We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and Sophos 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."I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."
"The most valuable feature is the web filter."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"The GUI is good."
"Customers are more inclined towards FortiGate because of application control, web filtering, and anti-spam features. The support from the FortiGate team is good, and price-wise, it is affordable."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"This solution made it very easy to manage our bandwidth."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"I have not actually called their support line, because we have a direct contact to a senior engineer in the company for any issues that we handle with them. I will say they are very responsive, and they do give you the information you need when you need it."
"With the improved visibility we now have, the traffic is being properly monitored, which means that we are better able to manage it. These are improvements that we saw very quickly."
"The VM-Series scalability is fast and easy to implement, improving our security posture as our Azure network grows."
"The tool's cloud version makes application migration easy."
"I like the UI. Most things are accessible from the user interface and it is quite user-friendly. With respect to both VM-based firewalls and physical firewalls, it's easy to create updates."
"We have reduced the number of configuration lines by 90%. We need fewer number of admins right now because of it."
"The most effective features for threat prevention are application-based prevention and WildFire. These features cover various threats, such as ransomware, malware, etc. They provide real-time visibility. By applying appropriate policies, threats can be blocked."
"It has the ability to create Palo Alto VM-series using software."
"It has allowed us to design a bespoke cloud space for our clients, while still having an excellent level of protection."
"It works well without any maintenance. So far, it has worked pretty well regardless of the traffic."
"With over 150 firewalls in our portal, management and monitoring have never been easier."
"The initial setup has been fine."
"I would recommend UTM over XG because it's easier to manage."
"It now controls all the security aspects of our web servers with Sophos UTM WAF."
"The solution is stable."
"Has great security features and does a good job of protecting the network."
"Its customer service could be better."
"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."
"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."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"Currently, FortiGate is providing SSL VPN. But they're missing some features that are available in Palo Alto's SSL VPN."
"Quality control on their firmware versions needs improvement. When they introduce new firmware, there tend to be bugs."
"I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included."
"The support structure needs to be improved because every time we contact them, there is a delay in the response."
"It would be helpful if we had a direct number for the support manager or the supporting engineer. That would be better than having to email every time because there would be less wait."
"The product needs improvement in their Secure Access Service Edge."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series needs to improve its order process."
"I would like to see a more thorough QA process. We have had some difficulties from bugs in releases."
"We feel that the setup was complex. So, we asked the tech team about the setup process. They explained how to deploy it in the right way, which made it very simple."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is a complex product to work with."
"The product could be better in terms of performance than one of its competitors."
"The interface is all Java-based. I would prefer an HTML5 interface."
"The product could be simplified and made more self-explanatory."
"They could use more SSL VPN support."
"There can be a delay when it comes to reaching out to technical support."
"The ease of use could be a bit better."
"I would like some features that are available in other brands. For example, I sometimes a person is using too much bandwidth, and it isn't easy to find this information in Sophos. Also, we have to switch connections manually when we are using a VPN and lose the MPLS connection. It isn't automatic."
"The solution's technical support for India needs to be improved."
"We didn’t find any issues but I know there have been some in the last few years."
"They could reduce the price."
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is ranked 10th in Firewalls with 53 reviews while Sophos UTM is ranked 1st in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 110 reviews. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is rated 8.6, while Sophos UTM is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series writes "Many features are optimized for troubleshooting real-time scenarios, saving a lot of time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos UTM writes "It's a highly stable platform with very few hardware issues". Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is most compared with Azure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and KerioControl, whereas Sophos UTM is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs. Sophos UTM report.
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