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Cisco Meraki MX vs SonicWall NSSP comparison

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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Cisco Meraki MX offers long-term cost-effectiveness through operational savings, improved efficiency, and reduced equipment and training expenses.
Sentiment score
3.5
SonicWall NSSP improved network security, reduced threat management time, increased efficiency, and provided significant cost savings and robust support.
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Meraki MX because of the time saved through cloud management.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
You can eliminate some positions because it manages itself.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It greatly helps out when I am moving away from the expensive MPLS circuits or MPLS hardware.
Senior Manager Networking at David Yurman
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Meraki MX customer support is praised for responsiveness and effectiveness, despite occasional issues with Level 1 support.
Sentiment score
7.3
SonicWall NSSP is appreciated for reliability and responsiveness, but some users report dissatisfaction with support team responses.
The support is excellent, earning a rating of ten out of ten.
Principal Consultant at Epitome Infotech Solutions (P) Ltd
Every time I got a hold of someone, I was always able to resolve my issues.
Systems Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
When we raise a ticket with Meraki MX, they instantly become available to support us for configurations or troubleshooting.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
It is very effective because it prevents any indecent behaviors in the network or from outside the network.
Head of IT and Information Security at GLEEDS USA INC
I rate the technical support provided by SonicWall a perfect ten out of ten.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Meraki MX is scalable for SMEs with easy deployment but may face limitations in high-bandwidth or large-scale scenarios.
Sentiment score
6.8
SonicWall NSSP offers scalable security features, with user ratings from three to ten, suitable for SMBs and data centers.
When you have hundreds of thousands of people it is very difficult to scale in Meraki.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of Cisco Meraki MX is rated 10 out of 10; you can scale up and scale down with no effort.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX scales with my growing needs for my organization very well because they are easy to deploy.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
The scalability rating is nine out of 10.
Head of IT and Information Security at GLEEDS USA INC
SonicWall NSSP offers features such as stateful firewall, deep packet inspections, IPS, application intelligence, user-based policies, centralized visibility from the management console, advanced protection with RFDPI, high-speed scanning, RTDMI technology, Capture ATP, cloud sandboxing, and encrypted traffic inspection with DPI-SSL and TLS.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Meraki MX is considered stable with high ratings, minor issues, and generally meets expectations despite some VPN concerns.
Sentiment score
5.6
SonicWall NSSP is stable, with rare issues and smooth data transfers, but DPI-SSL can impact performance.
There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
I have had zero downtime at all with Cisco Meraki MX.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I assess the stability and the reliability of Cisco Meraki MX as good, and I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
In 30 years, only three to four boxes out of 1,000 to 2,000 boxes have had issues.
Owner at ANOC
The stability rating is 10 out of 10.
Head of IT and Information Security at GLEEDS USA INC
I think deep packet inspection of SonicWall NSSP is essential, as I require all features, including deep packet inspection, which I can enable and suggest to clients.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Meraki MX requires improvements in reporting, flexibility, cost, control, scalability, language support, connectivity, and setup complexity.
SonicWall needs upgraded reporting, intuitive UI, robust NSM, better EDR/XDR, marketing, and firmware fixes to compete effectively.
It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Data is the only path, so optimization is essential.
Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care
An improvement would be to use Cisco Meraki MX as a software solution as well, which might reduce the cost.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
This would help end-user customers understand the impact when those firmwares are pushed into the live environment.
Head of IT and Information Security at GLEEDS USA INC
The issues I have experienced are not hardware-related but firmware-related, as Gen 7 has new hardware, while the firmware contains some issues that could be resolved but may take considerable time.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Meraki MX pricing is valued for cloud management but is costly, with potential discounts available through negotiation.
SonicWall NSSP pricing ranges widely based on licensing, with enterprise users valuing its features despite varying international costs.
I get it for $25,000, a device that can connect up to 75-100 users, whereas in Meraki MX, it goes to 75,000-80,000 per access point.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The price could be reduced by around 30% to make it more comfortable.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
If Cisco can make the pricing less, customers can purchase more licenses.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
When purchasing through local distributors such as ScanSource or Tech Data, they incur around 100% in taxes just for import procedures.
Owner at ANOC
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Meraki MX offers centralized management, security, easy configuration, and robust performance, enhancing usability, connectivity, and deployment efficiency.
SonicWall NSSP offers strong security with user-friendly management, scalable features, real-time threat blocking, and comprehensive protection.
Meraki MX is among those top solutions in their exceptional approach towards VPN-less, Zero Trust client access to office private networks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced security is the second tier of Cisco Meraki MX. It brings you the main next-generation firewalling features such as URL filtering, advanced malware protection, and threat protection.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX API makes it really easy for me to automate a lot of changes over several thousand devices.
Technology Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
SonicWall uses this information in real-time to enhance security functions such as firewall, DPI-SSL, ATP, and IPS to block threats at the network edge before they reach users.
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
Every time I have had a concern, they have resolved it in a single call.
Head of IT and Information Security at GLEEDS USA INC
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki MX
Ranking in Firewalls
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
SonicWall NSSP
Ranking in Firewalls
25th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 3.8%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSSP is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Meraki MX3.8%
SonicWall NSSP0.6%
Other95.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

