No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Meraki MX vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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
5.2
Cisco Meraki MX provides significant ROI through intuitive management, reduced costs, and streamlined operations despite higher initial costs.
Sentiment score
6.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is praised for cost-effectiveness, centralized management, and ROI in security, saving time and resources.
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Meraki MX because of the time saved through cloud management.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
You can eliminate some positions because it manages itself.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It greatly helps out when I am moving away from the expensive MPLS circuits or MPLS hardware.
Senior Manager Networking at David Yurman
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.3
Cisco Meraki MX support is responsive and knowledgeable, highly rated for reliability, though some advanced users face visibility challenges.
Sentiment score
7.3
Sophos Cyberoam UTM customer service has mixed reviews, praised for expertise but criticized for occasional delays and communication issues.
When we raise a ticket with Meraki MX, they instantly become available to support us for configurations or troubleshooting.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Cisco's TAC support for Cisco Meraki MX is excellent because no other OEM provides support at this level.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
Cisco is one of the best vendors in the market.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
They resolve issues timely once connected.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
Technical support is effective and responsive.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
I would rate their technical support a solid nine out of ten.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Cisco Meraki MX is scalable, adapting from small to large deployments, with minimal management and straightforward setup.
Sentiment score
6.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is scalable for medium enterprises, though scalability can depend on hardware, model, and integration choices.
When you have hundreds of thousands of people it is very difficult to scale in Meraki.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of Cisco Meraki MX is rated 10 out of 10; you can scale up and scale down with no effort.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX scales with my growing needs for my organization very well because they are easy to deploy.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Cisco Meraki MX offers high reliability and compatibility, with praised stability despite occasional content filtering and hardware issues.
Sentiment score
8.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is praised for its high stability, minimal issues, and reliable performance compared to competitors.
There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
I have had zero downtime at all with Cisco Meraki MX.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I assess the stability and the reliability of Cisco Meraki MX as good, and I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Meraki MX faces challenges with port control, VPN connectivity, interface usability, pricing, and integration, prompting user concerns.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM struggles with high costs, scalability, outdated features, complex setup, and limited support for new technologies.
It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Data is the only path, so optimization is essential.
Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care
An improvement would be to use Cisco Meraki MX as a software solution as well, which might reduce the cost.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
For Sophos Cyberoam UTM, you don't really have that access that can give you those network flexibilities that would allow you to do some other types of architectures.
Chief Technology Officer at Super Digital Highways Ltd
It would be beneficial if phone calls or SMS for two-factor authentication were available.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
Sophos Cyberoam UTM should move in the direction of AI capabilities, as the world is moving toward AI.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Meraki MX offers flexible licensing and high value but can involve significant initial costs and annual fees.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is competitively priced, with flexible licensing options, but costs vary based on features and network size.
I get it for $25,000, a device that can connect up to 75-100 users, whereas in Meraki MX, it goes to 75,000-80,000 per access point.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The price could be reduced by around 30% to make it more comfortable.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
If Cisco can make the pricing less, customers can purchase more licenses.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
The price is appropriate, but if you want the real truth, it's actually quite expensive.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Meraki MX provides cloud management, SD-WAN, advanced security, and ease of use, making it ideal for scalable networks.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM offers advanced protection with real-time features, centralized management, scalability, and user-friendly operations for all organizations.
Meraki MX is among those top solutions in their exceptional approach towards VPN-less, Zero Trust client access to office private networks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced security is the second tier of Cisco Meraki MX. It brings you the main next-generation firewalling features such as URL filtering, advanced malware protection, and threat protection.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX API makes it really easy for me to automate a lot of changes over several thousand devices.
Technology Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
It provides bandwidth management, category management of websites, blocking certain elements, IPS blocking, DDoS protection, and VPN management between sites and clients.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
I assess the benefit of Sophos Cyberoam UTM's centralized management for multi-appliance handling as a welcome feature because you can manage all the devices at one location, giving you notifications of downtime and updates without necessarily logging into each appliance, so that central management is a very genius move.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
The way the rule sets are configured makes it an easily understandable way to manage.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki MX
Ranking in Unified Threat Management (UTM)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (9th)
Sophos Cyberoam UTM
Ranking in Unified Threat Management (UTM)
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 8.2%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Cyberoam UTM is 3.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Unified Threat Management (UTM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Meraki MX8.2%
Sophos Cyberoam UTM3.0%
Other88.8%
Unified Threat Management (UTM)
 

Featured Reviews

SG
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
Cloud-based solution simplifies network management with excellent support
There have been no issues with stability after deployment. There have been no complaints. For stability, I would suggest that Cisco Meraki MX is the most stable device from the security processor. Regarding content filtering features, we are using content filtering and malware access, along with all security features in Cisco Meraki MX9500. We have received good feedback from customers because since installing Cisco Meraki MX9500, we have not received any complaints. There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits. It is compatible with all different OEMs, and for VPN, site-to-site VPN has been configured with other firewalls as well. We are getting very good responses from customers as there have been no complaints where we have deployed Cisco Meraki MX9500.
SH
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
Has transitioned fully to SD-WAN and centralized management simplifies appliance handling
As for areas where Sophos Cyberoam UTM can be improved, it's hard to say; I have not at the moment seen anything that I could not get a solution for, but if there's anything, I'll make sure to raise that with the Sophos team. Regarding the documentation, I find that it is still lacking, although the YouTube videos, user training, and knowledge forum are now better than they were before. Sophos Cyberoam UTM should move in the direction of AI capabilities, as the world is moving toward AI. Sophos Cyberoam UTM is not promoted enough. I see FortiGates organizing student competitions and Cisco doing CCNA classes, so Sophos should follow that route as well.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions are best for your needs.
904,016 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn re...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports network security and firewall options. We researched both Meraki and ASA. We liked t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that we went through a third party who negotiated all the prices with Cisco for us.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
The price is appropriate, but if you want the real truth, it's actually quite expensive. The annual software licensing is reasonably pricey, with probably about four years' license annual.
What needs improvement with Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
There is room for improvement when it comes to their features and architectures they're trying to implement that they can't directly help with. But by and large, it's actually relatively good. More...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
I do work with clients that use both Cisco and Sophos products. My work is mostly with firewalls, storages, switches, and routers.
 

Also Known As

MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hyatt, ONS
Gulf Corporation for Technology, Maridive & Oil Services, Fidelity Bank, Petra University, Capital FM Kenya, Safari Park Hotel and Casino, Mayfair Casino, Pacific International Lines, Mozambique Ministry of Education, University of Namibia, Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, University of Hawai, New Delhi Municipal Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki MX vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
904,016 professionals have used our research since 2012.