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OPNsense vs Sophos XGS comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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
Sophos XGS
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
81
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 Sophos XGS is 1.7%, up from 0.8% 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.
MarounAbboud - PeerSpot reviewer
Gives us peace of mind with network security, application control, and web server protection
Having previously worked with the Astaro Security Gateway platform (now called Sophos UTM), I can attest that the configuration and dashboard for this older platform was easier to manage than that of both Sophos XG and XGS. If it were up to me, I would prefer to go back to the older SG dashboard. I am hoping that in future, the dashboard for Sophos XGS will be simpler and easier.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."
"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"This is a quality product with ok support, and it is better than the competition we've tried."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"The solution provides good threat intelligence feeds."
"FortiGate has a very strong unified threat management system."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"The tool's integration is more like a button press."
"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 technical support is very good."
"The VPN server feature is the most valuable. It is integrated with Radius and AAA for doing accounting and authentication. Insight view is also an important feature for me at this time. It allows me to assess our network traffic. I also like the firewall feature. The BSD kernel has a packet filter. It is one of the most solid frameworks for firewalls. Its user interface is one of the best interfaces I have used."
"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."
"It has an open license. It works very well, and there is an update every month."
"The product was easy for us to install."
"The technical support by Sophos is great."
"I recommend Sophos XGS because it is easy to use, more secure, and scalable."
"It offers an easy initial implementation."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The application filtering, especially cloud filtering, is valuable."
"The solution's most valuable features are IPS, IDS, and web application security."
"Sophos XGS has contributed to the reduction of the overall security costs of our company's customers."
 

Cons

"There's always something new that can be added or fixed."
"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."
"We would like to have the ability to disable some of the security functionalities."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."
"The solution can have more features in a single box that can be multi-applied to integrate everything."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"Some features of Fortinet FortiGate are actually fee enabled that are inconvenient for deploying in production. Other issues relate to isolation with Cisco products and your server."
"OPNsense struggles to handle large volumes of voice traffic, indicating scalability issues in that specific use case."
"The reporting part could be better."
"When using the solution at the beginning was difficult. There was a steep learning curve."
"There are a few weaknesses. For example, there is a lack of some features that I have in certain commercial products."
"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 solution could be more secure."
"There is room for improvement in SSL inspection."
"There are some add-ons that need enhancements to make management easier for users, especially the reporting features. Some reports don't show the level of detail I'm looking for, and I've had trouble installing certain add-ons, especially for Internet bandwidth shaping within my company."
"The VPN capability needs some improvement in Sophos XGS."
"In previous versions, NAT rules were easier to create. After version 18.5, creating a NAT rule has become more complex, requiring the creation of a separate policy and an additional component."
"Support could be improved."
"Deployment could be easier."
"I feel Sophos should add more telemetry data to its products...Right now, I think there are only less than a dozen vendors or OEMs supported by Sophos."
"Sophos XGS is quite expensive, potentially a nine out of ten in terms of cost, making it much pricier than other firewalls."
"I rate Sophos' support five out of 10. It's sometimes difficult to contact them, and finding a solution is not easy."
"Level one technical support is not good at all and needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is usually on a three-year period."
"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."
"Its price could be better."
"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
"Fortinet FortiGate's price can be reduced."
"Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced."
"Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software."
"The beauty is the price performance ratio is great with FortiGate. It provides all the features we needed and the price is comparable with others' firewalls. The price is quite competitive with the firewalls with similar features."
"OPNsense is open source software so at this time it is free for us to use."
"It's a free solution."
"It is free."
"OPNsense is an open-source solution and it is free to use."
"The price of OPNsense is good."
"OPNsense is a well known open-source tool."
"It is open source and free."
"There are no licensing costs for OPNsence."
"Sophos XGS is a cost-effective solution."
"There are additional costs involved apart from the licenses."
"The pricing for Sophos is much better compared to that of Fortinet and Check Point. On a scale from one to five with one being expensive and five being competitive, I would rate Sophos' pricing at four. The pricing can be for the hardware appliance and the license, or it can be subscription-based. It can be around 3000 USD up to 25,000 USD per year depending on the model or series of the hardware you choose to buy."
"The price of Sophos XGS is less than competitors worldwide. However, in Turkey the solution is expensive."
"The price of Sophos XGS is average compared to other offers from other OEMs."
"Sophos XGS is priced lower than some of its competitors, such as Fortinet"
"The license for Sophos XGS is for three years, paid on a yearly basis. Everything is included with the license; there are no additional fees."
"There is an annual licensing fee to use Sophos XGS. It is an expensive solution."
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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
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
5%
 

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...
What do you like most about Sophos XGS?
The policies are the greatest feature. They allow us to configure granular control over our network traffic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos XGS?
If the pricing model is more flexible or lower, it would be highly preferable, making it a more competitive option fo...
What needs improvement with Sophos XGS?
The user interface has improved significantly over the past few years, and having a more competitive price model coul...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
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Learn More

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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.
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Find out what your peers are saying about OPNsense vs. Sophos XGS and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.