Elastic Observability vs FortiMonitor comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Elastic and Fortinet are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Elastic is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0, while Fortinet is ranked #43 with an average rating of 9.0. Elastic holds a 1.2% mindshare in IM, compared to Fortinet’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

12,505 Views
5,002 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

FortiMonitor

Read 15 FortiMonitor reviews

5,646 Views
2,823 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

FortiMonitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Observability and FortiMonitor are competing solutions in IT monitoring. Elastic Observability may have the upper hand due to its flexible analytics capabilities, while FortiMonitor is notable for its security-oriented monitoring features.

Features: Elastic Observability offers robust log analytics, application performance monitoring, and insightful visualizations. FortiMonitor delivers strong infrastructure monitoring, security-centric alerting, and incident response functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Observability could enhance its security features, simplify its initial setup process, and improve integration capabilities. FortiMonitor might benefit from expanding its analytics functionalities, diversifying its visualizations, and offering more flexible integration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Observability provides a cloud-based and on-premise model that requires flexibility in configurations, potentially taking more initial setup time. FortiMonitor features a streamlined deployment process with comprehensive support channels, ensuring quicker implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Observability presents a scalable pricing model, aligning with varied budgets, offering substantial ROI for businesses needing comprehensive analytics tools. FortiMonitor's pricing reflects its advanced features, proving cost-effective for security-focused organizations and infrastructure monitoring, with pricing specific details available upon request.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

November 2026

Download the complete report

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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

Elastic Observability

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (12th), Log Management (16th), Container Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)

FortiMonitor

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

43rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (31st), IT Alerting and Incident Management (18th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 1.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FortiMonitor is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Elastic Observability	1.2%
FortiMonitor	0.8%
Other	98.0%

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Mohammed-Abdelalim

Assistant Vice President at QualityKiosk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Has provided powerful customization for unique monitoring needs but needs more out-of-the-box capabilities

In my opinion, the best features of Elastic Observability are their flexibility to integrate with other existing systems and the ability to build a unified monitoring tool that can integrate with existing ones and end-to-end user journeys which require a lot of customizations. The greatest feature in Elastic is the ability to customize. This is similar to my comments about customizable dashboards in Elastic because it's visible to the analyst. However, it's very great. Customizing these dashboards can meet the customer's specific use cases and specific stories that they have in their environment, their special environment that doesn't look like other environments. The dashboarding in Elastic is highly customizable to the level of logos. If the customer wants his company logo in the dashboard, it can be done.

Read full review

reviewer2677554

Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Managing diverse networks with detailed alerts enhances device oversight

FortiManager is very helpful in managing our networks. We use it to manage 20 farms and various networks with hundreds of devices. The version we are using provides more detail than the older dashboard. We appreciate the alerting capabilities, which are integrated with SolarWinds to notify our team via SMS.

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

"It is a powerful tool that allows users to collect and transform logs as needed, enabling flexible visualization and analysis."

"Elastic Observability is highly stable; we ingested nearly 170 million records in the system and we have tested it, and you get your reports and dashboards within a few seconds, so it doesn't take much time."

"It's easy to deploy, and it's very flexible."

"The solution allows us to track performance via metrics and we're able to see where latency is happening."

"Its diverse set of features available on the cloud is of significant importance."

"We can view and connect different sources to the dashboard using it."

"I think Elastic Observability is already in very good shape."

"The tool's most valuable feature is centralized logging. Elastic Common Search helps us to search for the logs across the organization."

More Elastic Observability pros

"It provides the best firewall features."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is what the devices are used for. We have big backups for our Cradlepoint solutions, but FortiMonitor is a great routing device and we love working with them."

"Fortinet's customer support is very good."

"The most valuable feature of FortiMonitor is user monitoring, as we are able to see if the user is following the policy or not from their system, and additionally the solution integrates well with Fortinet FortiGate and has centralized management."

"The solution helps to see client infrastructure. It has many boxes and blinks green or red when the station goes up or down. We have different domains for the device groups that we monitor."

"FortiMonitor has a very intuitive dashboard, which makes it particularly helpful for analyzing traffic, alerts, and other information."

"The most valuable feature of FortiMonitor is the overall ability to monitor the health of the environment."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

More FortiMonitor pros

Cons

"When opening tickets, we cannot use our team mailbox."

"Elastic Observability needs to improve the retrieval of logs and metrics from all the instances."

"In the future, Elastic APM needs a portfolio iTool. They can provide an easy way to develop the custom UI for Kibana."

"If we had some pre-defined templates for observability that we could start using right away after deploying it – instead of having to build or to change some of the dashboards – that would be helpful."

"With Elastic, you need to code and program more things compared to Dynatrace."

"There is room for improvement regarding its APM capabilities."

"Improving code insight related to infrastructure and network, particularly focusing on aspects such as firewalls, switches, routers, and testing would be beneficial."

"I would advise others to use a different solution than Elastic APM."

More Elastic Observability cons

"Sometimes, we get corruption when upgrading from firmware to the new generation, causing a lot of issues."

