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KerioControl vs Sophos XG comparison

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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
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective and efficient security with quick ROI, reducing expenses in data communication and management.
Sentiment score
7.0
KerioControl provides cost savings through bandwidth optimization, VPN efficiency, and management ease, despite concerns about rising licensing fees.
Sentiment score
7.1
Sophos XG offers strong ROI through cost savings, enhanced security, and efficiency, despite being slightly more expensive.
They have good integration if you have multiple firewalls and it allows you to be able to push out policies to all of them at the same time.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
If we used a similar solution that required a 'per seat' license per VPN, we would have literally spent over 100x what the solution cost us.
The ROI is 100% there.
Our ROI is 100%. I've got the ransomware attacks being blocked.
The tools should be improved for scalability.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is praised for problem-solving but criticized for inconsistent response times and language barriers.
Sentiment score
5.5
KerioControl's support is responsive yet sometimes delayed, with users desiring faster response times and fewer additional charges.
Sentiment score
6.1
Sophos XG support is mixed, with varying expertise and response times, though local distributor support is valued.
The response time for a critical priority one issue was over four hours and they only responded because we threatened legal action for them violating our support contract.
They say they will respond in 24 hours, but I have received responses in a maximum of one hour, which is impressive.
The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is 24 hours a day seven days a week, and 365 days a year.
I have never needed to contact customer support as the product is easy to use.
Sophos provides online documentation which is very user friendly.
We are also trying to keep up on how the hackers work because we are working with different associations of security worldwide.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos support a ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable, flexible, and adaptable, though some face hardware upgrades and licensing challenges during deployment sizes.
Sentiment score
6.9
KerioControl is ideal for small to medium businesses, offering robust features but may require upgrades for extensive scaling.
Sentiment score
7.2
Sophos XG is scalable but larger organizations may need hardware upgrades; suitable for small to medium enterprises with planning.
The devices will usually fail way before reaching the capacity advertised in the data sheets, especially when you activate several of the features the device can handle.
The solution is working and it is still stable even across all of these devices and servers.
We have over 10,000 users behind it.
KerioControl has met some of the network infrastructure needs yet could improve in terms of scalability.
In other words it doesn't have that modularity feature.
We do have plans to increase usage because we are growing our projects around the world to countries like the US, Germany, Pakistan, India, UAE (Dubai) and Egypt.
You've got to define the criteria in terms of what you're trying to protect, the number of users, the bandwidth that is going through it, the speed, etc.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional issues improved by updates and configurations.
Sentiment score
7.4
KerioControl offers reliable performance with robust security for small to medium enterprises, despite minor hardware and configuration issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Sophos XG is praised for its reliability and stable performance, with effective support and occasional firmware update concerns.
All of these issues were resolved in v5.2.
Stability has dramatically improved over the previous main version branch of FortiOS; 5.2.x and 5.4.x are stable enough for critical environments.
Overall, the devices have been very stable.
Sophos' support is very good to correct quickly, ASAP.
There isn't crashing or freezing.
It may be possible to implement a second device in a fail-over cluster and this would avoid such a problem as then if one device fails in the updating process, the other device could take over.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs improvements in stability, usability, integration, cost-effectiveness, and documentation for enhanced user satisfaction and performance.
KerioControl needs improvements in VPN, user interface, support, performance, diagnostics, scalability, reliability, licensing, and logging features.
Sophos XG needs an improved interface, better VPN stability, enhanced support, and more detailed security and licensing transparency.
FortiWAN supports OSPF but does not support the BGP protocol.
Fortinet VPN and DDoS capabilities are great, yet we need to provide a solution that enables CASB and integration to the cloud.
The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate.
The developers should test everything after any update to ensure that bugs don't come through with the update.
There are times that I really want to know which user or which IP is causing a problem.
If they could incorporate some user profiling and present the analytics of the login user usage patterns, or a typical proper management dashboard to take a decision on the firewall rules, that would be useful.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive pricing with varied costs; affordable long-term licenses, though renewal complexity can accumulate costs.
KerioControl is affordable with robust features, though some find the licensing model complex and renewal costs concerning.
Sophos XG offers competitive pricing, appealing to small and medium enterprises, and is often cheaper than rivals like FortiGate.
The cost of the original deployment fell below £5,000, and licenses are priced at around £3,000.
Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment.
Overall, FortiGate is affordable.
The price for the product is rated as ten out of ten.
One way they are doing this is by having an aggressive pricing policy.
There are no additional fees on top of this.
The option to get a combo with hardware means the software portion is mostly free, and then you pay upfront for the three-year license for everything.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers advanced security features, user-friendly configuration, and comprehensive management tools, valued for robust protection and flexibility.
KerioControl offers comprehensive security, ease of use, reliable VPN, and a user-friendly interface for efficient management and protection.
Sophos XG delivers advanced security, scalability, and user-friendly management for medium enterprises with comprehensive network activity views.
The two most valuable features are VPN and firewalling.
WiFi network for visitors isolated from our corporate WiFi network using only one unit
Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it 'readable'
The most valuable features include geo-tagging, which blocks all other IPs except for the specified accounts, and web filtering.
Anti-malware: Sophos XG comes with two anti-malware engines: its own and Avira, making the UTM more effective at catching malicious code.
If my file is getting infected, I get to know from a single pane point of view.
The user interface is very user-friendly, so it's very easy for the administrator to make any policy changes.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
317
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
KerioControl
Ranking in Firewalls
25th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (15th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (11th)
Sophos XG
Ranking in Firewalls
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
198
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.5%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KerioControl is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 11.7%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

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…
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security
The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…
Akshit Chhokar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance but needs to improve on the flexibility part
The product has improved the security posture. Sophos XG provides features that are almost the same as those Cisco Firepower devices provide. I would say that a couple of features in Sophos XG are the same as the ones provided by other Cisco devices, which are top-notch. The management tools or log-related solutions that are presented with Sophos are okay but not top-notch when it comes to Cisco. I rate the reporting and visibility tools in Sophos XG a six out of ten compared to Cisco. Sophos xG's integration capabilities do not apply to a limited number of security tools. Cisco provides integration capabilities with many products, while Sophos XG offers integration with a limited number of products. Cisco provides integration capability with almost any tool that is present in the world. Cisco works day and night to ensure that it provides good integration capabilities with the solutions. I recommend the tool to those who plan to use it, especially if you own a very small office where you don't need a product with too many functionalities. I rate the tool a seven out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Media Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
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 ...
What do you like most about KerioControl?
The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?
KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the p...
What needs improvement with KerioControl?
The logs could be improved for better clarity. It is difficult to understand when there is a threat attack, and handl...
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...
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...
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. ...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
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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
Triton Technical, McDonald's
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Find out what your peers are saying about KerioControl vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.