Fortinet FortiGate vs Meraki MX comparison

Fortinet FortiGate
Read 306 Fortinet FortiGate reviews
  • 117,316 Views
  • 85,973 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
Meraki MX
Read 60 Meraki MX reviews
  • 3,787 Views
  • 2,924 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 21, 2022

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX reviewers agreed that deployment of both solutions was quick and easy.
  • Features: Fortinet FortiGate reviewers say it has great features, including excellent stability and a great firewall and VPN solution. However, there were many mixed reviews regarding the interface; many felt it was overly complex, and the reporting feature was subpar.

    Users of Meraki MX felt that there were great simplistic features and loved the software's ease of use, but there was a need for more monitoring capabilities.
  • Pricing: Users of Fortinet FortiGate felt that the software was expensive, especially since each feature needs a separate license. Reviewers of Meraki MX thought that the price was reasonable compared to other solutions on the market, but still on the expensive side.
  • Service and Support: Users of Fortinet FortiGate noted that, for the most part, it is supported by excellent technical support teams. Users of Meraki MX felt the service and support was at a minimum satisfactory, with many feeling it was great.
  • ROI: Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX reviewers both claimed they saw an ROI after implementing the product.

Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet FortiGate and Meraki MX have a similar user rating regarding ease of deployment, pricing, service and support, and ROI. In terms of features, users of Fortinet FortiGate had mixed reviews on the interface, and felt the reporting feature needed updating. On the other hand, users of Meraki MX felt there was a need for better and more monitoring capabilities.

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To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX Report (Updated: May 2024).
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX
May 2024
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Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
306
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (1st)
Meraki MX
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Firewalls category, the market share of Fortinet FortiGate is 22.9% and it increased by 13.2% compared to the previous year. The market share of Meraki MX is 4.3% and it decreased by 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
Unique Categories:
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
21.5%
WAN Edge
24.4%
Unified Threat Management (UTM)
19.9%
 

Q&A Highlights

NR
Nov 25, 2020
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
I definitely recommend Fortinet. The Meraki firewall is more intended to be integrated into a Meraki SDWAN infrastructure, with very basic firewall options.
See all answers
 

Featured Reviews

Viraj Fernandopulle - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 7, 2024
Includes built-in APIs, is easy to deploy, and provides good insight into our network
FortiGate offers visibility into the types, brands, versions, and users of connected devices. This visibility is crucial for our industrial devices, as their reliable operation is essential to our business. Fortinet Security Fabric empowers us to comply with regulations, governance, and compliance requirements across regions like the US and Europe, ensuring smooth operations for our global business. FortiGate's built-in APIs enable us to integrate with the vendors of our choice. Fortinet's FortiGate is easy to deploy in our environment thanks to its well-written and easy-to-follow documentation. FortiGate is a highly benchmarked product that improves efficiency and adds value to our organization. Although we don't see a benefit overnight, we gradually see the benefits of FortiGate over the years. It has provided a lot of insight into our organization's activities. FortiGate significantly helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that could disrupt our production. This has protected us against financial losses. Fortinet has its management suite so it helps to centralize the management of network and security operations in our company. This helps us easily manage the issues and solutions that are required. Fortinet FortiGate provides us with actionable data to inform our decisions about the most appropriate course of action. It delivers insights into resource consumption and compromised hosts, helping us identify the source of unauthorized login attempts. This comprehensive view allows us to understand what's entering our network. Fortinet Security Fabric improved security across our industrial control systems. Fortinet FortiGate helped reduce our mean time to remediate. Fortinet FortiGate helped to mature our approach to cybersecurity for protecting our industrial equipment. The level of detail we can see regarding incoming traffic and ongoing activities is quite high. This detailed visibility extends to host configuration and other such aspects, providing us with valuable insights. As a result, Fortinet can provide a clear understanding of how to manage our network and quickly mitigate any issues that may arise.
Read full review
PN
May 15, 2024
Completely cloud-controlled and provide an SD-WAN kind of experience for the customer with multiple WAN provider links to optimize
Meraki is very easy. It's very easy to manage the setup and all that stuff. I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy. Cloud Deployment: It is a solution where this can be managed through the cloud, Cisco's cloud. Meraki is the solution. You can manage it in Cisco's cloud. Generally, if you look into any router or that kind of thing, you need to put in the local IP, plug in, and do the configuration. Whereas in Cisco, you'll have a user ID and password. All your equipment will be listed in the Cisco Meraki cloud itself, where you can configure everything centrally and deploy it. Deployment time: The deployment took a few hours. Management is easy. It's centrally managed through the cloud. I don't see a challenge.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our project needs to link two sides through the internet. One of these was in Cairo and the other in another city. We used FortiGate as the integrating solution between the two locations, i.e. the Fortinet 30E & 100E."
"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."
"The security on offer is very good."
"Its user interface is good, and it is always working fine."
"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"The most valuable feature is the VDOM, which allows the customer to have multiple firewalls in a single campus."
"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."
"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."
More Fortinet FortiGate pros
"Simple to manage."
"In a week, we can make new policy and view what all our users did.​"
"I think cloud management is key. The cloud management and support are the two things that make the product great."
"The internet traffic shaping has been very valuable."
"What I like best about Meraki MX is that it's easy to deploy remotely. The product works. It has automatic updates. I also like that Meraki MX is a brilliant device. You turn it on, stick the key in there, activate it, and then you're done. Meraki MX does what my customers need at the end of the day, so I also like that."
"Its ease of configuration and management is very useful for us and for other companies that don't have an onsite IT person. It is easy to configure and easy to manage. It is easy to configure the VPN with the Auto VPN feature."
"It is a robust SD-WAN solution."
"​It is very easy to configure.​"
More Meraki MX pros
 

