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Portnox vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Portnox
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (7th), Passwordless Authentication (1st)
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Portnox is 7.6%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 3.1%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Portnox7.6%
Sophos Network Access Control3.1%
Other89.3%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Maurice Mwaura - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited
Unified access control has improved compliance visibility and simplified passwordless access
There is work to be done when it comes to making the solution more seamless. For example, when a user is denied access, they would need a way to maybe self-resolve themselves, perhaps a way to generate a ticket on their own, something around resolutions. When it comes to users using the product, that is where good products are differentiated from products that are a bit of a challenge. Portnox has much to do in terms of their reporting. The generated reports need improvement. Things that other tools would say are normal are usually not present. For example, there is a page called NAS devices or NAS network that is able to show the switches that have been managed. Currently, there is no way of generating an easy report or an easy way of just generating something to tell the customer what they have been able to achieve so far. This is not done yet and is still very manual. I think there is work to be done there. More integrations around the various products being used would be beneficial. So far I have not encountered any major challenge. Where there was a challenge, I think support came in and helped us resolve. In fact, most of the challenges are not with the product; they are with the customer environment. I think that is just to update their documentation where they have come across a new vendor for easier integrations in the future.
HirenPatel2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at rspl
Have faced delays in support despite strong multi-layer policy configuration
I have observed some disadvantages as we have experienced one particular problem. We were facing an issue of synchronization of the endpoint with our firewall with help on a cloud for heartbeat syncing. However, it was not syncing as per our requirement. The user has to connect our firewall with the help of VPN. We were supposed to assume a solution on a cloud, which has good synchronization on a cloud with Sophos Central. It will sync with our firewall as well with the help of Sophos Central. Endpoint and firewall synchronization is not as smooth as we are expecting from Sophos Network Access Control. We have to connect with VPN. We are expecting that if we have already installed an endpoint on our system and it is connected to the internet, then it must be synchronized on a cloud with Sophos Central. Through Sophos Central, it must connect with our firewall. If the endpoint is configured on Sophos Central and the firewall is also configured in Sophos Central, then there should be no need to connect to VPN.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important feature is that this solution is agentless. So, you don't have to install any agents on endpoints."
"With Portnox, you have a large-scale view of the systems on your estate, and you can use the ID of that user to search and get substantial information about a user."
"Portnox is a highly effective tool that will significantly lower your incident resolution times, so be prepared to push through a slight learning curve at the beginning."
"This product has helped us tremendously during the years in locating all kind of issues that we had on the network, very quickly, and I recommend it."
"I am impressed with the solution's voucher capability and authentication. The tool is integrated with Active Direct storage."
"There is an add-on feature for application control to kill unwanted applications when launched on a user's device."
"If your team is burnt out on managing legacy on-prem network access control or wants to move to a pure cloud model, Portnox should definitely be on your shortlist."
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."
"Sophos' technical support is great, very fast and responsive, and they always know how to fix the problem."
"The return on our investment was huge, mostly due to the time saved in managing thousands of physical endpoints."
"The role-based access controls feature of Sophos Network Access Control allows persons at different positions in an organization to have different types of roles."
"The user interface makes it easy to configure and use."
"The platform's most valuable features include robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which provide deep insights into our sales performance and customer behavior."
"I think this is one of the best products I've discovered in the last few years."
"Sophos Network Access Control saves our clients time and money."
"There is really good visibility for the appliance."
 

Cons

"The Wi-Fi integration could be done better from their end. If there is an improvement, it should be around having more functions on the integration with the Wi-Fi controller I used, which was a UniFi controller, also on-prem."
"Portnox CORE can improve on support for unmanaged switches (or hubs) and other brands of network devices. These kinds of devices are still in use in organisations, especially SMEs who cannot afford to buy a managed switch."
"I believe there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of integration."
"While Portnox is solid, there is definitely room for improvement, particularly with the user interface."
"There is room for improvement regarding Portnox's pricing strategies."
"The solution did have some stability issues, however, all I had to do was restart it."
"It could be a little cheaper."
"While Portnox is solid, there is definitely room for improvement, particularly with the user interface."
"Continuous development in specific areas might be required."
"Users are not controlled by role-based access; it's basically device-based control. The definition of role-based control is a little vague here because on the cloud level, it regulates access rather than tasks."
"Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting."
"I would like to be able to fully customize the reports."
"I would like more details on the incoming connection, like what is the download speed and how it fluctuates. If Sophos can give that information, it would be really good."
"The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to."
"There is room for improvement in pricing."
"I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is more expensive than Fortinet."
"The cost of Portnox Clear is reasonable."
"It is not bad. It is a bit on the high side, but considering the cloud features and how much it costs to run the instance in the cloud, it is not unreasonable. We do have RADIUS servers for the US, Asia, and Europe."
"It's not cheap. It's not expensive. It's in the middle."
"Pricing is not cheap. It is based on licenses per port. After licensing is purchased, you only pay for support."
"The users are not very happy with the new licensing option where there is only a subscription license. There is no perpetual license."
"The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe."
"The vendor price is fair."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"It is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?
Overall, our experience with Portnox pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been very positive. One of the key advantages is the cloud-native licensing model, which eliminates the need for signific...
What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?
During my daily use, I noticed that if you have many devices being managed by a particular server, any device being managed by that server takes quite a bit of time to respond. If you log into Port...
What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?
Portnox was primarily used for network access control, which granted access to enterprise devices based on specific parameters that we set. A specific example of how I used Portnox for network acce...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.
 

Also Known As

Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sallie Mae, Roku, Vuori, Legal Zoom, Anaplan, Aecon, H.I.G. Capital, McLaren Construction Group, PFCU, UK Mortgage Lending Limited, CCC Intelligent Solutions
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Portnox vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,948 professionals have used our research since 2012.