We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Sophos XG based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable feature is the bundled subscription, which is IPS, TV and web filtering."
"Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic."
"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"It is a safe product."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."
"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"I like how we can achieve total integration."
"We use Cisco IOS Security mostly for routers to route off the firewall. It's a next-generation device."
"Cisco has always been a premium product. There's a lot of other entry-level solutions. This is more robust."
"The most valuable features are DNS service and shell self-service within a network."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco IOS Security is posturing."
"Cisco IOS allows us to keep the same security features as our principal offices."
"The solution effectively integrates with Umbrella."
"The solution is stable."
"The technical support is good."
"The SL VPNs are the most valuable feature. I have a lot of systems out of the head office that need to connect to the local networks, and they all connect wirelessly via the Sophos VPN client."
"We recommend Sophos XG as a priority as it is much more reliable and has efficient technical assistance."
"The product has all the latest features."
"It is simple to use."
"Web filtering is easy enough to deploy, manage, or make exceptions to."
"The most valuable features of Sophos XG are user-friendliness and it is highly secure."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that the license offers everything."
"Sophos is easy to use."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"The firewall engine is not so strong as of now, in my opinion... My second concern is that, while they have Zero-day vulnerability and anti-malware features, the threat engine needs to be strengthened, its efficiency can be increased."
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"FortiOS is not simple."
"It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
"The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"We faced significant challenges related to licensing issues, particularly when licenses expire."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve its security features. There are competitors that have some additional security features, such as Fortinet FortiGate. Additionally, there should be better synchronization with Cisco IOS Security and other vendors, and improved AI features would be beneficial."
"Cisco is an expensive firewall, so the pricing can be improved."
"The solution’s setup process could be better."
"The graphical user interface or the GUI could be better. Beginners can use some devices with the GUI, but some security devices are configured using CLI. It would also be better if it had its own Intrusion Protection Service and Intrusion Detection Service on the server."
"I wish it would be more like the next generation firewall technology. There should be more selection between the application and filtering."
"There could be a bit more functions on offer that could make it easier to use."
"The solution is not user friendly and it is hard to manage the GUI interface."
"The VPN has been a persistent problem for us. It's not straightforward to configure."
"Lacks improved throughput performance in a box."
"The main problem with Sophos XG today is that it doesn't have a feature where you actually know the quality of an international link, which would allow us to we know if the link is operational or not. We need more information. It's losing packets on the network. It's high latency. So, we need more information to know if the link is really bad or really good, and today, we will only know if it's working and this just isn't enough."
"For the standard end user, self-based training is necessary. When you get into the Sophos XG firewall and try to start creating NAT rules, it can be a little cumbersome for a novice. It's pretty easy once you know how to do it, but it will be hard for anybody who doesn't have experience."
"The support from the vendor needs to be improved."
"Everything is working as expected at this moment, but the anti-spam solution in Sophos XG needs to be improved. It needs more granular features and more stability. The anti-spam solution currently doesn't have many features, and we would like to have more features. At this moment, there is no expression filter for anti-spam. We need something to be able to filter subjects or attachments in emails based on the keyword. Sometimes, there is an issue with anti-spam, and Sophos XG suddenly stops processing incoming or outgoing emails. The only solution for this issue is to restart the appliance. Their support should be improved. It takes a long time to escalate a support case from level one to level two."
"The price should be cheaper."
"Even though things work on the back end, we have encountered bugs in the solution."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense and OPNsense, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Sophos XG report.
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