Cato Networks vs Fortinet FortiSASE

Cato Networks and Fortinet FortiSASE are both sase & zero trust solutions. Cato Networks single-vendor cloud-native SASE platform with private global backbone and converged architecture, while Fortinet FortiSASE converged SASE platform powered by FortiOS with competitive pricing and integrated SD-WAN. The best choice depends on your organization's size, technical requirements, and budget.

Choose Cato Networks if true single-vendor SASE built from scratch — not assembled from acquisitions is your priority and mid-market and large enterprises wanting a true single-vendor SASE platform with a private global backbone and simplified management. Choose Fortinet FortiSASE if most competitive pricing makes enterprise SASE accessible to mid-market matters most and mid-market and large enterprises with existing Fortinet infrastructure that want SASE with integrated SD-WAN at competitive pricing.

Fortinet FortiSASE starts at Custom pricing / Per-user tiers starting lower than Zscaler (per-user annual subscription with tiered bundles). Cato Networks starts at Custom pricing based on sites, users, and bandwidth (per-site and per-user annual subscription). As always, the sticker price only tells part of the story. Factor in add-ons, implementation costs, and what's actually included at each tier.

It depends on how deeply Cato Networks is embedded in your stack. Most teams run both in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over. Check whether Fortinet FortiSASE supports importing your existing configs or policies. That's usually the biggest time sink.