We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Sophos Cyberoam UTM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Initial setup is easy to configure."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"It's inexpensive compared to some of the other technology out there."
"One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface. I don't have to log into one interface for the firewall, another one for the access points, and another one for the switches. These firewalls have access point controller functionality built right into the system, so I don't even have to purchase additional devices to manage them."
"The most valuable feature is the policy routing and application control."
"The product offers very good security."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."
"The solution is very easy to use and configure."
"I have found the most valuable features to be antivirus and malware protection."
"The main features of this solution are customization and ease to use."
"The product’s documentation is good."
"We can run it on any hardware."
"Is good at blocking IP addresses."
"This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution."
"The intrusion detection feature is the most valuable. It is an open-source firewall, so there is a lot of material on it. I also find the open VPN capability very nice. It is pretty customizable. The clustering and the high availability are the two biggest things to be able to get out of a firewall."
"The solution is easy to use."
"In some circumstances, the malware functionality is the most important feature, and in other cases, some other features."
"The best feature is the flexibility the product offers, in terms of remote access. What we had before was a decentralized mechanism in our organization, but after having this product we were able to get the remote locations into the same LAN. We were able to control the bandwidth and were able to take virtual access of those machines and give them the support, as and when required."
"The port forwarding is good."
"The solution's interface is user-friendly, and the web protection is good. The tool is highly stable. The product is scalable. The technical support is good. We chose Sophos Cyberoam UTM because their focus on security research is higher compared to other brands. It's an all-in-one solution with antivirus, EDR, wireless protection, and web protection integrated into one box. The initial setup was straightforward."
"Its portal is user-friendly. I am able to manage the user data and access control through this device."
"The security capabilities are okay."
"The tool's robust features allow for the customization of policies, objects, and firewall settings."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data."
"Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas."
"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"The solution lacks sufficient filtering."
"It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."
"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."
"The user interface could be improved."
"Netgate pfSense needs to improve the configuration for a VPN."
"It is not centrally managed, where you log into the website and can see all your services there. We would like to be able to see is all the configurations from a central interface on all our pfSenses."
"I would like to see pfSense integrate WireGuard. Currently, pfSense uses OpenVPN, and there's nothing wrong with it, but WireGuard is a lot leaner and meaner."
"It needs better parsing of logs. At the moment, you have to use an external server for this if you want a deeper analysis."
"The solution’s interface must be improved."
"One concern I have with Netgate pfSense is related to packet filtering. Specifically, issues can arise with certain functionalities like GP, and, at times, there may be bugs."
"The hotspot and the portal feature in this solution are not stable for WiFi access. We use it at least once or twice every day and it crashes. Some modules can be better by improving detection and having new updates. Additionally, we have some issues with clustering and load balancing that could improve."
"There are some bias issues and some intrusions in our network that have to be addressed. So, we're thinking of changing this firewall to something like a professional hardware-enabled firewall."
"The VPN is an area that can be improved."
"Needs a mail alert/notification when the device loses any of its connections, during ISP redundancy implementation."
"The reporting part could be more user-friendly for troubleshooting and identifying network issues. It should be more easy for a normal user to identify the problem in their network."
"I would like to see a better content management pack and also the website searching should be better."
"While the security features are excellent, they could be improved."
"Cyberoam configuration is done through the browser, which is one of the places that viruses spread."
"On-box sandstorm should be available. As of now, it is from their cloud."
"The technical support response time could be faster."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Sophos Cyberoam UTM is ranked 7th in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 81 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Sophos Cyberoam UTM is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos Cyberoam UTM writes "Stable and has a straightforward setup; reporting is fast and easy". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Sophos Cyberoam UTM is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Sophos UTM, SonicWall NSa and Sophos XG. See our Netgate pfSense vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM report.
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