Hillstone CloudEdge vs SonicWall TZ comparison

Hillstone Networks and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #50, while SonicWall is ranked #20 with an average rating of 9.0. Hillstone Networks holds a 0.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

SonicWall TZ and Hillstone CloudEdge compete in the network security domain. Hillstone CloudEdge has the upper hand with its advanced features, while SonicWall TZ is preferred for its pricing and support.

Features: SonicWall TZ provides robust firewall protection, intrusion prevention, and malware blocking capabilities. Hillstone CloudEdge offers integrated cloud-based security, scalable performance, and dynamic threat detection. SonicWall delivers comprehensive on-premises solutions, whereas Hillstone focuses on cloud adaptability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall TZ ensures straightforward deployment with extensive customer service resources, beneficial for smaller businesses. Hillstone CloudEdge offers flexible cloud deployment options with agile customer support, suitable for enterprises with cloud-first strategies.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall TZ is noted for its affordable setup cost and solid ROI, appealing to budget-conscious firms. Hillstone CloudEdge incurs a higher setup expense but offers superior cloud capabilities and enhanced security features, promising better ROI for companies focused on cloud infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone CloudEdge vs. SonicWall TZ Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone CloudEdge vs. SonicWall TZ

April 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.0%, down from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 2.9%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

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.

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Albert-Wang

Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies

Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities

Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.

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Rias Majeed

CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC

Robust VPN integration stands out despite needing enhanced vendor compatibility

The integrated VPN functionality is working well with the global VPN client, which is a fast client, though it comes at a cost. SonicWall TZ is functional depending on the service level taken by the user. For SMB segments, SonicWall performs well. Despite lacking certain features, it is still considered a good product. The appliance itself is functional and stable, offering integrated solutions.

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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

"The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."

"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."

"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."

"I like Fortinet's cloud management. It allows me to manage all my devices in different branches for three cloud accounts. Even though I use on-prem devices, I can manage everything on the cloud."

"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."

"The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution."

"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."

"It increases security posture and is helpful for firewall reporting, intrusion protection, web filtering, and SD-WAN implementation."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."

"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."

"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."

"SonicWall TZ is a very cost-effective solution that provides good security."

"The most valuable feature is the user-friendly navigation."

"The solution's VPN is very good for stability and detecting threats."

"Good VPN connection."

"The solution is stable."

"The network security is great."

"I have found this solution to be easier to use when compared to other products, such as those offered by Cisco."

"One valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the content filtering."

More SonicWall TZ pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."

"The solution is very expensive."

"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."

"The initial setup is complex."

"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."

"The inability to scale the FortiAnalyzer to match our growth necessitates the purchase of new hardware."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."

"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."

"We would like to improve the rules configuration in SonicWall TZ. Sometimes the rules don't work."

"It could probably be more user-friendly, and it could be more scalable with releases and subscriptions."

"We encounter issues while generating new reports."

"Sometimes there is a glitch between the network connection. Last time, something happened on our IP phone, the SonicWall team did some updates to fix the issue. However, glitches happen very rarely. I did not experience any other types of problems."

"I'd like to have cloud management at no additional cost. Unfortunately, leveraging SonicWall's cloud management capabilities is cost-prohibitive, so we don't use it. They should have a reasonable subscription or offer it to us at no cost as an MSP."

"The technical support has room for improvement."

"The stability could be a lot better."

"The areas we would like to see improvement include more features available similar to the equivalent FortiGate appliance, e.g. SSL encryption and inspection. Two-factor authentication capability would be another additional feature that could be included in the next release."

More SonicWall TZ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need."

"FortiGate's pricing falls within the mid-range when compared to other leading firewall solutions."

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."

"The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range."

"Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced."

"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."

"When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is affordable. Most of our customers are on a three-year license to use the solution. All the features and support are included in the price."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"It comes to a range between five hundred to seven hundred dollars."

"It has a yearly subscription."

"The price is fair for the solution for the quality you receive."

"Its price is very high, which makes it difficult to convince the clients to buy this solution."

"The prices are expensive."

"We have to pay yearly. Its licensing can be improved, and they should provide more features, such as AV, email filtering, and so on with the basic subscription."

"The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive."

"The price is fair."

More SonicWall TZ pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?

There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?

Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...

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What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone CloudEdge?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

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 simila...

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...

See all answers

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

The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required ...

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 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

No data available

Sophos XG vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 18% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 9% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

Meraki MX vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

More SonicWall TZ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

March 2025

Download Hillstone CloudEdge product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall TZ

March 2025

Download SonicWall TZ product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Dell SonicWALL TZ

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Hillstone Virtual Next-Generation Firewall, CloudEdge, embedded with the Hillstone Networks StoneOS operation system, is deployed as a virtual machine, and provides advanced security services for applications and users in any virtualized environment. It provides comprehensive security features including granular application identification and control, VPN, intrusion prevention, anti-virus, attack defense and cloud-sandbox to fully keep a business secure and operational. It provides price- performance solutions for both public and private cloud customers, and can be rapidly provisioned and deployed at scale.

Hillstone Networks

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.

SonicWall

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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Buyer's Guide

Hillstone CloudEdge vs. SonicWall TZ

April 2025

Free Report: Hillstone CloudEdge vs. SonicWall TZ

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