We primarily use the solution for firewall security.
Senior Manager IT at KMV Group
Good protection, useful direct controller management and reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability is good."
- "There can be a delay when it comes to reaching out to technical support."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The protection on offer is pretty good.
Direct controller management has been quite useful.
It offers reasonable pricing.
The scalability is good.
It is stable.
Technical support has been fine.
What needs improvement?
I don't have any notes for improvements at this time.
I'd like to see some filter features added in the next release.
There can be a delay when it comes to reaching out to technical support.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for one year.
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Sophos UTM
October 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of reliability. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 1,000 users on the solution at this time. The solution is very scalable. I'd rate it nine out of ten.
We use the solution quite extensively.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been fine. They are helpful and responsive. That said, sometimes, there is a delay when we try to reach out to them.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
It is very simple to set up. I'd rate the ease of implementation nine out of ten.
I cannot recall how long the original deployment took.
What about the implementation team?
We did not use any outside assistance. We handled the setup ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'd rate the affordability of the solution seven out of ten. The pricing is decent.
What other advice do I have?
We're a customer and end-user.
I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. I do not have the version number on hand.
Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten. I'd recommend the solution to others.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Information Technology Network Administrator at abl
Competitively priced option with a good application center for sandboxing
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's sandboxing, application center, and database engine are good."
- "The reporting system needs to allow for customizations because many reports do not include details that we expect."
What is our primary use case?
Our company uses the solution as an edge firewall.
We have 500 users and the solution is managed by five technicians.
What is most valuable?
The solution's sandboxing, application center, and database engine are good.
The endpoint device detection tool integrates very well with Edge devices.
What needs improvement?
The reporting system needs to allow for customizations because many reports do not include details that we expect.
It would be beneficial to have a security fabric feature like FortiGate that integrates with UTM devices and reports to expose issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very easy to scale up and has no limitations.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very knowledgeable and responds immediately to issues.
I rate technical support a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy and I rate it an eight out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the solution in-house and it does not require much maintenance at all. Three technicians handle any maintenance needed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model and is competitive.
The solution was 20,000 Rial about five years ago.
I rate pricing a ten out of ten.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Per market analysis, the solution is in the top three with FortiGate and Palo Alto.
All three solutions are comparable so the best fit depends on your engines, environment, and requirements.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Sophos UTM
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos UTM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Manager at Cartlis
Stable with an easy initial implementation and a very nice user interface
Pros and Cons
- "The stability, overall, is excellent. I haven't had a problem in the last two years."
- "It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention)."
What is most valuable?
The solution's user interface is very user-friendly. It's very easy to navigate.
They have an all-in-one product for small businesses. Basically, I do not want to manage the firewall for four products. I'll take it all in one. It makes everything easier to manage.
It's really good and it's been working really well over the last few years.
The initial setup has been very simple and straightforward.
The stability, overall, is excellent. I haven't had a problem in the last two years.
What needs improvement?
It is a fine product, however, I need more endpoint protection.
They should release a license for more than 50 IPs. As of now I have had some discussion about with management, and we need to do some planning and around that to see if we can change things.
The pricing is too high. There are other options that are less expensive, such as Bitdefender. In fact, Bitdefender is very good, aside from lacking a firewall such as this. Beyond that, it's a very good product with central management on-premises.
It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention).
For how long have I used the solution?
I've only been using the solution for about two years or so at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been excellent. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. It's very good and very reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is perfect for small businesses.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't have too much experience with technical support. I only recall one case where I had to contact them directly. I recall them being very helpful and responsive. I had a good experience and was satisfied with their level of service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The solution is being discontinued. Hopefully, whatever they replace it with will be very good for small businesses as well.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex. It was very simple and very straightforward. It was not difficult at all. A company shouldn't have any trouble with the process. Specifically, if you have experience in IT, you will find it very easy to deploy these products.
What other advice do I have?
I am a Sophos customer.
I'm using UTM for home use only. It's only four 50 IPS.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. Overall, it's worked really really well. Everything from the updates to the signatures has been very helpful for our business.
I would recommend this product to other users and other organizations.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Operations at Intersect Technologies
A solution that provides a balance of stability and scalability to its users
Pros and Cons
- "Stability-wise, I rate this solution a ten out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate this solution a ten out of ten."
