Elastic Observability vs FortiMonitor comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Elastic and Fortinet are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Elastic is ranked #13 with an average rating of 9.0, while Fortinet is ranked #41 with an average rating of 9.0. Elastic holds a 1.3% mindshare in IM, compared to Fortinet’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

12,194 Views
4,878 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

FortiMonitor

Read 15 FortiMonitor reviews

5,178 Views
2,537 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

FortiMonitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Observability and FortiMonitor are competing solutions in IT monitoring. Elastic Observability may have the upper hand due to its flexible analytics capabilities, while FortiMonitor is notable for its security-oriented monitoring features.

Features: Elastic Observability offers robust log analytics, application performance monitoring, and insightful visualizations. FortiMonitor delivers strong infrastructure monitoring, security-centric alerting, and incident response functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Observability could enhance its security features, simplify its initial setup process, and improve integration capabilities. FortiMonitor might benefit from expanding its analytics functionalities, diversifying its visualizations, and offering more flexible integration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Observability provides a cloud-based and on-premise model that requires flexibility in configurations, potentially taking more initial setup time. FortiMonitor features a streamlined deployment process with comprehensive support channels, ensuring quicker implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Observability presents a scalable pricing model, aligning with varied budgets, offering substantial ROI for businesses needing comprehensive analytics tools. FortiMonitor's pricing reflects its advanced features, proving cost-effective for security-focused organizations and infrastructure monitoring, with pricing specific details available upon request.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

September 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Observability

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (11th), Log Management (14th), Container Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

FortiMonitor

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

41st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (32nd), IT Alerting and Incident Management (18th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 1.3%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FortiMonitor is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Elastic Observability	1.3%
FortiMonitor	0.8%
Other	97.9%

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Stefan Decuypere

Technology Consultant at Hybrid software

Real-time dashboards and visual insights have streamlined issue analysis and monitoring

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system, I know what it costs but am not directly involved in cost-benefit evaluations or maintenance, which is handled by another team. I develop the visual representation of the data and frankly, I don't see major gaps in my application or anything I would really miss; I appreciate the fast pace of the developments that have occurred in the last couple of years. Regarding room for improvement in Elastic Observability, I would have preferred built-in tools to manage the indexes on deployment for better visual representation, as the initial feedback regarding system performance and data storage was fairly primitive and lacking.

Read full review

reviewer2677554

Network Engineer III at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Managing diverse networks with detailed alerts enhances device oversight

FortiManager is very helpful in managing our networks. We use it to manage 20 farms and various networks with hundreds of devices. The version we are using provides more detail than the older dashboard. We appreciate the alerting capabilities, which are integrated with SolarWinds to notify our team via SMS.

Read full 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 allows us to track performance via metrics and we're able to see where latency is happening."

"It is very stable, and I would rate it ten out of ten based on my interaction with it."

"Its diverse set of features available on the cloud is of significant importance."

"In addition to the fact that we are more proactive in the detection of incident before they occur, we can on one click see the request path from the customer to the backend."

"The solution has been stable in our usage."

"I have built a mini business intelligence system based on Elastic Observability."

"The very positive features are the cost effectiveness and the range of things that you can implement."

"Good design and easy to use once implemented."

More Elastic Observability pros

"Fortinet's customer support is very good."

"Overall, I would recommend FortiMonitor to others."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is what the devices are used for. We have big backups for our Cradlepoint solutions, but FortiMonitor is a great routing device and we love working with them."

"FortiMonitor has a very intuitive dashboard, which makes it particularly helpful for analyzing traffic, alerts, and other information."

"The most valuable feature of FortiMonitor is user monitoring, as we are able to see if the user is following the policy or not from their system, and additionally the solution integrates well with Fortinet FortiGate and has centralized management."

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"It provides the best firewall features."

"FortiMonitor offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities, allowing me to track network traffic in and out effectively."

More FortiMonitor pros

Cons

"There's a steep learning curve if you've never used this solution before."

"If we had some pre-defined templates for observability that we could start using right away after deploying it – instead of having to build or to change some of the dashboards – that would be helpful."

"One example is the inability to monitor very old databases with the newest version."

"Elastic APM's visualization is not that great compared to other tools. It's number of metrics is very low."

"The only challenging aspect for new users is often writing the query language."

"Simplifying the parsing of logs and manual efforts would also be beneficial."

"Elastic Observability needs to improve the retrieval of logs and metrics from all the instances."

"It lacked some capabilities when handling on-prem devices, like network observability, package flow analysis, and device performance data on the infrastructure side."

More Elastic Observability cons

". Enhancements in the dashboard, such as clearer alerting, maintenance window management, software version tracking, and better visualization, would be beneficial."

