Azure Firewall vs Sophos XG comparison

Microsoft and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Microsoft is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0, while Sophos is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4. Microsoft holds a 2.2% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sophos’s 11.4% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Sophos XG and Azure Firewall compete in the network security category. Based on feature richness and user-friendliness, Sophos XG seems to have the upper hand with its comprehensive features.

Features: Sophos XG provides essential features like web and application filters, wireless integration, and email protection. It includes Sophos Sandstorm for sandboxing, URL filtering, and IPS, facilitating user-friendly monitoring and management of network security. Azure Firewall focuses on cloud-native capabilities with features like DDoS protection and centralized management. It integrates with Azure services supporting enhanced scalability.

Room for Improvement: Sophos XG could enhance email protection rules, response time in technical support, and simplify VPN and reporting functions. Challenges with HTTPS traffic handling and application filters are noted. Azure Firewall could improve its threat intelligence, expand its feature set to match other next-generation firewalls, and better integrate traditional enterprise security elements. Cost optimization and flexible configuration are additional areas for improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos XG offers on-premise, hybrid, or private cloud solutions, providing deployment flexibility but with uneven technical support quality. Azure Firewall benefits from its predominant cloud-based design and Azure infrastructure integration, offering centralized management. However, Azure support quality varies, with some users reporting delays.

Pricing and ROI: Sophos XG is competitively priced for SMBs, offering flexible licensing and discounts, leading to good ROI by lowering third-party tool costs. Azure Firewall's pay-as-you-go model may result in increased costs as usage grows, though integration with Azure services could lower total ownership costs. Users may find its pricing less competitive compared to alternatives, impacting cost-effectiveness based on business needs and deployment scale.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG

March 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.8%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Firewall is 2.2%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 11.4%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Charan Kumar

Director, Technology at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Easy to use and configure but could be more robust

The cost of the solution has increased. The robustness of the software could be better. It should be able to cover host-to-host traffic or HTTP traffic. Configurations can be better. The workloads need to still have free access. The encryption and decryption process is not that seamless. It's a little heavy compared to a FortiGate or other firewalls.

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SherifFouad

ICT Manager at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Gives us customizable policies, modifiable templates, and customized rules for single users

The major problem that I am facing, and I know that others are facing as well, is with the HTTPS classic, in general, or any classic that works on Secure Socket Layers. Let's say I set up a rule to block users from accessing YouTube or Facebook. The rule will only block the HTTP traffic, which is non-secure traffic. But most websites right now, most of the reputable web services providers, for extra security for their own web servers and for the user's security, provide a connection over Secure Socket Layer. The problem comes when you are trying to block, or allow, similar traffic that uses HTTPS. You have to create a certificate and import it into the users' web browsers, whatever they are using. Now, this is not a problem when you're dealing with users stationed and fixed in a specific site or location. They are using desktops, they will never take the desktops and go home with them, nor will they ever take the desktops and travel to another country, or another site with it. The problem occurs when you're dealing with roaming users who use laptops and have to move between different sites that have different types of policies applied to them. You have to import all sorts of certificates from each site into their browser. Doing so will most probably conflict with something else that is totally irrelevant and cause a problem. A way around this is if you are using authentication with Active Directory. But most of the time, especially if you're operating in a remote site with a very slow internet connection, if it's available in the first place, authentication with Active Directory is impossible. So it needs an easier way to apply HTTPS filters, without importing certificates into users' browsers and without the need for using an Active Directory. There must be a way around it. There are workarounds. But with applied workarounds, it will work out once, it won't work out properly 10 other times. That is my only request. Also, since Sophos took over Cyberoam, the online technical library and support library have become super messy. To get a piece of information is becoming a nightmare. They need to reorganize the online technical support and technical library. The easiest way to overcome this is to look at how the Cyberoam online technical library was structured and to build the Sophos technical library the same way. It is messy, totally unorganized, time-wasting. Instead of getting what you want in five minutes it takes half an hour.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs."

"Its user interface is good, and it is always working fine."

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

"The product offers very good security."

"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."

"The initial setup is very straightforward and easy, with wizards helping to configure the device efficiently."

"The interface is very good."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution is very stable. When comparing it to other environments, it's actually quite impressive."

"Great security and connectivity."

"The solution has many useful features. For example, the solution allows users to create virtual IP addresses."

"One of the best features is that it natively integrates with Azure Services and tools. When you have a third-party offering, that is not the case. But Azure Firewall provides a comprehensive and seamless security solution for your Azure resources."

"I can easily configure it."

"It's helped us improve our security posture."

"We use the solution for application and server deployment."

"Azure Firewall is integrated well with Microsoft ecosystem."

More Azure Firewall pros

"The most valuable feature is the VPN aspect."

