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.
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.
"Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."
"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."
"Virtual Domains (VDOMs) are a feature that we found valuable."
"It is a safe product."
"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."
"Valuable features include the Web Application Firewall, and it even has DLP (data leak prevention)."
"In terms of WAN optimization, it's completely cloud-controlled. Anyone can manage their network environment from a mobile phone."
"WAN optimization is the best feature of the solution."
"Meraki MX offers advanced filtration options, plus it behaves like a router and a firewall at the same time."
"Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active."
"It has a helpful feature for database troubleshooting issues."
"The most valuable feature of Meraki MX is I can manage the solution from anywhere remotely, I can throttle bandwidth, and create all rules. Additionally, it is secure for our customers."
"Easy to administer and saves time when you have many smaller locations that you have to manage."
"It is easy to manage, which is one of the most important things for us. It is also flexible, stable, and scalable."
"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."
"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."
"Its price could be better."
"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."
"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"At first glance, the interface for the device is very confusing."
"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"MX can only be managed via a web interface, but I'm accustomed to using a CLI or a graphical interface. I would also like to see more reporting features. It doesn't provide enough information for me to know precisely about some clients."
"We could have more reporting options and the ability to send alarms to the administrator."
"The client-side VPN is weak. The product could be improved with deployment templates."
"Management can be improved in Meraki MX."
"Could possibly use deeper configurations."
"FortiGate is cheaper than Meraki. Even the license renewal is less than Meraki."
"Pricing is an area where the solution lacks since it is an expensive tool."
"They need to improve the link between Meraki and Active Directory."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 59 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Meraki MX is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". 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 FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, WatchGuard Firebox and Check Point NGFW, 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 FortiGate vs. Meraki MX report.
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definitely the FortiGate , I can assist you with configuration and support if needed .
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.
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.