Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Fortinet FortiOS vs Sophos UTM comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
317
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Fortinet FortiOS
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (28th)
Sophos UTM
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Saleem Ullah Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to set up, reliable, and good for traffic management
We are not scaling it right now. We bought it sometime back and we didn't need to scale it. We bought a higher end for our use case, which is still sufficient for another few years. We have 200 or so users of different levels and positions on it. We do not have plans to increase usage. This firewall is quite a capable firewall - even up to 1000 users. Due to that, we didn't find any requirement to expand it or replace it somehow. It has helped us build our software-defined WAN, LAN, et cetera. It is sufficient for us. It gives us Gbps throughput, which is good enough. The firewall itself is 32Gbps capable, which is more than what we need.
Emanuele-Gnali - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances security by providing intuitive firewall policy settings 
The primary use case for the solution is as a perimeter protection firewall, which includes functionalities such as VPN, web control, and traffic inspection. It is used in various customer environments, providing comprehensive security management and network protection The platform's most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"The security on offer is very good."
"The solution is stable."
"This version is stable. I don't have any issues with this solution, in our environment, it works well."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."
"The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
"Has a very simple OS and a good price point."
"The customer service and support team are excellent."
"FortiOS allows us to set up alarms for blocked websites and SSL verifications. When someone tries to access a blocked site, the solution sends a notification to the IT manager's mailbox."
"It's simple to use in terms of inbound and outbound traffic management."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiOS are the SD-WAN, SSL inspection, and IDS/IPS functions."
"The solution is very user friendly."
"The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive."
"I like that the firewall gives me a lot of control in terms of outgoing and inbound traffic, and it scores better in deep packet inspections when compared with the Azure Firewall."
"What I like about Sophos UTM is that it improves my company's security. The solution is easy to set up, which I like, and it's very stable."
"The stability of Sophos UTM is very good. The solution has been stable since Sophos took over Cyberoam which was the original company providing this solution."
"We've found the technical support to be helpful."
"The initial setup has been fine."
"It has helped by identifying threats within the company. If there are computers or servers that are compromised, then we are able to identify them right away in the system."
"Sophos UTM's best feature is SIM in the cloud, which combines the gateway solution and endpoint solution to send telemetry data to the cloud and provides full contact visibility regarding security."
"Scaling out cannot be easier, as there are many migration paths."
"I would recommend UTM over XG because it's easier to manage."
 

Cons

"It would be good if they had fewer updates."
"The advanced models are expensive."
"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."
"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."
"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."
"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."
"They need faster serviceability and more security features."
"The complexity of the VPNs should be improved."
"Fortinet FortiOS can improve by limiting the need for the CLI and GUI combination. The more functions they can have on the GUI and less on CLI would be helpful."
"The solution's graphic interface could be a bit more responsive and include notations when changes are made."
"The additional features I would like to see included in the next release is better troubleshooting and reporting."
"I would like to see smaller and more frequent updates."
"The reporting and monitoring could improve, they have a lot of limitations. The monitoring is not easy compared to the other firewall."
"Fortinet FortiOS's integration could be improved."
"Right now, we have to contend with CLI. We'd like it to be easier. We need the features to be in a UI."
"Sophos should be more user-friendly, have more dashboards, and an easier implementation."
"The virus updates will always depend on new viruses that are discovered. Maybe they can send a notification or a reminder for update time."
"It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention)."
"The five-factor authentication needs improvement."
"Sophos should improve its ability to check something like bandwidth consumption for users or something more real-time."
"Finding information about Sophos’ sizing guidelines can actually be difficult. Also, Sophos does not make it clear what they mean by “users” when you are sizing a firewall, which then leads to undersized implementations.​"
"They could definitely improve on the support, especially in other countries."
"It's stable, but the reaction time of the GUI is terrible."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of the solution is very competitive."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support."
"The price is fine."
"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."
"The price is really low. It's cheap in comparison to the cost of Cisco or CheckPoint, for example."
"It has a competitive price."
"The pricing is flexible."
"The program is expensive."
"We pay $100,000. That covers the cost of the hardware that we run the VN's on. That also includes any SGNA costs for the internal support tech."
"We pay an annual license fee. It is rather expensive so I would like to perhaps see a drop in price in the future."
"The Fortinet solutions can be a bit expensive."
"It would be better if it were cheaper. We have the firewall in our office, and the license is expiring in 20 to 25 days. We got a quote for almost 80,000 Pakistani Rupees, which is a little costly."
"A medium 100 or 200 Series box costs around $3000, and the software cost is around 55% of the hardware cost."
"The solution is cost effective. I would rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The software costs roughly half what the hardware costs. Overall, the product is expensive."
"I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands."
"The solution is very low cost compared to competitors. You have a good firewall, a lot of functions for less than the price of some omni firewall competitors."
"I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"For under 50 users, MSP licensing is profitable."
"The price of the solution is high. The price from USD to my currency is expensive."
"The AWS Marketplace product should be a better fit, but it is a little pricier."
"This product is free for home users. The more expensive products have better performance."
"There was an up-front charge of around $70,000, to purchase the hub and license. Beyond the initial cost, licenses are charged for annually, but they are good value for the service we receive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
824,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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…
 

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%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

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 a...
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...
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 ...
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...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiOS?
The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?
Regarding the cost, the initial purchase is relatively cheap because it comes bundled. However, the subscription rene...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between Sophos UTM and Sophos XG?
The Sophos UTM is a UTM and Sophos XG is the NGFW. First, you must know about the difference between a UTM and NGFW. ...
What do you like most about Sophos UTM?
The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the endpoint protection feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
The product pricing and licensing are higher, but they offer good value for the features and stability provided.
 

Also Known As

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

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
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
One Housing Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiOS vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.