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

Check Point NGFW vs Sophos XG comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiGate delivers cost efficiency, rapid ROI, and enhanced security, reducing downtime and operational expenses for users.
Sentiment score
7.6
Check Point NGFW decreases costs and enhances security, resulting in productivity gains and high user confidence with advanced features.
Sentiment score
7.2
Sophos XG offers ransomware protection, cost savings, simplified management, and enhanced compliance, despite challenges with licensing fees.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
This is a time-saving measure because we don't need to deploy a cluster or a firewall each time; we just create a virtual system on the management server using the same appliance.
Incident response time has reduced significantly, and downtime due to network issues has been minimized, leading to an improved return on investment.
I have seen a return on investment with Check Point NGFW in terms of time saved and fewer people needed for operations.
The graphical interface of Sophos XG simplifies configurations, saving time in support and troubleshooting compared to the Linux-based solution I previously used.
We purchased endpoint security for the first time last year, and even without endpoint security, it provides comprehensive security.
It's good, but I would still say it's higher by about 10-15 percent compared to other market products with similar configurations.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiGate support receives mixed reviews, with praise for expertise but criticism for inconsistent response times and language barriers.
Sentiment score
7.1
Check Point NGFW's support is generally positive, with praised expertise, but response time and initial experience vary.
Sentiment score
6.5
Sophos XG support receives mixed reviews, with notable regional variances affecting satisfaction levels regarding response times and expertise.
They offer very accurate solutions.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
The support team we engaged was knowledgeable and well-versed with the application.
We have escalated issues to Check Point technical support multiple times and have received timely and very good responses.
Even challenging issues like those with VPNs have been resolved efficiently with their help.
They are professional, respond quickly, and help resolve issues effectively.
I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
Their team was quick to diagnose and resolve the problem by exchanging the equipment within two weeks.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for scalability, accommodating growth efficiently, though hardware upgrades may be needed for expansion.
Sentiment score
8.2
Check Point NGFW offers robust scalability with seamless upgrades and high availability, efficiently meeting diverse organizational needs.
Sentiment score
7.1
Sophos XG is scalable for SMEs, adaptable with planning, but larger expansions may require new hardware models.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
If specified correctly, even the smaller boxes offer high session and bandwidth rates, making the solution highly scalable, even up to telco-level requirements.
Scalability must be carefully planned for, considering future growth and user base increases.
They offer multiple solutions from SMBs to enterprise data centers, making it an easily scalable solution with no issues in scalability.
You can scale up to multiple firewalls with centralized management.
You can't upgrade memory or storage on a specific model, which limits scalability.
I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
FortiGate is praised for its robust reliability, minor update issues, and consistently stable performance across various use cases.
Sentiment score
7.9
Check Point NGFW is praised for stability, reliability, proactive updates, and high performance, despite occasional bugs and configuration issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Sophos XG is highly regarded for its reliability and stability, despite occasional minor issues during updates and bug reports.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
While the solution is generally stable, there are complications, such as requiring SmartConsole for deployment and upgrades, which can be time-consuming.
I have worked with Check Point products for 15 years and haven't found any stability or performance issues.
The use of Check Point firewalls has helped improve our security posture without any downtime.
Sophos XG is very stable, even when serving as a DHCP server.
Sophos XG is resource-greedy, affecting performance even on newer computers.
It's on 24/7 and has consistently been reliable over the years.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate users seek lower fees, better interface, integration, support, consistent updates, and improved documentation and features.
Check Point NGFW faces stability, support, and integration issues, with complex GUI, high costs, and challenging policy management.
Sophos XG requires improvements in email protection, VPN, interface, scalability, support response, and integration, according to user feedback.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
The constant daily revisions necessitate meticulous identification of the relevant documents to prevent the use of outdated information that could jeopardize our environment.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security.
Other products, like FortiGate, are perceived as more intuitive because they are easier to configure from the start.
More granularity and control for threat prevention, especially on the OT side, would be beneficial.