"Using Sophos endpoint and the firewall, synchronized security is easy."

"The SD-WAN feature stands out as the most valuable aspect."

"The product offers many great features."

"We've deployed quite a number for our users and our customers, and the feedback is quite positive in terms of management and also administration."

"The stability of Sophos XG is very good. However, there have been some issues with other weaker models because they are limited in hardware in resources."

"The most valuable features are its nice interfaces and configuration. The endpoint is also very good."

"The firewall feature of Sophos XG has been the most effective for threat prevention."

More Sophos XG pros

Cons

"The solution lacks sufficient filtering."

"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."

"It would be good if they had fewer updates."

"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."

"We had a minor problem where there was a major system upgrade on the hardware platfrom and the Mac client was not available as soon as it might have been. The PC client was available immediately, but we had to wait a month or so, before there was a mac client. I was slightly irritated that it was not ready on time, but it was eventually resolved."

"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."

"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."

"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There should be better monitoring and logging. Currently, it is put in Sentinel. It should be more seamless and from the interface."

"The threat intelligence part could be better. I don't see why our customers have to get an additional solution with Azure Firewall. It would be great if they made it on par with Palo Alto."

"There is a lot of room for improvement, so I would rate it a six out of ten overall."

"Azure Firewall is an expensive solution. On a scale from one to ten, where one is not affordable, I would rate the price as a three."

"In terms of improvements, I think the price could be a concern as Azure services are often more expensive compared to other firewalls."

"One thing that would help engineers adopt it better is the documentation."

"The product could be made more customizable."

"Azure Firewall definitely needs a broader feature base. It should be able to go all the way up to layer 7 when looking at applications and things like that."

More Azure Firewall cons

"Its price should be improved. Its features are pretty okay, but the price is the area where we have to fight more. They should do something about the price structure."

"In the next release, I would like to see improvements made to the policy and simplify the policy-making, as the complexity of it makes it really tough."

"The response time could stand improvement."

"When it comes to improvements that the vendor can make, we see that the cloud integration for managing all the firewalls is essentially a replacement of the on-prem version we had and is not sufficiently mature."

"The UI needs improvement because it can be a little weird at times."

"The UTM itself needs improvement. When you're navigating it seems like it takes forever to load anything. The hardware is okay. It's just the software that could be more responsive."

"Everything is working as expected at this moment, but the anti-spam solution in Sophos XG needs to be improved. It needs more granular features and more stability. The anti-spam solution currently doesn't have many features, and we would like to have more features. At this moment, there is no expression filter for anti-spam. We need something to be able to filter subjects or attachments in emails based on the keyword. Sometimes, there is an issue with anti-spam, and Sophos XG suddenly stops processing incoming or outgoing emails. The only solution for this issue is to restart the appliance. Their support should be improved. It takes a long time to escalate a support case from level one to level two."

"They can lower its price. It is very expensive. We are looking for a less expensive solution depending on our budget. They can also improve it in terms of firewall protection."

More Sophos XG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price depends on the size of the company. From the beginning, you just want to know the internet bandwidths, speed, and the number of users to be able to offer the right product and model. They have a lot of products in FortiGate according to the size of the company, like 200D and 300D."

"We are on an annual license to use Fortinet FortiGate."

"I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."

"Each feature costs money, so it is important to study your needs."

"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."

"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

"Fortinet is reasonable in pricing and licensing. Overall, FortiGate is affordable. The licensing fee can be a little high, depending on the budget for your project."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The licensing module is good."

"It is expensive, especially with the premium functions. For one of the clients, it was very expensive. You have to use it more at an enterprise level, and there, it was not at an enterprise level. So, it was very costly, but security-wise, it was a very wise decision to use it that way."

"The solution is cheaper than other brands. My company has an enterprise contract and we finally got a good price with Azure."

"It is pay-as-you-go. So, you pay based on the usage. If I remember it well, there is a basic fee, and there is a traffic fee. It is not per month. It is per hour or something like that. It is not so expensive."

"The pricing of Azure Firewall is pay-as-you-go. Fortinet also has a pay-as-you-go model, but Azure's pricing is higher and, with FortiGate, you also have the license."

"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."

"Azure Firewall comes with Azure native services. We did not buy any kind of license for it. Whether you have a free subscription or a pay-as-you-go model, you can deploy the Azure Firewall service... The amount that you use will determine how much you pay."

"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."

More Azure Firewall pricing and cost advice

"The price can be a bit steep but for the number of features, it is worth it."

"The pricing is economical."

"The Palo Alto solution is expensive and the FortiGate is less expensive than Palo Alto. The Sophos XG would be priced in the middle of the two."

