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Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center vs NETGEAR Switches comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 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 FortiSwitch - Data...
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NETGEAR Switches
Ranking in Ethernet Switches
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
LAN Switching (4th), AV Over IP Switching (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Ethernet Switches category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center is 1.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETGEAR Switches is 8.6%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Ethernet Switches
 

Featured Reviews

Vishwajeet Pandey - PeerSpot reviewer
Management and monitoring efficiencies from a single platform increase network control and flexibility
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center ( /products/fortinet-fortiswitch-data-center-reviews ) offers flexibility and control over the entire network from a single pane of management. It allows me to create VLANs, implement security measures, and push configurations using a single tool. These features make the solution accurate, flexible, and valuable for network management.
Umang Shah - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient routing and access control with an easy setup
We use NETGEAR Switches for networking, particularly for switch-to-switch connectivity. We connect them with core switches, especially for camera installation NETGEAR Switches have increased the throughput and speed of internal communication, and have improved our network efficiency. The most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is stable."
"What I like about the solution is that it can be accessed anywhere."
"It integrates well."
"Based on my use cases, Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center was a great product that was easy to manage and work with while being a powerful tool."
"FortiSwitch Data Center allows for centralized management of both Fortinet switches and firewalls from a single interface."
"An affordable and stable solution for small-medium companies."
"SD-WAN and the security fabric are essential features of the product."
"When configuring FortiSwitch with a FortiGate firewall, I can consider all FortiSwitch's ports as a part of the FortiGate firewall."
"For what I used this switch for, it did well."
"It's nice, if there is an issue, to be able to go in through the remote. The fact that the remote doesn't require a static IP... is nice. They initiate the contact to the outside world, without requiring a static to get in."
"I'm satisfied with the stability of NETGEAR Switches."
"The solution is very powerful and versatile."
"The tool is crucial in our network setup, especially in our bank's customer service operations. It connects ATMs and links different branches and service centers. Each branch and service center has its network node connected through these switches."
"The solution is reliable and it is easy to setup."
"This switch is Layer 3, so it is a totally managed system."
"The cloud management has just been huge for us. We have 80 clients and they all have switches... With the cloud-managed Insight ones... we know more information without having to do complicated SNMP traps. We get nice emails, we get a web interface, and we're not having to wait for our RMM tools to get SNMP traffic to notify us. We don't have to do complicated configurations."
 

Cons

"Fortinet could have the ability to authenticate users like Aruba offers because managing ten or twelve SSIDs for different clients is complicated."
"Compatibility with infrastructure from other vendors like Cisco and Sophos can be further improved."
"When there are many switches being used, the speed declines noticeably."
"Does not have as many features as other solutions, such as segmentation and analytics engines."
"Managing the VLANs is an area where the solution lacks and needs to improve."
"They could improve availability and security by detecting and preventing switch attacks."
"With IT products, there is always room for improvement."
"The UI of the firewall and reporting could be improved."
"Centralized monitoring is there, but competitors like Cisco Prime are at a higher level of centralized monitoring."
"There is a lot of delay in the data coming to the servers."
"One area that has room for improvement, and I know NETGEAR is working on it, is adding more features to the products lines in terms of what we can manage through the Insight portal... not all Layer 2 or Layer 3 settings are there yet."
"There is a lack of documentation, and the documentation I have is unclear, so I have to rely on Google for information."
"Support could be improved."
"An area for improvement would be creating a wizard that can do a lot of common stuff. Instead of having some manual configuration for common features, they may want to have a single wizard that could be put in place which would let you walk through creating multiple VLANs and different routes between VLANs in a wizard. Then, you wouldn't have to dig in so deep."
"Though the tool's useability is good, it has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"There are a lot of systems that are moving into different areas. There are a lot of cloud-based things happening. One nice feature that I've seen in other switches is artificial intelligence on the actual porting. They've got AI technology that will tell you when a port is down. They not only tell you when a port is down; they also tell you when a port is running slower. You can do a cable-fault check, or you can do other checks. It would be nice to have this information in NETGEAR. This feature might already be there in a new release of the NETGEAR's firmware, but I haven't seen it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is a little high. The solution deserves the current price it receives from its users."
"The product is less expensive than one of its competitors."
"Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center is expensive."
"It is reasonably priced."
"The product has a mid-range price."
"This solution is expensive but it does not require a license."
"The solution is not expensive."
"Cost-wise, Fortinet solutions are cheaper than those offered by Cisco."
"We used HPE previously. The reason I switched to NETGEAR was because of pricing differences, which are huge, when you go into 10GB networking... The pricing is quite good... The total cost of the deployment was about 11,000 euros or so. If I had gone with HPE it would have been at least twice as much."
"The price to performance of the switches is excellent. The price point of these switches is great compared to big brands, like Cisco or Extreme Networks, with approximately the same functionality."
"The pricing is phenomenal. It's not only good for the company providing the solution, but the customer gets a good deal too. There's a good profit margin for the business to be able to resell it to a client or to offer a good price to the client. It's a win-win for both the company providing this particular equipment to the customer and for the customer."
"It is a slightly expensive product."
"For the price, they're good. If you look at Ubiquity switches (which have cloud features too) or even the regular NETGEAR GS switches, these are still price-competitive and come with the cloud features, which is just amazing."
"The price to performance of this solution is very good. When it comes to pricing, as far as I'm concerned, they're very comparable with Ubiquity. NETGEAR has pricing that is as good as it gets. That's why I use them."
"At its price point, nobody else can compare to what NETGEAR is doing at that 10 Gigabit bandwidth level. We are not seeing a lot of 10 Gigabit need right now in the marketplace. Though, we have done a few projects which have required it. We are still sort of at the 1 Gigabit requirement for the majority of our projects. Honestly, NETGEAR's 10 Gigabit offering has a better value than some of the other vendors' 1 Gigabit offering."
"There are no licensing costs. It only involves the costs of the devices."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center?
The Fortinet switches come with no additional cost as they are open source, with only hardware warranties applicable.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center?
There is room for improvement in customer support and device speed. Sometimes, customer support does not provide prompt assistance, leaving projects hanging. Additionally, improving the speed of th...
How do NETGEAR switches compare with Cisco ethernet switches?
NetGear switches have a lot to offer. They have high availability, zero-downtime stacking, L2 and L3 functionality, and are AV-over-IP ready. NetGear switches also have a command line interface and...
Which switches are better - Ubiquiti Unifi or Netgear?
Ubiquiti Unifi offers a great set of features. For starters, it is easy to configure and implement, and also doesn’t require a learning curve because it is easy to use. It is also simple to reconfi...
What do you like most about NETGEAR Switches?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have not faced any issues with the product whatsoever.
 

Also Known As

No data available
NETGEAR Insight Managed Switches, NETGEAR GC Series, NETGEAR M Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Blaze Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiSwitch - Data Center vs. NETGEAR Switches and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.