- "The solution's technical support for India needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
There are multiple use cases, and a few examples would be its use in the education, banking, or financial sectors. There are so many other locations and sectors where they deploy this solution.
What is most valuable?
One of the features of Sophos UTM that I find valuable is its user authentication functionality.
What needs improvement?
In Sophos UTM, there is room for improvement in certain areas. For instance, I believe that its feature known as Synchronized Security could be enhanced. The solution's technical support for India needs to be improved.
I will need to think about the additional features the solution needs to include in its next release.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos UTM for almost ten years now. It is a good solution. My company is a partner and an integrator of Sophos UTM.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate this solution a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate this solution a ten out of ten. If I talk about the solution's suitability, then it is suitable for enterprises.
How are customer service and support?
Dealing with technical support can be time-consuming when communicating over the phone. I am unable to provide a rating for the technical support team. My suggestion to others would be that they provide the country location of the toll-free number in the solution. Although a toll-free number has been provided for India, the people in India are good. Compared to the UK, there may be issues with understanding and timing, which could lead to many problems.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Sophos Access Point, Sophos Firewall, Sophos Switches, Sophos MDR, and Sophos XDR. We have been using Sophos MDR for three years.
How was the initial setup?
Whether the initial setup is straightforward or complex depends on the number of users or people to whom the solution is given.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to the current market offerings, like FortiGate or SonicWall, Sophos offers its solution at a good price.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I compared Sophos UTM with Fortinet and found that Fortinet's EPP, ATP, and hardware are good. Sophos UTM has also improved its hardware by updating its dual-core processors with a second processor that uses advanced technology, whereas previously, the hardware was handled by a single processor. However, we are still facing some problems with Multicast User Authentication.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend Sophos UTM, Sophos Access Points, Sophos Endpoint, and Sophos Switches to other users. Overall, I rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Very strong firewall with a streamlined interface that treats everything like an object
Pros and Cons
- "The firewall itself is very strong and provides great security."
- "The solution needs better integration with captive portals and XGs."
What is our primary use case?
Our company is a partner and reseller of the solution. We lease, sell, and license boxes for our clients. Use cases are rather unique and not uniform.
We provide support for a few SMBs around the country.
Some customers are heavy users, with involved configurations, and the setup may include high availability configured with two boxes.
Others use it as just a gateway between their infrastructure and the internet with very simple configurations that don't include web filtering.
Active directory integration domain is used for some, but not all customers. Common items include DNATs and SSL VPN. Most customers use VPNs, and site-to-site connections (REDs or IPsec).
We also use virtualized UTMs for LABs.
What is most valuable?
The firewall itself is very strong and provides great security for the internet. Some clients don't use any other special feature but all customers depend on the firewall as a secure gateway.
A lot of thinking went into the user experience because the UTM interface is streamlined, good, and feels like a web application. It does have hiccups here and there but effectively treats everything as an object. You can quickly see where objects are being used or referred to and change them.
What needs improvement?
The UTMs are end-of-life so the web interface is not top-notch and needs more speed. There is still support for the UTMs so they are the best we have right now.
The solution needs better captive portals and they could have faster UIs.
An improvement to the transparent proxy would help. A user should be able to open a webpage and be redirected to the captive portal like with WIFI or XGs. From there, the user should be able to log in with a username and password to gain internet access. Many clients migrate to XG due to this missing feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been actively using the solution for a some time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is pretty good and better than XG. We don't have any issues directly related to the solution.
Stability is rated a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution scales pretty well. Even with a heavy load, the solution shows no issues.
Scalability is rated an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is not stellar. We have some good experiences and some not so good experiences. We do not have a lot of support requests for the solution.
Support is rated a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We implement the solution for customers. We have a specialist, an architect, and four analysts who handle implementations and maintenance.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend you complete the solution's training because it is pretty good. Rely on the documentation and any tech training available.
I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
It manager at MMA2
Simple setup, flexible reports, and high availability
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is reporting, it is flexible. I can monitor the end user's devices, even when they are not on my network. It has good drill-down capabilities."
- "The reporting could improve by providing information on where, or from which device attacks are coming from. We are already given the country where the attack is coming from but more information would be beneficial."
What is our primary use case?
