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Palo Alto Networks PA-Series 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)
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
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 Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is 0.3%, up from 0.0% 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…
Deminda Dilan - PeerSpot reviewer
Good for enterprise-level businesses and offers many features like URL filtering and antivirus capabilities
Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7. Currently, I don't think it's available. If they can improve that, it would be better. We wouldn't need to purchase a separate WAF solution because they already have advanced URL filtering. But I don't think that advanced URL filtering has the same features as a dedicated WAF, like F5 or other solutions. That is an area for improvement. If they can improve the WAF feature, customers won't have to buy a separate WAF solution. They could do it with the same Palo Alto firewall, perhaps through a subscription-based model. So the web application firewall feature has to be improved.
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

"It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place."
"The technical support in our region is excellent."
"The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful."
"The pricing is excellent. It's much less expensive than Cisco."
"There is an easy process for configuring it, and it is straightforward to implement the device from scratch."
"The next-generation firewall is great."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution."
"The solution is used for security and IoT security."
"A valuable feature that we can consider is the deployment time, which is significantly reduced. It is almost 90% faster compared to other solutions."
"The tool's most valuable feature is WildFire."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"Palo Alto has predefined applications that you can control at the application level."
"When I compare the tool with other firewalls, it’s the most powerful. It's the most powerful security engine. All the traffic going to the Internet passes through it as the first layer of protection. Because of its good performance, we also use it for decryption."
"The product's most valuable feature is web filtering."
"The product's initial setup process was simple."
"It is extremely easy to deploy and fast to learn."
"The scalability of Sophos XGS is very good."
"The policies are the greatest feature. They allow us to configure granular control over our network traffic."
"I have no issues with the stability of the product and love using it."
"It's easy to use, and the service is good. If anything goes wrong, their support system is very reliable."
"Compared to other products, Sophos XGS is a user-friendly solution."
"Sophos XGS that's a good firewall. If you use the endpoint, then you have what Sophos calls synchronized security. That will mean that if one of the endpoints is affected, it will be automatically set in isolation."
"The product was easy for us to install."
 

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having better visibility. Palo Alto has better visibility."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"A sandbox would be good in order to be able to inspect the emails containing spam and be able to validate the emails that contain malware, prior to delivering to the customer."
"Technical support could be better. You don't always get the level of help you need right away."
"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."
"They need faster serviceability and more security features."
"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."
"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."
"Compared to other vendors, the solution's community should be strong enough to solve the problems engineers face."
"With Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, I find that the support team takes a long time to resolve the issues that a user may face during the use of the product."
"Currently, they are not protected with any data security when they work from home or outside the network. They surf the Internet directly and should implement a proxy or firewall to monitor the data between the endpoint and the internet."
"Pricing flexibility could be an aspect worth considering, as it has been a concern for some of our clients."
"There seem to be some issues with TAC (Technical Assistance Center) or Palo Alto support. Anytime you open a case, a level one engineer joins, and then you have to escalate it to level two or three. The support system has changed in the past few years, and that's something they need to look into."
"There are constant updates for the operating system. It is a nice thing also, but it has its own disadvantages. Continuous updates are there. The users face issues like, how often do I need to update that? Within a period of five months, I'm updating it two or three times. It gives them a feeling that they are not confident about their product and have to update it so frequently."
"The interface is complex."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series should improve its price. It should also include a feature similar to Sophos' Security Heartbeat."
"There are a lot of false-positive cases."
"Sophos configurations are a bit complex."
"There can be lag time when updating an operating policy."
"Sophos XGS could improve the automation system. It could be better if there was some level of automation, attacks automation, meaning if this happens, then it automatically executes a particular process."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"Sophos' technical support has degraded in the last couple of years. They seem to need to ask a lot of questions, even with simple problems, and take a long time to provide solutions."
"Support is great, however, it can always be improved."
"Support could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a good product from a price perspective versus functionality."
"It is cost-effective, and provides a good value for your money. The pricing, and license renewal, is very reasonable for us."
"For the price, I'd rate it a ten because it's very cost-effective."
"Easy to understand licensing requirements."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"The price could be lower."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"The cost varies depending on the device model, with entry-level firewalls priced around $1,300 to $1,500, while higher-end models can reach prices of several hundred thousand dollars."
"With Palo Alto, even when you enable all the modules, it still provides the exact throughput they advertise."
"While other firewalls may come with a higher cost, when you consider the cost in relation to the services and features that Palo Alto offers, it is clear that Palo Alto is delivering excellent value."
"Palo Alto is more expensive than FortiGate."
"The tool's pricing was reasonable when we bought the product. We pay around 60,000 dollars per year."
"From my perspective, managing the price is important, especially because we're a small business. For larger organizations like Barclays, we provide our requirements to the client, and they place the order on BigFix. It's their responsibility to consider their budget and make decisions accordingly. We appreciate the features we get, but the cost-sharing still depends on the client."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
"The prices are pretty high, definitely on the upper end."
"It is roughly around $4,000."
"The licensing is reasonable. Comparing the cost of Sophos XGS with that of Fortinet or Palto Alto firewalls, for instance, it's not that expensive. However, the overall cost depends on the hardware you're using in addition to the licensing cost."
"There are additional costs involved apart from the licenses."
"Sophos XGS costs around $6,000 for a basic license."
"The price of Sophos XGS is average compared to other offers from other OEMs."
"XGS' price could be lower, though it's moderately priced in the market."
"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."
"Sophos XGS costs around $75,000 for fifty units."
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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
20%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
10%
Comms Service Provider
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 do you like most about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
The reporting feature and application ID functionality within Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are incredibly valuable to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
It's not cheap. In Sri Lanka, it's expensive compared to other firewalls. But considering the features and the potent...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7. Currently, I don't think it's available....
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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sophos XGS and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
823,875 professionals have used our research since 2012.