Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Aruba Networking, Cisco, Ruckus and others in Wireless LAN.
To learn more, read our detailed Wireless LAN Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use.""The most valuable feature of the solution is Marvis, the AI-driven network management system.""You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment.""It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices.""The artificial intelligence feature is very good.""The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis.""The simplicity is great.""The solution is stable."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pros →

"Meraki is a decent solution for a small company, and we use it in a pretty typical way. We need Teams and Zoom to work, and we need a high level of security because we want our business to remain confidential.""The settings of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN can be very granular. You can lock down and block devices with the controls. For example, we have four different wireless settings, such as guest, employee, security, and backup. For example, the settings for the employees, if they use laptops, they're required to have certain settings, such as an antivirus installed. If they do not then Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN will not let them connect. This is very good protection because the network works on the bringing your own device(BYOD) principle. It's a BYOD environment now, and you also don't want them to bring infection into the environment because these people are connecting to the LAN via wireless connections. We have to be careful because we're managing it, we have to be very strict with regards to the rules and policies.""The most valuable features in Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN are that we were able to see all the registered users for each particular WAP, which is a big help. The roaming allows us to have continuous wireless throughout the building. The signal can carry over from one WAP to another. Which is probably the most important feature.""The solution has worked very well in our campus environment.""It's easy to manage and provides a clear network view, allowing efficient navigation down to the network details.""The most valuable feature is the technology of the security that is offered.""The initial setup is pretty straightforward.""It is a scalable solution."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Pros →

"The tool's setup was very easy.""Ability to manage FortiAP, FortiClient, and FortiGate all from a single console""It can integrate well with other Fortinet products.""The software is very stable.""It is a stable solution from the security front.""It is a cheap and secure solution. The job switching and security features are better than other solutions.""The solution is easy to scale.""The solution is very simple, and it's very easily available."

More Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access Pros →

Cons
"They should include SD-WAN features to it.""I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features.""Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage.""The pricing should be made cheaper.""Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems.""Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement.""The pricing is very high in the Indian market.""The price could be better."

More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Cons →

"We haven't had any issues with the solution. We like the way it works. There isn't anything I can think of that makes me worry that it might be lacking in a certain area.""We're are not fully utilizing the features of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN to know a more in-depth analysis of what areas need to be improved. However, the security could improve. It would be a benefit to be able to lock out particular clients that are trying to connect from outside the building.""Integration with the corporate LAN where Catalyst products are installed is a major challenge.""It lags a bit in providing reports for Wi-Fi performance.""I would like to see them improve their support where an assigned engineer can take the case all the way to closure. Usually, you get a different engineer calling regarding the same ticket.""Cisco offers pretty expensive devices.""Meraki is still very much a small office type of solution. It is not a fit for large enterprise networks, as it doesn't have tunneling functionalities.""The licensing could be a bit better."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Cons →

"The product's end-user protection feature needs improvement.""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.""It would also help if they lowered the cost of their service.""The solution has SD-WAN but it doesn't have SDN. This should be added.""In the next release, I would like to see more outdoor products.""The pricing could be improved, and it could be easier to configure.""It would be easier if Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access could be managed via cloud, and this is something that could be improved in this product. Bandwidth display could also be better.""Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is confusing with too many add-ons."

More Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We pay maybe 1000 SEK per year, per access point."
  • "Juniper Wireless AP's price is a little more expensive than other solutions, but you get what you pay for."
  • "The pricing is something Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) can work on. The pricing is very high compared to the competition."
  • "The pricing is too high."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "I rate Juniper Mist's pricing a ten out of ten since it is expensive."
  • "I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."
  • More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Negotiate the deal put in front of you!"
  • "At this price point, I would not mind seeing a four-way channel, instead of a 3x3 or a 4x4, like they do in the Cisco Aironet system with their other brand. For the same price point in this other Cisco brand, it is a lot cheaper, and you can get a slightly better throughput than you can with these."
  • "​If you are wondering if Meraki can work for you, contact one of their representatives because they will do onsite trials where you can set up their system. If it does not work, you can send it back to them for no charge.​​"
  • "The price is negotiable."
  • "It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."
  • "The price is good, but it could be improved."
  • "You have to renew your contract every year, or for three or for five years. If you do not pay right away they will suspend your subscription."
  • "The pricing is based on a subscription and is a bit high at the moment."
  • More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The cost appears to be high in comparison to other competing products although with this product you are paying for what you get."
  • "It's affordable and there are no additional costs, just regular support, and license fees."
  • "It's affordable compared to other switching products, like Cisco switches."
  • "You can buy this equipment in a multitude of ways. You can buy just the hardware, or you can buy the hardware and the licenses."
  • "Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access requires a license and the price is expensive."
  • "The price is good."
  • "The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive."
  • "Licensing is billed annually and contracts are either one or three years in length."
  • More Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment.
    Top Answer:I rate Juniper Mist's pricing a ten out of ten since it is expensive.
    Top Answer:The pricing is very high in the Indian market. Eight to nine OEMs are also available in the market, giving you their… more »
    Top Answer:Depends.  I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them.  Extreme I am not, so unless they have… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be… more »
    Top Answer:Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a… more »
    Top Answer:We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price Fortinet… more »
    Top Answer:I would rate the the ease of management and scalability within our network architecture an eight out of ten, with ten… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series), Mist Access Points
    MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
    Learn More
    Cisco
    Video Not Available
    Overview

