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Cisco Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series comparison

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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 FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
411
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Cisco Meraki MX
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
Hillstone T-Series
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (41st)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience improved network management with flexible and secure connections
I recommend that Meraki MX should improve to be a better solution for the next release by being more competent so that we can offer it as a primary solution among all other brands, although I don't have any specific feedback, while the competitors are also ahead of these solutions. Enhancing user experience is always required. Enhancing the seamless connectivity is crucial and user experience enhancement is needed daily, otherwise people find it outdated. New features should look and be dynamically connected, and users should not be bothered frequently when connectivity issues occur. It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
Is stable and has a user-friendly dashboard and a good interface
We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good We cannot secure a specific IP class with this firewall. Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiGate is more feature-rich and has a broader range of hardware. T"
"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by preventing hackers from accessing our network."
"I've never had a problem with Fortinet FortiGate support, so I'd rate it ten out of ten."
"It's very fast and easy to configure."
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"Fortinet FortiGate has very good support."
"Fortinet FortiGate is considered the best in the European market for security reasons."
"I'm looking forward to FortiGate's dashboard features, insights, application oversight, and monitoring, which could help us significantly."
"The features we have found most valuable are the firewall and the monitoring tools."
"In general, Meraki MX is easy to work with."
"Meraki MX offers advanced filtration options, plus it behaves like a router and a firewall at the same time."
"In a week, we can make new policy and view what all our users did.​"
"It has very good features; it's easy to use, configure, set up, and deploy."
"Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active."
"We've had no issues with the scalability or the stability of this solution"
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."
"The only firewall able to monitor traffic from a CCTV network. Can detect unauthorized devices plugged into the network, which standard firewalls can't do."
"It has been stable so far."
 

Cons

"In most cases, the IPS engine uses too many resources, which makes Fortinet FortiGate devices unstable."
"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."
"We would like to have the ability to disable some of the security functionalities."
"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."
"One issue is that they have retired SSL VPN for existing devices. This causes significant effort for us to change customer setups."
"There are mainly two areas of improvement in Fortinet FortiGate— the licensing cost and the timing of upgrading licenses for boxes."
"I haven't had a single issue since using Fortinet."
"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."
"The solution's pricing should be reduced."
"They're very complacent and I find the rule set to be a little arcane."
"Load balancing options and ability to manage a couple of Internet connections."
"It would be nice to get detailed logging information without third-party software."
"The product is quite complex to set up."
"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.​"
"We feel that Cisco provides smaller features, with fewer possibilities versus other solutions out there."
"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."
"Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the hotspot get all the functions, and the security does not work."
"Licensing is not cheap."
"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an expensive solution."
"I think the price of Fortinet FortiGate is very reasonable."
"These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."
"If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"The price depends on the size of the company. From the beginning, you just want to know the internet bandwidths, speed, and the number of users to be able to offer the right product and model. They have a lot of products in FortiGate according to the size of the company, like 200D and 300D."
"Fortinet Secure SD-WAN delivered the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) per Mbps among all other vendors."
"It is an expensive solution. There is a five-year licensing requirement. We already renewed licenses for all our devices."
"​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."
"Meraki MX is an expensive solution."
"The price varies depending on the hardware platform as well as the type of license and whether you're adding security or not."
"It is more expensive than other solutions, but it is a cloud-managed network solution and support is given at the moment you call. That give a very big plus."
"The product is a little expensive."
"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."
"Like any Cisco product, the license is really expensive for small business clients. It needs to be cheaper. If you look it up, you might go, "That doesn't make any sense.""
"On a scale from one to ten, with one being low and ten being high price, I would rate the price of Hillstone T-Series at three. There are no additional costs other than renewal costs."
"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Meraki MX?
I am happy with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
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Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Hyatt, ONS
University of Córdoba
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki MX vs. Hillstone T-Series and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.