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Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos XGS 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
318
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Sophos XGS
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.7%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XGS is 2.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Q&A Highlights

RS
Dec 13, 2022
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable
In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.
Jaffar Ali - PeerSpot reviewer
Has provided stability, security, ease of management, and better reporting options
People use Sophos XGS because the overall channel support is very good, so they don't face issues. Additionally, it is competitive in pricing against Fortinet in some cases, especially when considering high availability, email subscriptions, and gateways Sophos XGS has provided stability,…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main benefit is the grouping of our security monitoring."
"The web filtering feature and the intrusion protection system are the most valuable. It is a resilient appliance. I never had an issue with it in terms of any security breaches."
"Fortinet FortiGate is scalable for our users. Right now, we have almost 70 users. We do not have any plan to increase our usage of FortiGate. For maintaining the firewall solution, one staff member is enough."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."
"FortiGate has a very strong unified threat management system."
"Sophos offers strong features such as IPS and application control that are particularly valuable."
"The solution is cost-effective and easy to manage."
"In this solution, the most valuable feature is that it's a security device. Maintaining security is very valuable for us. The other feature that we did not find in other products is that it works well with thin client environments."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"One of the main advantages of Sophos XGS is the processor. You don't have to wait a long time for when you are managing the firewall and the traffic is faster now."
"It's easy to deploy and connect."
"Sophos XGS is cost effective and provides all necessary security features and throughput."
"The solution is easy to use and configure, once you know how to apply the policies."
 

Cons

"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"I think that the infrastructure for the VPN could be improved. The way that it is bundled also made it difficult to use and sell as it is too expensive."
"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."
"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."
"It needs more available central management."
"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."
"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."
"Fortinet needs more memory to save the log files. We need it to save the logs on the hardware and not in the cloud. I know this feature is available in FortiCloud, but if we need this log locally, it is not available."
"Some features need remuneration and there are performance improvements required."
"In Sophos, the user portal is not user-friendly."
"VPN setup could be improved."
"Sophos XGS could improve by having better integration with Active Directory."
"The SD-WAN feature isn't very good. It's there, but it doesn't work properly."
"I would like to see them in third-party evaluation reports like Gartner, Magic Quadrant, or Forrester to make it easier for us to show our customers that Sophos is a leader in the market."
"It has recently started to suddenly block and crash."
"The stability could be a bit better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 the license and warranty can be better because it is very expensive."
"Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"It scales well if you know what to buy from a physical box standpoint. They seem to offer something for every level."
"The price is fine."
"We have the full version of Fortinet FortiGate and we are on a three-year contract with a commitment of five years."
"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."
"​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
"The price of Sophos XGS is less than competitors worldwide. However, in Turkey the solution is expensive."
"We paid around 17,000 pounds for a three-year package."
"The cost is comparable to other similar solutions."
"Sophos XGS costs around $75,000 for fifty units."
"The pricing for Sophos is much better compared to that of Fortinet and Check Point. On a scale from one to five with one being expensive and five being competitive, I would rate Sophos' pricing at four. The pricing can be for the hardware appliance and the license, or it can be subscription-based. It can be around 3000 USD up to 25,000 USD per year depending on the model or series of the hardware you choose to buy."
"XGS' price could be lower, though it's moderately priced in the market."
"It's highly effective and well-suited for medium and small companies. The pricing is attractive, and our customers find it suitable for regular license renewals."
"A central firewall on the cloud with a cluster might be 70,000 to 80,000 euros for a three-year license."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Answers from the Community

RS
Dec 13, 2022
Dec 13, 2022
Hi Rahul, I'm an IT consultant, specializing in networking and firewalls. Actually, I'm implementing Fortigates 100F and Sophos XGS2100 in customers' infrastructures. They are two big advantages for Sophos XGS: 1) The second CPU XStream, dedicated to firewalling and UTM functions, like Web Filtering, Web Application Firewall, IPS, etc.: https://news.sophos.com/en-us/... 2) The Sophos "Synchroni...
2 out of 4 answers
AR
Dec 12, 2022
Hi Rahul, I'm an IT consultant, specializing in networking and firewalls. Actually, I'm implementing Fortigates 100F and Sophos XGS2100 in customers' infrastructures. They are two big advantages for Sophos XGS: 1) The second CPU XStream, dedicated to firewalling and UTM functions, like Web Filtering, Web Application Firewall, IPS, etc.: https://news.sophos.com/en-us/... 2) The Sophos "Synchronized Security", interaction with the client protection, centralized in a cloud console: https://www.sophos.com/en-us/c... With this Xstream processor (ASIC), an XGS2100 is more powerful than a Fortigate 100F...and no way with pricing, Sophos is cheaper. Regards, A.Rastello
Pieter Plas - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 12, 2022
We have a lot of Sophos firewalls in the field. I agree to the answer from Alexandre. The Sophos Firewall is the more powerfull firewall. But maybe it's a good idea to explore the XGS 3100 because of the hardware like 10gbit.With kind regards,
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
5%
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Sophos XGS?
The policies are the greatest feature. They allow us to configure granular control over our network traffic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos XGS?
The pricing is justified, and the solution is considered budget-friendly compared to other vendors.
What needs improvement with Sophos XGS?
Hardware stability needs improvement. I have experienced multiple hardware complaints, particularly during firmware updates that sometimes cause crashes. Improvements to the hardware would be a cri...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sophos XGS and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.