ExtremeCloud IQ vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

Extreme and Sophos are both solutions in the Network Access Control (NAC) category. Extreme is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.3, while Sophos is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.6. Extreme holds a 0.8% mindshare in NAC, compared to Sophos’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of Extreme users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

ExtremeCloud IQ

Read 76 ExtremeCloud IQ reviews

194 Views
133 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Sophos Network Access Control

Read 21 Sophos Network Access Control reviews

1,085 Views
462 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

ExtremeCloud IQ

Sophos Network Access Control

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Sophos Network Access Control and ExtremeCloud IQ are network management and security solutions. Sophos offers robust security features, while ExtremeCloud IQ excels in cloud capabilities, making it more suitable for cloud-centric environments.

Features: Sophos Network Access Control provides excellent device authentication, threat response, and compliance management, ensuring a secure network. ExtremeCloud IQ offers advanced cloud management, AI-driven insights, and exceptional scalability, catering to complex cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Sophos could enhance cloud integration, simplify its deployment process, and improve scalability for larger networks. ExtremeCloud IQ may benefit from more comprehensive on-premise support, improved user interface customization, and expanded reporting capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos Network Access Control offers complex on-premise deployment, but benefits from comprehensive support. ExtremeCloud IQ's cloud-based model ensures easier deployment with ongoing support options, providing more flexibility in customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Sophos Network Access Control has higher initial setup costs but delivers strong ROI for security-focused enterprises. ExtremeCloud IQ offers competitive pricing and higher ROI in cloud environments, due to its scalability and advanced features, resulting in better long-term value for cloud integration.

To learn more, read our detailed ExtremeCloud IQ vs. Sophos Network Access Control Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeCloud IQ vs. Sophos Network Access Control

June 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

ExtremeCloud IQ

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

10th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (17th)

Sophos Network Access Control

Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of ExtremeCloud IQ is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 1.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Access Control (NAC)

Featured Reviews

KristianLarsen

Senior Consultant at Mikla IT

Helps resolve network-related issues quickly and is reasonably priced

The tool has both advantages and weaknesses because it has several pieces of software on which it has been working because of buyouts. The tool has several branches of software versions, and you can consolidate it into ExtremeCloud, but it also has the disadvantage that sometimes people can get issues because the software on the hardware is different than they expected, especially if it is not converted to the tool used. The tool has simplified things, but it also adds a complexity that sometimes stumps some users. In the future, I think the tool’s onboarding setup of a new tenant could be smoother or faster. I also think that they could provide a simpler setup for first-level support so that it can be easier for them to have a support dashboard that would help them. I am talking about customer support organizations, so you usually have a high turnaround, but you need to have something that is easier to use and where you don't need so much training.

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Vishal Deshwal

technical associate at seamlessinfotech.com

Technical support excels but hardware enhancements are needed for faster processing

The best features in Sophos Network Access Control are fewer than FortiNAC and Cisco ISE, but when discussing budget and customer support, different vendors have different perspectives. Cisco is better in support, FortiNAC is better in security, and different vendors maintain different perspectives. I utilized the device quarantine feature around eight months ago. It is specifically for when any malicious or harmful file comes to the system. Through NAC, we can put it in quarantine, and if anything comes or goes from this system, it will be monitored continuously. We can define these parameters as needed. The role-based access controls feature of Sophos Network Access Control allows persons at different positions in an organization to have different types of roles. We can give them full access as an administrator, provide some network access, or give users only read-only access. This depends on the user's requirements and the position they hold within the organization, allowing us to grant roles according to their post. The integration capabilities of Sophos Network Access Control are good, as it can easily integrate with other solutions and vendors.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a scalable solution."

"The support organization behind this product is extremely professional."

"The cloud-based management interface allows us to fully manage all our wireless radios, ensuring consistency and ease of access."

"The deployment made my life very easy."

"The dashboards are great and the user interface is quite intuitive."

"ExtremeCloud offers features that not a lot of other vendors do like their data storage and the ability to swap licenses."

"a true controller-less approach, where each Access Point is 100% independent from the management system."

"The cloud management gives us the tools and reports that we need to monitor and troubleshoot the network."

More ExtremeCloud IQ pros

"The most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control are the quick response times to threats and reliable security."

"Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control."

"There is really good visibility for the appliance."

"I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful."

"I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully."

"What Sophos has done is integrate almost the entire OSI layer infrastructure. It gives me visibility across my infrastructure. It gives me visibility into all the mobile devices that are on my network and into the security I have on those mobile devices."

"The wifi control is fantastic and makes it very easy to administer."

