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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

"The product's on-premise version doesn't have recurring costs."
"This was a regulation we needed to fill and it worked at a good price."
"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."
"The solution is easy to learn and makes it easy for our users to add FortiToken, and it's very easy to integrate if you have other Fortinet devices."
"We are using Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to implement token-based authentication for wireless network access."
"This is a cost effective and flexible solution."
"We have a perpetual license for 2FA."
"FortiCare can provide prompt replies."
"SSO is a very robust application."
"A valuable feature of Siteminder is the way it handles bulk traffic. The features it has, in terms of routing the traffic and load balancing, are good."
"If you look at our organization, and really all financial institutions, we have a lot of legacy apps. So it really helps to get Single Sign-On."
"SSO has impacted security on the whole and has provided a very good user experience."
"We have three single sign-on products in our office and I believe that the CA product offers the best product of the three."
"It is a pretty complete product."
"It is one of the most stable products in the banking organization that I am in."
"It will definitely help any company achieve their single sign on goal."
 

Cons

"The solution's command line interface could be improved to provide better support for low-level debugging and advanced configurations."
"If you want some other FortiAuthenticator from one site to another site, you should have requirements, but really if you have authentication and directory or another solution, you should change the password of the authenticator between the solution and the directory and other things. So transfer of data and other information should be simpler."
"There are multiple areas that are in need of improvement. It is not a mature product."
"The product must provide 2FA for applications."
"A lot of configurations are available only from CLI."
"The support team is pathetic and does not properly understand the solution."
"There is room for improvement in stability and support."
"I would like to see integration and customization capabilities with the end-user portal to solve authentication issues with diverse implementation scenarios."
"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."
"CA SSO does have stability issues."
"I would say it is a relatively complex setup. We have a relatively complex environment so with all of the availability requirements we have, it is quite complex but having said that, it is no more complex than any other enterprise systems that has to be highly available."
"The initial setup was complex, painful. But that is to be expected of any new setup. When you're a big bank like us, any kind of migration to a new product is hard. I expect it to be painful, and it was painful. But it's not something that you can avoid."
"An area Siteminder could improve on is that there are a few limitations, in terms of new protocols for OpenID. If I want to have different scopes, the features are limited. They also do not have APIs exposed, which is a major drawback. API is a feature I would like to see included in the next release."
"I'd like to see the federation piece made a little simpler."
"I think that one drawback to this product is that it's too big."
"Some of the new protocols, like OAuth 2.0, could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It costs more to license the high-availability option."
"The pricing is fair."
"I price of the solution is expensive."
"You can pay as you go with them. You purchase a base license and add to it as needed."
"The price seems okay. It's not that expensive compared to other authenticators."
"The product could be more competitively priced."
"I rate the product price as two or three on a one-to-ten scale, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"The platform provides a user-based pricing model rather than a subscription pricing model."
"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."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"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."
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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.