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Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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 FortiAuthenticator
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (4th), Identity Management (IM) (15th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st), Access Management (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 3.8%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 3.1%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator3.8%
Symantec Siteminder3.1%
Other93.1%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Supports secure remote authentication and provides comprehensive user activity tracking
The most important feature is the security capability because it provides a substantial amount of security for admin-related activities. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator can be used from anywhere in the world, and the authenticator services function globally. This global accessibility is one of the critical advantages, particularly since admin features are critical and security is a real concern. With Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, secure usage of firewall services and related functions is achieved. A complete log of all users who access the authenticator setup is maintained. Monthly logs are reviewed to check for any unnoticed activities. Each authenticated user's complete activity history is recorded. This logging capability allows for providing access to more admin users while ensuring security is not compromised and all users can be monitored.
Muzi Lubisi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior technical Consultant at CA Africa
Improved user experience with seamless integration and easy installation
The feature that I mostly valued is the ease of installation on different systems, especially on Windows. Additionally, it is very beneficial for deploying single sign-on sessions between different windows on a web browser, provided I am connected to the right identity provider. That seamless integration significantly improves user experience and efficiency.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Once you configure it properly, it runs fine."
"The implementation has significantly improved access management within our organization."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator are easy to configure, secure, and the application has good performance."
"The current version is stable...Scalability-wise, it is a fine solution"
"It reduces the need for network administrator intervention by allowing the user to perform their own registration and resolve their own password problems and issues."
"The feature I value the most is the one-time passwords because it helps to authenticate users so you know the timing of their usage."
"Technical support is excellent with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator."
"FortiAuthenticator centralizes the management and storage of user identity information, thereby increasing the efficiency of administration and increasing the control over who accesses the network."
"SAML is the best thing we're using right now because there is no need for creating an external account."
"This solution is meeting our requirements for all of our applications."
"You can quickly deploy the entire product with a basic config within couple of hours."
"We're able to have one single centralized way of logging in when you have shared sessions across all applications."
"Obviously, the most valuable feature is the flexibility of the solution, it being able to be integrated with a number of applications and solutions, and also the configurability of the solution."
"It's definitely a good product and you won't go wrong if you choose this product."
"It provides single sign on for our company’s intranet, so when you log in, you don't need to enter your name and a password, providing simple, secure access to company intranet sites."
"SSO affords us the opportunity to have a federated connection between our members, groups, and companies, giving providers the ability to transpose across the different Delta Dentals without having to authenticate more than once with one identity for all sites."
 

Cons

"Integration with some other enterprise applications could be improved."
"The technical support is mid-range; it's not your wow kind of support, and they're not really there when it comes to support."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is rated as six out of ten, indicating some instability issues."
"Up to now, I would not recommend FortiAuthenticator to others yet as I have ongoing transitions and evaluations."
"The technical support team is bad."
"A better integration with other vendors."
"I would like to see more integration and inclusion of features for ransomware protection directly within the FortiAuthenticator without requiring additional devices."
"It can not use SQL to query FortiAnalyzer directly."
"In future releases, I would like to see maybe more capabilities with some more modern authentication."
"It may be a good product, but I'd advise staying away from customizing it."
"It was complex and not at all straightforward. They really need to work on this."
"I've seen a lot of analytics capability being built in for a number of products. Obviously, I want to be able to use analytics on CA SSO as well."
"We are finding some compatibility issues. We're still working with CA on them."
"We go by agents for authentication; anything relating to agent configuration could be improved, or even agentless security."
"We're currently unable to find information about if the solution can do a full implementation with SQL. Some better and more accessible documentation for new users or those curious about the product would be helpful."
"I used to get the runaround initially. They would ask us the same four questions all the time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is usually cheap. Without a license, you can use some basic features. You can buy a 20-year license and implement the solution once."
"I price of the solution is expensive."
"FAC is an affordable solution for Middle Range (200E/400E) and also needs a package of mobility agents (2,000) perpetual."
"The platform is cost-effective as it does not require a separate license for SD-WAN functionality."
"I rate its pricing a three to five out of ten."
"I would start off with a VM including the base license and scale according to the number of users you need to authenticate."
"It costs more to license the high-availability option."
"I would rate the pricing a four out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. It is not that costly. It is cheap, easy to manage, easy to install, and easy to configure."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Siteminder is a little costly. You pay for licensing, and they offer packages, so if you have less users, then you have to buy different products at different prices. If you have more of a user base, then the package is different. They also include other features—for example, if you have a database and you're using Siteminder, then it's good to use a Semantic-specific database, but if you are using less, then you have to purchase the database separately. Whereas if you are going for a bigger license, then it comes within the package. It depends on which plan you are using."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiAuthenticator better by having a cloud version of it. Currently, Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is only available for on-premises, and it is an on-premises solution. It...
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is primarily used for authenticating admin users, including remote admin use cases. Remote admin use cases utilize Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to securely authenticate a...
What needs improvement with Symantec Siteminder?
Symantec Siteminder needs to have adaptive authentication and multi-factor authentication as integrated features. Currently, multi-factor authentication is available as a separate solution, and it ...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Siteminder?
I deploy and support Symantec Siteminder ( /products/symantec-siteminder-reviews ). I have been a partner and reseller.
 

Also Known As

FortiAuthenticator
SiteMinder, CA SSO, Layer7 SiteMinder
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
British Telecom, CoreBlox, DBS, HMS, Itera ASA and Simeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs. Symantec Siteminder and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.