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Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs SonicWall NSa comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.5
Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers cost-effective security, efficient threat handling, and seamless Microsoft AD integration, enhancing network reliability in Brazil.
Sentiment score
6.0
SonicWall NSa enhances efficiency and security, reducing costs for organizations, saving nearly ten lakh rupees annually.
I observed a fifty to sixty percent reduction in operational costs after migrating to FortiGate VM.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
They have a platform that organizes their networks and access effectively.
Pre-Sales Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
We haven't used MPLS for over five years now, and it was extremely beneficial to see the changes from MPLS to SD-WAN using Fortinet FortiGate.
Chief Technology Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
We had budgeted about thirty lakhs, but after negotiating with SonicWall NSa, we saved almost ten lakh rupees in a year.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiGate-VM's support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though some note variability and inefficiency in complex cases.
Sentiment score
8.5
SonicWall NSa customer support is praised for expertise but needs improvement in response times and accessibility.
Their support is helpful and effective.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
The end-user support is delayed at levels L2 and L3.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
They support us almost instantly.
Chief Technology Officer at GM Modular
SonicWall support is always available to help us on an immediate basis.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
The support from SonicWall was excellent.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SonicWall support is very helpful and responsive.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Fortinet FortiGate-VM is scalable and cost-effective, though some users encounter challenges with scalability and specific modules.
Sentiment score
6.7
SonicWall NSa provides scalable options for various company sizes, though some upgrades may be necessary to meet demands.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM adapts effectively; for example, you have a limited number of VPN connections on VM01, accommodating around 1,000 remote users, and if the customer needs another endpoint, we can deploy VM02 and manage that transition effectively.
EMEA Enterprise Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Scalability is well-supported, with the notable ability to implement features easily.
Assistant Operation Manger at IIJ Singapore
It can start with a single core and scale up to a 32-core license for a robust deployment.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I would rate its scalability around eight out of ten, meaning there are no issues, and it is pretty easy to scale.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Regarding scalability, it's important to ascertain the customer's future requirements, as firewalls need to be sized according to their expected scalability, such as moving from 500 users today to more in the coming years.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
SonicWall NSa is very supportive and capable of handling everything from smaller organizations to big enterprise-level organizations on a model-wise or configuration-wise basis.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Fortinet FortiGate-VM is highly stable with minimal bugs, consistently reliable performance, and improved high availability for network security.
Sentiment score
7.9
SonicWall NSa is stable and reliable, though some firmware and configuration issues require occasional technical support.
The stability of Fortinet FortiGate is excellent.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
The product has been very stable, based on my ten to eleven years of experience.
Assistant Operation Manger at IIJ Singapore
In the past couple of years, they started releasing numerous new features, and things have become somewhat unstable.
Chief Technology Officer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Configuration changes have been made that have reduced that latency.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
The stability of SonicWall NSA is quite good.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate-VM needs simplification in activation, integration, interface, and support, with calls for enhancements in features and pricing.
SonicWall NSa faces challenges with its GUI, VPN, outdated technology, pricey nature, and support responsiveness, requiring enhancements.
You should not look just at a data sheet, but also look at real tests in the field and load tests from companies who are making them.
Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The API needs better integration to match accounts and objects more effectively.
Senior Network Consultant at Visionet Systems Inc.
Now, these features require separate products like FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, and a FortiCloud subscription for reporting.
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
More details in the analytical tools offered would be appreciated since it is not yet mature.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
At those times, the CPU spikes considerably, and due to that, the firewall response becomes slow.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
There are some aspects of the dashboard configuration or customization that could be improved.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate-VM offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing, appealing to medium-large enterprises but challenging for smaller firms.
SonicWall NSa offers competitive pricing and value; however, advanced feature fees may challenge companies with tight IT budgets.
The license for Fortinet FortiGate-VM costs 100K to 150K Philippine pesos per year for VM1 or VM2.
System Engineer at Trends and Technologies, Inc
I don't have this experience with Fortinet FortiGate-VM because my colleagues in Germany are reaching better prices than me.
Network Administrator at THK Co Ltd
As long as there is competition, they go with 50% + discounts.
Senior Presales Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SonicWall is much cheaper compared to Fortinet, particularly regarding renewal and licensing costs.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate-VM combines strong security, ease of use, scalability, and affordability with advanced threat detection and centralized management.
SonicWall NSa features VPN, deep inspection, user-friendly interface, threat protection, and scalable security for enhanced network protection.
The more integrated we become, the less we spend on solving bugs and issues, allowing us to reduce time focusing on understanding and improving our network.
Pre-Sales Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Fortinet is the only provider to have successfully set up a unified operating system on all its products in the network security ecosystem.
System Administrator, Security Engineer, Security Result at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
For what we need to do, which is setting up a VPN connection between both sides and using it for SSL VPN connections for remote users, it works effectively and we haven't encountered vulnerabilities.
EMEA Enterprise Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real-time deep memory inspection is very helpful and has had a positive impact on our security posture.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
We were the only organization that remained secure with a zero infection rate.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate-VM
Ranking in Firewalls
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
151
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
17th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate-VM is 2.2%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate-VM2.2%
SonicWall NSa1.4%
Other96.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Ehab Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Unified security fabric has simplified multi-country deployments and strengthened threat response
FortiGate VM delivers exceptional performance and security with no degradation of service or protection (same features as the HW option). As part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, it extends across clouds and distributed locations, mitigating blind spots in virtual infrastructures. FortiGate VM can be rapidly deployed, managed through a centralized platform, and offers a range of purchasing options to suit every need. Also, FortiGate VM offers versatile deployment options across both public and private clouds, supporting all major public clouds including AWS, Azure, and Google as well as most hypervisors such as VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM. These deployments enable organizations to create scalable, high-performance firewalls that can be tailored to different virtualized environments and hyper-scale public cloud infrastructures. FortiGate VM integrates seamlessly with various infrastructure as code (IaC) tools such as Jenkins and GitLab, supporting security as code practices.
Mahendra Basera - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
Automated breach prevention has protected critical workloads and keeps external attacks blocked
I am familiar with SonicWall TZ. I have done a POC of TZ but I have not worked extensively with it. I have worked with the 2600 firewall and then the 3600. These are the models which we have worked with.SonicWall NSa was an on-premises solution. The two firewalls which were in production, in the data center and on the LAN side, were both on-premises solutions. We had a pre-decided budget under which we would purchase the firewall. All parameters including security, high availability, and budget concerns were covered with SonicWall NSa being implemented at that time. SonicWall NSa is a user-friendly product that is easy to configure, and it is easy for network personnel and firewall administrators to work with. Even the L1 team captured and learned this firewall effectively, helping us resolve all parameters related to high availability firewalls within budget-friendly costs. I rate this review a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise35
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate-VM?
Regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing, the main client I deal with is a reputed company in the market, making it easy for them to afford Fortinet FortiGate-VM compared to Palo Alto, which is...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
I am overall satisfied with everything, including the price.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
The CPU configuration for SonicWall NSa, based on my experience, is average. It should be increased somewhat because we are not always aware of the load under varying organizational working standar...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSa?
We have SonicWall NSa models including NSA 2600, NSA 3600, and 6600 firewalls in our environment.We have used the Deep Packet Inspection feature of SonicWall NSa. We adopted a security package that...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Security7 Networks, COOPENAE
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. SonicWall NSa and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
907,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.