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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

"All Citrix products are very flexible and give you a huge amount of possibilities."
"The initial setup is simple. Normally with all setups, it's not very complicated. It really depends on the customer."
"The product is straightforward."
"Citrix Gateway offers an array of valuable features."
"Citrix Gateway is really strong and secure for the companies to have the Endpoint Analysis feature configured."
"The features I find most valuable in Citrix Gateway are the GSLB features for disaster recovery, primarily due to the native integration with Citrix applications, the CVAD product, and Citrix Gateway."
"The ROI is significant because the solutions are adequate to protect the servers."
"What I find most valuable about this solution, is that it runs seamlessly."
"The best features of the SonicWall Netextender were its ease of use."
"One of the most valuable features of SonicWall Netextender is the integration of VPN accounts with Microsoft Identity Management, which enables us to enforce secure access through Microsoft Intune and conditional access policies. This helps ensure that only authorized individuals are able to access the VPN, rather than anyone with knowledge of a password."
"The solution provides high availability."
"I found nothing of value in this solution."
"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."
"Productivity for my remote workers went up dramatically once we switched providers."
"It can support multifactor authentication. Also, it is a very basic application."
"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."
 

Cons

"When it comes to the VDA environment, making it additionally stable is important."
"It would be nice if they offered easier setups and implementation wizards."
"The dashboard or interface should be more clear in reporting issues. Integration with other applications should be more user-friendly."
"The tool must provide better integration and connectivity."
"The WAF needs to be improved because it doesn't work well."
"Areas that should be improved are the configuration of profiles and uploading and downloading of our certificates."
"The initial setup could be made easier."
"Usually, with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."
"There must be a multi-factor authentication enabled or integrated by default with it in order to be integrated with NetExtender."
"The Netextender application itself doesn't really look pretty, however, we can still use it. We don't care what it looks like. That said, if they did a cosmetic update, that would be fine."
"The UI could be a little better."
"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."
"From my experience with using it, we do have problems sometimes with the credentialing-saving parts of it."
"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."
"They need to rewrite the software to make it a usable product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Citrix is quite expensive."
"It is expensive and requires proper planning with strategy."
"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."
"The solution has a yearly licensing fee."
"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."
"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."
"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"
"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."
"The solution is cheap itself, not too costly."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The solution has a pretty good price."
"After a certain number of users, you require extra licensing."
"Compared to others, it is cheaper. When we compare it with Palo Alto, Check Point, or Fortinet, it is a little cheaper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.