Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiAP comparison

Cisco and Fortinet are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Cisco is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while Fortinet is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4. Cisco holds a 11.5% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to Fortinet’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Cisco Wireless

Read 151 Cisco Wireless reviews

15,312 Views
14,009 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiAP

Read 14 Fortinet FortiAP reviews

2,269 Views
1,984 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Cisco Wireless

Fortinet FortiAP

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

Cisco Wireless and Fortinet FortiAP both compete in the wireless networking solutions market. Cisco Wireless appears to have an upper hand with its advanced scalability and integration capabilities, while Fortinet FortiAP is favored for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

Features: Cisco Wireless includes seamless roaming, robust security, and centralized management, making it ideal for large enterprises with complex needs. It offers superior scalability and integration, offering detailed management analytics and extensive configuration options. Fortinet FortiAP, well-integrated with FortiGate, emphasizes security and usability, simplified for easy network management. It includes features like a centralized console for straightforward management and integration capabilities, particularly beneficial when using other Fortinet products.

Room for Improvement:Cisco Wireless could improve in reducing complexity, enhancing the user interface, and affordability. The licensing fees are seen as complicated and costly, and integration with non-Cisco products could be improved. Fortinet FortiAP should enhance its scalability and capability in high-load environments, focusing particularly on outdoor coverage and advanced management features. An intuitive interface and expanded support for legacy devices are also areas to address.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Wireless is known for its scalability, making it suitable for large deployments, yet its setup demands skilled expertise. Its technical support is highly rated, though response time can vary. Fortinet FortiAP offers a straightforward deployment, fitting well for hybrid environments, and has strong customer service praised for its responsiveness, ensuring reliable support during deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Wireless is expensive due to its high-quality performance and extensive features, justifying a strong ROI, especially in large deployments despite various licensing fees. Fortinet FortiAP, typically more budget-friendly, appeals to smaller enterprises with an initial lower cost. However, Cisco may offer better long-term ROI due to its durability and performance in demanding scenarios.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiAP Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiAP

March 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:

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless

Ranking in Wireless LAN

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

151

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiAP

Ranking in Wireless LAN

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 11.5%, down from 15.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAP is 4.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Featured Reviews

GulfrazAhmad

Division Head Enterprise Infrastructure (SVP) at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Integrates with ISE, and is secure, reliable, and easy to deploy

The main concern is the length and overlapping. We have to put on four to six access points on the same floor, and we face the issue of overlapping areas. If Cisco can extend the range of their indoor APs, we would need to install just one or two access points, and it would eliminate the problem of the overlapping area. They should provide built-in features for safe authentication. Right now, we integrate with ISE and FortiClient for this feature. We first check the NAC, and after the NAC and before the domain, a token password installed on their mobile or a physical token is required to join the network. If Cisco had built-in authentication, we would be able to eliminate one product from our network.

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Yati Gharat

Chief Technology Officer at Litmus

Integrates well with Fortinet products, but there are signal issues in the outdoor environment

FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment. That is where we are having certain issues. We are not 100% happy with it. With the indoor environment, we are okay, but we are facing some issues when certain voice-related calls go from wireless points. There are certain drops, and we have faced these issues on an ongoing basis. We also have other vendors such as Aruba and Meraki, and we do not face any issues when there is a Teams or Zoom meeting going on. It could be that FortiAP is okay, but that particular device or appliance is not capable of handling that much load of voice and video. This might be the issue. RF Spectrum Analysis helps to understand what is the coverage and hotspots related to a particular access point, but then when we bought it, we did heat mapping through different vendors. If there are any rogue APs, we can identify them with RF Spectrum Analysis. We can see what the coverage area is, but there are some issues with that. Some of the offices have thick glasses, or the cabins are different, so in the RF coverage, what is shown is not what we get on the practical grounds. There are some issues with signal performance. It has the basic functionality that is mostly used, but there are certain devices that are not able to interconnect. When there is any issue or problem, if the administrator can get some information about that, that will be good. With Meraki and Aruba, we get certain beautiful things. If those can be integrated into this solution, it will be more beneficial, but we understand that being a security company, Fortinet's focus is on security.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Guest feature is pretty good."

"Good manageability, and stability."

"This is a very stable solution that solves complex issues."

"It is a very scalable solution."

"Cisco Wireless always has the latest technology that supports WiFi 5 and 6."

"One of the main advantages of Cisco Wireless is its DNAT compatibility. When we have dynamic segmentation, or the DNAT enabled on the LAN, Cisco Access Point integrates with the DNAT architecture. Aruba Switches cannot integrate with the Cisco DNAT architecture."

