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Fortinet FortiManager vs SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 FortiManager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Network Topology...
Ranking in Network Management Applications
21st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiManager is 5.4%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper is 1.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Damitha Anuradha - PeerSpot reviewer
Manage multiple devices with ease but experience complexity in deployment and limited AI features
I use Fortinet FortiManager to manage multiple devices in a single location. Although it does not provide a security posture itself, it depends on the firewall policies and settings in their respective firewalls. Fortinet FortiManager is primarily meant for the management of devices Fortinet…
SS
Very user-friendly and stable
I'm still learning how the solution works, figuring out how to check reports and system information. I'm a student and customer of SolarWinds The tool seems to be widely used and I find it user-friendly The Network Topology Mapper is on the expensive side - it would be helpful if it were less…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution enables you to centralize the rules and the configuration of all the equipment."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiManager, in my opinion, are SD-WAN and the manageability console."
"FortiManager enables us to set unified firewall policies from one centralized dashboard, reducing human error. If you do not have a central dashboard, there's a chance you might set a policy on one firewall and forget to do it for another."
"It is easy to deploy to licenses."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiManager is the ease of manageability and policy-pushing functionality."
"Technical support is great. When we have sent urgent tickets and they do reply back within fifteen minutes."
"Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location."
"It is stable."
"It's user-friendly."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet."
"We have experienced a series of minor bugs that necessitated contacted technical support on several occasions."
"FortiManager could improve by making it easier to port larger policy packages to the FortiGate firewalls. Sometimes, there's an issue when we install a big package of policies. If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices. It's only an issue when you're dealing with thousands of policies and installing them on a large number of devices."
"The graphical user interface could use improvement as it appears complex and not user-friendly."
"Within the management of some features on FortiManager, specifically the management of user objects used for VPN service, FortiManager is quite weak."
"This solution needs more experienced technical support staff. There's nothing special about it compared to other vendors."
"Troubleshooting for Fortinet products is more difficult than competing products like Cisco and Palo Alto."
"Its licensing model should be improved."
"This is a relatively expensive product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing costs depend on how many devices you want to use."
"This is an affordable solution, and its licensing model is based on the number of devices."
"Our organization pays a monthly license fee for the solution."
"FortiManager is a bit expensive - I would rate its pricing three out of ten."
"The price of Fortinet FortiManager is inexpensive."
"Fortinet FortiManager can be expensive."
"The license model they use depends on the size and is not limited to the users."
"Fortinet FortiManager is a low-priced product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
13%
Educational Organization
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiManager?
The most valuable feature is the centralized management console.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiManager?
Regarding the price of Fortinet FortiManager, I need to get that information from my management, as they handle purchasing.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
There is room for improvement in Fortinet FortiManager because there is no option for roaming profiles, and the cloud console is not available, which is different compared to Cisco Meraki, and the ...
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Also Known As

No data available
SolarWinds NTM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.