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Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Sophos XG 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective and efficient security with quick ROI, reducing expenses in data communication and management.
Sentiment score
7.4
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series delivers high ROI with enhanced security, quick setup, and agility, justifying its higher cost.
Sentiment score
7.1
Sophos XG offers strong ROI through cost savings, enhanced security, and efficiency, despite being slightly more expensive.
They have good integration if you have multiple firewalls and it allows you to be able to push out policies to all of them at the same time.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
If we used a similar solution that required a 'per seat' license per VPN, we would have literally spent over 100x what the solution cost us.
Customers can see data within a week, indicating a quick return on investment.
The ROI is 100% there.
Our ROI is 100%. I've got the ransomware attacks being blocked.
The tools should be improved for scalability.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is praised for problem-solving but criticized for inconsistent response times and language barriers.
Sentiment score
7.9
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series support is praised for efficiency but has occasional issues with delays and communication. Ratings vary.
Sentiment score
6.1
Sophos XG support is mixed, with varying expertise and response times, though local distributor support is valued.
The response time for a critical priority one issue was over four hours and they only responded because we threatened legal action for them violating our support contract.
They say they will respond in 24 hours, but I have received responses in a maximum of one hour, which is impressive.
The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is 24 hours a day seven days a week, and 365 days a year.
The support quality could be improved.
The technical support is very good.
Sophos provides online documentation which is very user friendly.
We are also trying to keep up on how the hackers work because we are working with different associations of security worldwide.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos support a ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable, flexible, and adaptable, though some face hardware upgrades and licensing challenges during deployment sizes.
Sentiment score
7.5
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series offers excellent scalability, suitable for various businesses with flexible cloud deployment and effective traffic management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Sophos XG is scalable but larger organizations may need hardware upgrades; suitable for small to medium enterprises with planning.
The devices will usually fail way before reaching the capacity advertised in the data sheets, especially when you activate several of the features the device can handle.
The solution is working and it is still stable even across all of these devices and servers.
We have over 10,000 users behind it.
If I were to rate it on a scale, it would receive nine out of ten, and with two-factor authentication, it would be ten.
In other words it doesn't have that modularity feature.
We do have plans to increase usage because we are growing our projects around the world to countries like the US, Germany, Pakistan, India, UAE (Dubai) and Egypt.
You've got to define the criteria in terms of what you're trying to protect, the number of users, the bandwidth that is going through it, the speed, etc.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability and reliability, with occasional issues improved by updates and configurations.
Sentiment score
8.4
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is highly stable and reliable, with minor update issues and seamless high-load performance.
Sentiment score
8.0
Sophos XG is praised for its reliability and stable performance, with effective support and occasional firmware update concerns.
All of these issues were resolved in v5.2.
Stability has dramatically improved over the previous main version branch of FortiOS; 5.2.x and 5.4.x are stable enough for critical environments.
Overall, the devices have been very stable.
Sophos' support is very good to correct quickly, ASAP.
There isn't crashing or freezing.
It may be possible to implement a second device in a fail-over cluster and this would avoid such a problem as then if one device fails in the updating process, the other device could take over.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs improvements in stability, usability, integration, cost-effectiveness, and documentation for enhanced user satisfaction and performance.
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series needs modern interface updates, better scalability, and improved integration with AWS, Azure, and AI features.
Sophos XG needs an improved interface, better VPN stability, enhanced support, and more detailed security and licensing transparency.
FortiWAN supports OSPF but does not support the BGP protocol.
Fortinet VPN and DDoS capabilities are great, yet we need to provide a solution that enables CASB and integration to the cloud.
The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate.
When managing the firewall, it involves a Strata Cloud web browser that requires improvement to enhance deployment ease and call center efficiency.
There is a need for two-factor authentication, particularly for VPN and CloudProtect.
The developers should test everything after any update to ensure that bugs don't come through with the update.
There are times that I really want to know which user or which IP is causing a problem.
If they could incorporate some user profiling and present the analytics of the login user usage patterns, or a typical proper management dashboard to take a decision on the firewall rules, that would be useful.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive pricing with varied costs; affordable long-term licenses, though renewal complexity can accumulate costs.
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series offers strong firewall capabilities but is more costly with a complex licensing model.
Sophos XG offers competitive pricing, appealing to small and medium enterprises, and is often cheaper than rivals like FortiGate.
The cost of the original deployment fell below £5,000, and licenses are priced at around £3,000.
Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment.
Overall, FortiGate is affordable.
The pricing is reasonable and reflects the quality of the product.
One way they are doing this is by having an aggressive pricing policy.
There are no additional fees on top of this.
The option to get a combo with hardware means the software portion is mostly free, and then you pay upfront for the three-year license for everything.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers advanced security features, user-friendly configuration, and comprehensive management tools, valued for robust protection and flexibility.
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series offers advanced security, easy deployment, and seamless integration with cloud services, enhancing network protection.
Sophos XG delivers advanced security, scalability, and user-friendly management for medium enterprises with comprehensive network activity views.
The two most valuable features are VPN and firewalling.
WiFi network for visitors isolated from our corporate WiFi network using only one unit
Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it 'readable'
We use these tools to prevent all known and unknown threats using Palo Alto Networks' Wildfire and other data filtering tools to gather information, analyze traffic, manage malicious traffic, and offer visibility, control, and attack prevention.
Palo Alto offers excellent security, with features such as email scanning, malware protection, and efficient VPN and antivirus capabilities.
Anti-malware: Sophos XG comes with two anti-malware engines: its own and Avira, making the UTM more effective at catching malicious code.
If my file is getting infected, I get to know from a single pane point of view.
The user interface is very user-friendly, so it's very easy for the administrator to make any policy changes.
 

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 VM-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (10th)
Sophos XG
Ranking in Firewalls
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
198
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 VM-Series is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 11.7%, up from 9.1% 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…
AshwaniTyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced protection and good integration capabilities with good reliability
We use Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to offer services to our customers as a managed security service provider. We provide solutions and services to our customers across the globe. For example, if I want to host a firewall in the cloud or somewhere where the physical appliance is not a possibility…
Akshit Chhokar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance but needs to improve on the flexibility part
The product has improved the security posture. Sophos XG provides features that are almost the same as those Cisco Firepower devices provide. I would say that a couple of features in Sophos XG are the same as the ones provided by other Cisco devices, which are top-notch. The management tools or log-related solutions that are presented with Sophos are okay but not top-notch when it comes to Cisco. I rate the reporting and visibility tools in Sophos XG a six out of ten compared to Cisco. Sophos xG's integration capabilities do not apply to a limited number of security tools. Cisco provides integration capabilities with many products, while Sophos XG offers integration with a limited number of products. Cisco provides integration capability with almost any tool that is present in the world. Cisco works day and night to ensure that it provides good integration capabilities with the solutions. I recommend the tool to those who plan to use it, especially if you own a very small office where you don't need a product with too many functionalities. I rate the tool a seven out of ten.
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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
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
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 ...
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...
What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?
Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between Sophos UTM and Sophos XG?
The Sophos UTM is a UTM and Sophos XG is the NGFW. First, you must know about the difference between a UTM and NGFW. ...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

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
Warren Rogers Associates
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Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.