Cisco Meraki vs Fortinet

The short answer

Choose Cisco Meraki when the priority is running many sites with a small IT team: one browser-based Meraki dashboard for every Meraki family, zero-touch deployment, and the same look and workflow whether you are changing an SSID, a switch port or a firewall rule.

Choose Fortinet when the priority is a firewall-centred design: Fortinet describes its SD-WAN as converging networking and security "running one operating system (FortiOS)", with FortiGate appliances at the heart of what it calls the Fortinet Security Fabric, and FortiSwitch and FortiAP extending that platform into the LAN.

Both are serious platforms. The right choice usually comes down to how you want to operate the network day to day, what you already own and what your team knows. We design, supply and support Cisco Meraki, so read this as a Meraki specialist's comparison, built from both vendors' public pages rather than marketing claims about the other side.

Cisco Meraki vs Fortinet at a glance

The table describes each vendor's published approach in general terms. Exact features depend on the hardware, software release and subscriptions you choose, so we confirm the detail at design and quote stage.

Management: one dashboard or a firewall-centred fabric

This is the biggest practical difference between the two.

Meraki was built cloud-first. Every Meraki family is configured and monitored in the same dashboard, organised into organisations and networks, with templates for repeat sites, role-based admin access, firmware scheduling and an API. Only management traffic goes to the Meraki cloud; user traffic stays on your network. Cisco has extended the same dashboard to cloud-managed Catalyst switches and to its Wi-Fi 7 access points.

Fortinet centres on the FortiGate. Fortinet's switching page says FortiSwitch "can be managed standalone or through FortiOS via the FortiLink protocol", and that all models "can be managed and configured directly from the FortiGate". FortiAP access points can likewise use the FortiGate as their wireless controller. For many sites, Fortinet offers FortiManager, which it describes as central management with templates and blueprints across the Security Fabric, available as a hardware appliance, a virtual machine or in the cloud, and FortiManagement Cloud, a SaaS service that Fortinet says unifies "firewalls, switches, access points, and cellular gateways in one intuitive dashboard". Standalone switches and access points without a FortiGate have their own options, including FortiEdge Cloud.

In short: with Meraki, the cloud dashboard is the platform. With Fortinet, the FortiGate and FortiOS are the platform, and you choose how centrally to manage them.

Firewall and SD-WAN

Meraki MX appliances combine a stateful firewall, SD-WAN and site-to-site VPN. Meraki's Auto VPN builds the VPN mesh or hub-and-spoke from dashboard settings rather than tunnel-by-tunnel configuration. Security features depend on the licence edition:

• Enterprise: stateful firewall, Auto VPN, WAN failover, traffic shaping, client VPN and layer 7 application visibility
• Advanced Security: adds intrusion detection and prevention, content filtering, anti-malware and geography-based firewall rules
• Secure SD-WAN Plus: adds Meraki Insight analytics and smarter SaaS and internet steering

See Meraki Enterprise vs Advanced Security vs Secure SD-WAN Plus for the full breakdown, and the Meraki Advanced Security licence page for what the security edition adds.

FortiGate is a next-generation firewall first. Fortinet says its Secure SD-WAN and security functions "share FortiOS, a single policy engine", and that FortiGate hardware uses purpose-built ASICs to accelerate security processing. FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services add threat protection, sold in bundles Fortinet labels ATP, UTP and ENT.

If deep firewall policy is your main concern, it is worth also looking at Cisco's dedicated firewall range. Our sister site compares Cisco Secure Firewall vs Meraki MX.

Switching and Wi-Fi

On the LAN, both vendors offer PoE access switches, aggregation switches and indoor and outdoor access points, including Wi-Fi 7.

With Meraki, switches and access points are first-class citizens in the dashboard: port profiles, VLANs, ACLs, stacking, RF optimisation, guest Wi-Fi and identity PSK are all configured in the same place, and work whether or not the site has an MX. Cisco's Meraki MS switches and Meraki MR series pages cover the families, and Cisco Access Manager adds cloud network access control in the same dashboard.

With Fortinet, the typical design manages FortiSwitch and FortiAP from the FortiGate, so LAN policy sits alongside firewall policy in FortiOS. That is attractive if you want the firewall to be the single control point, and it means the LAN design is closely tied to the FortiGate at each site.

Licensing compared

Neither vendor publishes a single all-in price, and the structures differ:

• Meraki: Cisco says all current Meraki products require valid licensing to operate. You choose a licensing model for the organisation, either co-term (one shared expiry date) or subscription (Cisco Networking Subscription, with Essentials and Advantage tiers). The licence covers dashboard management and Cisco's support for the device.
• Fortinet: you buy FortiGate, FortiSwitch and FortiAP hardware, then FortiGuard security services and support as subscriptions, plus a management option. FortiManagement Cloud, for example, has a free Basic tier with limited features and a paid Standard tier.

Our Meraki licensing models guide explains the Meraki side in full. Ask us for a quote and we will price a Meraki design against your sites and term.

Who each suits

Cisco Meraki tends to suit:

• multi-site organisations (retail, hospitality, education, professional services) with a small central IT team
• organisations that want Wi-Fi, switching, security, cameras and cellular backup in one dashboard
• teams that value simple, repeatable rollouts using templates
• estates that may mix cloud-managed and Catalyst equipment over time

Fortinet tends to suit:

• security-led organisations that want the firewall at the centre of every design
• teams already skilled in FortiOS and FortiManager
• sites where one appliance controlling the LAN is preferred

If you are part-way through a decision, or have a mixed estate, we can talk through your sites, staff and existing kit and show you what a Meraki design would look like. Contact us and we will help you compare like for like.

How Forever Systems helps

Forever Systems is a Cisco Partner. We design, supply and support Cisco Meraki networks, including Meraki SD-WAN across multiple sites.

We can review your current firewall and LAN estate, map your existing policies and VPNs to a Meraki design, plan licensing and terms, and stage and deploy the equipment. Where you are replacing another vendor, we help plan the cutover site by site so the change is manageable. Ask us for a quote.