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Sangfor NGAF vs SonicWall NSa comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
574
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (2nd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Sangfor NGAF
Ranking in Firewalls
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.9%, up from 19.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate19.9%
SonicWall NSa1.7%
Sangfor NGAF1.1%
Other77.3%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Zaid Farooqui - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support
We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security has strengthened with next-generation firewall features and cost savings
I primarily use SonicWall NSA as a next-generation firewall for network security architecture. It is especially used for securing business operations with networks of more than 250 people SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks. These…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"FortiGate is easy to use, and I also like its VPN."
"Fortinet FortiGate has a threat detection capacity compared to other vendors."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"I haven't configured or experienced any stability issues."
"The technical support in our region is excellent."
"I have found the decryption of Fortinet FortiGate IPS very good. It's called SSL deep inspection, it's working very well. This is how you decrypt access and traffic, and it is through the IPS antivirus center. Additionally, the UI is user-friendly."
"Sangfor NGAF specializes in ransomware detection and helps to protect our network from ransomware threats and malware."
"The product is very fast and reliable."
"The most valuable features are the WAN optimization, the internet access gateway (IAG), and the central console, which allows us to implement on their firewall."
"SSL VPN is the best feature."
"The top functionality is the reporting feature."
"I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I compare it with Palo Alto and Cisco, both are quite complex products. And if I compare it with FortiGate firewalls from Fortinet, I have also used all these products. Fortinet and Sangfor NGAF are similar products because the applications behind the application and policy layers are almost identical."
"Sangfor's tech features and technologies are more powerful than those of the other solution providers in terms of security. They also have big solutions in terms of cybersecurity."
"The tool's performance is good."
"We have utilized all the features. The most valuable are the URL filtering by category, DMZ zoning, load balancing and site-to-site VPN."
"Valuable features include a web filter, DHCP, and monitoring capabilities."
"I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"It has a very good user interface."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection."
"SonicWall NSa has a user-friendly firmware"
 

Cons

"I would like to see the licensing aspect improved because there is a feature we were yearning to use, the bandwidth monitoring feature, but it's licensed separately."
"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."
"To some degree, it's almost a question as to why some of this stuff isn't simpler. For example, for an AP deployment, while it's integrated, the number of steps that you have to go through in order to get the AP up, seems like a lot."
"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."
"The support costs and licensing are sometimes so expensive."
"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
"The AI part needs improvement to enhance its functionality."
"The product needs to drastically improve its reporting capability."
"The setup phase is quite complex."
"Our experience with its customer support was quite challenging."
"An area of improvement for Sangfor NGAF could be in the field of reporting and logging."
"It does not offer any recommendations on how to mitigate or control attacks."
"The web interface needs to be improved, making it more user-friendly."
"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardware scalability, allowing for more storage and memory capacity."
"They need to improve their research team and they need to study their data to analyze it and build the product."
"There is room for improvement in dependency on certain infrastructure, like the DNS dependency on the current DNS server that the company has. It should be standalone. It should not depend on any other DNS server."
"Overall, Im satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC."
"Sometimes I found the GUI and some of the features a little bit hard to navigate, as opposed to Fortigate, which is much more user-friendly."
"Port forwarding could use streamlining."
"SonicWall NSa needs to make their product more user-friendly."
"The features I would like to see improve are the dashboard and the UI."
"The only thing that we would want would be single-pane management, which it has, but the GMS is not very good. It's purely the management of multiple devices for multiple customers, that's the only thing that it's lacking."
"I feel that the SSL VPN client software needs a lot of improvement."
"SonicWall does not support DynDNS, yet this is an important feature for smaller companies that do not have a static IP address."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution."
"When you look at these end security systems and firewalls, these firewalls even five years ago were $50,000 or perhaps $25,000 to implement in some types of customer sites. Now we're talking about tools that are $1,000. In this case, it might have been $500 or something like that."
"It's an expensive solution"
"Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate."
"I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."
"​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."
"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."
"The price is unmatcheable."
"For four to five physical appliances for a licensed firewall, it costs approximately $4,000."
"The product is very cost-effective compared to other brands or vendors."
"If you know you have around 200+ computer users on your network, then the Sangfor NGAF 5200-F-I model would be the minimum recommended model for that amount of users. This model includes modules for packet filtering, deep packet inspection, malware scanning, DSCP filtration, and many other features."
"I rate the product price as one on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"We purchased one year technical support and return to factory support, and we also purchased one-year technical support services. So those were additional."
"The price falls in the mid-range, neither exceptionally low nor high."
"If one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the tool's price as three out of ten."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis, and we are happy with the pricing."
"The pricing is good and we are satisfied with the cost of this solution."
"Compared to Fortinet and Cisco, SonicWall NSa is a cheaper solution."
"The price of SonicWall NSa is expensive."
"When implemented properly, the total cost of operation is very low."
"The price is reasonable."
"The solution is expensive. Its pricing is based on the number of users."
"The CPUs are not able to compete with a similar price point to the Fortinet, WatchGuard, or Palo Alto product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business350
Midsize Enterprise130
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise24
 

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...
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...
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 ...
What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?
I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?
The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.
What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?
The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...
What do you like most about SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
I have not really seen any problems with SonicWall NSa on the technical front, but the quality of support is not that...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
 

Overview

 

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
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
Find out what your peers are saying about Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall NSa and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
872,922 professionals have used our research since 2012.