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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) (14th), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
Symantec Siteminder
Ranking in Single Sign-On (SSO)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Web Access Management (1st), Access Management (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 3.7%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 3.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator3.7%
Symantec Siteminder3.0%
Other93.3%
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

"FortiAuthenticator has helped a lot of our customers in the way that they do the business when they onboard their clients to the data center."
"The web feature is quite versatile. It serves as the sole server authenticator and is valuable not only with FortiGate products but also within the entire Forti system, making it highly useful for me."
"Valuable features include the robust SSO features, when you have more complicated authentication within an organization. We can mix AD, Radius, Portal, SSO Portals (Google, etc.), and build our own environment. It is very flexible."
"The initial setup is a valuable point on Fortinet products. Most of the time, putting the theory into practice on the devices is quite friendly and straightforward. As long as you can read English you can find your way around the solution and make it work. This is a high value point on Fortinet - the way everything is laid out in the web UI is user-friendly and quite straightforward. The UI is quite simple."
"We are using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to implement token-based authentication for wireless network access."
"It keeps track of users and their IPs no matter where they are in the network. When users roam, we don't have to worry about not mapping them to an IP."
"The product's on-premise version doesn't have recurring costs."
"If you want a more efficient way to manage two-factor authentication for your users, or implement the unit as a cluster member role, the FortiAuthenticator can be incorporated very well into your environment."
"Federation is valuable, for sure, because we have a lot of third-party vendors that we need to integrate with, and this is a turnkey solution in some ways."
"As our identity model continues to mature, probably the Federation is most valueable."
"Once it works, it works really well."
"I would totally recommend this product, but I think CA has a really good handle on what the drivers are and where the business is going in terms of application development."
"We needed to implement secure access, CA is a leader in this area, so we went naturally with the best, and we also chose CA because of the way they interact with customers, pitch new features to us, ask us for feedback, and provide us with support."
"SSO has impacted security on the whole and has provided a very good user experience."
"IWA is an out-of-the-box feature. The SAML-based federation is standard for all tools. However, CA Single Sign-On has made the federation configuration way too simple and handy to set up and use."
"It has improved our user experience quite a bit because they can log in once and go to any application they want, as long as it is integrated with SiteMinder, which was not the case before."
 

Cons

"The stability of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is rated as six out of ten, indicating some instability issues."
"I don't have any issues with this solution, but it may need a better, more user-friendly interface or better design of the platform."
"The product must provide full support for third-party FIDO security keys."
"The only way the solution could be improved is if it were cheaper."
"Fortinet FortiAuthenticator's initial setup process could be easier."
"I think FortiAuthenticator is more expensive than other products like Cisco Duo."
"I would like to see more ways to authenticate, such as adding facial recognition to the two-factor, where you log into your phone or another device."
"I think the tool could provide this solution on the cloud."
"I think that one drawback to this product is that it's too big."
"Not great. The first level of support is not up to the mark or able to understand the actual problem."
"Once CA has finalized the cases that we have brought to them, it will be a better product to use."
"While I have some integration with a few major providers, support for more would be advantageous."
"The admin UI needs to be more stable."
"We would like to the OAuth be more stable, more issues being fixed rather than not."
"As we are moving in to the mobility space, this is where we really see SiteMinder and their other product really come together to provide a solution base to a different area where the IoT is coming, the different business communications are happening. All of those things require authentication and we really want to see this product grow into that role."
"I would like to see more usability; more customer usability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product could be more competitively priced."
"When we buy the Fortinet FortiAuthenticator device there is a comparison between price and security."
"FAC is an affordable solution for Middle Range (200E/400E) and also needs a package of mobility agents (2,000) perpetual."
"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."
"The customers need to pay for licenses, and some pay on a yearly basis while others pay on a three-yearly or five-yearly basis. Also, it is not an expensive solution."
"The platform provides a user-based pricing model rather than a subscription pricing model."
"Between paying them to help with the configuration, the box itself, and the support, it came to like $12,500, including a three-year service agreement."
"It costs more to license the high-availability option."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"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
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

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: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.