We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and SonicWall NSa based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable feature is the policy routing and application control."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."
"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are ease of use, flexibility, and most of the configuration we can be done using the GUI. When we compare Fortinet FortiGate with other solutions the firewall policy are very easy to understand."
"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements."
"Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the SD-WAN and their IP4 policy."
"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"My technicians find the pfSense's web interface very useful. It is very easy to use. pfSense is very reliable and stable. We like the OpenVPN clients that can be deployed using pfSense very much."
"I had some outages in the network and we provide services for our company. We sell mobile credits. The terminal gets access to our own server inside the network and if one internet fails, then the other one is still up and we have a back-up link on the devices."
"The gain in performance and security from configuring the VPN connections was significant."
"Its reliability and cost-effectiveness stand out."
"This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution."
"Great extensibility of the platform."
"It has a very nice web interface, and it is very simple to use. The way policies are working is also good."
"I have found the most valuable features to be antivirus and malware protection."
"Content filtering reduces the load on the available bandwidth and restricts employees from using distracting websites on the job, which leads to more productive hours."
"The most valuable feature is the sandbox."
"Easy to scale solution that provides advanced threat protection. Their technical support is very good, very knowledgeable, and easy to reach."
"The solution can scale."
"Support has improved dramatically since their separation from Dell."
"Content Filtering and sandboxing are valuable features."
"The solution has many useful features, such as content management, user management, user filtering, and domain controller connectivity mapping."
"We use SonicWall NSa for authenticating MAC (media access control) ID from the PC."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"Quality control on their firmware versions needs improvement. When they introduce new firmware, there tend to be bugs."
"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."
"It does not have key authentication for admin access."
"It's my understanding that more of the current generation features could be brought in. There could be more integration with EDRs, for example."
"It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"It should integrate with LDAP, Active Directory, etc, to improve the way in which the traces and connections of each IP, or user connected through the firewall, are shown."
"Improve analysis of logs and dashboards (control panel) with improved alert functionality."
"They could improve their commercial stance and be more agile when it comes to the commercial pricing of enterprise deals."
"They can improve the dynamic of the input of IPs from outside."
"I'd like to find something in pfSense that is more specific to URL filtering. We have customers who would like to filter their web traffic. They would like to be able to say to their employees, "You can surf the web, but you cannot get access to Facebook or other social media," or "You can surf the web, but you're not allowed to gamble or watch porn on the web." My technicians say that doing this kind of stuff with pfSense nowadays is not easy. They can implement some filters using IP addresses but not by using the names of the domains and categories. So, we are not able to exclude some categories from the allowed traffic, such as porn, gambling, etc. To do that, we have to use another product and another web filter that uses DNS. I know that there are some third-party products that could work with pfSense, but I'd like the native pfSense solution to do that."
"Also, simplifying the rules for the GeoIP. Making it simpler to understand would be an improvement."
"The integration should be improved."
"The ongoing service fees are high."
"The content filter needs to be improved."
"We also need to increase the throughput because the other devices are slower. The throughput will become slow. Since we're using VoIP, it tends to affect the voice quality. Even if you're using a quality service, it tends to decrease."
"Vendor support needs improvement. The frequency of time and support should be increased."
"They should consider upgrading the capabilities within the GUI."
"The reporting feature could be better because most of the companies want to have the analytics included, which is something that you have to buy separately."
"Customer support is severely lacking with very slow response times."
"They are not ready for managed security services. Their Cloud GMS product is weak, barely out of beta (buggy)."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Netgate pfSense vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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