Azure Firewall vs SonicWall NSv comparison

Microsoft and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Microsoft is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3, while SonicWall is ranked #38 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft holds a 2.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Azure Firewall and SonicWall NSv are both high-performing firewall solutions, each with distinct strengths. Based on user reviews, SonicWall NSv outperforms Azure Firewall in feature set and security capabilities, though Azure Firewall is rated better for pricing and customer support.

Features: Azure Firewall is praised for its seamless integration with other Azure services, robust scalability, and advanced threat detection. SonicWall NSv receives accolades for its in-depth security features, advanced threat protection, and detailed traffic analysis.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Azure Firewall could enhance its reporting functionalities and reduce false positives. For SonicWall NSv, feedback indicates a need for a more intuitive management experience and better documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure Firewall benefits from straightforward deployment in the Azure ecosystem and superior customer support. SonicWall NSv has a more involved deployment process and less favorable customer support feedback.

Pricing and ROI: Azure Firewall is generally considered to offer more competitive pricing and quicker return on investment due to straightforward integration and lower setup costs. SonicWall NSv, although more expensive and with higher initial setup costs, is viewed as providing significant ROI through its advanced security feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv

September 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.7%, up from 18.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Firewall is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	20.7%
Azure Firewall	2.1%
SonicWall NSv	0.2%
Other	77.0%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

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.

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Rashedul Khan

Senior Software Engineer at cimsolutions

Seamless integration enhances security while reducing manual effort

We didn't use TLS termination or malware filtering extensively because those are part of the premium features for Azure Firewall. At this point, I cannot see much improvement needed for Azure Firewall, because it served my purpose; having used it for four months, I am satisfied with the features and performance that I needed for my project. Features that integrate AI functionalities into Azure Firewall could be added, which can also address costing issues. We have features that we require, but they are in the premium offerings. If some features with limitations, for example, limited users, could be made available in the standard Azure Firewall, it would be easier for beginners choosing Azure Firewall at a very first level to test those features without needing to upgrade to premium.

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Sileesh Sivadasan

Director at Infosec Infra

Helps small businesses expand branches more easily

The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I want to talk to a customer executive, they ask many trivial questions. Even if I explain that I am asking for a Dell partner, they still ask specific questions, and they will explain many unnecessary questions.

Read full review

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 Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."

"Virtual Domains (VDOMs) are a feature that we found valuable."

"There are many features packed and significant flexibility from Fortinet FortiGate in being able to do numerous things."

"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."

"The most valuable feature is the web filter."

"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."

"The response is very quick and they can visually resolve our problems in a short period."

"Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I think that one of the best features is definitely the premium version, along with the IDPs in terms of the intrusion detection and prevention system."

"The features of Azure Firewall that I find most valuable include DNS inspection, forward proxy, and security, particularly on the edge."

"We use the solution for application and server deployment."

"The solution is stable."

"The Layer four features are okay and meet my business needs."

"It provided ease of maintenance. If a new firewall was needed, we only had to run the pipelines for this. So, the maintenance was very easy."

"Network filtering is valuable. The scalability capability from the cloud-native service helps us a lot because it simplifies our day-to-day maintenance activity."

"With Azure products, customer support is really good."

More Azure Firewall pros

"We are very impressed with it."

"The customization of firewall rules provides great value to our customers as it allows them to lock things up in the way that they desire. When it is used for internal access, with a VPN in place for remote workers, the firewalling services provided by Azure, such as the default services that can be turned on, are applied. However, the use of a software-based virtual firewall gives us greater flexibility in introducing security controls for customers who are publishing applications that are publicly accessible from the public cloud. This virtual firewall provides an additional layer of security and more extensive security control options to ensure the protection of our customers' valuable information and assets."

"For my small NFB banking services, when they are expanding their branches, I could incorporate a little bit easier."

"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."

"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."

"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."

"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."

"The solution has no additional charges and no restrictions on the number of users."

More SonicWall NSv pros

Cons

"We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions."

"I feel that the reporting needs to be improved."

"There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues."

"The big license options have web filtering, IDS, and a lot of other things, but it's not like they are all good."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG can be expensive for some customers."

"I would like to be able to see more log details."

"The biggest "gotcha" is that if the client purchases what they call the UTM shared bundle, which has unified threat management on both, it's not as easy to manage if you have more than one firewall."

"The product has to be upgraded every few weeks."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Azure has new versions including a premium firewall. But I would like to see them not put the premium features on Azure Firewall Premium alone because it is quite expensive."

"We find it's different implementing it region-to-region. It might help if it was universal across all regions."

"It needs a lot of improvement, especially on intruder detection. They are working hard on that."

"I would appreciate it if Azure Firewall included built-in VPN capabilities."

"The solution doesn't offer the same capabilities of Fortinet. It should offer intrusion prevention and advance filtering. These are two very useful features offered on Fortinet that Azure lacks."

"The threat intelligence part could be better. I don't see why our customers have to get an additional solution with Azure Firewall. It would be great if they made it on par with Palo Alto."

