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Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Symantec Siteminder comparison

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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 (5th), Identity Management (IM) (15th), 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 (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Single Sign-On (SSO) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 3.7%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Siteminder is 3.0%, up from 2.3% 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 most valuable feature is the flexibility in using the SMS messages."
"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."
"It integrates very tightly with the rest of the Fortinet ecosystem."
"I work a lot with Fortinet products and I call the support often. They are very quick to respond and the support is very good."
"I am really impressed by the technical support because they were very helpful; once we logged our complaint, we received an answer from them in no time, and they quickly fixed our issue."
"The most valuable feature I find in FortiAuthenticator is web filtering."
"I like the self-registration capabilities."
"The product is stable and reliable."
"It’s a secure product; we can make use of two factor authentication with the product and so from a security perspective, it gives us strong authentication."
"Segregation duties is another great benefit. It has allowed us to automate the process of creating user accounts really well."
"The single sign-on is the solution's most valuable feature."
"All of our applications get a point, click, and you are in, while we increase security at the same time."
"It provides the breadth and the width to provide solutions for the different kinds of technologies which we have."
"We're able to have one single centralized way of logging in when you have shared sessions across all applications."
"It is pretty easy to learn."
"Technical support has gotten a lot better."
 

Cons

"The product must provide 2FA for applications."
"The GUI is on the older side but I'm sure that it will be upgraded soon. It works, but it looks a little dated."
"We would like to see Linux-based operating systems be able to integrate with FortiAuthenticator to get two-factor authentication running on them. as well. This is a shortcoming that I have faced a few times already."
"The integration with other products, for example, some SAML authentications, would make it more flexible."
"The GUI is not fancy enough and some of the settings are difficult to access."
"There have been numerous support tickets sent to Fortinet since this does not appear to be a mature product."
"The solution's command line interface could be improved to provide better support for low-level debugging and advanced configurations."
"Initially, we deployed Fortinet FortiAuthenticator on VMware and faced challenges when migrating to an OpenStack environment, which required reconfiguration. I recommend Fortinet make its images migratable between environments."
"I would prefer to see their SAML integration be a more streamlined and easier interface, more like PingFederate's interface."
"The OpenID Connect piece, we would like to see the new technologies baked into the product, as opposed to going out and using a different product to accomplish the same thing."
"I'd like to see a rework of the user directory configuration."
"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 would like to see a move towards the newer technologies, which is what we are doing right now. I think that's in the roadmap that's coming, in the 12.8 and 14 releases, but we would like to have it sooner than later."
"All the problems that we reported actually have never been resolved. We could not capture enough information for CA to be able to debug the problem."
"The GUIs are not very clear, especially when integrating with other products from CA."
"Symantec SiteMinder is not easy to set up and maintain at an infrastructure level."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You can pay as you go with them. You purchase a base license and add to it as needed."
"It's not expensive."
"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."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"The price seems okay. It's not that expensive compared to other authenticators."
"I price of the solution is expensive."
"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 platform provides a user-based pricing model rather than a subscription pricing model."
"The licensing is fair for this solution."
"The price is quite comparable to the other enterprise-level solutions in that market."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"CA solutions are generally expensive but for the customer the ROI is big."
"I recommend conducting a PoC on every available product before choose one."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"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."
"Symantec Siteminder is expensive; they could definitely do better on the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
15%
Construction Company
12%
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: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.