Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs Sophos UTM comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
580
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Arista Edge Threat Manageme...
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (41st)
Sophos UTM
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
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.
Nitesh Saxena - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Avyaan Management
Provides virus protection but needs improvement in the area of policy implementation
The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation. If our company wants to give a separate policy to a particular client, user or system, it is very difficult to manage it. There is no categorization in the web filter option. If you want to search for a particular content to be blocked in the web filter, the search option is not there. You have to manually choose the option in the tool and then check it.
Thomas Zimmerman - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Integrated firewall and VPN have provided cost savings and strengthened customer security
The needed improvements for Sophos UTM include that the GUI could be a little more high-resolution-aware because it's still stuck in the small, low-resolution admin days, and those are long over. I choose a rating of nine out of ten for Sophos UTM because, as I mentioned, the graphical user interface is stuck in the past, and some things here and there are not implemented to the full, such as the reverse gateway thing, reverse proxy, and web application firewall. If you want to really implement some rules that are a little bit more difficult, Sophos always recommends getting the dedicated WAF, or web application firewall, but I would prefer to have more features on the web application firewall in the firewall itself because it would make more sense. Other than that, it's a very smooth experience, and I really appreciate it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate is stable; I am told that Fortinet FortiGate is one of the best solutions available, and I believe it."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is its stability."
"Fortinet offers comprehensive security solutions for various purposes."
"Offers good security and filtering."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"The solution provides good threat intelligence feeds."
"It's very easy to set up, it's very easy to make policies and, for an organization, that means you don't need IT expert in firewalls. You just need to have somebody who knows a little bit of IT, and that's it. With other products, you need someone with a "Masters" degree in firewalls."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"Phish Blocker is a valuable feature."
"Technical support is very responsive."
"It allows our developers to be able to securely log into servers to deploy and manage software."
"Sophos UTM is very user-friendly and has good integration with other solutions."
"I definitely recommend Sophos. I rate it a nine out of ten."
"Our systems are silent, secure, and we don't have many problems with security policy enforcement."
"It helps us with protection, with concurrent use of the VPN."
"It is a very good product. The threat monitoring process is the most valuable feature."
"What I like about the solution is the ease of use."
 

Cons

"The support we receive when we need to upgrade is not satisfactory and has room for improvement."
"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."
"It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."
"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."
"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."
"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."
"FortiGate's reporting features could provide a better picture of what is happening in the box."
"The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation."
"The documentation is not clear."
"Sophos UTM sometimes falls short in high-availability environments. They used to launch firmware that didn't work very well in a high-availability environment."
"​Reporting: We have had to work manually in many of our reports."
"There is absolutely no support when using AWS. If you buy the on-premise Sophos solution, you get support."
"We would like to have unique viewable IDs for rules and in the packet filter logfile, for easier debugging of old log files."
"With artificial intelligence, there is room for improvement in all antivirus and security software."
"Sophos UTM's firewall is a bit weak, and some of its features lack depth compared to other products like F5."
"Initially, there were issues with the wireless network as wireless access points were disappearing from the dashboard after some time."
"Sophos UTM could improve the way the configuration has to be done. I have to do the configuration through the command line interface but if it could be done through the graphical user interface it would be much better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While slightly more affordable than competitors, it remains relatively expensive due to its inclusive subscription."
"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."
"Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license."
"It is not a very costly product if you compare it with other products. The return on investment is also good. If you compare the return of investment and money that you are spending on this product with Palo Alto, Cisco, Check Point, and other solutions, the investment is very less. We are happy with this solution. The optional licenses are there, and you can choose which one you want and which one to avoid."
"Setup cost may be not so low, as you expect, because it depends on different factors, but TCO for 5 years may pleasantly surprise you."
"In the Asian economy in which we operate, FortiGate is expensive."
"It was worth the money overall. It's good value."
"It is a cost-effective solution that meets the user's needs."
"I consider it an averagely-priced tool."
"The tool is quite cheap."
"Go to a vendor and let them assess your needs so you can get a right-sized device."
"​In the case of a software/virtual appliance subscription, you pay by protecting user/IP addresses. You can do this to as much hardware resources as you like.​​"
"The licensing model is very straightforward, it's a bit pricey, but for what you get, it's well worth it."
"This product is free for home users. The more expensive products have better performance."
"Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing. It is a very fine product, but when someone wants more relaxed pricing or more leverage in pricing, Sophos is more rigid."
"Pricing for the upgrade was very competitive as Sophos wanted to retain existing customers."
"The price of the license for Sophos UTM is approximately $5,500. The solution is less expensive than competitors."
"It is necessary to pay for a licence to use the solution, but it is not very expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise132
Large Enterprise188
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise25
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
I consider it an averagely-priced tool. Adding additional features does not cost extra. My small company pays around ...
What needs improvement with Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation. If our company wants to give a separate policy...
What advice do you have for others considering Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
The product offers DPI capability. My company does not use the DPI capabilities. I recommend the tool to those who pl...
What do you like most about Sophos UTM?
The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the endpoint protection feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
I have no declaration regarding my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Sophos UTM.
What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?
The needed improvements for Sophos UTM include that the GUI could be a little more high-resolution-aware because it's...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
Astaro
 

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
Information Not Available
One Housing Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.