We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiOS and Meraki MX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It is quite easy to handle."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the SD-WAN and their IP4 policy."
"The customization potential is quite impressive."
"Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface. I don't have to log into one interface for the firewall, another one for the access points, and another one for the switches. These firewalls have access point controller functionality built right into the system, so I don't even have to purchase additional devices to manage them."
"We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
"It can expand easily."
"It's very easy to use."
"What I like about this solution, is that it is the only solution that currently offers VPN for clients."
"The most important feature of Fortinet FortiOS is the IPS."
"For ten to 12 years it has been quite secure."
"The solution provides good firewall and antivirus protection."
"Fortinet FortiOS's valuable features include intuitive policy creation and deployment, precise parameter settings to determine thresholds, and security profiles such as web filtering and remote application filtering, among others."
"The technical support is very good and the assistance they gave was very good."
"The solution is very easy to configure and has a good interface, plus it offers more configuration options than other vendors."
"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."
"We've had no issues with the scalability or the stability of this solution"
"It prevents us from being hacked and delivers information about who and where the attack came from."
"Very easy to use and navigate."
"Easy to deploy with a simple configuration."
"Since it has an integrated dashboard for all the products, customers can get complete network analytics regarding what the user is doing, monitoring, and observing."
"The initial setup for me was straightforward."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."
"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."
"The cloud features and integration could be improved."
"Due to its higher cost, Fortinet FortiGate can lead to increased operational expenses."
"I could not configure sFlow from the FortiGate graphical user interface. I realized that the sFlow configuration is available only from the CLI, and discovered that sFlow is not supported on virtual interfaces, such as VDOM links, IPsec, or GRE."
"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."
"NGN, reporting and controls."
"When we cluster the two Fortinet FortiGate boxes together we have some issues."
"The solution's firmware updates have significant bugs and issues."
"The solution is good, but they have poor marketing in Nigeria. They need to market their product better."
"The pricing model makes this product far more expensive than similar solutions."
"Fortinet FortiOS is stable. However, last month we had an issue with a released patch. We had to receive another update to fix the firewall issue consuming all of the resources. The patches should be tested more before going into circulation."
"Fortinet FortiOS's integration could be improved."
"Lacks flexibility for different scenario configurations."
"I would like to see more statistics in the monitoring part."
"In terms of what needs improvement, the pricing could be lower. The price is very steep."
"Right now, you can postpone the update but eventually, if you don't do the update, it will install the updates automatically for you and that's something that is not working for me."
"We could have more reporting options and the ability to send alarms to the administrator."
"The product could incorporate tools like ThousandEyes into the system so we can see things directly."
"An area for improvement in Meraki MX is that it needs some provision, as supplying the unit through Cisco can be tedious at times, but as far as the product itself and its offerings, Meraki MX is five-star all the way."
"The only stability issue is in Content Filtering. Sometimes we need to report these types of issues to Cisco support."
"What I would like to see in the next version is to have more interfaces for WAN links."
"FortiGate is cheaper than Meraki. Even the license renewal is less than Meraki."
"Meraki MX firewalls are great for small to medium-sized businesses, but other solutions are better for enterprise-sized companies."
Fortinet FortiOS is ranked 15th in Firewalls with 73 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 59 reviews. Fortinet FortiOS is rated 8.4, while Meraki MX is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiOS writes "Provides effective filtering features, good stability but initial setup is moderately challenging". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility". Fortinet FortiOS is most compared with Fortinet FortiManager, Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Fortinet FortiWeb, Darktrace and Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection, whereas Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and Netgate pfSense. See our Fortinet FortiOS vs. Meraki MX report.
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