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KerioControl vs SonicWall TZ comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
KerioControl delivered significant financial benefits through bandwidth optimization, VPN efficiency, and reduced support, maintenance, and security expenses.
Sentiment score
4.2
SonicWall TZ offers quick ROI with low costs, boosts productivity, enhances security, and provides cost-effective benefits for small businesses.
That is a reason to buy a firewall, and it is challenging to put a monetary value on security.
Administration IT at a engineering company with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
KerioControl support receives mixed reviews, with some praise but many report slow responses and reliance on online communities.
Sentiment score
5.0
SonicWall TZ customer service has mixed reviews, praised for availability but criticized for wait times and problem resolution.
I have never needed to contact customer support as the product is easy to use.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
SonicWall Sentry team will manage our firewall.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
Customer service is excellent.
Administration IT at a engineering company with 11-50 employees
I would rate SonicWall TZ's technical support as good but not at the level of other enterprise-level firewall vendors out there.
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
KerioControl suits small to medium businesses but faces scalability issues in larger enterprises, requiring hardware upgrades for increased capacity.
Sentiment score
6.6
SonicWall TZ is scalable for small to medium environments, but accurate sizing and cost concerns are crucial for larger needs.
KerioControl has met some of the network infrastructure needs yet could improve in terms of scalability.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
Whenever we want to change the licensing, we can do it at any time.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
There are some problems with the scalability of SonicWall TZ with the firmware.
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
KerioControl is stable and reliable, with minor hardware or update challenges, and performs well according to user assessments.
Sentiment score
6.5
SonicWall TZ is stable with minor issues; performance improves with updates, though updates can sometimes temporarily affect stability.
SonicWall TZ rates 10 out of 10 for stability.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
In terms of stability, SonicWall doesn't have performance issues.
CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC
There are minor issues with the product that would make me not recommend it to an enterprise-level customer.
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

KerioControl requires improvements in VPN, user interface, support, security, performance, and customization features for large networks.
SonicWall TZ needs user interface improvements, better threat intelligence, enhanced support, bundled VPN licenses, and stability and performance updates.
Integration with other vendors, especially with VPNs, can be challenging and requires more effort when configuring.
CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC
What could be improved about SonicWall TZ is the threat intelligence, which by far is not at the level of vendors such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Check Point.
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
The VPN license should be improved by providing more free SSL VPN licenses.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

KerioControl offers affordable pricing with complex licensing, appreciated features, but high annual fees can be challenging for small offices.
SonicWall TZ offers competitive pricing and flexible licensing, but total costs can rise due to subscriptions and feature add-ons.
The price for the product is rated as ten out of ten.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
More licenses are required to purchase the perpetual license for SSL VPN and Global VPN.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
When comparing similar products across vendors, there may be a small difference in cost.
CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC
I would also position its pricing as a three, where one is the lowest price and ten is the highest.
Administration IT at a engineering company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

KerioControl provides user-friendly navigation, robust security features, VPN support, and efficient network management with positive feedback on ease of use.
SonicWall TZ provides robust security, user-friendly management, and cost-effective solutions with VPN, filtering, and threat prevention.
The most valuable features include geo-tagging, which blocks all other IPs except for the specified accounts, and web filtering.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
For SMB segments, SonicWall performs well.
CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC
SonicWall TZ gives us multiple features, such as Content Filter, Application Filter, ATP, IPS policy, Geo-Filter, Botnet filter, and many more.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
I find the web filtering and the deep packet inspection feature to be quite reliable in SonicWall TZ.
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
 

Categories and Ranking

KerioControl
Ranking in Firewalls
27th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (14th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (8th)
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
26th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of KerioControl is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 1.8%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall TZ1.8%
KerioControl1.2%
Other97.0%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security
The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…
Fernando Kavindra Fernando - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
Web filtering and traffic balancing have improved security for SMBs but threat insight still needs work
I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhere in between, so I would not recommend it for a large enterprise-level organization to rely on because it is not at that level. SonicWall TZ's content filtering service is reliable. We have used it, but it is not very reliable compared to brands such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, or Check Point. What could be improved about SonicWall TZ is the threat intelligence, which by far is not at the level of vendors such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Check Point. Their threat intelligence needs to be improved, as does the GUI, which is not as user-friendly compared to devices such as Fortinet. They could learn from their competitors by making the product more user-friendly. The product interface is not that user-friendly. By adopting a more user-friendly GUI, improving threat intelligence, and enhancing the available guides would be beneficial. In my understanding, in some cases, the KB articles and knowledge articles were not that efficient. They were useful, but they could have been more precise with the knowledge base articles. They need to provide more information about SonicWall TZ, specifically more documentation and more troubleshooting articles. Other than the threat intelligence and the user-friendly GUI, there are no other additional features that I can think of for SonicWall TZ in the future or at least in the next release to make it more competitive.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?
KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the product is rated as ten out of ten.
What needs improvement with KerioControl?
Regarding KerioControl's application awareness and control feature, I have not used it much.
What is your primary use case for KerioControl?
With KerioControl, we usually use them for site-to-site VPNs for most of our clients. With multiple offices, we use KerioControl as our solution.
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar basic features. However, Fortinet offers more performance, scalability, and in...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required to purchase the perpetual license for SSL VPN and Global VPN. Only one SSL VPN a...
What needs improvement with SonicWall TZ?
I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhe...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Triton Technical, McDonald's
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about KerioControl vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
903,257 professionals have used our research since 2012.