Hillstone E-Series vs Sophos Firewall comparison

Hillstone Networks and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #39 with an average rating of 8.0, while Sophos is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3. Hillstone Networks holds a 0.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sophos’s 9.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

Sophos Firewall and Hillstone E-Series compete in the network security category. Based on the comparison, Sophos Firewall has the upper hand in features and customization, while Hillstone E-Series is noted for hardware efficiency.

Features: Sophos Firewall includes web and application filtering, IPS, and integrated email security with encryption, offering better customization and cloud management. Hillstone E-Series excels in hardware efficiency, threat protection, and operates without needing third-party switches.

Room for Improvement: Sophos Firewall users call for better reporting, enhanced IP management, and more intuitive support documentation. Hillstone E-Series users desire deeper reporting and improved technical support. Rule management and support enhancements are broadly suggested.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos Firewall provides versatile deployment in hybrid and cloud environments but has mixed reviews on support. Hillstone E-Series offers both on-premises and public cloud deployment, with generally satisfactory support but room for improvement in localized assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Sophos Firewall offers competitive pricing with flexible options, bundling features within licenses. However, some find the licensing fees high. Hillstone E-Series is economically appealing for budget-sensitive clients. Both show positive ROI through reduced costs and improved security efficiency, though Sophos may have higher initial expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone E-Series vs. Sophos Firewall Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone E-Series vs. Sophos Firewall

February 2026

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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 February 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.7%, down from 20.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Firewall is 9.8%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.7%
Sophos Firewall	9.8%
Hillstone E-Series	0.4%
Other	71.1%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

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Nassif Kaleny

IT Manager at Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.

Dynamic web and mail filtering contribute to improved security measures

The reporting system is very poor. I cannot trace any traffic to our site if it feels some threats. It just tells me that there is something during a certain time but does not provide information about the type of threats or how to get rid of them. This needs improvement.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are the integration of SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet Unified SASE."

"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."

"One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is that it's a very powerful equipment that gives many security features in a single box with good performance, and the user interface is friendly to use and configure."

"I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable."

"The most effective features for threat prevention are the IPS, content filter, and SD-WAN capabilities."

"I have found the decryption of Fortinet FortiGate IPS very good. It's called SSL deep inspection, it's working very well. This is how you decrypt access and traffic, and it is through the IPS antivirus center. Additionally, the UI is user-friendly."

"The best features of this tool include threat protection, email filtering, and web filtering, and FortiAnalyzer's integration with the firewall and FortiSASE is beneficial."

"By utilizing features such as dynamic path selection and application-aware routing, we've been able to reduce latency for critical applications such as VoIP and video by 20-30% during peak times."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."

"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."

"Five out of five ROI."

"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients a secure connectivity."

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."

"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."

"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."

More Hillstone E-Series pros

"Sophos XG is easy to use."

"I like the fact that it can self remove malware and do updates on the cloud via Sophos Central."

"The solution is very user-friendly, and the GUI is so good that I don't have to use the CLI. This eliminates the need for typing; clicking allows me to get to what I'm looking for."

"Sophos XG is very useful, it does many things."

"This is a very stable solution."

"The user interface of Sophos XG enhances our administrative tasks because it is intuitive and easy to navigate."

"The product has all the latest features."

"It is very stable. I have not heard of any issue where clients would have to replace hardware. It's been really stable for a long while."

More Sophos Firewall pros

Cons

"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."

"Improvements could be made when companies expand and need better equipment and more licenses."

"The price could be improved."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the configuration. In some use cases, there can be some configuration conflicts."

"In FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW), my concern regarding improvements is the licensing model."

"Their support's response time can be better. In the past six months, they took quite a long time to respond to the support tickets."

"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."

"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."

"The current usage reporting is very basic."

"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."

"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."

"The tool only had some memory-related problems."

"The tool needs to improve its price."

"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."

More Hillstone E-Series cons

"I think that the main area for improvement is the quality assurance of the updates."

