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Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Microsoft Purview Audit comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

Fortinet FortiAnalyzer
Ranking in Log Management
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Purview Audit
Ranking in Log Management
35th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (31st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is 1.7%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Audit is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer1.7%
Microsoft Purview Audit0.7%
Other97.6%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Manikandan Kannan - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Technology at Techfruits
Simplifying log management by displaying detailed access information
The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is its ability to simplify and display logs clearly, providing details like which IPs are accessing the system, the destination, and the policies applied. This visualization and detail make managing logs more straightforward. In conjunction with our VMware setup, Fortinet FortiAnalyzer enhances organizational efficiency, meeting the standard log retention period for up to a year.
OK
Cloud Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Integrated auditing has strengthened data retention and improved incident investigations
I have seen areas for improvement, specifically in Microsoft Purview Audit or in general about Microsoft. I have had a situation with documentation. I had a customer who wanted to create alerts and they had Microsoft 365 Business Premium. In the documentation, it was noted that this license is enough for creating alerts. When we tried to make them, we noticed they cannot do it with Microsoft 365 E3 because the customer had limited features to manage alerts. The customer had to buy E3. We created Microsoft support requests, and they confirmed that the documentation displayed not the real situation and they have been going to update documentation. The same situation occurred now with implementing Microsoft Purview Audit in the last autumn. eDiscovery was combined with search and content search, and the documentation was not clear at the beginning. It was a little difficult to describe to customers that now it is a part of eDiscovery. Content search is a very simple functionality, while eDiscovery is a little difficult. I am not entirely sure why Microsoft is going in the way of combining these services because they are the same. However, for a customer who has never seen these services, it is difficult to understand quickly. The same situation occurs with litigation holds and some other holds. For any mail, I am trying to keep data. For example, emails are held for a year or two years, ten years, it does not matter. It is difficult to understand where to find this data and where these emails are being held. I need to use eDiscovery to find out all deleted data that was kept somewhere in some hidden folders of the mailbox. Regular customers and regular administrators know that on-premises Exchange, for example, allows them to find the data in some repository and review the list of kept data. However, with this hold, we do not have any functionality to review the list of kept data. It is difficult to understand for customers how to work with this. I had a case where I spent three or four hours working deeply with a customer to explain how to work with eDiscovery, why Content Search is not there when it was before, what is an eDiscovery case, and why we are talking about all of this just to review a list of kept emails. This is difficult.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is a complete package for managing our equipment."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is to be able to see everything in our network in a single task. A single menu and the graphical bar charts that it provides to give insights are very useful. It also gives very good metrics on bandwidth utilization, CPU, and device performance. It is very simple and easy to use as well."
"The most valuable feature of FortiAnalyzer is its visibility, especially in network investigations."
"I would say that Fortinet's tech support is really good."
"The solution is quite easy to deploy."
"FortiAnalyzer has a robust ability to find a compromised host on your network, and when you identify a compromised host, you can address it."
"The ability to gather all gateway information and logs in a single location is the most valuable feature."
"Separating sections or conditions on Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is quite clear."
"We're easily saving at least one hour per day using this solution."
"The platform has significantly enhanced our operational insight into the overall Microsoft 365 environment."
"The overall user experience with Microsoft Purview Audit is of higher quality than when it was branded as Compliance Center, and Microsoft consistently updates and evolves functionalities and the overall experience."
"The main Microsoft feature is that it offers common integration of services, of data, of identity, meaning user accounts, user access, and privileged access."
 

Cons

"The following could be better: operation and maintenance, high-availability architecture, and management link embedded in the transmission link."
"When it comes to pushing logs to a SIEM, most of the time we have some issues when it comes to filtering."
"When somebody is new to the system they find it difficult to perform certain operations, like backups, and to see where the reports are."
"They need to make the monitor better."
"The pricing could be better. They could work to make it more competitive on the market."
"When using this solution, you need a high-level expert to make it work as it should."
"The solution could improve by allowing the ability to search logs in integrated solutions."
"The deployment of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is not complex, but integrating it with firewalls can take some time, depending on the number of firewalls."
"We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function."
"I had a case where I spent three or four hours working deeply with a customer to explain how to work with eDiscovery, why Content Search is not there when it was before, what is an eDiscovery case, and why we are talking about all of this just to review a list of kept emails."
"We do have a Denial of Access happening."
"Areas for product improvement include enhancing customization options and integrating more comprehensive compliance features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The company's choice to utilize Fortinet FortiAnalyzer was based on the overall security strategy and compatibility with existing solutions. It was deemed the best fit as it provided a centralized point of visibility for all of their security solution, including Fortinet FortiGate firewall, FortiClient, Forti EMS, and FortiAP. The company conducted a thorough evaluation of various solutions in the market but found that none of them could fully integrate and manage all their solutions as effectively as Fortinet FortiAnalyzer."
"When comparing with other solutions such as Checkpoint and Cisco, Fortinet is priced well."
"Its worth spending on FortiAnalyzer if you have multiple firewalls in your network."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The number of licenses required directly corresponds with the number of devices connected."
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"​It depends upon the company.​"
"In the local market sometimes people are being charged more than other solutions. Although the market is competitive, legitimate suppliers do not receive a large enough discount to pass onto the customers."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business58
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise31
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
The pricing of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is okay. For smaller companies, the pricing is acceptable.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
I don't know what the main room for improvement is for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer, but perhaps I don't have much experience, so I cannot answer this question comprehensively.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
I am using Fortinet and Red Hat myself as a consultant. I am dealing with Fortinet products and can provide information about them. I am working with Fortinet products, including firewalls and othe...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Audit?
We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function. In a year's time, we will be able to provide more clarity and context ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Audit?
Microsoft Purview Audit functions as a compliance center. Whenever these systems generate logs, we use Microsoft Purview Audit to capture or retrieve those logs. While there are more tools availabl...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

General Directorate of Information Technology
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs. Microsoft Purview Audit and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
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