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Forescout Platform vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Forescout Platform
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
IoT Security (1st), Endpoint Compliance (4th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (16th)
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Forescout Platform is 13.6%, up from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 1.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

ILAN-YACOBY - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 7, 2022
Robust solution with great asset management
I use Forescout Platform in the construction industry to monitor connections to our cloud for ERP and file services Forescout Platform has made it possible to block people working near our construction sites who should not have access to our network. Forescout Platform's best feature is asset…
LUIZ FERNANDO MARIANO SILVA - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 7, 2024
Has valuable analytics capabilities and a straightforward setup process
My primary use case for this solution is managing our company's customer relationship management (CRM) activities. We operate in a mid-sized enterprise environment with around 50 employees. Our setup includes integrating our existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and various third-party…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface is easy to use."
"We use the Forescout Platform for device visibility and control in our network. It's very helpful for tracking malicious or unusual activity. We use it to track which ports are open, which machines are running specific services, and to identify vulnerabilities. For example, there was a vulnerability related to SMB, and we could use the product to determine which machines inside our organization were allowing SMB traffic."
"Forescout Platform provides multiple features. They have a very effective device fingerprinting in their cloud. You do not need to add any devices manually, such as in Mac devices. Other solutions you have to add IoT devices and OT devices manually. This is one of the major areas that Forescout Platform is excelling in."
"We really like that we get full visibility of devices in the local network."
"The most valuable features of the Forescout Platform are ease of management and outstanding visibility. The visibility is simple to obtain."
"Provides a good overview of all devices on a network."
"The initial setup is easy, taking no more than two or three weeks."
"The valuable feature of the product stems from the fact that it is easy to implement."
"Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
"I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully."
"There is really good visibility for the appliance."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The platform's most valuable features include robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which provide deep insights into our sales performance and customer behavior."
"We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform. It's good."
"The installation is very straightforward."
"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."
 

Cons

"As a product, there is nothing to complain about. However, they should improve their overall support. You need that level of knowledge, that level of information is clearly not available. First and foremost, that information is not accessible. The second point to mention is that once you purchase the later support and services. That is, they will continue to charge you for every service."
"The licensing costs are quite high. With the amount of hardware we have, we need too many licenses to make the product effective and it's ultimately just too costly."
"I'd like to see improvements in the reporting aspect of Forescout Platform. While the dashboards are good, the reports are lacking and need enhancement, especially in terms of standardization and customization options. Apart from that, all the features and functionalities are working well without any issues."
"They need to handle their Tier 1 cases differently. The biggest negative regarding Forescout is their support. Not having the ability to get instantly transferred to a support engineer for Tier 1 cases is pretty ridiculous."
"Multitenancy should be included in the next version so it could be used as a managed service provider."
"Forescout needs to upgrade its development in the future."
"Forescout Platform isn't flexible with connections to devices like printers and forces you to re-enter details like the MAC address after any breakdowns."
"Forescout Platform could improve the vulnerability management as well as the control on the endpoint, which needs to be connected to my network."
"It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices."
"I would like to be able to fully customize the reports."
"One area in which the product could be improved is the user interface. While functional, it can be somewhat cluttered and unintuitive, especially for new users."
"Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."
"It would be beneficial to consider some improvements regarding the dashboard."
"I would like more details on the incoming connection, like what is the download speed and how it fluctuates. If Sophos can give that information, it would be really good."
"Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting."
"The interface on the cloud could be a bit better - just to give more performance on it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's pricing is reasonable."
"The ROI is priceless."
"Devices with multiple IP's count multiple times against your license count."
"5,000 user licenses will cost you between seven and eight million dollars, compared to 20 million for Aruba."
"We need to pay for integration for each integration that we want to do and there is an additional license fee. This adds more costs. It is not something that anyone can afford. If you want to integrate this with a lot of other tools, it can be costly."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. We have paid for the license for five years. We have integration with Symantec AV for orchestration, and we have an additional license."
"The solution’s pricing is fine."
"There are no additional costs that I am aware of."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"It is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Educational Organization
6%
Real Estate/Law Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
Forescout is a very powerful NAC product that does not rely on port level configuration. It can detect and block unauthorized devices very quickly. But it has a lot of capabilities and really would...
What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
I would rate the Forescout Device and Visibility Control Platform at a six out of ten.
What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
I recommend doing a compression demo. If people use it, they will buy it. So they have to see the product in place. That's the main recommendation is to do a proof of concept. If they do, they will...
What do you like most about Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
One area in which the product could be improved is the user interface. While functional, it can be somewhat cluttered and unintuitive, especially for new users. In the next release, including more ...
 

Also Known As

Forescout Platform, CounterACT for Endpoint Compliance, ForeScout CounterACT
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NHS Sussex, SAP, SEGA, Vistaprint, Miami Children's Hospital, Pioneer Investments, New York Law School, OmnicomGroup, Meritrust
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Forescout Platform vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.