CY
Systems Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Cloud-managed firewalls have simplified clinic networks and have empowered rapid remote deployment
If there was anything I can say I don't about it, I wish the automation was a little bit more friendly. If someone doesn't know too much about automations, I wish it had the ability within the platform to say, 'I want to run this automation within this network. Here's the new network that's coming on board. I'm utilizing the same firewalls, the same switches, same MVs. Here's the subnet that I'm going to use. Here are the IPs for the devices.' It should be able to give me that run book and configure it. That would be my main thing within the automation. I don't have much else to complain about. Everything is pretty straightforward. Back in the day, about five years ago, I tried to run 10 terabytes of data on an MX95 with a gig fiber coming in. The firewall was doing all the routing at the time and all the Layer 3. I did see some degraded performance trying to push that data through my MS350 10 gig switch. Once I moved the Layer 3 off the firewall and placed it on my core switch, I saw a better improvement. However, that was five years ago, and I'm not pushing that type of data out now. If the splash page was a little bit more appealing and more configurable, I think that would be nice.
NP
Pre Sales at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
Comprehensive threat detection has protected diverse clients and supports flexible network design
I cannot fully assess the Secure SD-WAN capabilities of SonicWall NSSP as I have recently implemented SonicWall SD-WAN on a recent project for better performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. SonicWall NSSP Zero Trust model is important as it requires user authentication, authorization, and continuous verification, which is why the Zero Trust model is necessary. I use metrics such as Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and RTDMI technology to evaluate SonicWall NSSP Advanced Breach Detection, along with encrypted traffic inspection using DPI-SSL and TLS inspections for malware and exploit detection for IPS anti-malware. Unknown and zero-day detection utilizes the Capture ATP Sandbox, and memory-level threat analysis uses RTDMI, with cross-layer visibility supported by Capture Client and XDR. Regarding pricing of SonicWall NSSP, I find it reasonable and average, though pricing varies among different models. While it may not be an issue for SMB cases, enterprise customers are more concerned about prices, especially when purchasing higher-end boxes. I rate this review a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
18%
Construction Company
18%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn re...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports network security and firewall options. We researched both Meraki and ASA. We liked t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?
I find the pricing for Cisco Meraki MX reasonable and competitive given the features provided and the target market. I believe it is acceptable.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSSP?
In my opinion, SonicWall NSSP needs improvements, particularly in Gen 7 devices, where I face high data plane and management plane issues, especially when enabling User Level Authentication. I beli...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSSP?
I recommend SonicWall NSSP for multiple clients, including manufacturers and pharmaceutical clients, and based on the requirement, I perform proper sizing and suggest the appropriate model.
 

Also Known As

MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
SonicWall Network Security Services Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hyatt, ONS
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki MX vs. SonicWall NSSP and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.