SonicWall NSSP vs Sophos XG comparison

SonicWall and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. SonicWall is ranked #39 with an average rating of 7.5, while Sophos is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. SonicWall holds a 0.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sophos’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of SonicWall users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Sophos XG and SonicWall NSSP compete in the network security category. Sophos XG holds the advantage in offering comprehensive security features and easy cloud deployment, while SonicWall NSSP excels with robust VPN and technical support.

Features: Sophos XG offers synchronized security, advanced web filtering with 90+ categories, and two anti-malware engines. It includes Sophos Sandstorm for sandboxing and IPS for enhanced threat prevention. SonicWall NSSP provides robust firewall capabilities, advanced threat protection, and strong VPN functionalities, along with network control options.

Room for Improvement: Sophos XG needs enhancement in link load balancing, email security, and firewall reporting. The update process could be simplified. SonicWall NSSP could improve its EDR and XDR capabilities and strengthen phishing email defenses. It also faces challenges with technical support response times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos XG offers hybrid and cloud deployment options, providing flexibility. Its technical support receives mixed reviews, with issues in response times and language barriers. SonicWall NSSP is typically deployed on-premises, and while its customer service is effective, technical support also faces occasional delays. SonicWall's toll-free direct support is an advantage.

Pricing and ROI: Sophos XG is considered economical and flexible with various licensing options, offering high ROI due to reduced management overheads. SonicWall NSSP is viewed as expensive due to high licensing costs but is seen as valuable for its security features. Both products offer pricing structures tailored to different needs and budgets.

To learn more, read our detailed SonicWall NSSP vs. Sophos XG Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSSP vs. Sophos XG

April 2025

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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

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSSP is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 11.5%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Lenin Christopher

Director at Techfruits

Enhanced security with advanced threat protection and superior support

We serve as an integrator for SonicWall, deploying this solution for customers in the media and entertainment, banking, and finance sectors. We use SonicWall to protect their environments against digital attacks SonicWall has helped us deliver security solutions effectively, particularly in…

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Mohamad Charara

Head of IT at a consultancy with 201-500 employees

Security features improve protection while integration and resource management require enhancements

Sophos XG ( /products/sophos-xg-reviews ) is not easy to navigate and to use, and the integration capabilities are lacking. It cannot integrate properly with solutions like Darktrace ( /products/darktrace-reviews ). The VPN client on mobiles, especially Android phones, has issues. It is resource-greedy, causing performance problems even on new computers. Improvements are needed in resource management and integration with other security solutions.

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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

"Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory."

"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."

"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."

"We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."

"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."

"FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."

"The most valuable features are that it is very simple to configure and to manage."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and there are several operating systems that can include the hardware capacities. In the newer releases, the resources were more useful because they were included in the operating system."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution's pricing is good."

"SonicWall NSSP is stable and scalable too."

"The product's most valuable features are simplicity and comprehensive protection capabilities, including load balancing, IPS, antivirus, and web filtering."

"I like the filtering feature, which provides easy access. The SSL certification feature is also nice. The solution enhanced our security posture."

"The VPN functionality is really good. Overall, the whole device is very easy to manage. The software that comes with it is also good."

"It has been delivering results efficiently. Its configurations and updates have been easy. It is also user-friendly."

"SonicWall has helped us deliver security solutions effectively, particularly in threat prevention and content filtering."

"The most useful aspect of the solution is the concept of integrated security."

"The solution is stable. I've had very few problems with it."

"It is stable, flexible, and easy to use. It has got a web management portal that can be accessed from anywhere."

"Definitely, its usability is very good, and it's a very robust firewall."

"The firewall provides network visibility and reporting capabilities, constantly improving over time. It can be integrated with the cloud console, allowing centralized management of multiple firewalls. integration with endpoint security products ensures seamless traffic flow and rule enforcement, even when endpoints are not directly connected to the firewall."

"I like the functionality and the user interface."

"The most valuable features are the central management, the user VPN, and communications."

"The solution seems pretty stable. We've had no issues so far."

More Sophos XG pros

Cons

"The solution could have licensing fees reduced in the future."

"Fortinet FortiGate can improve the integration with Active Directory. Additionally, I would like to have a Cloud Controller, such as they do in the Cisco Meraki solution."

"There aren't really any negative aspects to discuss."

"The solution is very expensive."

"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on."

"They can do more tests before they release new versions because I would like to be more assured. We had some experiences where they release something new and great, but some of the old features are disabled or they don't work well, which impacts the product satisfaction. The manufacturer should be able to prove that everything works or not only that it might work. This is applicable to most of the other services, software, and hardware companies. They all should work on this. We cannot trust every new release, such as a beta release, on the first day. We wait for some comments on the forums and from other companies that we know. We always wait a few weeks before we use the updated version. They should also extend the VPN client application, especially for Linux versions. Currently, it has an application for Linux devices, but it doesn't work the way we want to connect to the VPN. They use only the old connection, not the new one. They have VPN client applications for Windows and Mac, but they can add more useful features to better manage the devices and monitor the current health of each device. Such features would be helpful for our company."

"It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier."

"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The EDR and XDR capabilities of SonicWall need to be improved."

"No security product is foolproof against hackers, intruders, and other such things. As a security product, they have to keep pace in terms of protection from new hackers and intruders."

"The solution's stability and scalability also need improvement."

"The platform could benefit from an improved marketing strategy."

"The user interface, the GUI, could be improved."

"The product needs improvement for phishing emails."

