Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA comparison

Citrix and SonicWall are both solutions in the Universal Access Gateways category. Citrix is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0, while SonicWall is ranked #2 with an average rating of 10.0. Citrix holds a 50.0% mindshare in UAG, compared to SonicWall’s 50.0% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Citrix Gateway

Read 38 Citrix Gateway reviews

49 Views
38 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SonicWall SMA

Read 14 SonicWall SMA reviews

70 Views
36 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Citrix Gateway

SonicWall SMA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

SonicWall SMA and Citrix Gateway are secure remote access solutions. Citrix Gateway appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive features and application compatibility.

Features: SonicWall SMA is known for its robust threat detection, easy configuration, and comprehensive security technologies. Citrix Gateway offers extensive application integration capabilities, streamlined user experience, and high performance even under large user loads.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall SMA could enhance integration with additional platforms, improve scalability, and refine its user interface. Citrix Gateway may benefit from simplifying its deployment process, reducing its complexity, and potentially lowering its initial costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall SMA is simple to deploy and supported by responsive customer service, making it user-friendly. Citrix Gateway, while more complex to deploy, offers reliable support that helps navigate its detailed setup process, balancing complexity with effective assistance.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall SMA provides competitive pricing with a good return on investment, particularly attractive for small to medium-sized enterprises. Citrix Gateway has higher initial costs but promises greater ROI through its comprehensive feature set and scalability, appealing more to organizations seeking long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

May 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

Citrix Gateway

Ranking in Universal Access Gateways

1st

Ranking in SSL VPN

2nd

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall SMA

Ranking in Universal Access Gateways

2nd

Ranking in SSL VPN

7th

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

18th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Universal Access Gateways category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 50.0%, up from 45.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 50.0%, up from 40.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Universal Access Gateways

Featured Reviews

VivekKumar10

Co-Founder at Virajo

Enables secure remote access and load balancing with enhanced protection features

I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet. Key features include load balancing, dual-factor authentication, clientless VPN, and Web Application Firewall (WAF). The product effectively helps me protect the organization's network from potential threats, thereby securing our environment from hackers and ransomware attacks.

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Maheshbabu T

Project Manager at CGG

It allows us to provide CML-based access to any user, but the reporting could be better

I rate SonicWall SMA seven out of 10. If you're planning to implement this solution, I suggest checking the version to ensure it's compatible with your other technology. I say go for it if it's suitable for your use case. Multifactor authentication technologies are built into the product, whereas some products lack multifactor authentication. We need only one or two. They provide authentication, gateway integration, OTP integration, etc.

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

"It's a stable solution while it's running. We don't have to work on it a lot. There are not many bugs, so it's easy to use if you deploy successfully. You can be sure of an uninterrupted solution for quite a long time. Citrix is a good product."

"The technical support is very responsive and fast"

"The most valuable feature is that it is secure."

"The features that we have found most valuable are the web app support and VPN."

"I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet."

"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."

"The initial setup is simple. Normally with all setups, it's not very complicated. It really depends on the customer."

"The stability of the solution is perfect."

More Citrix Gateway pros

"What I like best about SonicWall SMA is the relationship between its features and its price, because the solution is both affordable and functional."

"I am very satisfied with the technical support."

"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."

"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."

"The performance is good."

"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."

"I like the load balancing capability."

"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"Their VAS product should be more productive because right now, we are using other VAS solutions but not using this one."

"As Citrix Gateway is a third party solution, we wish to have one which is more integrated and involves less administration."

"The support experience has received mixed reviews, as not all support staff possess the necessary technical expertise to handle inquiries effectively."

"Citrix Gateway could improve the speed of the VPN. I sometimes have to wait for 10 to 15 minutes to get connected and other times when I am connected I have to abort, and reconnect."

"The load balancing could be improved."

"The tool must provide better integration and connectivity."

"Stability and security could be enhanced."

"It's extremely complicated and it's not intuitive. The solution requires a lot of training to get going on it."

More Citrix Gateway cons

"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

"The solution could integrate better with other platforms."

"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."

"The product's technical support services could be improved."

"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."

"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."

"The price could be lower."

"It costs about 4,000 a year."

"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."

"There is a need to make yearly payments for licensing purposes. Also, it is not an expensive one."

"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"

"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."

More Citrix Gateway pricing and cost advice

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

"The platform has medium pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

42%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Gateway?

We can maintain our systems using the solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?

I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model. It is seen as a premium product compared to competitors like F5, and ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?

In the past, I submitted some support tickets, and while the support did resolve the problems, the time taken was sometimes long. They can perhaps improve the time for solutions in the support tick...

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

See all answers

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

The platform has medium pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface.

See all answers

Comparisons

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 19% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 16% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 10% of the time

Check Point Remote Access VPN vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

More Citrix Gateway Competitors

Peplink SpeedFusion vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 21% of the time

SonicWall Netextender vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 18% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 15% of the time

Fortinet FortiClient vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 11% of the time

More SonicWall SMA Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway

June 2025

Download Citrix Gateway product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

May 2025

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access

Overview

Citrix Gateway is a customer-managed solution that can be deployed on premises or on any public cloud, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Citrix Gateway provides users with secure access and single sign-on to all the virtual, SaaS and web applications they need to be productive.

Citrix

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

May 2025

Free Report: Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

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