"FortiMonitor's monitoring could be much better. It should be like, in Palo Alto."

"The solution's initial setup process is time-consuming."

"Sometimes, during high CPU usage, we cannot access FortiMonitor and must refresh it."

"We use FortiToken, and it's a pain to use because you have to send things through your phone and then confirm by email. Only after this can you log in. It's dual-factor authentication. I wish that I could just log in or bring up a dashboard where I could log in from."

"FortiMonitor needs to improve its alert system."

"There is room for improvement in the FortiMonitor report. It is not ideal for showcasing to tech customers or managers, especially when trying to display high CPU usage from logins within a specific range of months or the most recent month."

"I think the current features are really good for me, nothing else comes to mind right now. Maybe some small improvements could be made in the customization and configuration part of the UI to make it easier or more intuitive. Customizable UI options, like we saw in the demo, could be helpful for everyone. But in our operational environment, having clear health status and system details is crucial for us system engineers. One feature I'd really like to see is a credential management system. It would help us keep track of who's logged in and how many times, which is important due to user restrictions. Sometimes, we need to manage logins more efficiently, like logging off other users to free up credentials. So having a feature like that would be really helpful."

More FortiMonitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Elastic Observability is expensive."

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."

"Elastic Observability is cheaper than other similar solutions, such as Dynatrace. Its license calculation is based on various factors like data volume and physical infrastructure, particularly related to RAM capacity."

"The product is not that cheap."

"There are two types: cloud and SaaS. They charge based on data ingestion, ingest rate, hard retention, and warm retention. I believe it costs around $25,000 annually to ingest 30GB of data daily. That is the SaaS version. There is also a self-managed license where the customer manages their own infrastructure on-prem. In such cases, there are three license tiers that respectively cost $5,000 annually per node, $7,000 per node, and $12,500 per node."

"We have been using the open-source version."

"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."

"Pricing is one of those situations where the more you use it, the more you pay."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

"Compared to other solutions, FortiMonitor is a very expensive solution."

"We have a large customer base for Fortinet, and the additional buying power got us really great discounts."

"On a scale from one to ten, I rate the pricing a nine since it is a good solution that is available at a cheap price."

"The price of FortiMonitor is approximately $200 annually for 225 users. The price is competitive."

"FortiMonitor's price is very high."

"The tool's pricing model in Vietnam is a bit high. I rate the product price as an eight out of ten."

"In terms of licensing, while it may not be the most expensive option on the market, it's relatively cost-effective. You can obtain licenses at a lower cost, with the calculation being straightforward. For example, if you onboard around 5,000 devices, you'll need approximately 5,000 licenses, as each device typically counts as one license."

"There are additional costs needed for certain functionality, such as scalability."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system,...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Elastic Observability?

My use case for Elastic Observability is observability, as we upload our customers' data, including logs, and when there is an issue, we can analyze what went wrong.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have a clear bias because I work for Panopta. We aren't a fit for everyone, but I can confirm that Panopta is a lot less work to stand up and maintain. It's also a lot easier to use and onboard n...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiMonitor?

FortiMonitor does save time but not significantly on costs, as there are still expenses related to procurement, installation, and licensing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FortiMonitor?

There are areas for improvement that FortiManager is addressing. We have not yet upgraded to the latest software versions, being a full revision behind, but we plan to update soon since the current...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

October 2026

Download Elastic Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)

October 2026

Download FortiMonitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Panopta

Overview

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

FortiMonitor excels in user monitoring and network operations, with its central management and intuitive dashboard. Known for reducing administrative costs and enhancing security awareness, it also provides seamless integration with other devices.

FortiMonitor supports dual-factor authentication, alert systems, and system health monitoring, proving essential for technical teams managing infrastructures and FortiGate activities. Despite its benefits, there are areas like compatibility and pricing where improvements are sought. It offers high-level monitoring, customizable dashboards, and alert capabilities which are critical in busy environments, especially for detecting harmful activities and ensuring efficient CPU utilization.

What features enhance FortiMonitor's efficiency?

User Monitoring: Monitors end users and logs effectively.
Traffic Analysis: Offers comprehensive insights into network traffic.
Dual-factor Authentication: Enhances security with two-step verification.
Centralized Management: Streamlines operations with an intuitive dashboard.
Proactive Alerts: Provides redundancy and instant notifications for potential issues.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with other devices for continuity.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Cost Reduction: Lowers administrative costs significantly.
Security Awareness: Improves security management efficiency.
Data Continuity: Ensures continuous operations with automated vendor configuration.
Efficiency Gains: Adapts to new vendors and enhances CPU utilization.

FortiMonitor is widely implemented in industries for end-user monitoring, security tracking, and infrastructure management. It's crucial for environments needing high-level monitoring and identifying hardware problems, where proactive management and customizable dashboards are key to maintaining operations.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

SONY, GoDaddy, HCL, ING, ARMOR, billboard

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

November 2026

Free Report: Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

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