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Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway vs SonicWall SMA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SMA
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
17th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd), SSL VPN (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is 5.9%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway5.9%
SonicWall SMA1.4%
Other92.7%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

MatsHagberg Olsson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Designs subnets with high security while navigating evolving integration processes
The primary function of Azure VPN Gateway allows for designing subnets from existing networks, whether they are physical or virtual networks within Azure or other cloud instances. You can configure these networks using IP numbers and connect them using certificates or SaaS strings. It also requires Entra ID for privileged access groups, resulting in high security.
Mayur_Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy-to-manage product with efficient features for network security
SonicWall SMA facilitates and protects remote workforce access to corporate resources from any location Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface. We have been using SonicWall…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Security and communications are the most vital features"
"The VPN Gateway is valued for its ease of use and redundancy."
"It sends us a lot of detections when we have any anti-virus updates. It provides the extended time needed to update a set of time needs and notifications."
"The Azure tool is useful and powerful and availability for clients. The updates are very good and reliable."
"The product has valuable virtual machines, viability options, and enhanced VPN services, enabling the option to use it in different zones."
"What I like best about Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is that it's a managed VPN, so it's one of the most powerful VPNs I've ever found. It also provides point-to-site VPNs configurable within a few minutes."
"It works perfectly for me. It is very user-friendly in terms of the configuration and the setup process."
"The scalability is a highly valued feature."
"I think they ask for a fair price."
"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."
"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."
"The performance is good."
"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."
"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."
"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."
 

Cons

"Documentation and configuration settings can be improved."
"The marketing material in the portal is not very user-friendly."
"In future releases, I would like to see the ability to inject BGP routes."
"More configuration options could be included in Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway."
"Their technical support could be better. If you don't have a support contract, it takes longer."
"I would like to see improvements in the deployment process as I faced challenges."
"I would like for them to improve the troubleshooting features. We have some problems with traffic and I can't identify where the problem is coming from. I have to open a ticket with support until it gets resolved. Microsoft doesn't offer enough tools to resolve the issue."
"Considering my past interactions with Microsoft's support team, it is difficult to get the right support unless you find the right person to speak with from the customer support team."
"The product's technical support services could be improved."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."
"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."
"User interface could be improved."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."
"This is an expensive solution and I think that the price could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a monthly license and the price depends on how many users are using Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway. The price could be less expensive."
"The product costs us $140 to $180 per month."
"The costs are quite high."
"I pay the licensing charges associated with the tool on an hourly basis. The tool is affordable."
"Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is the cheapest way for us to connect to our cloud infrastructure. Other solutions, such as ExpressRoute are very expensive."
"The cost could be lower."
"It's an expensive product"
"The software has good pricing compared to other vendors."
"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"The platform has medium pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway?
In Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway, there aren't too many areas for improvement, but the configuration part might be a little tricky. It took some time to get things to work, but once figured out, it b...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway?
We work with Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway and the VPN firewalls. We have our local physical firewall infrastructure from Cisco and other companies, but we can't compare those with the virtual networ...
What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?
Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
 

Also Known As

MS Azure VPN Gateway
SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,883 professionals have used our research since 2012.