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Sangfor NGAF vs Sophos XG comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

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
6.5
Sangfor NGAF's customer service is prompt and efficient, though regional disparities in response quality are noted.
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.
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.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.6
Fortinet FortiGate needs improvements in stability, usability, integration, cost-effectiveness, and documentation for enhanced user satisfaction and performance.
Sentiment score
4.8
Sangfor NGAF needs integration, UI improvements, better support, enhanced detection, competitive pricing, and improved deployment and market presence.
Sentiment score
4.3
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.
Making the solution available as a virtual appliance would be more feasible for data centers, avoiding the need for physical hardware.
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.
 

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
4.4
Sangfor NGAF is scalable with customizable models and options but faces hardware limitations and complex internal upgrades.
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.
The internal hardware scalability is complex and limited.
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.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive pricing with varied costs; affordable long-term licenses, though renewal complexity can accumulate costs.
Sentiment score
6.9
Sangfor NGAF is considered affordable with competitive pricing and various licensing options compared to other firewall solutions.
Sentiment score
7.1
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 licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.
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.
 

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
8.3
Sangfor NGAF is highly rated for stability and reliability, with users praising its performance and integrated features.
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.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.0
Fortinet FortiGate offers advanced security features, user-friendly configuration, and comprehensive management tools, valued for robust protection and flexibility.
Sentiment score
8.4
Sangfor NGAF offers affordable, user-friendly security with strong integration, scalability, and quick threat detection, outperforming competitors like Cisco.
Sentiment score
8.2
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'
It effectively describes attacks, categorizes them, and recommends mitigation actions.
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)
Sangfor NGAF
Ranking in Firewalls
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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 Sangfor NGAF is 1.2%, up from 0.7% 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…
Osama Muhammad - PeerSpot reviewer
Affordable, easy to configure firewall with fast, responsive support
The absolute best part of Sangfor NGAF is their support. It's a 24/7 support channel, and the last time I requested their assistance I got a reply within three minutes. They helped solve the problem immediately. Sangfor also gives you a warranty for any issues or defects with their hardware. If you find any issue, they will replace the hardware within five working days. We send any hardware that is faulty to our local country partner and they will do the RMA. When it comes to deployment environments, I like that you have options. If you want a hardware firewall, then you can use their hardware. Conversely, if you want a cloud firewall, then they can provide that, too.
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
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
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 ...
What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?
I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?
There is some difference in terms of pricing compared to Palo Alto. Sangfor NGAF is around 30% to 35% more cost-effec...
What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?
We will probably invest a little more time into the VDI solution - not specifically for security but for desktop comp...
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
Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform
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
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Sangfor NGAF vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
823,795 professionals have used our research since 2012.