Cons

"Some features of Fortinet FortiGate are actually fee enabled that are inconvenient for deploying in production. Other issues relate to isolation with Cisco products and your server."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."
"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."
"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."
"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."
More Fortinet FortiGate cons
"When we do API integrations with Meraki, they have always been hard as well as tedious to build. The data that we want out of the API integrations has been only recently available. Six months ago, it was hard to get someone to build something correctly or useful with Meraki APIs. Recently, they have made more data available on the API, but it is just a start. They need to do more."
"You can only have one tunnel in the whole infrastructure — one tunnel with one device."
"The product is quite complex to set up."
"We feel that Cisco provides smaller features, with fewer possibilities versus other solutions out there."
"The current lead time is longer for Meraki MX, and it needs to be improved."
"What I would like to see in the next version is to have more interfaces for WAN links."
"We do not have account managers in our region for the solution. Some governments don't use the product since it is attached to the internet."
"We can’t access GUI management and CLI opening features when the Internet is unavailable."
More Meraki MX cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."
"You need to pay a license for this solution. Our licensing is now done in our subsidiary."
"The price of FortiGate support is too expensive."
"Its price is normal. If I compare it with other vendors, such as Palo Alto, it's normal. Palo Alto is expensive."
"No comment."
"Work through partners for the best pricing."
"If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better."
More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice
"The price could be lower, but compared to the TCO of other products, it's not really that expensive."
"​Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution."
"I rate the tool's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"capabilities" What is our primary use case? The solution is mainly based on the cloud which is highly adaptable to the needs of its users due to its large user base. By employing over fifty VPS, we strategically position these units where clients require them the most. Remarkably, the cost of this setup is notably more affordable compared to competing alternatives. The management dashboard allows users to oversee each branch within their network. This comprehensive view is unified within the dashboard, offering insights into the entire branch network. The system works mostly for financial institutions, particularly banking clients. What is most valuable? The cloud management system is really valuable. What needs improvement? Direct logging is something that can be introduced. In the absence of cloud management, the possibility of local configurations and on-premise logins becomes restricted. This limitation stands as a primary concern. When it comes to resolving issues, the inability to access login options hampers troubleshooting efforts. The stability is noteworthy; but when compared to alternative products, its stability is comparatively lower. Additionally, certain limitations are observed in terms of remote control. Price-wise, the solution stands out for its competitive and cost-effective nature compared to other alternatives. Operationally, it is user-friendly and requires minimal effort from administrators, making configuration hassle-free. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using Meraki MX for the last three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is stable however there are issues and we need to reboot sometimes. I would rate it five out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Considering the needs of medium-class clients, scalability proves to be highly advantageous. I would rate it nine out of ten. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is easy via the cloud portal, primarily because managed support is needed for internet access. Without this, the direct configuration of the box becomes unattainable.The duration required is significantly shorter compared to alternatives. Occasionally, when dealing with a larger number of branches, like fifty or more, we managed to complete the implementation within 14 days. In cases involving complex processes and discussions, additional time might be necessary. However, once the system is set up and connected to the cloud, other configurations can be done within an eight-hour timeframe. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution has three licenses; enterprise, security, and SD WAN. This subscription-based method aligns with customer requirements. When procuring hardware, the minimum requirement is the enterprise license, granting access to cloud management and the portal. Customers can opt to acquire the security or SD-WAN licenses if needed. This adaptable pricing model offers great flexibility. All licenses are linked to the device count, proving advantageous for customers. If there's a future demand for additional devices, licenses can be expanded accordingly without any concerns. The flexibility of the licensing system is indeed valuable."
"The pricing for Meraki MX is all right, but as the hardware needs to be licensed, the cost depends on the complexity of the device and the term. Pricing could be $100 to $10,000 yearly or even more for a more complex device."
"It is a good global solution in terms of the price and features, but because we sell this solution in dollars, sometimes we don't get to sell this solution in Brazil because the dollar is very expensive. The price of every project is different. It varies depending upon the project, scenario, and client."
"I think the price is comparable with other solutions of the same kind. Depending on the use case it could be cheaper or more expensive, I think it offers good value."
"We just have to pay for the product and the license. We have a license for three years, and it is renewed every three years. It costs $1,200 for three years for one endpoint. Meraki had a good promotion for remote workers or remote workforce. The discount is very good. This promotion continues till the next fiscal year of Cisco."
More Meraki MX pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
Read full review
 