    Juniper Wireless Access Points work in conjunction with Juniper Mist Cloud Services and Mist AI to deliver premier wireless access capabilities. The Juniper Mist Edge extends microservices to the campus to bring agility and scale while enabling new applications at the edge.

    Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

    Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access is a secure, high-performance, and easy-to-manage switch. Fortinet FortiSwitch is the best solution for threat-conscious enterprises of all sizes because it is secure, simple, and scalable. Secure Access, which is tightly integrated into the Fortinet Security Fabric via FortiLink, may be handled directly from the FortiGate interface.

    Regardless of how people and devices connect to the network, this single-pane-of-glass administration provides total visibility and control. This makes the Fortinet FortiSwitch perfect for SD-Branch and campus deployments, allowing enterprises to combine their security and network access with applications ranging from desktop to data center aggregation. Fortinet FortiSwitch's Secure Access is the most adaptable security platform with end-to-end protection in the industry.

    Switches for Secure Access: Small to medium-sized businesses, scattered organizations, branch offices, and industrial control systems can all benefit.

    Switches for Data Centers: Ideal for users requiring high-performance 10 GE or 40 GE.

    Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access Features

    Fortinet FortiSwitch has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access is designed for various installations, including desktops and wiring closets.
    • Deploy and manage switches using the FortiGate interface, with FortiGate Cloud as a cloud administration option, or manage as a standalone switch using CLI, API, GUI, or the cloud with FortiSwitch Cloud.
    • Switch configuration, management, and troubleshooting are all simplified with a single-pane-of-glass dashboard.
    • Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access is ideal for SD-Branch deployments.
    • Secure Access uses FortiGate interfaces to connect with FortiLink. This provides centralized security and access control.
    • Integration of the Security Fabric: Fortinet FortiSwitch's FortiGate management brings Security Fabric features to the Ethernet access layer.
    • Voice, data, and wireless traffic can all be carried over a single network, making it ideal for converged network environments.
    • Non-FortiLink deployments can be supported via the onboard GUI, API, or command line settings.
    • Up to 48 ports in a compact and 1 RU form factor.
    • Depending on the model, up to 300 switches can be stacked per FortiGate.
    • Supports wire-speed switching, as well as store and forward mode.

    Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Fortinet FortiSwitch. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • You can easily manage all deployments in one interface if your company scales and opens a new office or location.
    • You can ensure that users are authenticated before giving network access.
    • Power over Ethernet makes it simple to set up wireless access points and IP phones.
    • With network segmentation, you can help satisfy data separation compliance.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Fortinet FortiSwitch stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its stability and its VLAN setup. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

    Rutul S., CXO at Aariha Enterprise Private Limited, writes of the product, “The most valuable feature is the SD-WAN support. This device is easy to use.” He adds, “Stability-wise, this product is better than others that are on the market.”

    Emil V., System Consultant at I team, notes, “I like the VLAN setup of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access. Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access has very good scalability.” He adds, “Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is easy to set up. It only takes minutes to deploy this product, because it is mostly boxes.”

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    Educational Organization6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Educational Organization10%
    Non Profit8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Government6%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company29%
    Marketing Services Firm10%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise53%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business54%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise25%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise55%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business71%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise47%
    Buyer's Guide
    Wireless LAN
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Aruba Networking, Cisco, Ruckus and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is ranked 4th in Wireless LAN with 113 reviews while Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is ranked 7th in Ethernet Switches with 40 reviews. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is rated 8.2, while Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN writes "Offers good mobility, stability and scalability ". On the other hand, 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 ". Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Ubiquiti Wireless, Mist AI and Cloud, Ruckus Wireless and Cisco Wireless, whereas Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is most compared with Cisco Ethernet Switches, Aruba Switches, Ubiquiti UniFi Switches, Meraki MS Switches and NETGEAR Switches.

    We monitor all Wireless LAN 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.