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Cisco Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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 Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 9.3%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 7.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Wireless WAN9.3%
Fortinet FortiExtender7.9%
Other82.8%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

HassanBilal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Infrastructure & Helpdesk at LCI Pakistan
Solution supports extensive connectivity but faces occasional coverage challenges
Cisco Wireless WAN has room for improvement in WiFi coverage. Sometimes, their coverage is normally good, but at the same area where the access points are deployed, people face continuous disconnectivity issues. These kinds of issues come over time, and we need to do troubleshooting, but they get resolved. This is a performance-related issue, and I think they have to work on that.
SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The program is very stable."
"The network management is good. We use it to control access, channels, and phones and limit bandwidth."
"Our primary use case for this solution is setting up a wireless source for our clients to connect to the VPNs and our data centers."
"The solution is a market leader and works great."
"Technical support was helpful."
"The most valuable features include checking logs and performing site surveys. These capabilities ensure that we can cover almost every location in the building and troubleshoot any errors we encounter."
"I give the scalability a nine out of ten."
"The security and the capabilities of the platform are the most valuable features, with very strong cybersecurity and secure authentication and authorization for both mobile and other users."
"Management can be carried out from a central point."
"We appreciate that this solution can be used as an active secondary link as well as a backup."
"The ease of the setup and integration into the entire Fortinet solution is seamless."
"The most valuable feature is that management can be carried out from a central point, as a result, the Fortinet Firewall's management is centralized, making things easier."
"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"With Fortinet, it's cheaper and we don't sacrifice quality."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
 

Cons

"The price point is contentious as the licensing model seems complicated and unclear."
"The price has room for improvement."
"There are a few software bugs."
"The console interface is not very user-friendly. It's a bit complex and difficult to navigate."
"The new platform of Cisco Wireless WAN I did not like, there weren't many features available. The online platform has more options."
"The cloud interoperability needs improvement."
"Pricing is very high with Cisco products. It's something that many people complain about. They should work to make it more affordable."
"This is a very expensive solution but there are no additional costs."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
"The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"The Fortinet FortiExtender should be more suitable for outdoor use. Currently, the vehicle model can be used outdoors, but there are no dedicated outdoor devices."
"In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product."
"Though Fortinet FortiExtender has some security features, the product could still be improved by adding features similar to those in FortiGuard, such as antivirus, intrusion, prevention, and detection, as well as web filtering features. The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement. In the FortiGate UTM solution of Fortinet, there's software-defined or SD-WAN, and in the next release of Fortinet FortiExtender, I'd like to see SD-WAN embedded in the product. Most of the communication in Fortinet FortiExtender is related to WAN and Edge, so having an SD-WAN function in the product would be useful for integrating and controlling WAN communication."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was a one time fee and there are no costs in addition to this."
"The price is too high. The licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is based on how much is ordered from the vendor and what type of discount they receive."
"The product is highly-priced."
"The license is not subscription-based."
"The price is expensive."
"The price could be better, but it's been okay. You must pay license fees for each access point connected to the controller."
"I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"The solution is not that expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
23%
Marketing Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Wireless WAN?
I think the pricing of Cisco Wireless WAN must be reasonable at present.
What needs improvement with Cisco Wireless WAN?
Cisco Wireless WAN's interface could be simplified in the future. Simplification would make it more helpful to see how the user is connecting. We are able to see the connectivity details, and we al...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Wireless WAN?
We are still working with Cisco products, and I am supporting the Cisco devices. We are working with Cisco switches, routers, and we have guest Wi-Fi now. Regarding Cisco Wireless WAN, I am not tha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless WAN vs. Fortinet FortiExtender and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.