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Terry Cheung - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at TopSOC
Real User
Quick to deploy, cost-effective, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is cost-effective and easy to manage."
  • "Support could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We deploy the solution for our customers.

It is a next-generation firewall. It has all the security features and operates as a next-generation firewall for the company.

What is most valuable?

The solution is cost-effective and easy to manage.

It's a stable and reliable product.

The initial setup is straightforward and simple to manage.

What needs improvement?

I can't recall coming across any missing features. 

Support could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for two years now. 

Buyer's Guide
Sophos XGS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos XGS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. the performance is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm not sure about the scalability. I've never tried to scale.

However, it's my understanding that you need to replace the firewall if you need to expand.

We have more than ten people on the product.

How are customer service and support?

The Sophos support is bad. It needs to be improved. they are not helpful or responsive enough. The system for support is not that good. Sometimes they are not able to resolve the issue. 

How was the initial setup?

It offers a pretty simple and straightforward setup. It's not hard to manage the process.

The deployment is quick. If you have the skills, the firewall may only take a few minutes to set up.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is pretty reasonable. It's relatively cost-effective. 

There is a licensing fee the customer has to pay. The license is yearly. We have what I believe is a two-year agreement.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

The product is cost-effective and if you're not looking for high speed it's quite good.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Network Security Engineer at TECHBASE
Real User
As system integrators, we like the dashboard because it's easier to configure all the features.
Pros and Cons
  • "Web filtering and intrusion detection are essential features. As system integrators, we also like the dashboard because it's easier to configure all the features."
  • "I rate Sophos' support five out of 10. It's sometimes difficult to contact them, and finding a solution is not easy."

What is our primary use case?

We are system integrators implementing Sophos fvarious of clients, including government agencies, industry, small offices, and schools. We can implement this solution for any organization. They have Sophos on the cloud, but we only install on-premises for our clients. 

How has it helped my organization?

We receive an email report on the number of attacks Sophos has stopped each day. Since we installed the solution, the number of detected attacks has increased considerably. 

What is most valuable?

Web filtering and intrusion detection are essential features. As system integrators, we also like the dashboard because it's easier to configure all the features.

What needs improvement?

Our only issue is the price.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started working with Sophos about four years ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos is scalable. You can do high availability and a lot of other things with it.

How are customer service and support?

I rate Sophos' support five out of 10. It's sometimes difficult to contact them, and finding a solution is not easy.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Sophos is one of the best solutions on the market, but Meraki and FortiGate are on the same level. We only work with Sophos and Meraki. We don't use any other vendors. Meraki is installed for specific situations, but we use Sophos for the rest.

How was the initial setup?

There is an installation wizard, so the deployment is straightforward. The basic installation takes about an hour. However, it takes longer to build a customized solution for a client with multiple policies that must be configured. It is easy to do it, but it takes time.

After the deployment, there isn't much maintenance. They notify us when they need to install an update.  We can do it without rebooting the system, so the customer has no downtime. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate Sophos XGS five out of 10 for affordability. Sophos has several license tiers. The basic license is Network Protection, and you can purchase additional modules. Right now, if I want to upgrade one client to the new one, they give me a 99 percent discount on hardware. However, the hardware cost is nothing because the license is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sophos XGs nine out of 10. Aside from the price and the support, the solution is excellent. My only advice is to be careful because you cannot renew the license again once Sophos products reach the end of life. You have to purchase a new solution.

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: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos XGS
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos XGS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Suresh Parvathareddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Apjakal IT Solutions
Reseller
Top 10
Has an easy initial setup process, but its stability needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a scalable solution."
  • "Its pricing could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to secure networks and traffic for our customers.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use and provides regular updates. Along with this, it is network friendly as well. Thus, we can easily control and monitor the devices.

What needs improvement?

The solution's pricing and stability could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. I rate its stability a seven or eight. Sometimes, we encounter stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. I rate its scalability an eight or nine. Our clients for the solution are enterprise businesses.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to install. It takes a day or two to complete depending on the use cases. We require one technician for its deployment. Also, its maintenance process involves adding connections, managing them, and checking the errors.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have the solution's annual license. Its price is moderate, but it could be cheaper. Also, there are additional costs involved as it requires appointing IT experts.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to others and rate it as seven 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: Reseller
PeerSpot user
It manager at MMA2
Reseller
Top 5
Spam filtering is my favorite feature
Pros and Cons
  • "Spam filtering is what I love most about XGS."
  • "The reporting could be better."

What is our primary use case?

I use XGS for filtering and spam blocking. We have 255 users.

What is most valuable?

Spam filtering is what I love most about XGS.

What needs improvement?

The reporting could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XGS for about five years.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Sophos XGS is straightforward, and it took us about four hours to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I pay for a yearly license for XGS. It's not cheap, but the price is okay compared to other gateway devices. It's in the middle. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sophos XGS eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Engineer at Spectrum Engineering Consortium Ltd.
Reseller
Excellent solution for security, traffic filtering, blocking websites and wireless protection
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos XGS is profound as a firewall and security product."
  • "It would be good if we could do dual customization."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for security purposes, traffic filtering, voice filtering, blocking websites, traffic shaping, and wireless protection. We also use this solution to analyze malware threats and email protection logs.

How has it helped my organization?

Sophos XGS is profound as a firewall and security product. We have deployed Sophos XGS and Endpoint in several banking systems and government sites. Our customers are satisfied that Sophos XGS is continuously blocking websites and giving us reports on which apps, users or websites are vulnerable. As partners, we also benefit and have deployed several parallels on the customer side. In addition, Sophos has improved its technical support service, and customers are happy about the support.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the network policy and SD-WAN policy.

