Fortinet FortiGate vs SonicWall TZ comparison

Fortinet and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while SonicWall is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.0. Fortinet holds a 19.8% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 316 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

100,196 Views
73,866 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SonicWall TZ

Read 81 SonicWall TZ reviews

10,020 Views
9,329 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

SonicWall TZ

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024

Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are two competitive firewall solutions. FortiGate has an edge in user satisfaction with features, while SonicWall TZ is praised for robust networking capabilities.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate excels in advanced threat protection, cloud integration, and comprehensive security options. SonicWall TZ is known for ease of use, effective intrusion prevention systems, and user-centric functionality.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Fortinet FortiGate needs enhancements in reporting tools, simplified management processes, and usability. SonicWall TZ could benefit from better scalability, reduced complexity in rule setup, and improved manageability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate has a straightforward deployment process, supported by comprehensive documentation and responsive customer support. SonicWall TZ is praised for its deployment ease but noted for slower customer service responses.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate’s setup costs are higher but justified by strong ROI due to its extensive features. SonicWall TZ offers cost-efficiency and quicker return on investment, making it appealing for budget-conscious users.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate vs. SonicWall TZ Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. SonicWall TZ

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in Firewalls

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

316

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)

SonicWall TZ

Ranking in Firewalls

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.8%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 2.6%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28

Senior Manager at Cognizant

Sep 25, 2024

Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability. The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in…

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Sathish Ravichandran

Server & Cloud Architect at Icare

Oct 18, 2023

Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services

The multi-core architecture allows the running of multiple instances for checking files, even handling more than 2 GB of data. It has inbuilt reporting features, reducing the cost of external monitoring software. It's well-suited for organizations that need to transfer and scan large files. The scalability is good for small and medium-sized enterprises, but for organizations with more than 200 users, the cost can become a limiting factor. It is more suitable for large enterprises, especially for organizations with over 4,000 users. However, there could be flexibility in licensing, allowing organizations to cater to their specific needs and pay for the features and licenses they require. It can help reduce costs. I rate its scalability a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a quality product with ok support, and it is better than the competition we've tried."

"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."

"The threat prevention is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements."

"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."

"Fortinet FortiGate has many valuable features, such as IDS, and intrusion detection. It has security features that are in part with the technologies that are available in the market."

"Centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances allow us to take control over our public and private infrastructure."

"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I've found the technical support to be helpful."

"SonicWall TZ is a stable product."

"No negative impression of the scalability."

"The features that we have found most valuable in SonicWall TZ are the intrusion and brute force attack prevention."

"Ease of management and the VPN integration."

"The most valuable feature is the protection available, and then ease of use and flexibility."

"It does what it says it is going to do."

"The most valuable features are security and technical support."

More SonicWall TZ pros

Cons

"They need faster serviceability and more security features."

"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."

"The cloud features and integration could be improved."

"They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user. When you're trying to explain to somebody how a computer network is secured, sometimes it's difficult for an end user or customer to understand. If there was a way to make the terminology more accessible to the end user, the set up could be easier. They should translate the technical jargon to an easily relatable and understandable conversation for the end user, the customer, that would be brilliant. Particularly in an environment where the IT structure is audited regularly, there's always pressure from the auditor to up the standards and up the security and you get your USCERT's that come out and there's a warning about this and the customer will want to lock out so much and when you apply it they run into issue where they can't search the internet or print to their remote office. Of course they can't print to your remote office, they just locked it up. They should make the language more understandable for the customer. If there's a product out there that made the jargon understandable to John Q. Public, I would buy that."

"The cloud management and automation capability could be improved."

"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."

"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."

"FortiGate should have a better way of detecting and managing the system memory because otherwise if the memory is too low, a system restart is required."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There is still room for improvement, and it's not advisable even if the organization has grown."

"The solution's antivirus checking could be improved so that we can have a deeper inspection of the packets."

"I currently have two of the issues from SonicWall. One issue is that the IP is not the public IP. Sometimes it moves to an alternate source and I have to refresh the new IP then we can go on."

"There is a point I don't like about SonicWall in the past and now. Most of the destinations we look at when we're detecting some user using too much bandwidth or something like that, SonicWall just gave us destination IP address, instead of the full qualified domain name. I think that's the most important part that is still missing. I think that's the most important for us."

"It would be good if Analyzer would be part of the stock license, so even if a layperson is getting the device, he or she doesn't forgets about ordering the Analyzer because it's already there."

"The user support could be improved because you have to go outside to get that kind of support."

"I would like the solution to build in more redundancy. I"

"The log sections could be done more clearly."

More SonicWall TZ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The initial setup is super straight forward and as far as the licensing goes for the small product that we have, the pricing was pretty competitive. It wasn't as simple and as cheap as a SonicWall but for the service we would get it was a good price."

"The price of FortiGate support is too expensive."

"The price range is quite acceptable and normal."

"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."

"These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."

"The pricing is very reasonable."

"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It has a yearly subscription."

"The pricing was a factor for us, and we felt that the price was good."

"The prices are expensive."

"The price is high compared to some other solutions."

"The price is fair."

"The price of SonicWall TZ is good for medium-sized companies."

"SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."

"It is highly priced and has a slow performance compared to other firewalls."

More SonicWall TZ pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...

See all answers

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...

See all answers

Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?

I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar basic features. However, Fortinet offers more performance, scalability, and in...

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall TZ?

The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks for a four-digit code, which changes every 30 seconds.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?

SonicWall TZ is priced average compared to other products. We usually compare prices from different local suppliers to get the best deal.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Check Point NGFW vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Sophos XG vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 16% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 9% of the time

Meraki MX vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 7% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 7% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 7% of the time

More SonicWall TZ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

November 2024

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall TZ

October 2024

Download SonicWall TZ product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate

Dell SonicWALL TZ

Learn More

Fortinet

SonicWall

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

The secure, sophisticated SonicWALL TZ is widely deployed at small businesses, retail, government, remote sites and branch offices. It combines high-performance intrusion prevention, malware blocking, content/URL filtering and application control.

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate vs. SonicWall TZ

October 2024

Free Report: Fortinet FortiGate vs. SonicWall TZ

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