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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiGate comparison

The compared Cisco and Fortinet solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 12.1% mindshare in the category. Fortinet is ranked #2 in Firewalls , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 20.8% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Read 120 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews
  • 13,360 Views
  • 11,757 Comparison Views
92% willing to recommend
Fortinet FortiGate
Read 411 Fortinet FortiGate reviews
  • 73,536 Views
  • 58,829 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN both compete in the network security and management category. While Fortinet FortiGate is lauded for advanced security capabilities, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers significant advantages with its user-friendly cloud management.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate is known for its robust security features including VDOM, VPN, and firewall functionalities that offer high-performance threat management. The unified threat management approach is strengthened by FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer integration, allowing centralized administration. Conversely, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN stands out with its seamless network integration capabilities, appealing particularly to non-technical users due to its ease of use and cloud-based management system.

Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiGate users seek a more intuitive web interface, enhanced reporting tools, and better cross-platform integration. They also express a need for improved documentation and GUI interaction. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, while appreciated for its capabilities, is critiqued for handling licensing challenges and associated costs. Enhancing security features and improving support service response time are other noted areas for improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate, typically deployed on-premises, benefits from a solid support system, though user experiences can vary by region. Its technical support is praised for timely issue resolution. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers an intuitive deployment process favored in cloud-managed environments, yet it occasionally suffers from less efficient support operations, which would benefit from improved technical team coordination.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate offers flexible, competitive pricing often considered affordable relative to other high-end security solutions, delivering notable ROI through its all-inclusive security options. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN’s feature-rich platform tends to come with higher initial and renewal costs due to its licensing model; however, many customers find the initial investment worthwhile for its user-friendly interface and dependable performance. Long-term ROI is impacted by these licensing costs, which could be optimized for smaller enterprises.

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Wireless LAN
July 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers financial savings and scalability, justifying initial costs, though competitors may offer similar features cheaper.
Sentiment score
5.7
Users find Fortinet FortiGate cost-effective, enhancing security and productivity while reducing operational costs and manpower needs.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewerBart Homblé - PeerSpot reviewerBernard Samontanes - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.0
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN support is generally prompt and knowledgeable, but inconsistencies and delays exist, especially with complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiGate's customer support is generally positive but varies in responsiveness and expertise, influenced by region and support tier.
It would be better if the SLA of technical support was less than four hours.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
They offer very accurate solutions.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewerTaimoor Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
AM
AK
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.3
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers seamless scalability, easy expansion, and strong adaptability, despite some cost and licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiGate effectively supports scalable deployments, offering adaptability despite potential hardware limits and integration and licensing concerns.
Meraki is not scalable enough since it straightforwardly maps its products to segmented specifications.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
IM
reviewer2667480 - PeerSpot reviewer
FS
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
4.6
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is stable and reliable, but may experience issues during firmware updates and in high-density areas.
Sentiment score
7.4
FortiGate is praised for stability and performance, with minor challenges managed by updates, proper sizing, and support.
Stability is not an issue for me because it comes with Cisco's proven manufacturer quality.
We have experienced many instances where we have experienced a lag in our network, and I am not sure if it is due to their devices or our network.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
KD
RB
AK
Juan Frias - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN needs improved features, integration, scalability, security, and competitive pricing to match competitors' offerings.
Fortinet FortiGate struggles with integration, user complexity, support inefficiencies, high costs, and feature performance, needing improved documentation and security.
The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks.
Some of the newer models of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN access point have encompassed the new wireless protocols and increased the strength of their antennas.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
The constant daily revisions necessitate meticulous identification of the relevant documents to prevent the use of outdated information that could jeopardize our environment.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
KD
Jose Gisbert - PeerSpot reviewer
JJ
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is costly with annual licenses, but valued for quality despite limited renewal discounts and coterminous issues.
Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive, cost-effective pricing, appealing to small-medium businesses with flexible licensing and valued security solutions.
The pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not competitive enough for the SMB market compared to other brands.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is on par with other devices in that category, offering competitive pricing.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
It is about 20% cheaper.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
KD
JJ
AK
MithatBulut - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers cloud management, ease of deployment, security features, and real-time monitoring for versatile network management.
Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly, cost-effective, and offers high-performance comprehensive security with advanced threat protection features.
It also manages security clients and switches, providing a single dashboard to manage multiple network infrastructures.
The ability to program all access points from the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN dashboard, view the status of all of them, and examine the individual devices connected to each access point is very valuable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN report
In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable.
FortiGate has helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that might disrupt our client's production.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report
RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
KD
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewerTaimoor Khan - PeerSpot reviewerSyed Ali Waqas - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
120
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (4th)
Fortinet FortiGate
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 12.1%, down 12.6% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiGate, on the other hand, focuses on Firewalls, holds 20.8% mindshare, up 17.8% since last year.
Wireless LAN
Firewalls
 