This solution can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is reporting, it is flexible. I can monitor the end user's devices, even when they are not on my network. It has good drill-down capabilities.
What needs improvement?
The reporting could improve by providing information on where, or from which device attacks are coming from. We are already given the country where the attack is coming from but more information would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos UTM for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Sophos UTM is good.
I rate the stability of Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is scalable.
I rate the scalability of Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I have used the support from Sophos UTM a few times. My experience was good. However, the resolution time can improve.
I rate the support of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Sophos UTM is simple. It can be down within one hour.
I rate the initial setup of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is affordable compared to others, such as FortiGate. The price is important.
I rate the price of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network and System Engineer at Al-Watania Poultry (Egypt)
Easy to set up, stable, feature-rich, and offers good support
Pros and Cons
- "What I like about Sophos UTM is that it improves my company's security. The solution is easy to set up, which I like, and it's very stable."
- "An area for improvement in Sophos UTM is load balancing because my company cannot use it currently. If Sophos could release a new configuration for the load balancing feature to work for my company, that would be great."
What is our primary use case?
We use all features of Sophos UTM, for example, application control and URL filtering.
What is most valuable?
What I like about Sophos UTM is that it improves my company's security. The solution is easy to set up, which I like, and it's very stable.
What needs improvement?
An area for improvement in Sophos UTM is load balancing because my company cannot use it currently. If Sophos could release a new configuration for the load balancing feature to work for my company, that would be great. My team has requested this through the Sophos portal.
Another issue with Sophos UTM is that I cannot monitor YouTube or WhatsApp. I need to block videos and images, but I cannot do that over Sophos UTM.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Sophos UTM for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is very stable. It's an eight for me, stability-wise, on a scale of one to ten.
How are customer service and support?
Sophos UTM offers excellent support, so it's an eight out of ten, support-wise.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Sophos UTM, my company used Cyberoam. Sophos UTM has more than one feature, such as VPN, application access, NAT, and SSL inspection. It has more features than Cyberoam, and I can find all that I need in Sophos UTM compared to Cyberoam.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Sophos UTM was very simple. I configured the solution more than once and found the process very simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing for Sophos UTM is OK. Here in Egypt, many companies use the solution because of its price and features.
My company pays the Sophos UTM license fee yearly.
What other advice do I have?
I have experience with Sophos UTM and all its versions within my company.
My rating for Sophos UTM is eight out of ten. I'm not giving the solution a perfect score because of load balancing and social media scanning issues.
My company is a Sophos customer.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Owner / Network Security Engineer at Texarkana IT
You can lock networks down tight with this if you know what you're doing
Pros and Cons
- "The intrusion prevention is great, and I like dual virus scanning on the network layer because we scan it through Avira and Sophos. Web filtering is also a fantastic option for clients who want to really lock down internet access."
- "When we call support, we get put on hold for a long time."
What is our primary use case?
We use Sophos UTM as an on-premise firewall.
What is most valuable?
All of Sophos UTM's features are valuable. The intrusion prevention is great, and I like dual virus scanning on the network layer because we scan it through Avira and Sophos. Web filtering is also a fantastic option for clients who want to really lock down internet access. And of course, it has the basic firewall features like port blocking and all of the stuff that most standard firewalls include.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Sophos UTM for over 12 years. I started using the solution before it became Sophos. It was originally called the Astaro Security Gateway, and then Sophos acquired Astaro and renamed it Sophos UTM.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Very stable. Very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have Sophos UTM deployed for all my IT clients. There are 40 of them in the field serving about 500 users total.
How are customer service and support?
We get put on hold for a long time. Otherwise, I'm not unhappy with their support at all.
How was the initial setup?
If you have a networking background and understand how to configure it, it's very straightforward. Somebody off the street can't just come in and do it, but yeah, it's pretty straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Sophos UTM a strong eight. I'm not giving it a ten because they're putting all their efforts into the XG model, so the UTM model will probably be phased out before long. I love the security of the XG. It's better with artificial intelligence and all of this type of stuff, and you can manage it from the Sophos Central Cloud. But Astaro ASG, now Sophos UTM, was the first unified threat management system and everybody else was copycatted it. I think its web filtering's great. If there are any security vulnerabilities, it's the fault of the administrator configuring the product, not the solution itself. You can lock networks down tight with this if you know what you're doing.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: October 2024
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