cisco can make the pricing less, customers can purchase more licenses.
The license for Fortinet FortiGate-VM costs 100K to 150K Philippine pesos per year for VM1 or VM2.
I don't have this experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM because my colleagues in Germany are reaching better prices than me.
As long as there is competition, they go with 50% + discounts.
Meraki MX is among those top solutions in their exceptional approach towards VPN-less, Zero Trust client access to office private networks.
Advanced security is the second tier of Cisco Meraki MX. It brings you the main next-generation firewalling features such as URL filtering, advanced malware protection, and threat protection.
Cisco Meraki MX API makes it really easy for me to automate a lot of changes over several thousand devices.
The more integrated we become, the less we spend on solving bugs and issues, allowing us to reduce time focusing on understanding and improving our network.
Fortinet is the only provider to have successfully set up a unified operating system on all its products in the network security ecosystem.
For what we need to do, which is setting up a VPN connection between both sides and using it for SSL VPN connections for remote users, it works effectively and we haven't encountered vulnerabilities.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Cisco Meraki MX | 3.5% |
| Fortinet FortiGate-VM | 2.2% |
| Other | 94.3% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 43 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 22 |
| Large Enterprise | 19 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 74 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 35 |
| Large Enterprise | 43 |
Cisco Meraki MX offers cloud-managed security with user-friendly setup and efficient management, enhancing VPN and firewall functionalities for businesses.
Cisco Meraki MX is known for its robust cloud-based network management, featuring AutoVPN, SD-WAN, and advanced security. Its centralized control over firewall, traffic shaping, and monitoring ensures excellent connectivity and security. The interface allows easy management by non-technical staff, offering remote access and seamless network performance through real-time alerts and troubleshooting. It supports global connectivity with minimal effort, addressing needs across small to enterprise environments. Despite its strengths, users point out areas needing improvement like load balancing, VPN features, more flexible logging, and session capabilities. Pricing, integration limits, and licensing need enhancement.
What are the key features of Cisco Meraki MX?In industries like retail, finance, and education, Cisco Meraki MX provides enhanced security and connectivity. Retail chains benefit from easy VPN setups for secure multi-site networking, while educational institutions find value in its ability to manage large campuses efficiently. Financial services leverage its robust security features to protect sensitive data, ensuring compliance and trust.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM delivers robust security services and advanced network management suitable for cloud environments, providing solutions like firewall and SD-WAN, with seamless integration across Fortinet devices.
FortiGate-VM is designed for enterprise security, offering comprehensive features like intrusion prevention and application filtering. It's known for its scalability and flexibility, supporting cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS. It enhances threat response and network management efficiency, thanks to real-time threat response, intuitive integration with existing systems, and cost-effectiveness.
What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM?Fortinet FortiGate-VM is predominantly employed in industries requiring stringent data center security, enabling network segmentation and VPN services. It's particularly favored by organizations using virtual and cloud networks due to its Unified Threat Management capabilities, making it an efficient solution for protecting virtual environments from threats.
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