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OPNsense vs SonicWall NSSP 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
386
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSSP
Ranking in Firewalls
38th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 11.4%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSSP is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Akram Zaki Hussein - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support
The interface is user-friendly, but there's room for improvement in terms of intuitiveness. The bundle management aspect requires additional attention to make it more intuitive, especially for inspecting high-level traffic. This is crucial, especially for larger companies where the existing features might not be the most optimal choice, given limitations like printer constraints. For high availability, it's crucial to have a method in place where a designated component oversees the entire process. Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine. It would be beneficial if OPNsense supported additional virtualization platforms like Hyper-V from Microsoft and VMware, similar to how Kaspersky has integrated them.
Lenin Christopher - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced security with advanced threat protection and superior support
We serve as an integrator for SonicWall, deploying this solution for customers in the media and entertainment, banking, and finance sectors. We use SonicWall to protect their environments against digital attacks SonicWall has helped us deliver security solutions effectively, particularly in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."
"It enables our organization to become more productive. Also, it protects our NEtWare from viruses and malware."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use."
"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."
"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
"Fortinet FortiGate has a very stable Linux-based operating system that is easy to use."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"Some of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate include the next-generation firewall features."
"I find the solution to be user-friendly. It has a lot of reports and easy settings."
"We can open a new VPN connection easily. It's much easier than with Fortinet in our experience."
"What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control."
"It's more secure and more reliable."
"What I like best about OPNsense is that, as a firewall, it's pretty good. I'm quite impressed with it. I had an excellent experience with OPNsense, which helped me achieve the targets I wanted."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"The technical support is very good."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"I like the filtering feature, which provides easy access. The SSL certification feature is also nice. The solution enhanced our security posture."
"SonicWall NSSP is stable and scalable too."
"The VPN functionality is really good. Overall, the whole device is very easy to manage. The software that comes with it is also good."
"The product's most valuable features are simplicity and comprehensive protection capabilities, including load balancing, IPS, antivirus, and web filtering."
"It has been delivering results efficiently. Its configurations and updates have been easy. It is also user-friendly."
"The solution's pricing is good."
"SonicWall has helped us deliver security solutions effectively, particularly in threat prevention and content filtering."
 

Cons

"The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."
"Areas that have room for improvement in Fortinet FortiGate include support and GUI enhancement."
"In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers."
"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."
"There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available. These would help understand the new product line and the existing product line features."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"There are just some services that aren't available. For example, the Ethernet or point-to-point protocols. They could add these services to their product offering - especially services for ISPs."
"The cloud features can be improved."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"The interface isn't so friendly user. But we have some technicians here who are quite confident with this tool. OPNSense could maybe add sets of rules so it's simpler to manage different groups with particular needs."
"While they do have paid options that actually gives better features, for most of the clients, if they tend to take a paid option will instead opt for Fortinet."
"There should be more technical documentation."
"Its interface should be a little bit better."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
"They should improve IPEs for security in the future."
"Its reporting functions can be improved. It has decent reporting, but you got to pay a lot more money for it. That's where it begins to fall apart. It comes with minimal zero reporting unless you buy some extra modules. With those extra modules, you can get all the data, but it takes a while to put together what you need for your customer. It is for technical people, but there is no executive summary of the reporting."
"The platform could benefit from an improved marketing strategy."
"The user interface, the GUI, could be improved."
"No security product is foolproof against hackers, intruders, and other such things. As a security product, they have to keep pace in terms of protection from new hackers and intruders."
"The product needs improvement for phishing emails."
"The EDR and XDR capabilities of SonicWall need to be improved."
"The solution's stability and scalability also need improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."
"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."
"The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is average, not cheap or overly expensive compared to other firewall solutions in the market. It's effective and affordable for customers."
"No comment."
"The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."
"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."
"If you are looking for a quality product, it will come at a higher price. Expecting them to be significantly cheaper is unrealistic. In terms of pricing, it is a bit costly. However, the functionality and support offered are worth it."
"There are no licensing costs for OPNsence."
"It costs about $1000."
"Its pricing is unbeatable in comparison to other firewalls. You can have a small instance that could be €80 a month with the hardware underneath. Azure Firewall and FortiGate are out of the question at this price. If you are on a public cloud, you need the underlying infrastructure. Other than that, there is no additional cost. If you have it on-prem, you have to buy the server or the appliance. The hardware cost is replaced with the infrastructure cost in the cloud. You also have costs for the public IPs and underlying VMs, but that's not related to OPNsense. It would be the same for a FortiGate deployment on Azure. You need a FortiGate license, and you need the underlying infrastructure that scales up depending on your needs."
"It is free."
"It's not expensive."
"It's a free solution."
"OPNsense is open source software so at this time it is free for us to use."
"I would rate the pricing three out of ten."
"The pricing is cheap, and that's where, you know, the some of the organization goes for the SonicWall."
"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"You got to buy some VPN licenses, and there might be a $40 to $50 one-time license fee per current user. There are different layers. They have several different levels of event security software and depending on the model, it seems to come out to be $1 to $2 a day. So, if you bought a three-year license, it is going to be anywhere from $900 to $1800 depending on the bundle and model that you buy."
"For SonicWall NSSP high availability, active/passive, you need to buy one license, and so you get much more value for money."
"The setup costs and licensing are reasonable, and the solution provides good value for its features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
6%
No data available
 

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 is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...
What do you like most about OPNsense?
What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?
The pricing is competitive when compared to vendors like Palo and FortiNet.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSSP?
SonicWall is a rather expensive solution with a rating of eight out of ten regarding its pricing. Despite being expen...
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSSP?
The EDR and XDR capabilities of SonicWall need to be improved. When compared to a brand like SentinelOne, SonicWall s...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
SonicWall Network Security Services Platform
 

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
1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc.  3. EuroBSDCon  4. Netgate  5. Claranet  6. Voleatech  7. Open Systems AG  8. Securebit AG  9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH  10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH  Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about OPNsense vs. SonicWall NSSP and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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