What needs improvement?

There was a hardware conflict with the software. Recently we did five RMA of Sophos hardware, and several customers said the hardware and firmware were faulty, so there is a dependency on the hardware. For some customers, EQuIS is also an issue, and when we claim RMA from Bangladesh, it takes almost one month to get the product. 

In addition, the firmware has some bugs because it continuously updates in 5.1, 5.3, and 5.7. So, if we randomly change the firmware, it's not fixable, and this should be improved. 

In Sophos XG Firewall, we can create a different zone, like LAN, DMZ, and MZ, but we cannot customize the WAN dual, so it would be good if we could do dual customization.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for five years. It was called Sophos XG Firewall Endpoint before Sophos XGS. Recently we deployed XGS version 4300. It is deployed on-premises.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is not a stable solution, and improvements can be made to firmware and hardware.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability could be improved.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is helpful, but the response time could be faster. When we raise a case, there is sometimes a delay in responding. There is no toll-free number to call for emergency support in Bangladesh, so we call a Singapore number and wait a long time for technical support. When they eventually answer, they ask us many questions, which consumes a lot of time, and they sometimes transfer us to other technical engineers. This is a significant issue for us in Bangladesh and should be improved.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Sophos XGS was a tender proposal, and we chose it.

How was the initial setup?

It was an easy setup, and it was not complex. The deployment depends on the customer's timeline, requirements and scope of work. Basic configuration takes about one or two days, and we deployed both in-house and in the customer environment. I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. One person can do deployment because we're not doing any mounting, and mounting requires two people. So configuration can also be done by one person.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

They have annual licenses, and we have a three-year license. Unfortunately, I do not have information on the licensing costs.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a nine out of ten, and I would recommend this solution to others.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
CTO at Joan Cross Infosystems Ltd
Reseller
Useful synchronized security, helpful support, and progressive innovations
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Sophos XGS are a set of functionalities that are quite commendable, they call it synchronized security, where all the solutions share defense lines with each other."
  • "Sophos XGS could improve the price."

What is our primary use case?

Sophos XGS can be deployed on the cloud or on-premise.

Sophos XGS can be used as a firewall, secured appliance firewall, routing, and depending on the licensing on it, to secure web servers.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Sophos XGS are a set of functionalities that are quite commendable, they call it synchronized security, where all the solutions share defense lines with each other.

What needs improvement?

Sophos XGS could improve the price.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XGS for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XGS is reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Sophos XGS is good.

We have approximately 1,000 cumulative users using the solution. We have approximately 15 customers using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Sophos XGS is great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Sophos XGS is straightforward, but if you are not experienced it would be difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost for Sophos XGS is high. However, they do apply competitive discounts and different layers of discounts.

What other advice do I have?

Sophos XGS is rated number one on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for the current year. They are doing well with respect to innovations.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Sophos XGS an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Manager IT SOLUTIONS DELIVERY at Al Hiba IT Service
Real User
Top 5
Satisfied with overall features, technical support is good, but the price is high
Pros and Cons
  • "We are happy and satisfied with all the features."
  • "Compared to Fortinet, the cost is high."

What is most valuable?

We are happy and satisfied with all the features. There is nothing special there.

What needs improvement?

The main thing that we would like to see improved is ransom. They could provide something better. We are not using a public IP. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XGS for the past year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable for our intended purposes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos XGS is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

It depends upon the requirement you may have. If we see that it is a straightforward requirement, it will be easy to implement.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Compared to Fortinet, the cost is high. Even compared to the U.S. market the market price is high.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We work with SonicWall and Fortinet. This depends upon the requirements you have. Sometimes the client wants a particular price, sometimes they are considering a solution, and sometimes it is pricing. It's based on the distributors, support, and installers.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Sophos XGS a seven 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:
PeerSpot user
Muco Aga - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Security Solutions Consultant at CloudCan
Real User
Top 20
Reliable with a nice interface and great documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "It's easy to use and user-friendly."
  • "There are a lot of false-positive cases."

What is our primary use case?

We did buy access points, and we did use the WiFi configuration. We did create a configuration for the WiFi to the access points on the same interface. It's great for access point integration.

What is most valuable?

The user interface is fine.  

The configuration and customization capabilities are good.

It is very lovely to work with Sophos in general. It's easy to use and user-friendly.

There is a lot of great documentation available to users. 

The stability is good. 

It's scalable. 

What needs improvement?

The licensing prices are too high.

There are a lot of false-positive cases. 

We'd like to see access point integration. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product can scale. 

We have about 150 users on the solution right now. 

How are customer service and support?

I have not used any technical support services. There is so much documentation online, I do not need assistance. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also use Microsoft products. I prefer Sophos for on-premises and Microsoft for cloud and antivirus products. 

Microsoft Defender and the Microsoft Defender cloud panels admin portal are native, and we are using many Microsoft products, so it just makes sense due to the environment to use Microsoft products. 

How was the initial setup?

While the deployment was done before I began work in the organization, I reset it and configured it completely.

There are a lot of Sophos post-configuration documents, Sophos videos, et cetera. It was the first time that I configured Sophos. However, it was all good.

The product is very easy to maintain. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost to license the product is a bit expensive. I'd rate the cost at a four out of five in terms of affordability. We pay about $150.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a consultant. I'm using the latest version of the solution.

Sophos is good for smaller companies. It might not be suitable for large ones. 

I'd rate it seven out of ten.

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos XGS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos XGS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.