An in-depth evaluation of two popular and successful firewall families—FortiGate Firewall and Cisco Meraki MX Series provides interesting insights. A comparison of Fortinet Firewall vs. Cisco Meraki is not intended to be an exhaustive all-winners context. The goal is to provide clarity on what distinguishes between the two families.
FortiGate according to real users
SSL-VPN from FortiGate is reliable and highly rated. It offers a comprehensive solution. An example is that if you buy switches, you just need to put them in the FortiGate firewall. All of the policies and rules that are already part of the firewall are made available by the switches. Unlike to other providers, FortiGate only needs to connect its switch to the market; this is sufficient.
FortiGate has a quality VPN with both SSL and IPSEC. The device ID is adaptable and makes it possible to create rules to control all kinds of devices that appear on the network, particularly via Wi-Fi. Even the IPsec tunnels are easily developed and play nicely with devices from other vendors. For advanced features, FortiGate requires a current licence and firmware upgrades only.
Cisco Meraki according to real users
The automatic upgrade features of Cisco Meraki are a big hit. Even a few match the ease of setup, and they are famously easy to manage. A major feature is internet traffic shaping with a point-to-point VPN that can dynamically follow IP charges. This turns out to be a viable choice for people who do not have a dedicated staff.
The dashboard at Meraki is a major positive. It is a simple task to train people on it, as it turns out to be a 100 per cent GUI solution. Both MX and FortiGate are quite capable when it comes to security appliances. If you have a complete Meraki stack, it allows you to manage it on the same dashboard.
Friendly and intuitive , Meraki offers a complete solution. As a total solution, it functions like a firewall switch access point. Meraki is backed by Cisco Umbrella, which has a huge amount of data.
The Comparison
A comparison between Fortinet Firewall and Cisco Meraki reveals the following patterns:
Easy of deployment
The reviewers of Fortinet Firewall and Cisco Meraki agree that deployment of both solutions is easy and quick.
Features
The users of Fortinet Firewall state that the features are great, including excellent stability with a VPN connection and great stability. But when it comes to the interface, there are mixed views, as many feel it is overwhelmingly complex, with the reporting feature being subpar.
The user of Meraki feels that the features are simplistic, and people love the ease with which they can use certain features of the software. Still, there was a need for some form of monitoring capability.
Pricing
The users of Fortinet Firewall feel that the software is expensive as the features require a separate licence. Meraki users are of the opinion that the price is reasonable when compared to other solutions on the market, but still, it is on the expensive side.
Support and Service
Fortinet Firewall users, for the most part, felt that it was backed up by excellent technical support teams. Meraki users felt that the service and opinions were at least satisfactory. Many were of the opinion that it was truly great.
ROI
A comparison of Fortinet Firewall and Cisco Meraki claimed that both companies reported a positive ROI after implementing the products.
To conclude, when a study of Fortinet Firewall vs. Cisco Meraki is done, both of them have similar ratings when it comes to pricing, ease of deployment, ROI, customer service, and support. In terms of features, the users of Fortinet Firewall had mixed views on the user interface and felt the reporting feature needed further updates. With Meraki, the users felt that there was a need for better monitoring facilities.