We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access and NETGEAR Switches based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Ethernet Switches solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."With FortiSwitch, you can easily identify who is connected to each port, disable ports as needed, and retrieve configurations from FortiGate when required."
"I rate Fortinet support 10 out of 10. Their support is excellent and inexpensive. They respond immediately."
"The most valuable feature of FortiSwitch is its user-friendly interface, which facilitates easy management and propagation of rules throughout the network."
"The most valuable feature would be network management, separating the network management component from security. It can do both but we promote it on its own. It's a good solution to do network management."
"My advice those using a firewall Fortigate is: use their APs because they work very well."
"The solution is very simple, and it's very easily available."
"The most valuable feature is the breakability after integration with the FortiGate firewall."
"It is very user-friendly. There is no need to use command lines to configure it or to do anything in it. You hardly use command lines, which makes it different from Cisco. In Cisco, the CLI is your best friend. Fortinet has the lowest TCO, so you can use its integrated components without having to buy additional licenses. They provide centralized management without needing to buy or acquire additional licenses. You have an integral or complete vision through a single pane of glass, and you can see everything from one single console without having to buy additional licenses, which is a plus. It works the same way when you add wireless. You can see everything from FortiGate. It has a security processor, which is another plus. It does not have a standard desktop processor. It has a multi-threat security processor, and it is built by Fortinet. So, all the components that you include in a Fortinet solution are proprietary and work in an integral way. It has one single solution, whereas other brands, such as Palo Alto and Check Point, have been acquiring certain solutions, and they're not fully integrated. With Fortinet, everything is integrated. If you start building on Fortinet, everything that you expand to the local LAN or WAN is integrated. You don't have to pay for professional services and other things to do that. Their technical information is also very good. Most of their information is based on how-to, and it can be found online, which is something my clients like."
"We have a wide range of switches for various applications, including a collection specifically designed for ProAV, as well as Multi-gig Switches, which are also quite well-known or unique."
"Out-of-the-box, it works for our main use case. When passing multicast video across the network, our technicians don't have make any changes. Then, if we do need to make configuration changes for a custom scenario, the web interface is user intuitive so it's easy to use and change."
"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."
"You are not limited in terms of stacking ports, and especially, if you're using the 96X as a core switch, the scalability, I could see this being very large. If you're using a type of a hybrid topology with a core switch going out to multiple switch stacks, or something like that, I could see the scalability of this being very good, especially considering the kind of backplane switching capacity on the 96X."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The solution is stable."
"As far as remoting into it goes, it is very efficient because I can do it from anywhere, through the remote software. I can get right into it, I can change settings really quickly, if a customer needs to add another device into it or if I need to make changes on the VLANs that we created."
"Comes preconfigured and designed specifically for AV."
"The central management needs improvement. The initial setup could be easier."
"In Fortinet, the packet reconstruction in the SD-WAN solution needs a little bit of improvement. When it comes to the Secure Access to the switches or the mix of Fortinet solution, the very small ones do not have the capability to use fiber cables. So, the small FortiGates have to work with the copper cables and cannot use fiber cables. Even though they have the capacity and throughput on all technical connectors, they don't have the interfaces, which is one of the good things with Cisco. They just add models to it. You buy the independent models, and you add them."
"Currently issues with some of the switches and problems with the firmware."
"The product must improve its prices."
"An area for improvement would be the segmentation and network in logic networks."
"FortiSwitch requires periodic firmware updates. It can be a little difficult because the switches aren't connected to the internet, so you cannot upgrade the firmware remotely. You need to go to the site and do it manually because it's a closed network."
"If you contact Fortinet, it's a bit difficult. Most of the time, they send you just links and documents to read for troubleshooting. When you contact support, you don't need documents. You want someone that can understand your problem, give a hand, and help you. I'm not impressed by the support really."
"The security of the solution could be a bit better."
"There is a technical problem they can't seem to solve. It doesn't support multicast packets. In layman's terms, Mac computers can't print over the network."
"When the power does go out, or if we do a soft shutdown, some of the transceivers or the monitor don't recognize when it turns back on, so I have to physically unplug it and plug it back in and then it works. We're working with NETGEAR's engineers to figure out why that's happening."
"Centralized monitoring is there, but competitors like Cisco Prime are at a higher level of centralized monitoring."
"Perhaps in the future, we will have even more different types of switches and be able to fulfill more collections."
"One thing I would like to see improved is the response time for technical support."
"The management of them, itself, is not so good. You have to go between many different browsers, even some super-old browsers, to be able to do it. That is a super pain."
"The product could be more robust."
"There is a lot of delay in the data coming to the servers."
More Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access Pricing and Cost Advice →
Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is ranked 6th in Ethernet Switches with 41 reviews while NETGEAR Switches is ranked 4th in Ethernet Switches with 51 reviews. Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is rated 8.2, while NETGEAR Switches is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access writes "It's a strong product that's easy to manage and costs significantly less than competing solutions ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NETGEAR Switches writes "You can stack different models of switches which makes the scalability great". Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is most compared with Cisco Ethernet Switches, Aruba Switches, Meraki MS Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches and Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches, whereas NETGEAR Switches is most compared with D-Link Ethernet Switches, Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, Cisco Ethernet Switches and Aruba Instant On Switches. See our Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access vs. NETGEAR Switches report.
See our list of best Ethernet Switches vendors.
We monitor all Ethernet Switches reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.