We performed a comparison between Azure Firewall and Sophos XG based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: The main difference between these two products is the scalability. While Azure Firewall users say the scalability could be improved, users of Sophos XG are satisfied with the solution’s capability to scale. Azure users also mention that the interface and the reporting, logging, and monitoring features all need improvement.
"It can expand easily."
"The interface is very good."
"Initial setup is straightforward. There weren't too many issues with setting it up. It takes one hour or so."
"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."
"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"It increases security posture and is helpful for firewall reporting, intrusion protection, web filtering, and SD-WAN implementation."
"Initial setup is easy to configure."
"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."
"It is easy for me to protect certain ports or even the IP addresses, as well as do whitelisting, blacklisting, and the FQDN when we want virtual machines connected and to protect certain websites."
"It's auto-scalable, which is a great feature."
"Azure's cost-effectiveness is its major advantage."
"We use the solution for application and server deployment."
"The solution is stable."
"All its features are good. That's why we recommend it."
"The initial setup is straightforward; Azure Firewall does not have a complex implementation process. It is very simple; you just need to enable the service within Azure. It does not require any maintenance because it is managed by Microsoft, that is, it is a fully managed service."
"The SD-WAN feature stands out as the most valuable aspect."
"Sophos XG is very useful, it does many things."
"The two most valuable feature of Sophos XG is, one the option to filter according to different applications and two, the integration with the Active Directory."
"The VPN is easy and has good logging, monitoring and notifications."
"The features that I have found most valuable are first the Web Filter and the Web Application Firewall SD-Wan on Version 18. Additionally, RED Tunnels allows a Sophos vital to speak to another Sophos vital in headquarters."
"The product’s most valuable feature is the user management system."
"Content blocking for websites is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"The most valuable features of Sophos XG are user-friendliness and it is highly secure."
"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful."
"I would like to see improvements in the product's application rules."
"There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision."
"I would like to see better pricing in the next release, as well as a simplification of the installation."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"Azure Firewall definitely needs a broader feature base. It should be able to go all the way up to layer 7 when looking at applications and things like that."
"Azure Firewall should have a free trial version for new users so that they can evaluate it before deploying it."
"There should be better monitoring and logging. Currently, it is put in Sentinel. It should be more seamless and from the interface."
"The solution should incorporate features similar to competitors like split tunneling."
"For large organizations, a third-party firewall would be an added advantage, because it would have more advanced features, things that are not in Azure Firewall."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"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."
"It would be much easier if the on-premises, firewall rules, had some kind of export-import possibility in place, which is not the case right now."
"Sophos XG could improve the connectivity with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory(AD). It doesn't work directly as other solutions do, such as Fortinet FortiGate. The client needs a separate AD server which is a problem."
"Sophos XG's user interface has some room for improvement."
"We recently did an upgrade on the Sophos XG firmware and we were surprised that after the upgrade, the automatic switch actually we were using did not work anymore."
"In the Sophos XG, the SD-WAN has all the rules done separately, such as net policy routing. In the previous version, they were all in a single rule and everything was done that way. The way it is now is difficult for us because we are not used to this newer version. The firewall rules should be easier to configure and create. Everything should be done with a single click."
"All of the options should be available when I renew my subscription for the year. As it is now, there are some limitations."
"Sophos XG could improve by coming out with more innovative feature developments."
"The interface of Sophos XG could be improved. I would prefer the Sophos XG to have an interface for the technician who is setting it up similar to the Sophos SG. I felt the Sophos SG user interface was superior. however, in terms of the functionality of the product, Sophos XG is in many ways more powerful than the Sophos SG. I have no complaints about the quality of the product or the end result. For someone who has used both, I preferred the old interface to the new one."
"The interface can bit a bit more user-friendly."
Azure Firewall is ranked 23rd in Firewalls with 9 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 38 reviews. Azure Firewall is rated 7.0, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Azure Firewall writes "Meets industry-level standards and compliance requirements, supports native load balances, and is comparably priced". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Secure, duel switch capabilities, and good support". Azure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Check Point NGFW and OPNsense, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. See our Azure Firewall vs. Sophos XG report.
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