"The CleanAir features and the fast transition."

"This solution is highly stable. We have only had one issue in seven years."

More Cisco Wireless pros

"The solution supports recent security components like encryption or hashing algorithms. We can control the APs from FortiGate Firewalls and integrate those APs into FortiGate. You don't have to purchase a separate controller for it."

"The most valuable aspect of Fortinet FortiAP is the support."

"The integration is efficient, allowing for management through the firewall."

"The stability of the solution is very high."

"I like FortiAP's performance and stability. The reporting is also quite good."

"The product's deployment phase is very easy since its documentation part is available in the public domain."

"FortiAP's integration using SSID configuration for the input/output makes deploying permission rules easier."

"The setup was straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiAP pros

Cons

"There are areas for improvement with Cisco Wireless, as well as with wireless technology in general. For instance, while Wi-Fi 6 offers significant advancements, some unresolved issues and quirks have delayed our migration to this standard."

"It's expensive."

"Its licensing has been very frustrating. There is also the complexity of managing the product. These are probably the two reasons why we're looking at Aruba. The way they license this product is not simple. There are some good features in the latest version, but there are additional license costs as well, which is frustrating for us. It is not really a feature issue for us. It really comes down to cost and licensing. They should make it a bit simpler to manage. We find the overall solution a little bit more complex than we would like to deal with. Its troubleshooting is a bit difficult, and it does require a high skill set. Comparatively, Aruba seems quite simple. One of the benefits of the Aruba product is that it is cloud-managed. We don't have to manage the management platform itself, whereas Cisco is on-premise. Its user interface could also be better."

"One thing which we really don't like about Cisco is that it is very expensive."

"I would like to see less dependency on other products such as ISE and Prime for certain implementations."

"An expensive solution that small companies cannot afford."

"The GUI could be made more user-friendly. There should also be a dashboard where it can showcase how many end-users are connected to a particular access point."

"No product can be a ten out of ten and there are some security issues."

More Cisco Wireless cons

"The support offered by the solution has certain shortcomings, making it in areas where improvements are required."

"The security integration between the network and firewall has room for improvement."

"FortiAP could be a little cheaper."

"FortiAP is very good in an indoor environment, but we are struggling with the outdoor environment."

"The wireless functionality is not the best."

"Technical support is a pain. Fortinet has to get its act together. If you don't pay for premium service, you will have issues."

"I would like to have automation capabilities that would help us reduce the configuration steps."

"There is nothing that particularly comes to mind for improvement."

More Fortinet FortiAP cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a need to renew the licenses for Cisco Wireless every three years. My company needs to pay around 25 percent of the budget meant for the tools we purchase towards the price of Cisco Wireless."

"Cisco is more on the expensive side, as compared to Aruba, but I must say Cisco's quality is unmatched, for sure."

"I am not a fan of Cisco's software pricing model. Their management software is far too expensive."

"Expensive."

"Cost is one of the reasons why we are switching to Aruba. Aruba is significantly lower than Cisco in price. We do the licensing on a three-year basis. Cisco makes licensing very difficult."

"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"I rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten."

More Cisco Wireless pricing and cost advice

"On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most expensive, I would rate FortiAP a six."

"The product is available at a very comfortable price for my company compared to the other products available in the market. The prices of products from Meraki and Aruba are high compared to those of Fortinet."

"The devices under Fortinet are not expensive. The solution's licensing part is expensive."

"If I compare it with the other enterprise products, the price is good."

"Fortinet FortiAP offers a more cost-effective solution compared to Palo Alto and Check Point."

"We purchased perpetual licensing, and additional costs may vary depending on the services acquired from Fortinet."

"FortiAP is more expensive than some other options."

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Comparison Review

it_user212721

President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Mar 24, 2015

Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions

Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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...

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Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?

Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...

See all answers

How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?

On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...

See all answers

What do you like most about FortiAP?

If we have FortiClient installed on multiple devices, it is seamless to connect with FortiAP. It supports passwordless authentication as well. That is a great thing about it.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiAP?

Fortinet solutions are more cost-effective compared to Cisco. The license costs for Fortinet are more affordable when considering licensing costs with other leaders like Cisco.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FortiAP?

