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SonicWall NSa vs Sophos UTM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
317
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
SonicWall NSa
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (16th)
Sophos UTM
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

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…
Swapnil Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
Good user interface, quick configuration modules but faced hardware issues
It could be improved in the reporting format. The way their analysis software is working, they need to improve their reporting. Second, I think they need to improve their security at the endpoint level, in the SD-WAN area. Apart from this, the main drawbacks are their support and hardware failure. In our last four to five years with the NSa 3600, we have faced hardware failure two to three times. Even though they replaced the hardware, we still faced the issue.
Emanuele-Gnali - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances security by providing intuitive firewall policy settings 
The primary use case for the solution is as a perimeter protection firewall, which includes functionalities such as VPN, web control, and traffic inspection. It is used in various customer environments, providing comprehensive security management and network protection The platform's most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use."
"The solution is stable."
"The network security and cloud security are most valuable."
"The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering."
"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"The basic firewall rules of the solution are great."
"The most valuable feature of SonicWall NSa is the control aspect of the solution."
"The product is simple to manage."
"I really like the performance; there are no delays and no latency, which is a unique quality in firewalls nowadays."
"Anti-Spam reduces unwanted mail on corporate exchange services."
"User friendly and intuitive."
"The DPI-SSL is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's handy."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"The isolation of infected machines is a big feature. Also, the ability to detect external sources that change files on a file server is really big."
"It has helped by identifying threats within the company. If there are computers or servers that are compromised, then we are able to identify them right away in the system."
"It has made our organization more secure, because we are using a VPN. We are not accessing services directly. It allows us to segregate some of the traffic for individuals which may be more of a developer role rather than an operational role needing access to developer resources, but not necessarily production operational resources."
"It helps us with protection, with concurrent use of the VPN."
"I would recommend UTM over XG because it's easier to manage."
"Has great security features and does a good job of protecting the network."
"Monitoring and reporting are areas that need improvement."
"If a computer does get infected the Sophos appliance lets us know via it's Advanced Threat Protection so we can get a much faster response time."
 

Cons

"I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."
"While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up."
"It needs more available central management."
"The captive portal could be improved."
"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"​It needs to improve its ISP load balancing.​"
"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."
"We'd like more management across other integrations."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"We're not particularly fond of the way it generally performs. We are finding ourselves rebooting often. There are freeze-ups and that kind of thing. The stability needs to improve exponentially."
"The detection of malware can improve in SonicWall NSa."
"SonicWall does not support DynDNS, yet this is an important feature for smaller companies that do not have a static IP address."
"Needs a more detailed reporting feature."
"I feel that the SSL VPN client software needs a lot of improvement."
"It is not scalable. If your enterprise is growing hard then you have to buy another, bigger product. Maybe if you use it virtually it is more scalable."
"Having to deal with too many lower-level people in technical support means that it takes longer to resolve issues, so escalating support tickets should be faster."
"The solution's technical support for India needs to be improved."
"We had some problems with the configuration. They had provided a CloudFormation template, and we had to go several rounds to make it work."
"The virus updates will always depend on new viruses that are discovered. Maybe they can send a notification or a reminder for update time."
"Updates come out agonizingly slowly, a trickle."
"Flexibility in pricing could be improved. It's more rigid in its pricing compared to its competitor: Kaspersky."
"Email spam filtering only works if you have an on-prem Exchange server. It doesn't interface with Office 365 like the XG model. That would be one feature that they could improve. They're not going to do it because they're trying to push us all to XG."
"There were a lot of features and functionality in Sophos SG UTM but nothing was state of the art in terms of technology. You did not get the latest functions. It was very monolithic as it was based on an old Linux PuTTY system."
"Stay away from the wireless models, since you cannot put them in HA. They start to give you some weird issues once you start getting into multiple SSIDs and networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Work through partners for the best pricing."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable."
"The price is fair compared to the other competitors."
"It is not a very costly product if you compare it with other products. The return on investment is also good. If you compare the return of investment and money that you are spending on this product with Palo Alto, Cisco, Check Point, and other solutions, the investment is very less. We are happy with this solution. The optional licenses are there, and you can choose which one you want and which one to avoid."
"On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight."
"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."
"Setup cost may be not so low, as you expect, because it depends on different factors, but TCO for 5 years may pleasantly surprise you."
"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."
"Normally, when we buy any product, we buy it with a five-year service built into it. Later on, depending on the growth of the organization, we go for a new one or an upgrade."
"The price is reasonable."
"It would be better if it has a better price, but its price is okay considering the benefits that you receive."
"The pricing and value are good."
"Compared to Fortinet and Cisco, SonicWall NSa is a cheaper solution."
"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."
"The CPUs are not able to compete with a similar price point to the Fortinet, WatchGuard, or Palo Alto product."
"While I don't know the exact amount off the top of my head, I would estimate the licensing package was about $15,000 to $20,000 a year."
"I think the pricing of Sophos is very fair."
"Pricing for the upgrade was very competitive as Sophos wanted to retain existing customers."
"The licensing model is very straightforward, it's a bit pricey, but for what you get, it's well worth it."
"The problem with the Sophos is not the cost of the hardware but the cost of the modules, packages, and the subscription."
"Sophos UTM has very reasonable pricing."
"Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace is pretty straightforward. Because were entirely on AWS and don't have anything anywhere else. It made the most sense for us as a one stop shop."
"This solution is less expensive than FortiGate."
"Sophos UTM is moderately priced, but it could be improved."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
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 SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
SonicWall is much cheaper compared to Fortinet, particularly regarding renewal and licensing costs.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
I would like more free VPN licenses. It would be beneficial if they could enhance the analytics part. It needs to be ...
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. ...
What do you like most about Sophos UTM?
The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the endpoint protection feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
The product pricing and licensing are higher, but they offer good value for the features and stability provided.
 

Also Known As

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

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
One Housing Group
Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall NSa vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.