I believe Check Point NGFW can be improved by making its initial configuration and deployment easier in the future because the first-time setup is really hard.
The solution should have the ability to be up to date with the most recent threats.
This suggests a vulnerability that needs addressing to ensure administrators can update patches without losing access.
Business cannot stop just because of issues with support.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate is competitively priced, offering cost-effective options, though renewal costs and additional features may increase expenses.
Check Point NGFW pricing is high but feature-rich, requiring negotiation and support; opinions vary on cost-effectiveness.
Sophos XG offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing, seen as affordable despite varied opinions on costs compared to competitors.
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
It is about 20% cheaper.
In comparison to Fortinet and other products, the pricing may be considered high.
Compared to other solutions, the pricing of Check Point NGFW is high.
The perception is that Check Point NGFW is expensive, especially when all software modules are included.
I rate the pricing a ten out of ten.
Currently, it costs about four million shillings in Kenya.
The cost depends on the package you are in, such as full threat management or basic.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate is valued for its security features, ease of use, flexibility, reliability, and affordability across organizations.
Check Point NGFW excels with VPN, IPS, centralized management, intuitive interface, and robust threat prevention, enhancing security and performance.
Sophos XG offers intuitive controls, AI-enhanced protection, and seamless integration for comprehensive, scalable, and reliable network security management.
In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable.
FortiGate has helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that might disrupt our client's production.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
The firewall's default behavior of blocking all traffic, including a cleanup rule that blocks everything from external to internal sources, is highly valuable for protecting our network.
The most valuable features in my experience include perimeter firewalling, cloud and mobile security, application control, URL filtering, DLP, threat prevention, intrusion protection, and safeguarding against malware, botnets, and zero-day attacks.
Since implementing it, we have noticed a lot less getting through that maybe other antivirus within firewalls had failed to catch.
I particularly like the visibility it provides into network traffic, allowing us to identify and address issues efficiently.
The firewall feature of Sophos XG has been the most effective for threat prevention.
Integration with endpoint security products ensures seamless traffic flow and rule enforcement, even when endpoints are not directly connected to the firewall.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
377
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Check Point NGFW
Ranking in Firewalls
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
324
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Sophos XG
Ranking in Firewalls
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
214
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point NGFW is 3.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 10.9%, up from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Hailemichael Yigrem - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced security features enhance threat detection and prevention
Check Point NGFW provides granular application control and detailed visibility over application and user activity. It integrates with the ThreatCloud ecosystem, enabling real-time threat detection and prevention. The User Identity Awareness blade integrates with Active Directory, identifying user traffic sources. Check Point NGFW is highly scalable and has centralized management through SmartConsole, which manages policies, logs, and threat data. It reduced our incidents and decreased the time to analyze cyber threats by 70 percent.
TarunPanchal - PeerSpot reviewer
Decades of expertise lead to seamless installations and robust security
I typically use the Sophos XG Firewall to enhance my cybersecurity by using all layers. The intrusion prevention system impacts my security posture effectively, as we have not faced any ransomware or cyber threats. I have more than 800 servers live from Sophos. The synchronized security feature has proven to be very beneficial, and I have not encountered any issues. Sophos XG Firewall has contributed to reducing overall costs because it helps save money. We purchased endpoint security for the first time last year, and even without endpoint security, it provides comprehensive security. Sophos XG uses AI effectively to enhance threat detection and response, securing from AI at the packet level.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
861,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
4%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 ...
How does Check Point NGFW compare with Fortinet Fortigate?
I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such). -Ch...
Which would you recommend - Azure Firewall or Check Point NGFW?
Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include integration into the overall ...
What do you like most about Check Point NGFW?
Check Point NGFW provides essential security, featuring no-obligation access for secure connections, strong intrusion...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...
What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?
Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Check Point NG Firewall, Check Point Next Generation Firewall
No data available
 

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
Control Southern, Optimal Media
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point NGFW vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.