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SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
316
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.8%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.5%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 2.6%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 25, 2024
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…
Swapnil Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 29, 2024
Good user interface, quick configuration modules but faced hardware issues
I use it for security purposes. To secure our network from outside the network. It is our gateway security solution where we can identify and filter out all the networks that come from outside of our network.  SonicWall NSa 3600 model has a very good user interface, and with its quick…
Sathish  Ravichandran - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 18, 2023
Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services
The multi-core architecture allows the running of multiple instances for checking files, even handling more than 2 GB of data. It has inbuilt reporting features, reducing the cost of external monitoring software. It's well-suited for organizations that need to transfer and scan large files. The scalability is good for small and medium-sized enterprises, but for organizations with more than 200 users, the cost can become a limiting factor. It is more suitable for large enterprises, especially for organizations with over 4,000 users. However, there could be flexibility in licensing, allowing organizations to cater to their specific needs and pay for the features and licenses they require. It can help reduce costs. I rate its scalability a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful."
"The technical support in our region is excellent."
"The solution is highly scalable because they have devices that can handle a large amount of traffic."
"The most valuable features are the possibility of having one fabric for switching on security."
"Fortigate's most valuable feature is that it doesn't need a push policy when writing rules."
"The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well."
"The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products."
"The stability and scalability of this solution are satisfactory. Its SD-WAN, VPN, and URL filtering features are very useful."
"SonicWall has USCS and anti-virus at the gateway level. Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line."
"The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites."
"Setup is easy. Anyone with basic firewall experience can do it."
"SonicWall's sales support is much better than other vendors'."
"Easy to scale solution that provides advanced threat protection. Their technical support is very good, very knowledgeable, and easy to reach."
"SD-WAN is a good feature."
"The stability is better than other products."
"The most valuable features to us are the security services which is a critical factor in our deployment. Today we need to have all the security services enabled because firewalls are not enough."
"One valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the content filtering."
"The solution boasts good performance and is easy to use."
"It's a stable solution."
"The performance has been very good. Overall, the solution is quite stable."
"No negative impression of the scalability."
"Good site categorization and application controls."
"The most common feature in the firewall, apart from that traditional firewall, would be the security services, like application control, URL filtering, Gateway Anti-Virus, and IPS protection. These are the essential features in the firewalls which I think, has to be enabled and properly used at every network infrastructure."
"It does what it says it is going to do."
 

Cons

"The product does need better support in the cloud environment. It's not exactly cloud-native right now."
"The reporting in Fortinet FortiGate could improve. Customers are having to purchase additional reporting components. When I have used the Sophos solution it is a complete solution, in Fortinet FortiGate you have to use additional tools to have the features needed."
"The advanced models are expensive."
"Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas."
"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"A lack of integration between our data centers."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution."
"We still get phishing emails that manage to come through from time to time."
"Some of the configurations could be better."
"The dashboard must be improved."
"After-sales support and hands-on training facilities are not available in my country."
"The security standards for space and point of view should be improved so that the solution deploys in critical areas."
"Vendor support needs improvement. The frequency of time and support should be increased."
"One issue with the solution is that no authorization or authentication features exist."
"We have security as a service, and they make recommendations about adding to the denylist and other things. That part could be more accessible and more user-friendly. I'd like to see SonicWall add a user-friendly interface where our internal team can drag and drop everything."
"I can't get the support that I need from SonicWall."
"The solution should provide some additional ports."
"The dashboard needs to be improved."
"I'd like to have cloud management at no additional cost. Unfortunately, leveraging SonicWall's cloud management capabilities is cost-prohibitive, so we don't use it. They should have a reasonable subscription or offer it to us at no cost as an MSP."
"The monitoring is a little bit confusing."
"FortiGate has a client DNS in the firewall, but SonicWall doesn't have that. To create or configure a site-to-site VPN tunnel, we have to give a DNS name. Currently, we have to get the DNS name from a third party and then include it in SonicWall, whereas FortiGate has its own client DNS, so it provides a DNS name, and it does not require a third party. There should be a graphical option to view the network utilization and bandwidth usage."
"It could be made more user friendly."
"Getting support can be slow."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."
"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."
"The price could be lower."
"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."
"Its pricing is good. It's average or normal as compared to Palo Alto and Check Point firewalls."
"We just pay a flat monthly fee to the vendor for the support."
"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."
"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."
"The price of SonicWall NSa is expensive."
"A firewall doing anti-spam might be a low cost solution, but it is not your best strategy."
"The return on investment is very good."
"In our evaluation, we found that the costs of deploying the solution, and also purchasing the hardware and licenses, were very attractive."
"SonicWall NSa has reasonable pricing. My company pays for it yearly, but I forgot how much the company pays. From what I remember, you only pay for the license fees."
"It's become difficult to get the best price from SonicWall."
"You need their analyzer to properly generate reports. This is an expensive, licensed feature, with a complex application or appliance back-end."
"The solution is expensive. Its pricing is based on the number of users."
"The price of SonicWall TZ is good for medium-sized companies."
"The license that we purchased is good for three years."
"It is highly priced and has a slow performance compared to other firewalls."
"The price could be better for us in Bolivia."
"It is an expensive solution compared to one of its competitors."
"Getting licenses in our country, Ghana, is not easy. Though, once we have them, adding them is quick (about a day)."
"It comes to a range between five hundred to seven hundred dollars."
"It is a bit expensive. We have to purchase the license and the reporting part separately, which makes it a bit pricey. This is the main reason why we have thought of moving to another firewall. It would be good if they combine both of these."
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Answers from the Community

NP
Mar 22, 2022
Mar 22, 2022
Basically, the main difference is that the TZ series is intended for a Branch office since it has fewer ports and the speed is around 1 GB. The NSA series has more processor power and more port where you can create subnets and zones (like DMZ). Also, it has ports with 10 Gb and a processor to support the demand. I have read that an approximate number of users in the highest TZ series (TZ 670)...
See 2 answers
PE
Mar 21, 2022
Basically, the main difference is that the TZ series is intended for a Branch office since it has fewer ports and the speed is around 1 GB.  The NSA series has more processor power and more port where you can create subnets and zones (like DMZ). Also, it has ports with 10 Gb and a processor to support the demand.  I have read that an approximate number of users in the highest TZ series (TZ 670) is around 150 to 200 but that is just an estimate.  Hope this helps. You can get more details in SonicWall datasheets where you will find the speed, throughput and more technical specifications to select the one that fits your requirements.
Harish (Kumar) - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 22, 2022
In simple words, TZ is for small businesses (less than 100, maximum 150 users).  TZ has fewer ports. NSA is for medium and large enterprises: > 150 Users,  NSA has many ports to support large networks
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
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 SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
Pricing is reasonable. I would rate it seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
Certain features like SD-WAN are sometimes confusing to configure. One important feature that should be provided by d...
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...
What do you like most about SonicWall TZ?
The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
SonicWall TZ is priced average compared to other products. We usually compare prices from different local suppliers t...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

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
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall NSa vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
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