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OPNsense vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024
 

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)
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
20th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
83
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 OPNsense is 14.6%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 2.7%, up from 2.2% 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…
Eddy Ramirez - PeerSpot reviewer
Good interface and firewall capabilities and overall easy to use
The security has improved as we can isolate the network. We can do attrition prevention via a tool that comes with the solution. We can have a VPN solution in place for those that work from home, outside the network, in a secure manner. We also like that it offers good authentication. It offers radius-based authentication, which has been useful for the company. The main platform is under the Open VPN firewall. The solution has high availability. When we have different ISPs, we can actually load balance those links or actually put some priority or even classify the traffic that might go into one ISP or another.
Sathish  Ravichandran - PeerSpot reviewer
Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services
The multi-core architecture allows the running of multiple instances for checking files, even handling more than 2 GB of data. It has inbuilt reporting features, reducing the cost of external monitoring software. It's well-suited for organizations that need to transfer and scan large files. The scalability is good for small and medium-sized enterprises, but for organizations with more than 200 users, the cost can become a limiting factor. It is more suitable for large enterprises, especially for organizations with over 4,000 users. However, there could be flexibility in licensing, allowing organizations to cater to their specific needs and pay for the features and licenses they require. It can help reduce costs. I rate its scalability a seven out of ten.

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."
"The GUI is good."
"The most valuable feature is the web filter."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"The threat prevention is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection."
"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."
"I have found the solution has some great features overall, such as guest access capabilities, dashboards, and ease of use. There is plenty of documentation and support and it has the plugins that I needed."
"The tool's integration is more like a button press."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"It has firewall and VPN capabilities, which are very valuable features."
"OPNsense is highly stable."
"What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control."
"The initial setup is easy. It only takes 15-30 minutes to deploy."
"The graphic user interface is very good and it is user-friendly which makes the product easy-to-use."
"The solution is priced fairly and competitively."
"Most of the features are useful. It is easy to configure and easy to troubleshoot. I can see the utilization of different networks, and there are also App control features."
"I have found the stability of this product to be excellent."
"It does what it says it is going to do."
"One valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the content filtering."
"It protects against intrusion while allowing needed access."
"The most valuable feature is content filtering and app control."
"The features that we have found most valuable in SonicWall TZ are the intrusion and brute force attack prevention."
 

Cons

"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"The cloud management and automation capability could be improved."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"Fortinet currently has many products bundled with FortiGate including the basic firewall and load balancer, and I think that that they need to have separate product portfolios for each of these specialized services."
"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."
"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."
"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."
"The interface of the solution is an area with shortcomings."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
"I would like to see better SD-WAN performance."
"There is room for improvement in SSL inspection."
"The support for OPNsense is good because we have documents available on the internet. The support could improve a little."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"OPNsense struggles to handle large volumes of voice traffic, indicating scalability issues in that specific use case."
"Getting support can be slow."
"The quality of tech support can vary."
"The monitoring is a little bit confusing."
"I would like them to make the interface a little bit easier to use so you can find out where in the heck you're going instead of having to go to 15 different places to get something installed."
"The cost of the solution has room for improvement."
"SonicWall should incorporate dynamic DNS services to eliminate the need for third-party solutions, particularly for environments using dynamic IP addresses."
"In terms of what needs to be improved, I would say better load balancing and data filtering."
"They should consider working a bit more on their ransomware application."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."
"Its pricing is competitive with other solutions."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"The cost of Fortinet FortiGate is competitive and not expensive compared to other enterprise- grade solutions. On average, the license cost per year is around seventy percent of the firewall's purchase price."
"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."
"I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."
"The pricing is very reasonable."
"Fortinet is competitive price-wise."
"As an appliance, it's in the medium price range."
"We are not paying any licensing fees. OPNsense is completely free for us."
"I would rate the pricing a nine out of ten, especially considering the availability of a free community edition."
"I've used the free version. My computer with two network cards at home allows me to try as many different software options as I want. I did pay for the license, but it was for the Zenarmor license, which is the packet inspection tool. They use AI for packet inspection, which integrates with OPNsense and pfSense."
"It is not an expensive product. Basically, I deployed it because it was the fastest solution to satisfy our needs in open source."
"The solution is not expensive."
"We are using the paid version."
"It costs about $1000."
"The solution is expensive."
"Its price is very high, which makes it difficult to convince the clients to buy this solution."
"License renewals come in around $35,000 to $45,000."
"It is an expensive solution compared to one of its competitors."
"The price of SonicWall TZ is good for medium-sized companies."
"Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."
"The prices are expensive."
"You need to purchase multiple licenses to manage multiple devices which is cost-prohibitive for the value you would receive."
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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
16%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
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 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?
I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall p...
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...
What do you like most about SonicWall TZ?
The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
Pricing is competitive. When comparing similar products across vendors, there may be a small difference in cost.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
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Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

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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
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.
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about OPNsense vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.