"The threat intelligence aspect of this particular firewall is not at par with other providers."

"It has fewer features than you can get from other firewalls, like anti-spam and anti-phishing. Those kinds of things are not included. It only includes IDS and IDB."

More Azure Firewall cons

"The engine provided initially was quite heavy, creating a trade-off between software and hardware-based threat management."

"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."

"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."

"Currently, we are getting challenges with user-wise reports and other reporting details. At present, they do not provide detailed reports compared to other products."

"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."

"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."

"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."

"There are limitations to bandwidth management."

More SonicWall NSv cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."

"When comparing this solution to others, I would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of pricing. However, the issue of requiring a separate license for redundancy is a drawback, and I would rate it a nine out of ten."

"It is a good product from a price perspective versus functionality."

"Each feature costs money, so it is important to study your needs."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"The price is relatively expensive compared to other solutions which are providing similar features."

"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."

"The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Azure Firewall is expensive."

"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."

"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."

"It is expensive, especially with the premium functions. For one of the clients, it was very expensive. You have to use it more at an enterprise level, and there, it was not at an enterprise level. So, it was very costly, but security-wise, it was a very wise decision to use it that way."

"The solution is cheaper than other brands. My company has an enterprise contract and we finally got a good price with Azure."

"Azure Firewall is quite an expensive product."

"I rate the product pricing a five out of ten."

"The pricing of Azure Firewall is pay-as-you-go. Fortinet also has a pay-as-you-go model, but Azure's pricing is higher and, with FortiGate, you also have the license."

More Azure Firewall pricing and cost advice

"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."

"We are currently using the trial version."

"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."

"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

26%

Educational Organization

Government

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	129
Large Enterprise	187

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...

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How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?

Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...

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Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?

Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...

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What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?

The product helps improve our security.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSV?

I am somewhat satisfied with the price for SonicWall NSv, rating it as eight because, compared to other products, the...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?

Currently, we are getting challenges with user-wise reports and other reporting details. At present, they do not prov...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Azure Firewall

Compared 17% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Azure Firewall

Compared 17% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Azure Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Azure Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Azure Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

More Azure Firewall Competitors

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 24% of the time

Stormshield Network Security vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 20% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 12% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 10% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 9% of the time

More SonicWall NSv Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

August 2025

Download SonicWall NSv product report

Also Known As

No data available

SonicWall Network Security Virtual

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Azure Firewall is a user-friendly, intuitive, cloud-native firewall security solution that provides top-of-the-industry threat protection for all your Azure Virtual Network resources. Azure Firewall is constantly and thoroughly analyzing all traffic and data packets, making it a very valuable and secure fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability. Azure Firewall allows users to create virtual IP addresses and provides for secure DDoS protection for the virtual machines on your network. It also provides fast and efficient east-west and north-south traffic security.

Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service built to protect your Azure Virtual Network resources. It is a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability.

Azure Firewall has two significant offerings, Standard and Premium.

Azure Firewall Standard works directly with Microsoft Cyber Security and supplies excellent L3-L7 filtering and threat awareness. The proactive real-time threat awareness will quickly alert you and immediately deny all traffic to and from any known problematic or suspicious domains or IP addresses. Microsoft Cyber Security is updated continually to protect against all new and known potential threats at all times. To learn more about Azure Firewall Standard, click here.

Azure Firewall Premium provides everything the standard version does, and additionally adds extra levels of data encryption, network intrusion detection, extended URL filtering, and Web category filters. To learn more about the added features of Azure Firewall Premium, click here.

Key Benefits and Features of Azure Firewall:

High availability - You do not need load balancers with Azure Firewall; it's already built in and ready to go.
Self-scalability - Azure Firewall is intuitive and will auto-scale as needed based on traffic flow to be ready for peak traffic times.
Threat awareness - Using Microsoft Cyber Security to filter traffic, Azure Firewall will deny any known problematic threats to keep your network safe.
Additional IP addresses - You can securely add up to 250 public IP addresses with Azure Firewall
Improved web category filtering - You can set up specific protocols to allow or deny categories within websites that are deemed inappropriate for use within your network. You have the ability to organize categories based on a defined set of descriptions.

What our real users have to say:

Many PeerSpot users found Azure Firewall to be very user-friendly and easy to use. They liked that it offers seamless integration to the cloud and were especially pleased with the threat filtering options.

Regarding integration and threat intelligence, our users wrote:

“The most valuable feature is the integration into the overall cloud platform.”

“The most valuable feature is threat intelligence. It is based on filtering and can identify multiple threats.”

“I think that one of the best features is definitely the premium version, along with the IDPs in terms of the intrusion detection and prevention system.”

Microsoft

SonicWall NSV is a software-based virtual firewall that provides additional security for customers with public-facing servers or services on Microsoft Azure. The AGSS Bundle is considered the most valuable feature, providing security services such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI.

Additionally, customization of firewall rules provides great value to customers, allowing them to lock things up in the way they desire. SonicWall NSV offers extensive security control options to protect customers' valuable information and assets.

SonicWall

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

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv

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