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Fortinet FortiManager vs Zabbix 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiManager offers cost-effective, unified management with long-term savings in time, money, and enhanced security visibility.
Sentiment score
7.7
Zabbix offers cost-effective, scalable monitoring with no fees, reducing downtime and commercial software expenses while increasing ROI.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiManager support is generally good but needs faster responses and improved technical expertise for complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.9
Zabbix support is praised for responsiveness, community resources, and expertise, though documentation and non-paid support need improvement.
Fortinet's support has proven to be reliable, particularly as we've been engaged with them since the project's initiation.
They are responsive and resolve issues quickly when I raise a ticket.
The level of support for P2 and P1 is wonderful.
It is so straightforward that I have never had to use the support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiManager offers scalable management for businesses, efficiently handling devices despite some hardware limitations, with high user ratings.
Sentiment score
6.9
Zabbix is praised for its scalability, distributed architecture, and efficiency, despite needing robust databases for larger deployments.
You can raise the capacity as you go, and there is no limit for hardware.
If you are working with a private or public cloud, it is very scalable.
The problem is cloud connectivity and roaming profiles are not working, as there is no option for them.
Zabbix is very scalable and lightweight.
Zabbix has high scalability.
I would rate its scalability ten out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Fortinet FortiManager stability varies; some experience reboots and bugs, while others find improvements with newer versions and upgrades.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zabbix is reliable and stable, with minimal issues; users value its low resource use and effective monitoring.
I rate the solution's stability ten out of ten.
95% of the time, there are no problems interacting with other devices.
Zabbix is very scalable and lightweight.
Zabbix is quite stable, and we haven't had any problems with Zabbix itself.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiManager needs improvements in user-friendliness, documentation, integration, performance, technical support, and more straightforward pricing and configuration.
Zabbix users seek UI improvements, better documentation, enhanced reporting, security, automation, integration, and modern workload adaptations.
FortiManager is a good tool, but there is a lack of really advanced documentation.
If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices.
In such cases, their CPE or other devices on-site may become unreliable, leading to occasional configuration discrepancies.
The only issue I can note is that it's Linux-based, and Linux documentation is not the best.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiManager is cost-effective compared to competitors, though pricing varies based on device count and features.
Zabbix, a cost-effective open-source solution, offers free access without hidden fees, making it popular for enterprise adoption.
Fortinet has the best pricing currently on the market.
It isn't the most expensive solution.
It's neither cheap nor expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiManager centralizes management, enhances network performance, and improves efficiency with easy deployment, scalability, and robust features.
Zabbix provides open-source monitoring with customizable features, strong scalability, and robust support, ideal for cost-effective IT infrastructure management.
I can automate the installation of configurations using different programming languages like Python or HPE, and it's a GUI solution, so it's pretty easy to use, even for basic users.
Without FortiManager, you cannot manage a complex environment across several sites with multiple firewalls.
Setup, setting policies, and reporting were all very easy.
If disk usage surpasses a threshold, say 70%, I receive alerts and can take proactive action.
Zabbix has a lot of features, including monitoring, status updates, and collecting information telemetry from storages and servers as well.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiManager
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (4th)
Zabbix
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (8th), Network Monitoring Software (1st), Server Monitoring (1st), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiManager is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 5.5%, up 4.8% compared to last year.
Zabbix, on the other hand, focuses on Network Monitoring Software, holds 13.0% mindshare, up 11.2% since last year.
Network Management Applications
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

HamedWasel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices
We've faced an issue when we need to move devices. Templates need to be recreated instead of having the policies, et cetera, cut and pasted over. Everything should just move over when we need to move devices instead of recreating everything from scratch. For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate.
ASM Naushad Alam - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes
We have not yet purchased the commercial version so have a lack of technical ability. We do not yet fully know the key points or key features of the solution. We just use what we use along with WhatsUp Gold. Based on our use only, stability is rated a seven out of ten.
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
I find Fortinet FortiManager to be a bit more expensive, especially when considering the environment. It shows cost-effectiveness when managing more than ten devices, whereas it is less effective w...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiManager?
The deployment of Fortinet FortiManager is quite complex and should be easier. It requires improvement in vulnerability management and should integrate automated AI features to enhance its reliabil...
What do you like most about Zabbix?
The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zabbix?
We didn't use the commercial version. We used the free version.
What needs improvement with Zabbix?
I think it's the best solution for monitoring. I don't know any better.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fortinet and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.