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Forescout Platform vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

Forescout Platform
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
IoT Security (2nd), Endpoint Compliance (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (16th)
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Forescout Platform is 13.2%, up from 13.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Odai Halawani - PeerSpot reviewer
It's an easy and effective solution, especially for device profiling without agents
Forescout Platform's most valuable aspect is its excellent device profiling for devices without agents, which is crucial for our work due to challenges with agent-based devices. Its isolation and blocking actions are particularly effective for network security. The device compliance feature helps us ensure device compliance through immediate actions like updating antivirus software. We have already integrated Forescout with antivirus and vulnerability assessment tools, allowing it to monitor vulnerability scores and automatically isolate devices if critical vulnerabilities are detected.
Abdul  Basit - PeerSpot reviewer
An affordable solution that provides web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering
Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting. Big companies with 1,000 or 1,500 users might face difficulties using…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution can be used to organize guest portals, integrate switches, and create policies. Some of its standard use cases also include completing key process upgrades and anti-virus of Windows OS."
"The valuable feature of the product stems from the fact that it is easy to implement."
"It's one of the tools that has given the federal government visibility into network devices and everything."
"The most valuable features of ForeScout is the fact that it can do network access control either with 802.1x or without 802.1x."
"The threat prevention feature provides complete visibility."
"Forescout is easy to integrate with a lot of end systems."
"The most valuable features of the Forescout Platform are ease of management and outstanding visibility. The visibility is simple to obtain."
"Vulnerability remediation is valuable. We can narrow down a system and its properties. We can go granular on the properties of each endpoint, such as which operating system you're using."
"Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control."
"The user interface makes it easy to configure and use."
"Sophos Network Access Control saves our clients time and money."
"Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything."
"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."
"We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform. It's good."
"The pricing is very reasonable and you can negotiate on the price."
"I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."
 

Cons

"We experienced some detection issues when checking compliance for the Sophos agent."
"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."
"Definitely, having more third-party integration would be an improvement."
"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."
"The cost is too high."
"More detailed analysis during the authentication process, especially for troubleshooting access issues. We have found that troubleshooting RADIUS controls is quite arduous, as it is today. A trace function could easily resolve this by providing a means by which access issues from a certificate to passwords or accounts could easily be identified and remediated."
"They should improve features related to IT security. ForeScout should analyze behavior to see if the behavior is malicious behavior and block this device. They should develop the ability to analyze the behavior of the device in my environment."
"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."
"An area that could be improved is the information about licensing, which is fairly confusing at present."
"There is room for improvement in pricing."
"The interface on the cloud could be a bit better - just to give more performance on it."
"The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to."
"In order to provide better management, it would be ideal with they offered better plugins for their firewall."
"The user interface, in terms of managing the product, could be better."
"What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."
"The solution could offer more useful documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We might have paid in the ballpark of $20,000 yearly for our licenses. I do not recall there being other fees over and above the standard licensing fee."
"For one license, we pay around 3,000 Indian rupees."
"The Forescout Platform's pricing is in the middle range, not too cheap or expensive."
"We went with the virtual appliance option. The biggest cost to running these types of appliances would be to either have multiple virtual appliances at every data center or running Remote SPAN hardware to provide you the real-time network visibility."
"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are on the high side."
"The solution is not priced low. There are no hidden costs."
"Time savings in finding rogue devices as well as identifying potentially unwanted devices on the network has saved the organization time and money."
"Forescout Platform is too expensive, so the price should be reduced."
"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 is quite expensive."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
I am not able to say much on the financial specifics as it pertains to the sales unit.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
For now, I may not be able to say exactly what needs improvement. However, continuous development in specific areas might be required.
 

Also Known As

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

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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.