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Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall Netextender comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

Citrix Gateway
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (1st), SSL VPN (1st)
SonicWall Netextender
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
12th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 3.7%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Netextender is 2.3%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Citrix Gateway3.7%
SonicWall Netextender2.3%
Other94.0%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

PEDRO FONSECA - PeerSpot reviewer
Citrix VDI & Windows Virtualization Specialist at ATOS
Modular security has protected remote access and simplifies endpoint compliance management
The most valuable feature in Citrix Gateway is the securable, modular solution. The most useful behaviors that Citrix has is that you can secure the applications and all the infrastructure in a modular way. You can segment the securization in groups, allowing you to do a lot of things. Citrix Gateway is really strong and secure for the companies to have the Endpoint Analysis feature configured. You can configure this to check what the company needs to be checked. Companies need to authorize some devices to check if antivirus can accomplish the necessities of the company. The final appliance is really secure for accessing the company's network resources. You have many ways to maintain security protocols. One way is using Citrix Gateway, and another is the Citrix policies where you can configure many things in desktops and applications published for the company.
Rich Darress - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Operating Officer at Darress Tech
Has provided secure remote access to multiple client networks with consistent performance
When buying the appliance itself, there is one downside that isn't exclusive to SonicWall. When you apply all the security settings, many people have one gig connections for internet ISP. If you're bringing in a one gig connection, you have to have a more robust SonicWall to handle that throughput with all your security settings turned on. It gets pretty pricey upfront if you're bringing in a one gig connection. If the customer starts with a two, three, four, or 500 meg connection and has a small unit, they have to replace the whole box when upgrading to a gig, so scalability there is atrocious. However, this issue exists with pretty much any appliance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Citrix Gateway is really strong and secure for the companies to have the Endpoint Analysis feature configured."
"The solution provides good performance and I'm happy with the speed, UI, and dashboard."
"Citrix Gateway improved the security of the access of our applications outside the network."
"For the use cases we have, the solution is perfect."
"The ROI is significant because the solutions are adequate to protect the servers."
"It's a stable solution while it's running. We don't have to work on it a lot. There are not many bugs, so it's easy to use if you deploy successfully. You can be sure of an uninterrupted solution for quite a long time. Citrix is a good product."
"The solution is scalable."
"The solution is very stable. If I were to rate it out of ten, I would give stability a nine."
"I found nothing of value in this solution."
"Productivity for my remote workers went up dramatically once we switched providers."
"The most valuable feature for the Netextender is the ease with which we can integrate it with SAML."
"The product has two-factor authentication."
"When we started to change from IPsec-type clients that were predominantly built right into the firewalls to this approach or deployment style for SSL VPN, the amount of time that our techs spent helping people with VPN issues was probably cut by more than half."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The best feature is that employees can connect to our LAN, and have access to our network from home."
"My company opted for this solution because it can individually perform. Basically, we don't require load balancers and all those additional feature sets or additional devices that might be required. The solution can handle the certificate, DNS queries, and all that stuff individually."
 

Cons

"We have experienced issues relating to multi-factor authentication."
"Technical support is not good."
"I would like to see improved logging because it doesn't keep much information for the session monitoring or historical sessions."
"The monitoring site could be much better because monitoring NetScaler and Citrix Gateway is too difficult with just SNMP traps available."
"Tech support is not that great. Whenever an issue arises, it takes them time to respond and they do so via email."
"I'd like to be able to access Citrix Gateway through a mobile device."
"Citrix Gateway has a lot of limitations, cloud limitations as a starting point."
"The solution can be a bit pricey."
"The UI could be a little better."
"NetExtender did nothing to improve my organization - in fact, it was quite the opposite. Users constantly complained of lag and unbearable sluggishness (with a max speed of 10-30kbps) through the VPN, even though we have relatively high bandwidth for a small office (400mbps)."
"The solution takes more bandwidth these days and it would be helpful if that was reduced."
"From my experience with using it, we do have problems sometimes with the credentialing-saving parts of it."
"Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances."
"Sometimes you can get bounced around through the departments until you find the right one. Sometimes if you don't have the most current support contract or your license is out of date, they won't even talk to you."
"I am rolling out the new Netextender because I am having some issues with the older version."
"SonicWall can be difficult for some people, but I don't find it difficult. Some companies provide a VPN client for free, but you have to pay for NetExtender."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."
"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."
"Citrix is quite expensive."
"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."
"It costs about 4,000 a year."
"There are two or three different models, but you can actually have a CapEx where you purchase the unit outright and then there's a yearly maintenance cost on top for years two and three, and four, or you can actually do a subscription purchase through Citrix cloud and you pay on a monthly basis, or you can have a three-year subscription contract as well. I give the solution a six out of ten for its cost."
"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."
"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."
"Cost wise, it would be a few hundred dollars for the base appliance with the first five clients. Then from there, your cost per seat depends on how many you're getting. It's a one-time cost, and then you have a few hundred dollars a year for the maintenance contract once you get the one-time seat costs out of the way."
"Compared to others, it is cheaper. When we compare it with Palo Alto, Check Point, or Fortinet, it is a little cheaper."
"The price of SonicWall Netextender is reasonable. Whether it's a small shop with only five users or a larger operation with 130 users, we have received no complaints or objections regarding cost from any of the clients we are looking to deploy it with."
"After a certain number of users, you require extra licensing."
"The solution has a pretty good price."
"You have to pay for its license. There are some other companies that provide a VPN client for free. When you buy NetExtender, its license is available for one, three, or five years."
"The solution is cheap itself, not too costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?
The price is one aspect, but technically it is complete. Technically, it is really complete.
What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?
I see room for improvement in several areas. The monitoring site could be much better because monitoring NetScaler and Citrix Gateway is too difficult with just SNMP traps available. Improving the ...
What is your primary use case for Citrix Gateway?
I am on the customer side using Citrix products, specifically Citrix CVAD for Virtual and Desktop virtualization. I am using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. We are using Citrix Gateway an...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Netextender?
The pricing for my experience with the setup cost and licensing of SonicWall Netextender is fair. The Netextender itself has no cost. It's the SSL licensing that is attached to the SonicWall. It us...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Netextender?
SonicWall Netextender has not helped with compliance, as it is not applicable for what I'm doing. I've put several feature requests in over the years and they've implemented them all, so it current...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Netextender?
Getting to local resources on a customer's network is my main use case with SonicWall Netextender or SonicWall SSL-VPN. As a managed service provider, all my customers have SonicWalls and I get int...
 

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall Netextender and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
912,788 professionals have used our research since 2012.