Answers from the Community

NR
Nov 25, 2020
Nov 25, 2020
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn relies on windows vpn setup (we would prefer a software solution). But when we bought Meraki's we were switching from something with little to no visibility into the network. The visibility we got wi...
2 out of 4 answers
MM
Jul 13, 2020
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn relies on windows vpn setup (we would prefer a software solution).   But when we bought Meraki's we were switching from something with little to no visibility into the network.  The visibility we got with the meraki and the content filtering and ability to block countries was quick and easy to setup.  If we weren't looking to lock things down further, we would renew our Meraki's rather than replace them.  We are also looking at the fortigate series, but we would be using the latest generation - I think the 60f would be the newest of the 60 size.
Read full answer
PY
Oct 20, 2020
I recommend that using a Sonicwall as the peripheral firewall as you can easily configure the firewall rules to block certain countries. Its ease of use and SSL inspection and many other features and reporting features are more than sufficient for a small company.  You don't need a dedicated IT department, Sonicwall provide cloud-based support services that can assist you 24hrs/ 7 days.    To enhance the firewall protection further, we also deploy ZoneAlarm and webroot security firewalls at the desktops level.  We also have several firewalls routers to safeguard very important servers, giving an onion-like "layers defense" structure. 
Read full answer
See all 4 answers
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...
See all answers
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...
See all answers
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...
See all answers
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn re...
See all answers
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports network security and firewall options. We researched both Meraki and ASA. We liked t...
See all answers
What do you like most about Meraki MX?
I am happy with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 19% of the time
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 13% of the time
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 12% of the time
WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 5% of the time
Check Point NGFW vs Fortinet FortiGate Logo
Check Point NGFW vs Fortinet FortiGate
Compared 5% of the time
More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Meraki MX Logo
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Meraki MX
Compared 10% of the time
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Meraki MX Logo
Cisco Secure Firewall vs Meraki MX
Compared 8% of the time
Sophos XG vs Meraki MX Logo
Sophos XG vs Meraki MX
Compared 8% of the time
SonicWall TZ vs Meraki MX Logo
SonicWall TZ vs Meraki MX
Compared 6% of the time
Netgate pfSense vs Meraki MX Logo
Netgate pfSense vs Meraki MX
Compared 5% of the time
More Meraki MX Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2024
Fortinet FortiGate reportDownload Fortinet FortiGate product report
Buyer's Guide
Meraki MX
May 2024
Meraki MX reportDownload Meraki MX product report
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
 