I cannot pinpoint the exact improvements needed at the moment. However, security is always a concern for any business, and the network should not be compromised easily. There should be alerts to in...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Wireless

Compared 31% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Wireless

Compared 26% of the time

Huawei Wireless vs Cisco Wireless

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Cisco Wireless

Compared 6% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Wireless

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco Wireless Competitors

Ruckus Wireless vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 22% of the time

Aruba Access Points vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 21% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 8% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Fortinet FortiAP

Compared 6% of the time

More Fortinet FortiAP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Wireless

March 2025

Download Cisco Wireless product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiAP

March 2025

Download Fortinet FortiAP product report

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller

No data available

Overview

Cisco Wireless is a comprehensive suite of wireless solutions designed to deliver secure, high-performance connectivity for enterprises of all sizes. Offering a range of access points, controllers, and advanced management tools, Cisco Wireless ensures seamless and reliable network access, enhancing mobility and productivity.

Cisco Wireless solutions provide robust, scalable wireless networks capable of supporting high-density environments and diverse applications. With features such as seamless roaming, advanced security protocols, and detailed analytics, Cisco Wireless addresses the needs of modern businesses. The solutions include the Cisco Catalyst and Aironet series access points, wireless LAN controllers, and the Cisco DNA Center for centralized management and automation.

What are the key features of Cisco Wireless?

High-Density Performance: Optimized for environments with a high number of devices, ensuring reliable connectivity and performance.
Advanced Security: Incorporates robust security measures such as WPA3, Secure Boot, and segmentation to protect data and devices.
Seamless Roaming: Enables uninterrupted connectivity as users move across different areas within the network.
Centralized Management: Cisco DNA Center provides a single pane of glass for managing and automating wireless networks, enhancing operational efficiency.
Flexible Deployment Options: Supports various deployment models, including on-premises, cloud-managed, and hybrid solutions.

What benefits should users look for in reviews when evaluating Cisco Wireless?

Improved Mobility and Productivity: Users often highlight how Cisco Wireless enhances user mobility and productivity through reliable and consistent connectivity.
Scalability: Reviews frequently mention the scalability of Cisco Wireless, making it suitable for growing businesses.
Ease of Management: Many users appreciate the centralized management capabilities, which simplify network administration and troubleshooting.
Enhanced Security: The advanced security features are often noted for providing peace of mind and compliance with industry standards.
User Experience: The overall user experience, including ease of use and seamless integration with other Cisco products, is a common point of praise.

Cisco Wireless solutions are implemented across various industries, including healthcare, education, retail, and manufacturing. In healthcare, they support critical applications like patient monitoring and electronic health records. Educational institutions use Cisco Wireless to provide reliable internet access for students and staff. Retailers benefit from enhanced customer experiences through in-store connectivity, while manufacturers use wireless networks to improve operational efficiency and automation.

Pricing and licensing for Cisco Wireless solutions are typically based on the scale of deployment and specific product selections. Cisco offers various support plans, including 24/7 customer service, technical support, and access to software updates and patches.

In summary, Cisco Wireless provides robust, scalable wireless networking solutions that enhance connectivity, security, and management for diverse enterprise environments.

Cisco

Fortinet FortiAP provides wireless network access for industries such as banking, healthcare, and logistics. It enhances connectivity with FortiGate and FortiSwitch, ensuring secure data exchange in settings like offices and malls.

Fortinet FortiAP is integral for managing connected devices across sectors. It integrates seamlessly with Fortinet products, enhancing security and connectivity. Users benefit from a unified console that simplifies configuration and monitoring without additional controllers. The support for passwordless authentication and cloud visibility adds value, while its use in environments like shopping centers and offices facilitates secure data sharing and access.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiAP?

Integration with FortiGate and FortiAnalyzer: Simplifies network management and monitoring.
Passwordless Authentication: Enhances security and accessibility.
Cloud Dashboard: Provides comprehensive visibility over network activities.
Direct Control from FortiGate: Eliminates the need for separate controllers.
SSID Customization: Supports tailoring of wireless access.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiAP?

Efficient Network Management: Centralized control and configuration simplify operations.
Comprehensive Reporting: Transparent insights for improved decision-making.
Secure Access: Protects data through advanced security measures.
Seamless Connectivity: Improves user experience with simplified networking.

In industries like banking and healthcare, Fortinet FortiAP is deployed to enhance network security and provide reliable access. Retailers leverage its capabilities in shopping centers, while warehouses benefit from its reliable connectivity to support seamless operations. Managed service providers use it to deliver tailored solutions, ensuring effective network segmentation and coverage.

Fortinet

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)

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiAP

March 2025

Free Report: Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiAP

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiAP and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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