Peplink SpeedFusion vs SonicWall SMA comparison

The compared Peplink and SonicWall solutions aren't in the same category. Peplink is ranked #8 in SDW , with an average rating of 10.0, and holds a 5.0% mindshare in the category. SonicWall is ranked #2 in UAG , with an average rating of 9.5, and holds a 40.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Peplink users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Peplink SpeedFusion and SonicWall SMA based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

January 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Peplink SpeedFusion	5.0%
Fortinet FortiGate	13.9%
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN	11.2%
Other	69.9%

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Universal Access Gateways Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SonicWall SMA	40.2%
Citrix Gateway	39.1%
Other	20.69999999999999%

Universal Access Gateways

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

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Samuel Romero

Field data engineer at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

User-friendly, easy to install, and scalable

Peplink SpeedFusion needs a thin rail model for industrial solutions. The stability has room for improvement. Peplink SpeedFusion needs to have a heavy-duty heat sink on the case to perform better. Generally, what I found is that devices that have a heat sink on a case or, more weight on a case to absorb the heat, perform a little better. I get some areas where I'm right at the hundred and fifty degrees. So I've had a few failures not many, but I found more failures than a Cisco ISO eleven or a Moxa router. Those solutions have more mass to absorb the heat. Most failures have a lot to do with the case. That's why a lot of people have a hard time pushing Peplink SpeedFusion, and they want to move to Cradlepoint because they have a much more ruggedized case.

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Barry Arendt

Owner at ThinkEzIT

Security enhances through autonomous protection and strong support while multi-factor authentication secures access

I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, as I haven't been looking at what they're releasing. We're a small shop, so we drop stuff in and manage it and do what we need to do to maintain it. If we run into an issue, we contact support. There's a learning curve, but it comes down to getting support to train you on the product, and then once you have the training you need, you're able to make the changes and updates that you need to.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features that other firewalls do not offer, offering a full package cost-effective manager with all integration supported."

"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."

"I found the upgrades valuable."

"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."

"The most useful features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are you can create a virtual firewall within it, most other firewalls do not have this feature. You are able to manage your network and have network segmentation within your firewall. Additionally, you can create virtual switches within the firewall and have policy management, such as firewall and access policy."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution."

"The setup is easy."

"It enables our organization to become more productive. Also, it protects our NEtWare from viruses and malware."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable feature is the virtual VPN concentrator."

"The SpeedFusion feature is good. It allowed us to move away from IPsec between the sites. It is also a really easy product to deploy."

"Our customers find it to be an interesting and tempting solution."

"It is a very stable product."

"In the Philippines, VPN usage may not be widely known, but we leverage VPN effectively within my organization. I've shared our in-house systems with other district offices, as I cover fifteen municipalities and cater to the entire province. This platform is a valuable tool for us, enabling collaborative work, and allowing us to update our services remotely."

"The valuable feature is that, after reading about its capabilities and using it for a while, Peplink SpeedFusion employs eight technologies within its SD-WAN profile, addressing issues like packet loss and latency. The solution is highly stable. I rate it a nine out of ten. The support team gives quick response and efficient local support."

"The SpeedFusion feature is the most valuable."

"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."

"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."

"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."

"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."

"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."

"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."

"I think they ask for a fair price."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's costs need improvement."

"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."

"From a pricing perspective, I would rate them a six."

"The way everything is set up could be easier. Currently, people need a lot of experience and knowledge to administer it and to link it to devices."

"The only challenge with Fortinet FortiGate is the pricing model."

"We would like to see better pricing."

"Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem."

"At the moment, the main concern is the pricing and the type of licensing. Fortinet offers different types of licensing, and my idea is that the best approach is to have only one, two, or a maximum of three types of licensing."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There is room for improvement in enhancing security features, such as incorporating intrusion detection blocking capabilities and integrating artificial intelligence to bolster security aspects on the device."

"The product needs to aggregate the bandwidth of different ISPs. It needs to improve scalability as well."

"They don't have next generation firewall, UTM, like the other competitors."

"I believe there could be some enhancements in the enterprise segment, offering greater options or something similar."

"The stability has room for improvement."

"Their hardware support isn't the greatest. We've had one unit go down, and it took a while for them to replace it. It was in the Caribbeans, so it might be a location-related issue."

"Its pricing is the main issue. The pricing could be improved. I would like to see an outbound policy based on the application. It is a very good feature, and most of the customers are looking for that. They can also include stronger firewall features. This would help the customers in choosing this product as the only device for the SD network."

"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."

"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

"User interface could be improved."

"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."

"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cost-effective, and provides a good value for your money. The pricing, and license renewal, is very reasonable for us."

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

"Currently, we are paying about $1,500 a month for three sites."

"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."

"The price of FortiGate is good."

"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."

"At the time we bought them, I was satisfied with their pricing; I don't know how the new pricing will be."

"I would say that all things considered, the pricing is pretty good."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Perpetual licensing, which is good for customers that don't want any annual or subscription based license."

"Its licensing fee is on a yearly basis. For the price, it is actually pretty good value."

"The cost is in the middle, a five out of ten."

"I rate Peplink SpeedFusion's pricing an eight out of ten."

"It has lifetime licensing. Its pricing is high for most of the markets."

"It's not cheap, but it is highly competitive."

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"The platform has medium pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SMA?

The pricing for the solution could be a lot less.

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What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need ...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cradlepoint NetCloud vs Peplink SpeedFusion

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Peplink SpeedFusion

Compared 13% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Peplink SpeedFusion

Compared 9% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs Peplink SpeedFusion

Compared 6% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs Peplink SpeedFusion

Compared 3% of the time

More Peplink SpeedFusion Competitors

Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 12% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

SonicWall Netextender vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 4% of the time

More SonicWall SMA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Peplink SpeedFusion

January 2026

Download Peplink SpeedFusion product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

January 2026

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Peplink’s patent-pending SpeedFusion technology powers enterprise VPNs that tap into the bandwidth of up to 13 low-cost cable, DSL, 3G/4G/LTE, and other links connected anywhere on your corporate or institutional WAN. Whether you’re transferring a few documents or driving realtime POS data, video feeds, and VoIP conversations, SpeedFusion pumps all your data down a single fat datapipe that’s budget-friendly, ultra-fast, and easily configurable to suit any networking environment.

Peplink

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

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

MIT Robotics Team, Intel, Apple, Google, Hootsuite, Northrop Gruman, Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, Avocent, GE, VW, Marriott, Renaissance, WSI, Union /Pacific

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

January 2026

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