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Cisco Prime [EOL] vs Fortinet FortiManager comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Additionally, 91% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.
Cisco Prime [EOL]
Read 35 Cisco Prime [EOL] reviews
    91% willing to recommend
    Fortinet FortiManager
    Read 64 Fortinet FortiManager reviews
    • 912 Views
    • 680 Comparison Views
    94% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

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    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between Cisco Prime [EOL] and Fortinet FortiManager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetScaler and others in Network Management Applications.

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    To learn more, read our detailed Network Management Applications Report (Updated: March 2025).
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Management Applications
    March 2025
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    Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

    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

    Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Average Rating
    7.8
    Reviews Sentiment
    6.5
    Number of Reviews
    35
    Ranking in other categories
    No ranking in other categories
    Fortinet FortiManager
    Average Rating
    8.0
    Reviews Sentiment
    7.2
    Number of Reviews
    64
    Ranking in other categories
    Network Management Applications (4th)
     

    Featured Reviews

    ZeeshanAli1 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Robust, cost-effective, and provides good visibility, but the scalability could improve
    We are extremely satisfied with the reliability and robustness of Cisco Prime Infrastructure, which we have been using for many years. Compared to newer products such as DNS centers or others, it has proven to be much more stable, which is important for large-scale operations. Stability is a primary concern for us, and we are glad that Cisco Prime Infrastructure meets our expectations in that regard. Furthermore, in regards to Legacy Plus new hardware, Cisco Prime has proven to be a reliable and adaptable solution thus far. Not only can it support older hardware, but it also has the capability to handle new features with the latest updates. If we consider new solutions such as DNS Center, we may have to sacrifice some legacy features that we still rely on. We may need to continue using these legacy features for a few more years due to various reasons such as budget constraints or the site not being a high priority. However, if we switch to a new product at this stage, we may lose a lot of the monitoring and other capabilities that we have with Cisco Prime. We have a close relationship with Cisco and understand that they are not prioritizing investments in Cisco Prime as they are encouraging customers to adopt the Cisco DNA Center. This means that we don't anticipate many new features to be added to the product in the future. While we know that we will eventually have to transition to a new solution, in the meantime, we plan to do a quick refresh of our legacy products.
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review

    Quotes from Members

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

    Pros

    "The technical support team is very good."
    "The hardware Cisco provides is excellent. It's a well-made product."
    "We use this solution to troubleshoot our wireless systems, specifically regarding signal strength."
    "Cisco Prime can help customers fix their Wi-Fi issues with scientific and digital data."
    "Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."
    "Cisco Prime is user-friendly, so we are comfortable using it."
    "The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management."
    "It helps us manage and monitor analytics and fix issues."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] pros
    "The user interface, along with user-friendly planning features, makes it straightforward to configure desired settings."
    "The best feature of Fortinet FortiManager is its ease of use. It is easy to manage the firewall from Fortinet FortiManager. Additionally, the interface is very good."
    "Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location."
    "Provides good and detailed log management."
    "The solution is very stable."
    "FortiManager's best feature is the integration of administrator users."
    "The firmware version upgrades are the most valuable feature."
    "FortiManager's ability to scale is good."
    More Fortinet FortiManager pros
     

    Cons

    "There is room for improvement in the Access layer."
    "The solution can be slow at times."
    "The product needs to improve its stability."
    "I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."
    "The reporting could be simplified and the information made clearer to the user."
    "Some improvements are needed, specifically in the form of more updates and enhancements."
    "Lacking in integration with a SIEM tool."
    "The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] cons
    "We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacted technical support on several occasions."
    "We have some visibility issues with the reporting."
    "Their EDR products could be better. They need to dedicate more R&D to that area."
    "Having FortiManager work with all of the Fortinet products would be a good improvement."
    "FortiManager should improve the integration with third-party platforms."
    "Pricing-wise, it could always be less, even though it is less expensive than Palo Alto."
    "When we have a specific configuration pushed it does take some time to be deployed on the actual firewall."
    "The interface could be improved. It is split up into different areas, which makes it more difficult to navigate and get the right section of the correct file. The solution is quite expensive, so it would not be suitable for small to medium sized organizations."
    More Fortinet FortiManager cons
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."
    "The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."
    "We update the license every five years."
    "I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."
    "The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."
    "If we have a license for Cisco DNA, we can use the same license for Cisco Prime."
    "You need to get special quotes from the company for each order."
    "The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] pricing and cost advice
    "Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
    "In comparison with other products, the price of FortiManager is reasonable."
    "FortiManager isn't expensive, but its cost is dependent on which services are required."
    "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."
    "The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users."
    "If you compare Fortinet and Palo Alto, Fortinet is cheaper, but if you compare Cisco and Fortinet, sometimes Cisco is cheaper because Cisco gives us more discounts because of the size. Cisco isn't cheap, but sometimes, we get a big discount from them."
    "The price point is very good."
    "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."
    More Fortinet FortiManager pricing and cost advice
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    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Computer Software Company
    16%
    Government
    13%
    Manufacturing Company
    8%
    Healthcare Company
    6%
    Computer Software Company
    18%
    Financial Services Firm
    9%
    Manufacturing Company
    9%
    Comms Service Provider
    7%
     