"The direct proxy or proxy mechanism is missing. Legacy applications should have this option, but Sophos XG has removed it."

"The solution’s reporting could be improved."

"Lacks improved throughput performance in a box."

"LAN inbound and outbound traffic requires more control."

"Reporting could be improved. The structure could be better because most of the reports aren't detailed."

"The management console could be improved and the solution lacks good technical support."

"Areas for improvement would be the access points and the on-premise version, which is very bad."

More Sophos Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a little bit expensive."

"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."

"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."

"Price-wise, it's at a good price point for our market."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable for an SME."

"It is very cost-effective. You get features similar to other firewalls, such as Palo Alto, but at a lower price."

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."

"We pay for two licenses for the use of Sophos XG annually and it is a flat fee. We do not have everyone going through both of the Sophos XG firewalls a the same time and the Sophos XG on Microsoft Azure is only accessible from the VPN."

"Sophos XGS costs around $6,000 for a basic license."

"The price of Sophos XG is reasonable."

"We have a three-year license."

"The Palo Alto solution is expensive and the FortiGate is less expensive than Palo Alto. The Sophos XG would be priced in the middle of the two."

"The pricing for Sophos XGS is reasonable."

"Sophos XG is a very good solution, and it's cheaper than most of the other vendors. It is really affordable."

"For our company, the price was reasonable."

More Sophos Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	189

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	204
Midsize Enterprise	62
Large Enterprise	53

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the fire...

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What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?

I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features w...

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What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?

Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I ha...

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Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...

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What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?

Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...

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What do you like most about Sophos XG?

IPS works smoothly.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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OpenVPN Access Server vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 18% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 9% of the time

Hillstone A-Series vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco IOS SSL VPN vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 6% of the time

A10 Networks Thunder CFW vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 4% of the time

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OPNsense vs Sophos Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Sophos Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Sophos Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

February 2026

Download Hillstone E-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Firewall

January 2026

Download Sophos Firewall product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Sophos XG, Sophos XGS

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Hillstone E-Series is a comprehensive network security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats. It offers a range of features including a firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), virtual private network (VPN), and application control.

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, E-Series can detect and prevent sophisticated attacks, ensuring the security of critical data and systems. It also provides granular control over applications, allowing organizations to enforce policies and optimize network performance.

E-Series is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized management console. It offers high-performance throughput and scalability, making it suitable for small businesses to large enterprises. With its robust security features and ease of use, Hillstone E-Series is an ideal choice for organizations looking to enhance their network security posture.

Hillstone Networks

Sophos Firewall provides comprehensive network security with web filtering, VPN capabilities, and cloud integration. Users highlight its effective threat prevention and flexibility for customizable policies, enhancing network visibility and management.

Renowned for its robust security, Sophos Firewall simplifies network protection through advanced features like intrusion prevention and endpoint protection integration. Its user-friendly interface allows seamless remote management and tailored rule creation, making it ideal for varied environments like healthcare and education. While the system excels in threat detection, areas such as interface navigation, support response times, and VPN integration face challenges. Enhanced reporting and bandwidth management are essential for improved performance.

What are the standout features of Sophos Firewall?

Web and Application Filter: Secure browsing with advanced filtering options.
VPN Capabilities: Facilitates secure remote access and connectivity.
Cloud Integration: Seamless collaboration with cloud platforms.
Intrusion Prevention: Robust threat detection and prevention features.
Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed insights into network activities.

What benefits and ROI should users expect in reviews?

Enhanced Security: Comprehensive protection against diverse cyber threats.
Increased Flexibility: Tailor rules and policies to meet specific organizational criteria.
Improved Network Visibility: Better oversight and threat detection across networks.
Efficient Management: Simplifies remote and centralized firewall administration.

Industries such as healthcare, education, and finance implement Sophos Firewall for secure VPNs, improved threat management, and effective traffic monitoring. Its load balancing and email security features support compliance and governance, ensuring robust protection tailored to sector-specific requirements.

Sophos

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

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone E-Series vs. Sophos Firewall

February 2026

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