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

Huawei NGFW vs Sophos XGS comparison

Sponsored
 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-efficient security, enhancing performance and network stability, while significantly reducing operational costs and incidents.
Sentiment score
8.3
Deploying Huawei NGFW improved network security, efficiency, and resource control, while reducing costs and enhancing threat detection and response times.
Sentiment score
2.5
Sophos XGS is valued by small businesses for thwarting ransomware, offering cost-effectiveness, though larger enterprises face cost challenges.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
We have experienced a positive return on investment by utilizing Fortinet's products.
There's definitely an ROI. Having a centralized way of managing and applying policies across the entire organization always helps.
The costs have increased with Sophos XGS in the last few years, with license prices going up by 30%, doubling from $2,500 to about $5,000, which is a big challenge for us.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Fortinet FortiGate support receives mixed reviews, praised for higher-level assistance but criticized for inconsistent technical support responsiveness.
Sentiment score
7.6
Huawei NGFW customer service is praised for speed but criticized for language barriers and inconsistent service levels.
Sentiment score
6.7
Sophos XGS customer service varies by geography, with some praising effectiveness while others note delays and language challenges.
He explained that it required a command line configuration, as it couldn't be done through the graphical user interface.
I would rate their support for FortiGate a nine out of ten.
They offer very accurate solutions.
Any issues are quickly addressed by their support team, which is not common among all OEM manufacturers.
The response time from Sophos technical support can be slow in most cases, which can be challenging.
Technical support from Sophos is always available.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable for enterprises, but expansion may require budget planning and careful pre-planning for integration.
Sentiment score
7.6
Huawei NGFW is scalable and flexible, though users face extra costs and hardware limitations in expanding capabilities.
Sentiment score
7.0
Sophos XGS is praised for scalability and flexibility, but may need improvements in capacity and user count adaptability.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
You can choose a cheaper model if you only have 20-30 users, but you will need to spend more money for a FortiGate solution that covers 5,000.
I can change what I want easily without interfering with other services or routines.
I would rate its scalability seven out of ten since modules can be added.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiGate is reliable and stable, despite occasional issues under high traffic; model selection impacts performance.
Sentiment score
7.5
Huawei NGFW is generally stable but has occasional issues, with most users rating it seven to nine out of ten.
Sentiment score
7.7
Sophos XGS is praised for stability, reliability, and performance, with minor issues during capacity exceedance or updates.
Improper handling of these can lead to a memory surge, a well-known bug that can cause the entire system to freeze.
It is less stable than Palo Alto Networks and Check Point firewalls because there are lots of bugs in the latest firmware.
We have not had any problems with the operating systems or maintenance of subscriptions.
It is rated at nine out of ten for stability and is very reliable.
Sophos XGS is stable now, and I would rate its stability as a ten out of ten.
When Sophos introduced firmware version twenty, there was a bug in DCC.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs improved UI stability, integration, performance, VPN functionality, support, and simplified policy management due to high costs.
Huawei NGFW needs improvements in configurability, performance, support, and features, addressing session handling, upgrades, and usability issues.
The Sophos XGS requires UI, integration, functionality improvements, better support, enhanced automation, and marketing efforts to meet industry standards.
If I have put 10 GBPS of throughput on a firewall and I enable all of these features available, such as IPS or UTM functionalities, the throughput comes down to 1 GBPS.
By providing an integrated solution, users would have access to all features and functionalities within a single window, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple windows.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
It would be beneficial if Sophos XGS offered an end-to-end solution with competitive pricing.
After version 18.5, creating a NAT rule has become more complex, requiring the creation of a separate policy and an additional component.
I have experienced multiple hardware complaints, particularly during firmware updates that sometimes cause crashes.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its cost-effectiveness and flexible licensing, especially benefiting small to medium-sized businesses.
Huawei NGFW offers competitive pricing with potential discounts, though setup costs are high and separate support contracts are required.
Sophos XGS offers competitive pricing but can be higher than competitors, with subscription-based licensing and regional variations.
Secure SD-WAN is free of charge.
The most expensive part is the renewal of the license subscription.
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
The last instance I purchased was for three years, around $3,700 for SDG 125.
pricing is rated eight out of ten, indicating that it may be relatively expensive.
Sophos XGS is quite expensive, potentially a nine out of ten in terms of cost.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate is a reliable, user-friendly security solution known for robust features, easy configuration, and competitive pricing.
Huawei NGFW is lauded for its user-friendly interface, seamless integration, high performance, scalability, and effective security features.
Sophos XGS is favored for its intuitive interface, robust performance, and seamless integration, ensuring reliable security and management.
The firewall, IPS, and VPN functions are the most valuable features.
FortiGate provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats.
Within the same dashboard, you get to see the security profiles, the type of traffic that's passing through, the top applications that are being consumed, etc.
It's able to detect cloud applications like Zoom or Microsoft Teams and allows traffic shaping based on the application.
I find it much easier than others, like FortiGate, which is complicated in its installation, but Sophos XGS is really easy.
The threat detection capabilities are effective, especially against CNC and certain viruses not coming through emails.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
330
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Huawei NGFW
Ranking in Firewalls
31st
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (13th)
Sophos XGS
Ranking in Firewalls
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 Huawei NGFW is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XGS is 2.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

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.
Muhammad-Nadeem - PeerSpot reviewer
A scalable and easy-to-setup product that can be used to configure different policies for specific users
In other next-generation firewalls, if you are creating virtual systems, they will create separate hardware resources for different virtual systems. Other products will create a different routing table when we create a routing protocol. In Huawei, the routing table, control plan, and data plan will share the resources. Every virtual system should have separate resources, routing tables, and hardware resources. We have created multiple segments and virtual systems, and we don't want one segment to communicate with another. The product must divide the virtual firewalls with different utilization systems. The hardware, routing switch, and security bundle should be separate and different. The solution does not have sandboxing features. It should provide a sandboxing solution. It should also work on zero-day attacks. The solution should be comparable with the products provided by Palo Alto, Check Point, and Cisco.
Nassif  Kaleny - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
849,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
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 ...
What do you like most about Huawei NGFW?
The solution's implementation is pretty easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei NGFW?
The pricing is quite cheap compared to other NGFWs like Palo Alto or Cisco.
What needs improvement with Huawei NGFW?
Huawei should improve their threat intelligence. They need to have a more diversified platform and continuously updat...
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?
Sophos XGS was reasonably priced initially, but the license cost has significantly increased in the last few years.
What needs improvement with Sophos XGS?
The reporting system is very poor. I cannot trace any traffic to our site if it feels some threats. It just tells me ...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Huawei USG Firewalls, USG9500 Series, USG6600 Series, USG6300 Series
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
KMITL, Peking University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Huawei NGFW vs. Sophos XGS and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.