"Its reporting functions can be improved. It has decent reporting, but you got to pay a lot more money for it. That's where it begins to fall apart. It comes with minimal zero reporting unless you buy some extra modules. With those extra modules, you can get all the data, but it takes a while to put together what you need for your customer. It is for technical people, but there is no executive summary of the reporting."

"The UI needs improvement because it can be a little weird at times."

"One feature I would like to add is remote wipeout capability. This would be useful in cases where a user leaves the organization and fails to return their laptop. Remote wipeout would allow for the deletion of data from the device with a single command. Regarding technical support from Sophos XG, it's generally satisfactory. However, the response time could be improved. It takes around one hour to receive assistance, but reducing this to 30-45 minutes would benefit us."

"Everything is working as expected at this moment, but the anti-spam solution in Sophos XG needs to be improved. It needs more granular features and more stability. The anti-spam solution currently doesn't have many features, and we would like to have more features. At this moment, there is no expression filter for anti-spam. We need something to be able to filter subjects or attachments in emails based on the keyword. Sometimes, there is an issue with anti-spam, and Sophos XG suddenly stops processing incoming or outgoing emails. The only solution for this issue is to restart the appliance. Their support should be improved. It takes a long time to escalate a support case from level one to level two."

"I am using the Azure Active Directory in my company and it was complicated to integrate this solution with Azure."

"For the moment, managing the Sophos interface is a little bit challenging."

"The support from the vendor needs to be improved."

"It is performing well. However, the only challenges that we are facing are the effectiveness with blocking the proxy and tuneling applications, aside from proxy and similar applications. So the application filter on the product is not really performing 100%. Every now and then there are some updates that are happening on such applications, and it takes time until it gets the appropriate updates and becomes capable of capturing such applications and blocking them. A new feature I would really like to see would be some sort of an enhanced application filter with greater efficiency when it comes to the applications that can bypass firewall policies. These applications are really a nightmare. Once they are on the network and not detected, or the appliance is not really successful in capturing them and unblocking them, the bandwidth gets wasted all the time."

"The weakest point is the technical support because they are difficult to get into contact with."

More Sophos XG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."

"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."

"Easy to understand licensing requirements."

"Compared to other firewall products, it's a little cheaper in terms of pricing."

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

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

"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."

"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The setup costs and licensing are reasonable, and the solution provides good value for its features."

"For SonicWall NSSP high availability, active/passive, you need to buy one license, and so you get much more value for money."

"The pricing is cheap, and that's where, you know, the some of the organization goes for the SonicWall."

"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"You got to buy some VPN licenses, and there might be a $40 to $50 one-time license fee per current user. There are different layers. They have several different levels of event security software and depending on the model, it seems to come out to be $1 to $2 a day. So, if you bought a three-year license, it is going to be anywhere from $900 to $1800 depending on the bundle and model that you buy."

"When compared to other products, Sophos licensing is very affordable."

"Sophos XG is a reasonably priced solution."

"Licensing fees are paid monthly."

"Sophos XG is not expensive for a firewall, especially when you compare it with Check Point."

"I don't believe we have a license for this product."

"It's approximately $6,000 for each device."

"The price of Sophos is reasonable. It's not too expensive — I think it's worth it."

"I've had schools running different firewalls with subscriptions and different web filters with subscriptions, and I've found that it is less expensive for smaller schools to run the Sophos XG with its unified threat management instead of multiple appliances."

More Sophos XG pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

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...

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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 NSSP?

The solution's pricing is good.

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

SonicWall is a rather expensive solution with a rating of eight out of ten regarding its pricing. Despite being expen...

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What needs improvement with SonicWall NSSP?

The EDR and XDR capabilities of SonicWall need to be improved. When compared to a brand like SentinelOne, SonicWall s...

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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...

See all answers

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...

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What do you like most about Sophos XG?

IPS works smoothly.

See all answers

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sophos XG

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos XG

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Sophos XG

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Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

SonicWall Network Security Services Platform

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

The SonicWall Network Security services platform (NSsp) 12000 series takes a modern approach to threat detection and prevention by combining cloud intelligence with appliance-based protection in a scalable, high-speed platform.

SonicWall

Sophos XG is a versatile network security solution that offers network protection, firewall management, VPN access, web filtering, and intrusion prevention, providing comprehensive security for businesses from small offices to large enterprises.

Sophos XG stands out for its Synchronized Security, easy setup, and robust templates. It manages VPN access, protects against threats, and handles load balancing and traffic monitoring. The cloud-based management, centralized dashboard, and detailed logging make it user-friendly and reliable. Integration of features like email protection, SD-WAN, and unified threat management ensures a broad spectrum of security needs are covered. However, it could benefit from improvements in network security, user portals, technical support, and more scalable SD-WAN features.

What are the key features of Sophos XG?

Synchronized Security: Orchestrates threat intelligence sharing between endpoints and firewall.
Unlimited SSL VPN Clients: Provides extensive VPN client support for secure remote access.
Cloud-Based Management: Facilitates remote administration with a cloud-hosted platform.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and blocks potential threats in real-time.
Centralized Dashboard: Offers a comprehensive view of network security status.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
User-Friendliness: Simplified setup and intuitive management.
Effective Threat Protection: Provides robust security against a wide range of threats.
Comprehensive Reporting: Delivers detailed insights and analytics.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive in pricing with flexible deployment options.

Sophos XG is implemented across industries such as healthcare, education, and finance to secure sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance. It aids in endpoint protection, application control, load balancing, and traffic monitoring essential for these industries. Enhancing network security, simplifying VPN setup, and integrating adaptive security features remain focal points for businesses.

Sophos

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

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSSP vs. Sophos XG

April 2025

Free Report: SonicWall NSSP vs. Sophos XG

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