    Company Size

    By reviewers
    Large Enterprise
    Midsize Enterprise
    Small Business
     

    Questions from the Community

    What do you like most about Cisco Prime?
    The most valuable features of Cisco Prime include its comprehensive functionality as a one-stop solution for basic SNMP port management.
    See all answers
    What needs improvement with Cisco Prime?
    The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive.
    See all answers
    What is your primary use case for Cisco Prime?
    We use Cisco Prime for centralized configuration management backups and monitoring.
    See all answers
    What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
    The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
    See all answers
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
    Pricing is reasonable and does not pose challenges.
    See all answers
    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.
    See all answers
     

    Comparisons

    Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 46% of the time
    Huawei eSight vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    Huawei eSight vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 16% of the time
    Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    Aruba Airwave vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 13% of the time
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 11% of the time
    HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL] Logo
    HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Cisco Prime [EOL]
    Compared 6% of the time
    More Cisco Prime [EOL] Competitors
    Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 69% of the time
    Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 9% of the time
    Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Cisco DNA Center vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 7% of the time
    AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    AlgoSec vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 5% of the time
    Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiManager Logo
    Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiManager
    Compared 3% of the time
    More Fortinet FortiManager Competitors
     

    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco Prime [EOL]
    March 2025
    Cisco Prime [EOL] reportDownload Cisco Prime [EOL] product report
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiManager
    March 2025
    Fortinet FortiManager reportDownload Fortinet FortiManager product report
     

    Also Known As

    Cisco Prime Infrastructure
    No data available
     

    Overview

    Cisco Prime products deliver next-generation management by supporting an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience and integrated lifecycle operations across Cisco architectures, technologies, and networks.

    Cisco

    Fortinet FortiManager is used for centralized management of FortiGate firewalls, utilizing zero-touch deployment techniques to optimize configuration and deployment, reducing installation time and errors while improving network security and efficiency.

    By centralizing policy management and monitoring across devices and locations, Fortinet FortiManager enhances security and operational efficiency. Automation tools simplify management, control, and consistent configuration across environments. It offers scalability for managing large numbers of devices, beneficial for organizations seeking unified threat protection and streamlined administration from one console. The platform integrates effortlessly with Fortinet products, supporting zero-touch provisioning, SD-WAN, and traffic analysis. Although intuitive, the graphical interface and overall performance require refinement, alongside enhanced support and documentation for troubleshooting and configuration.

    What are the key features of Fortinet FortiManager?
    • Centralized Management: Streamlines device configuration across multiple systems.
    • Automation Tools: Simplifies implementation and maintenance of configurations.
    • Zero-Touch Provisioning: Reduces setup time and minimizes errors.
    • SD-WAN Support: Enhances wide-area network efficiency and effectiveness.
    • Traffic Analysis: Monitors network traffic for improved security insights.
    • Policy Pushing: Facilitates efficient deployment of security rules.
    What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?
    • Operational Efficiency: Reduces installation time and configuration errors.
    • Scalability: Supports management of numerous devices.
    • Improved Security: Centralized management enhances threat protection.
    • Time Savings: Automation reduces manual intervention needs.
    • Cost-Effectiveness: Simplified administration can lower management costs.

    Fortinet FortiManager is implemented across diverse industries like telecommunications, finance, and healthcare, where centralized management and enhanced security are crucial. Its ability to streamline processes and integrate with existing Fortinet products makes it ideal for organizations looking to maintain robust network security standards.

    Fortinet
     

    Sample Customers

    Mohawk Industries, Universidad EAFIT, Halton Healthcare
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Buyer's Guide
    Network Management Applications
    March 2025
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