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Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Security Onion 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
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Security Onion
Ranking in Log Management
18th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
AWS Marketplace (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is 2.0%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 5.7%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Boaz Katabazi - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables flexible and comprehensive reporting across all syslog-enabled devices
I mainly use it for reporting. It also integrates other security solutions around. It can report onto anything that has a syslog on the network. It doesn't have to be a Fortinet product. It integrates within FortiGate and you can find the reports there. It's a very flexible and rich tool, providing custom reports along with default reports.
Jörg Kippe - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature and affordable solution that is easy to install and easy to update
The product takes time to learn, it's not that easy. In the beginning we had a lot of questions. If you want to use such a tool in an real (industrial) environment, you have to ask how to get the network data. Can we do a full packet capture? Can we provide agents to our end systems? There are no simple solutions to these questions. It's a general problem when running such systems in an industrial environment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiAnalyzer's best feature is centralized log analysis. It's based on SQL database, so I can fully customize my report, chart-wise and log-wise, and can create as many reports as I want without any limit."
"FortiAnalyzer provides a very suitable solution for FortiGate firewall since they come from the same vendor, so the integration is very strong."
"The log analysis and reporting are both quite good."
"It has a simplified and user-friendly interface."
"It gives you live logs, which can be really helpful during troubleshooting."
"There are a lot of monitoring features available."
"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 Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is the capturing of traffic for reports."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
 

Cons

"The technical support is not very reliable."
"I would like to see an improvement in the technical support. Stronger authentication will also be a plus."
"We would like to do the reporting, logging, and administration of all the public devices and all the IoT devices. We wish to add the switches, and routers from different vendors, so it's not a vendor-specific diagnostic solution."
"The reports are good, but they are over-summarized."
"It doesn't easily integrate with other solutions."
"The only issue that I can see is with the cost. For example, if you buy support for one year, you are messed up next year. It's better to buy another gateway."
"The cost of FortiAnalyzer could be cheaper, especially when you are installing to a VM. For 90 percent of customers, the VM solution is enough."
"Fortinet FortiAnalyzer cannot receive any queries. They should add this feature in the future to help manage solutions."
"The product is not easy to learn."
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of this solution is fair, and it is based on what you can manage."
"Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is very expensive."
"We have several products including Fortinet Wireless, FortiGate Firewalls, and FortiAnalyzer, which are bundled together and cost approximately $50,000 USD annually."
"I won't say the solution is too costly since it is available at a fair price."
"I would rate the price of FortiAnalyzer as seven out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"Compared to other products, the price is a little bit high."
"The hardware cost and services contract are fair."
"The hardware has a one-time cost and maintenance is paid by annual subscription."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
11%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
The reporting features, which offer customization, real-time insights, and compliance support, are particularly noteworthy aspects.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
I am a technical engineer, so I am not privy to pricing details.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer?
Sometimes, there is a problem with CPU consumption, where one process consumes 100%, and I need to restart FortiAnalyzer to fix this. I am not familiar with the processes of scalability.
What do you like most about Security Onion?
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion is an open-source solution. On a scale from one to ten, where ten is expensive and one is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

General Directorate of Information Technology
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs. Security Onion and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.