"The user interface makes it easy to configure and use."

More Sophos Network Access Control pros

Cons

"I would like to see a remote phone application for monitoring APs when on the road."

"From our perspective, we would love to see Aerohive provide faster feature enhancement in their Virtual Appliance to match the features with the cloud solution more quickly."

"A room for improvement in ExtremeCloud IQ is roaming. My team is facing roaming issues with the solution, particularly when using VoIP over WiFi. For example, VoIP sometimes breaks when you walk around the customer site. In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release of the solution, right now, the inventory for ExtremeCloud IQ is awful. There's no stock, and you must wait a year and a half for new stocks. It's awful."

"For me, the only issue is the potential delay in the tool statistics updating in real time after making changes."

"The dashboard and stability need to be improved."

"Their firewall configuration gets funky and it can be difficult to understand."

"Its price could be lower. It is a simplified solution, but it has price challenges. It is costly as compared to other solutions. It has almost everything. The only thing is that MAC is not possible on the cloud, and it has to be on-premises."

"ExtremeCloud should invest in an SD-WAN solution or integration with SD-WAN."

More ExtremeCloud IQ cons

"The user interface, in terms of managing the product, could be better."

"Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."

"It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices."

"I would like more details on the incoming connection, like what is the download speed and how it fluctuates. If Sophos can give that information, it would be really good."

"The interface on the cloud could be a bit better - just to give more performance on it."

"The solution could offer more useful documentation."

"Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting."

"The difficult thing was finding the metrics."

More Sophos Network Access Control cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, it is a reasonable tool."

"The price was okay."

"I would advise that you be sure to compare apples with apples. Many customers just look at the price per AP and licences, and compare that against other solutions. But, they do not look at the complete picture such as: TCO - how much the equipment will cost you over, say, seven years? Will the customer need to change complete infrastructure when they want to buy the newest hardware? Does support include a lifetime warranty and RMA?"

"I am not involved in the price, but I am sure that it is not cheap."

"Although the pricing is a bit high, I consider Aerohive to be well worth the money."

"Extreme licensing is based on the number of access points. When you buy the license for the first year, everything is included, such as access to mapping, etc. If you don't renew your software assurance for the second year, the access points will still work, but you can't use the cloud management tools."

"Start small and grow big. You can choose the basic Aerohive Connect free subscription solution and, later, if needed (in terms of functionality) you can upgrade to Aerohive Select."

"This solution offers annual licensing that is middle of the range in terms of cost."

More ExtremeCloud IQ pricing and cost advice

"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."

"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."

"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."

"It is quite expensive."

"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."

"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...

See all answers

What do you like most about ExtremeCloud IQ?

The Client 360 feature provides a comprehensive view of your clients and their activities, including the devices they use. Additionally, a feature called Network 360 offers a 360-degree view of the...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?

The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. The documentation and training courses were also costly, impacting how easily I c...

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What do you like most about Sophos Network Access Control?

Sophos Network Access Control has a useful interface, and I like its dashboard, which is very useful for us to check everything.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?

I am not able to say much on the financial specifics as it pertains to the sales unit.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?

For now, I may not be able to say exactly what needs improvement. However, continuous development in specific areas might be required.

See all answers

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Cisco DNA Center vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs ExtremeCloud IQ

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 34% of the time

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Compared 25% of the time

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Compared 19% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeCloud IQ

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Sophos Network Access Control

May 2025

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Also Known As

Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity

No data available

Overview

ExtremeCloud is a resilient and scalable cloud-based network management solution offered by Extreme Networks as a subscription service.

The network is your platform of engagement for clients and staff. We have designed ExtremeCloud to provide superior user experience by empowering you and the applications that drive your business. The combination of Extreme Networks’ smart wired and wireless edges and the elasticity, resilience and scalability provided via state-of-the-art datacenters distributed strategically for worldwide availability allows you to respond to the changing needs of your business, at the speed of cloud, through a simple, multi-site aware user interface.

Extreme

Sophos NAC Provides comprehensive, easy-to-deploy network access control that protects enterprise networks from the threats posed by non-compliant, compromised, or misconfigured endpoint computers. The software solution is vendor-neutral and works with existing network infrastructure and security applications. Computers are permitted or denied access to the network, based on a centrally defined, policy-driven assessment - and isolated, quarantined for remediation, automatically remediated, or sent alerts. Administrators can define and manage policies uniquely for managed and guest computers, including checking their security status and ensuring that no unwanted applications are run.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange

Rushmoor Borough Council

Buyer's Guide

ExtremeCloud IQ vs. Sophos Network Access Control

June 2025

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