"A Sophos XG license costs approximately $45,000"

"The price is reasonable but it would be great if it was reduced to half the price."

"It is not that expensive compared to the other solutions. It is about the same price range as Fortigate, which we used previously. Licensing is on a yearly basis."

"Sophos XG is a very good solution, and it's cheaper than most of the other vendors. It is really affordable."

"For our company, the price was reasonable."

More Sophos XG pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...

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How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?

Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...

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Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?

Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...

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Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...

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What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?

Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...

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What do you like most about Sophos XG?

IPS works smoothly.

See all answers

Comparisons

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Azure Firewall

Compared 21% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Azure Firewall

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Azure Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Azure Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

Check Point NGFW vs Azure Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

More Azure Firewall Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos XG

Compared 10% of the time

OPNsense vs Sophos XG

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sophos XG

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Sophos XG

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos XG

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos XG Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Sophos XG

March 2025

Download Sophos XG product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Azure Firewall is a user-friendly, intuitive, cloud-native firewall security solution that provides top-of-the-industry threat protection for all your Azure Virtual Network resources. Azure Firewall is constantly and thoroughly analyzing all traffic and data packets, making it a very valuable and secure fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability. Azure Firewall allows users to create virtual IP addresses and provides for secure DDoS protection for the virtual machines on your network. It also provides fast and efficient east-west and north-south traffic security.

Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service built to protect your Azure Virtual Network resources. It is a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability.

Azure Firewall has two significant offerings, Standard and Premium.

Azure Firewall Standard works directly with Microsoft Cyber Security and supplies excellent L3-L7 filtering and threat awareness. The proactive real-time threat awareness will quickly alert you and immediately deny all traffic to and from any known problematic or suspicious domains or IP addresses. Microsoft Cyber Security is updated continually to protect against all new and known potential threats at all times. To learn more about Azure Firewall Standard, click here.

Azure Firewall Premium provides everything the standard version does, and additionally adds extra levels of data encryption, network intrusion detection, extended URL filtering, and Web category filters. To learn more about the added features of Azure Firewall Premium, click here.

Key Benefits and Features of Azure Firewall:

High availability - You do not need load balancers with Azure Firewall; it's already built in and ready to go.
Self-scalability - Azure Firewall is intuitive and will auto-scale as needed based on traffic flow to be ready for peak traffic times.
Threat awareness - Using Microsoft Cyber Security to filter traffic, Azure Firewall will deny any known problematic threats to keep your network safe.
Additional IP addresses - You can securely add up to 250 public IP addresses with Azure Firewall
Improved web category filtering - You can set up specific protocols to allow or deny categories within websites that are deemed inappropriate for use within your network. You have the ability to organize categories based on a defined set of descriptions.

What our real users have to say:

Many PeerSpot users found Azure Firewall to be very user-friendly and easy to use. They liked that it offers seamless integration to the cloud and were especially pleased with the threat filtering options.

Regarding integration and threat intelligence, our users wrote:

“The most valuable feature is the integration into the overall cloud platform.”

“The most valuable feature is threat intelligence. It is based on filtering and can identify multiple threats.”

“I think that one of the best features is definitely the premium version, along with the IDPs in terms of the intrusion detection and prevention system.”

Microsoft

Sophos XG is a versatile network security solution that offers network protection, firewall management, VPN access, web filtering, and intrusion prevention, providing comprehensive security for businesses from small offices to large enterprises.

Sophos XG stands out for its Synchronized Security, easy setup, and robust templates. It manages VPN access, protects against threats, and handles load balancing and traffic monitoring. The cloud-based management, centralized dashboard, and detailed logging make it user-friendly and reliable. Integration of features like email protection, SD-WAN, and unified threat management ensures a broad spectrum of security needs are covered. However, it could benefit from improvements in network security, user portals, technical support, and more scalable SD-WAN features.

What are the key features of Sophos XG?

Synchronized Security: Orchestrates threat intelligence sharing between endpoints and firewall.
Unlimited SSL VPN Clients: Provides extensive VPN client support for secure remote access.
Cloud-Based Management: Facilitates remote administration with a cloud-hosted platform.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and blocks potential threats in real-time.
Centralized Dashboard: Offers a comprehensive view of network security status.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
User-Friendliness: Simplified setup and intuitive management.
Effective Threat Protection: Provides robust security against a wide range of threats.
Comprehensive Reporting: Delivers detailed insights and analytics.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive in pricing with flexible deployment options.

Sophos XG is implemented across industries such as healthcare, education, and finance to secure sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance. It aids in endpoint protection, application control, load balancing, and traffic monitoring essential for these industries. Enhancing network security, simplifying VPN setup, and integrating adaptive security features remain focal points for businesses.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG

March 2025

Free Report: Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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