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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    FortiManager

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AFortiManager delivers unified management for consistent security across complex hybrid environments, providing protection against security threats. Key benefits include accelerated zero-touch provisioning with best-practice templates for deployment at scale of SD-WAN and streamlined workflows between the Fortinet Security Fabric and integrations with 500+ ecosystem partners.N/A

    Observium

    Score6.1 out of 10
    N/AN/AN/A
    Pricing
    FortiManagerObservium
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    FortiManagerObservium
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    FortiManagerObservium
    Firewall Security Management
    Comparison of Firewall Security Management features of FortiManager and Observium
    Feature
    FortiManager
    7.4
    1 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Observium
    -
    Ratings
    Policy planning and rule management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated Policy Orchestration8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device Discovery7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy Compliance Auditing9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Rule Cleanup5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    FortiManagerObservium
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Auvik
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Palo Alto Panorama
    Score8.7 out of 10
    PingPlotter
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Palo Alto Panorama
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Nmap
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    FortiManagerObservium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    FortiManagerObservium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Fortinet
    FortiManager is well suited for larger organizations which require unified configurations and IT departments that need quick turn around on firewall related tickets. I believe MSPs can also benefit with the use of the VDOM feature, if strict separation between clients is needed. FortiManager wouldn't be ideal for 1-3 site operations, unless their configurations are extremely complex or have a high number of active users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Observium
    • If you are on a budget, this is one heck of a tool for the price (including the ~$200/year for the Pro subscription).
    • If you are OK with maintaining and updating open source tools, this is a great tool.
    • If you are afraid of the Linux command line or live in a Windows-centric world, this might not be the tool for you.
    • If you can't stand things occasionally not working, this is probably not a good fit.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Fortinet
    • Centralized FortiGate FW Management in a single console
    • Available physical, virtual, or cloud deployment
    • Single console for next-generation FW features
    • Multiple Administrative Domains
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Observium
    • Automatic device discovery.
    • Scalability
    • Real-time monitoring.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Fortinet
    • Various bugs: The software is buggy, and if you don't have a good understanding of it's underlaying operation, you can get confused or stuck when pushing a configuration. There are lots of little quirks you will have to learn, which are not described in any documentation.
    • Conflict resolution: Occasionally, during larger changes, bringing new devices in, pushing a config will fail due to dependencies, conflicts, or other software bugs. This is somewhat time consuming because the error messages provided aren't descriptive
    • CLI Options: Some configuration changes require creating scripts that execute on each device, and can't be done via the GUI
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Observium
    • Documentation
    • Community support
    • Easy to set up but hard to customise fully
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Fortinet
    No answers on this topic
    Observium
    It's open source. Your mileage may vary. Sometimes the provided documentation is beyond frustrating, other times it's right on the mark.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Fortinet
    FortiManager is the best choice for managing numerous FortiGate firewalls. It allows for easy integration into ServiceNow and automates simple repetitive tasks that are very straightforward. Role-based access control is easy to enable and you can get quite granular with user permissions. Administrative Domains help segregate firewall management and compliance within the FortiManager console, by almost any classification method that makes sense to your organization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Observium
    I haven't used other products that are similar to Observium. Observium is an open tool, with a robust feature set. There are elements of comparable monitoring across other tools, but nothing I've seen that is a complete parallel in terms of feature set and visualizations. If I were asked, I wouldn't have another tool to recommend over Observium.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Fortinet
    • Significant reduction in new firewall deployment turn around time, 50% reduction
    • Reduction in time spent on website access related IT support tickets. Avg 5 minutes from response to close
    • Reduction in time spent by IT team for setting up WFH employees to allow working over SSL VPN.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Observium
    • It is good for DC admin.
    • Only positive impact.
    • Highly recommended.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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