Q&A Highlights

GW
Apr 03, 2023
What are the differences between Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60?
Meraki MX series are all cloud-based management with on-premises physical firewall connectivity, so if the Internet goes down you will lose the management options to the firewall. Whereas FortiGate Firewall doesn't need Internet for the first time setup. Also, it is easy to manage the management interface being it is available to local users when the case of internet connection fails. All other security features, policy creation, and VPN related remains the same as you see in any brand firewall.
See all answers
 

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration
The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…
Read full review
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.
Read full review
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
Read full review
 

Answers from the Community

GW
Apr 3, 2023
Apr 3, 2023
What are the differences between Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60?
Meraki MX series are all cloud-based management with on-premises physical firewall connectivity, so if the Internet goes down you will lose the management options to the firewall. Whereas FortiGate Firewall doesn't need Internet for the first time setup. Also, it is easy to manage the management interface being it is available to local users when the case of internet connection fails. All other...
See 2 answers
MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 3, 2023
Meraki MX series are all cloud-based management with on-premises physical firewall connectivity, so if the Internet goes down you will lose the management options to the firewall. Whereas FortiGate Firewall doesn't need Internet for the first time setup. Also, it is easy to manage the management interface being it is available to local users when the case of internet connection fails. All other security features, policy creation, and VPN related remains the same as you see in any brand firewall.
Read full answer
Aymen FHOULA - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 3, 2023
The Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60 are both firewall devices, but there are some differences between them: Deployment: The Cisco Meraki MX67 is a cloud-managed firewall, meaning that it can be managed and configured through the cloud, whereas the FortiGate 60 is typically deployed as an on-premises appliance. Security features: Both devices offer a range of security features, such as firewalling, VPN, and intrusion prevention, but they may differ in the specific features and capabilities they offer. For example, FortiGate 60 offers advanced threat protection, while the Cisco Meraki MX67 offers content filtering. Throughput: The FortiGate 60 offers higher throughput than the Cisco Meraki MX67. The FortiGate 60 can handle up to 1 Gbps of traffic, while the Cisco Meraki MX67 can handle up to 450 Mbps.  The cost of the devices may also differ. The Cisco Meraki MX67 tends to be more expensive than the FortiGate 60. Scalability: The Cisco Meraki MX67 is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, while the FortiGate 60 can scale to meet the needs of larger organizations.
Read full answer
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
See all answers
Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
See all answers
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
See all answers
Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...
See all answers
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...
See all answers
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Logo
Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Compared 31% of the time
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Logo
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Compared 13% of the time
Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Logo
Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Compared 11% of the time
Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Logo
Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Compared 6% of the time
Cisco Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Logo
Cisco Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Compared 5% of the time
More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors
Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 20% of the time
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 12% of the time
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 11% of the time
Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 5% of the time
SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 4% of the time
More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
August 2025
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reportDownload Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
August 2025
Fortinet FortiGate reportDownload Fortinet FortiGate product report
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
 

Overview

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.
Cisco

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

  • VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
  • Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
  • Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
  • SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
  • SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

  • High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
  • Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
  • Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
  • Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet
 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
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
Buyer's Guide
Wireless LAN
July 2025
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