Learn More

Fortinet
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Cisco
 

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

Cisco Meraki MX appliances are next-generation firewalls with all the advanced security services needed for today’s IT security. The appliances are ideal for organizations considering a unified threat management (UTM) solution for branch offices, data centers, distributed sites, or campuses. Since Meraki MX is 100% cloud-managed, installation and remote management are simple and zero-touch.

Meraki MX’s hardware and virtual appliances are configurable in Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, and private cloud support is offered through Cisco NFVIS and Alibaba Cloud.

Organizations of all sizes and across all industries rely on Meraki MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi-cloud environments, as well as application quality of experience (QoE) through advanced analytics with machine learning.

Cisco Meraki’s advanced QoE analytics offers:

  • End-to-end health of web applications at a glance across the LAN, WAN, and application server.
  • Autonomous machine-learned smart application thresholds applied to identify true anomalies that are based on past behavioral patterns.
  • Ability to monitor the health of all MX WAN links across an entire organization.
  • Ability to detail hop-by-hop VoIP performance analysis across all uplinks.

Cisco Meraki’s SD-WAN offers:

The Meraki MX’s SD-WAN is unique in that it can be easily extended to deliver optimized access to resources in public and private cloud environments with virtual MX appliances. Its SD-WAN lowers operational costs and improves the performance of remotely-accessed resources. Users can ensure the availability of the apps and services their employees use most through dynamic path selection, policy-based routing, support for application-layer profiles, and VPN.

Meraki MX offers industry-leading cloud management that has template-based settings which can scale easily from small deployments to tens of thousands of devices. It features an intuitive web-based dashboard for managing mobile devices, united firewalls, switching, and wireless LAN. Users can also benefit from role-based administration, configurable email alerts for a variety of important events, and easily auditable change logs. Meraki MX is capable of producing summary reports with device, user, and application details archived in the cloud.

Meraki MX Key Features

MX has a robust suite of network services in an all-in-one device, which saves you money by eliminating the need for multiple appliances. These services include:

  • SD-WAN capabilities
  • SNORT®-based intrusion detection and prevention
  • Layer 7 fingerprinting
  • Web caching
  • Application-based firewalling
  • Anti-malware
  • Geo-based firewalling
  • Content filtering
  • Site-to-site auto VPN and client VPN
  • Web search filtering
  • Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP)
  • 4G cellular failover
  • Dynamic path selection
  • Web application health and VoIP health

Reviews from Real Users

Meraki MX stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its easy management and its ability to be accessed remotely. Below is some feedback from PeerSpot users who are currently using Meraki MX as their firewall security solution.

Craig B., a central services engineer at Liberty Technology, writes, “The web console for managing everything keeps everything on Meraki and keeps us from going somewhere else. It is why I think a lot of people like Meraki. Comparing it to SonicWall or even a different Cisco firewall, like traditional ASAs, managing Meraki is a thousand times easier because of fluidity. You don't have to rebuild a table just to change one rule. It's much more readable for a human.”

Edgardo C., an IT director, notes,”By using the VPN, we can connect remotely. We have two offices, and we could connect them through the VPN. We could establish a network between two sites, and that has improved and increased communication and productivity. Our remote site is able to access the server remotely.”

 

Sample Customers

1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
Hyatt, ONS
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX
May 2024
Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate vs. Meraki MX
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