"The tool's price in Vietnam is high, making it an area of concern where improvements can be made."

"Additionally, there are no AI features in FortiMonitor, which might be an area for enhancement."

"For our type of country, it is always expensive, but it has competitive pricing."

"FortiMonitor could be improved by making it more convenient for smaller workloads, such as when configuring a few branches."

"FortiMonitor needs to improve its alert system."

"FortiMonitor's monitoring could be much better. It should be like, in Palo Alto."

"FortiMonitor could improve by having compatibility with other operating systems, such as Linux."

More FortiMonitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"So far, there are just the standard licensing fees. Several of the components are embedded in the license or are even open source. They're even free depending on what you use, which makes it even more appealing to someone that is discussing pricing of the solution."

"Pricing is one of those situations where the more you use it, the more you pay."

"We will buy a premium license after POC."

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."

"Elastic Observability is cheaper than other similar solutions, such as Dynatrace. Its license calculation is based on various factors like data volume and physical infrastructure, particularly related to RAM capacity."

"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."

"The product is not that cheap."

"There are two types: cloud and SaaS. They charge based on data ingestion, ingest rate, hard retention, and warm retention. I believe it costs around $25,000 annually to ingest 30GB of data daily. That is the SaaS version. There is also a self-managed license where the customer manages their own infrastructure on-prem. In such cases, there are three license tiers that respectively cost $5,000 annually per node, $7,000 per node, and $12,500 per node."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

"The tool's pricing model in Vietnam is a bit high. I rate the product price as an eight out of ten."

"The price of FortiMonitor is approximately $200 annually for 225 users. The price is competitive."

"We have a large customer base for Fortinet, and the additional buying power got us really great discounts."

"On a scale from one to ten, I rate the pricing a nine since it is a good solution that is available at a cheap price."

"In terms of licensing, while it may not be the most expensive option on the market, it's relatively cost-effective. You can obtain licenses at a lower cost, with the calculation being straightforward. For example, if you onboard around 5,000 devices, you'll need approximately 5,000 licenses, as each device typically counts as one license."

"Compared to other solutions, FortiMonitor is a very expensive solution."

"There are additional costs needed for certain functionality, such as scalability."

"FortiMonitor's price is very high."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

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What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Elastic Observability?

My use case for Elastic Observability is observability, as we upload our customers' data, including logs, and when there is an issue, we can analyze what went wrong.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have a clear bias because I work for Panopta. We aren't a fit for everyone, but I can confirm that Panopta is a lot less work to stand up and maintain. It's also a lot easier to use and onboard n...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiMonitor?

FortiMonitor does save time but not significantly on costs, as there are still expenses related to procurement, installation, and licensing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with FortiMonitor?

There are areas for improvement that FortiManager is addressing. We have not yet upgraded to the latest software versions, being a full revision behind, but we plan to update soon since the current...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

ThousandEyes vs FortiMonitor

Compared 5% of the time

PagerDuty Operations Cloud vs FortiMonitor

Compared 4% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs FortiMonitor

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

October 2026

Download Elastic Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)

September 2026

Download FortiMonitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Panopta

Overview

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

FortiMonitor excels in user monitoring and network operations, with its central management and intuitive dashboard. Known for reducing administrative costs and enhancing security awareness, it also provides seamless integration with other devices.

FortiMonitor supports dual-factor authentication, alert systems, and system health monitoring, proving essential for technical teams managing infrastructures and FortiGate activities. Despite its benefits, there are areas like compatibility and pricing where improvements are sought. It offers high-level monitoring, customizable dashboards, and alert capabilities which are critical in busy environments, especially for detecting harmful activities and ensuring efficient CPU utilization.

What features enhance FortiMonitor's efficiency?

User Monitoring: Monitors end users and logs effectively.
Traffic Analysis: Offers comprehensive insights into network traffic.
Dual-factor Authentication: Enhances security with two-step verification.
Centralized Management: Streamlines operations with an intuitive dashboard.
Proactive Alerts: Provides redundancy and instant notifications for potential issues.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with other devices for continuity.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Cost Reduction: Lowers administrative costs significantly.
Security Awareness: Improves security management efficiency.
Data Continuity: Ensures continuous operations with automated vendor configuration.
Efficiency Gains: Adapts to new vendors and enhances CPU utilization.

FortiMonitor is widely implemented in industries for end-user monitoring, security tracking, and infrastructure management. It's crucial for environments needing high-level monitoring and identifying hardware problems, where proactive management and customizable dashboards are key to maintaining operations.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

SONY, GoDaddy, HCL, ING, ARMOR, billboard

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

September 2026

Free Report: Elastic Observability vs. FortiMonitor

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