We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and Sophos XG based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Fortinet FortiGate-VM is praised for its robust security features, including geofencing, firewalling, IPS, antivirus, and an easy-to-use interface. Sophos XG is highly regarded for its functionality, user-friendly interface, web filtering capabilities, detailed reporting, and seamless integration with other Sophos products.
Fortinet FortiGate-VM could use improvements in key activation, log management, cloud management, MFA offerings, web filter options, application inspection, GUI features, bandwidth issues, VPN connectivity, pricing concerns, performance, and quality control. Sophos XG requires improvements in antivirus features, graphical interface, logging, technical support, initial setup, configuration, functionality, sales policies, firewall upgrades, network control, data protection, bugs, user interface, integration, support, high-availability clusters, scalability, education and training resources, security features, Dynamic IP support, and specific user requests.
Service and Support: The feedback for customer service for Fortinet FortiGate-VM varies, with positive comments regarding the promptness and expertise of the support team with some negative remarks about delayed responses and challenges in accessing information efficiently. The customer service for Sophos XG receives a range of opinions, including compliments for helpful and responsive assistance, as well as complaints about unhelpful and unresponsive support and slow response times.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is generally uncomplicated and simple, whereas for Sophos XG, it can be considered either effortless or difficult depending on the user's familiarity and technical expertise.
Pricing: The setup cost for Fortinet FortiGate-VM is affordable and less expensive compared to Palo Alto and Check Point. The pricing options for yearly or monthly licenses are flexible. Sophos XG provides a customizable pricing structure based on the needed functionality. The cost varies depending on the model, edition, and activated security modules. In general, both products are reasonably priced and provide good value for their features.
ROI: Fortinet FortiGate-VM is known for its enhanced security and stability features, whereas the Sophos XG is renowned for simplifying management processes and enhancing workflow efficiency.
Comparison Results: Fortinet FortiGate-VM is the preferred choice when compared to Sophos XG. Users appreciate Fortinet's strong security capabilities, ease of use, simple deployment, intuitive interface, and scalability. They also find features like geofencing, firewalling, IPS, antivirus, and intrusion prevention systems valuable.
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."
"FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls."
"Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly and affordable."
"It is quite easy to handle."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"The solution integrates well with other Fortinet products."
"The thing that I like the most is that they're very willing to work with us to resolve issues that they haven't taken care of before in their product."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are the servers, analyzer, and track protection."
"The most valuable features are the SD-WAN and the web filtering applications control."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"Good for the servers and can stop network attacks, including spam."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate-VM are its flexibility and scalability. This solution is available as a license, which allows us to activate it based on the specific needs of the customer. This gives us and the customer a great deal of versatility and customization options."
"We like FortiGate-VM's IPS features and its ability to create multiple virtual firewalls."
"The scalability of Sophos XG is good."
"Sophos Control Center is a good feature. We can monitor everything from the control panel."
"I rate Sophos support 10 out of 10. When my device was freezing, I contacted them, and sent me a replacement. It only took a couple of days for Sophos to ship the device to Kenya. I didn't have a redundant device, so it was urgent."
"The stability of Sophos XG is very good. However, there have been some issues with other weaker models because they are limited in hardware in resources."
"Over the past two years, during the COVID pandemic, the VPN has helped us a lot."
"The interface is very user-friendly and it's easy to manage."
"The most valuable features are its nice interfaces and configuration. The endpoint is also very good."
"Sophos XG's price is right, and it's easy to manage. It's a good fit for our current needs at the moment."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"The support system could be improved."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve to be on par with its competitors, such as Palo Alto and Sophos. They are the market leaders. Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve its capabilities. However, we are happy with Fortinet FortiGate."
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"Fortinet support needs improvement. The response times are lackluster. Fortunately, the product is stable and we seldom have issues. Also, it takes months for them to deliver hardware when we order it."
"Areas for improvement would be application control and web filtering."
"There should be integration with an active directory — with Microsoft."
"One thing that can be better is added automation. And, on top of that, enhanced security when it comes to the automation itself."
"FortiGate's application load balancing has to be improved. They need to improve a lot on the load balancing and RAF side. They are far behind Citrix in that regard."
"The operating system isn't stable, so it goes to memory counters every night."
"There is always room for improvement in any solutions, including Fortinet's FortiGate-VM. Although the solution claims to have a superior throughput compared to other OEMs, upon closer examination and comparison, there is potential for significant improvement in this area. In today's rapidly evolving technology world, it is important to continuously strive for enhancement and development, and I believe Fortinet can make significant strides in this direction for the FortiGate-VM."
"The solution's web-filtering configuration could be better."
"Support could be improved."
"Lacks improved throughput performance in a box."
"Sophos XG could improve by being more stable and for it to be able to be used for large enterprises."
"The VPN features can be improved. Due to covid-19, we have a lot of employees that work from home and we need better VPN capabilities."
"There should be web caching to improve bandwidth utilization. It should have a very good caching feature. That's because we are in a very poor continent, and the connectivity cost is very high. We have low bandwidth, and the intensive usage of bandwidth is not easy here in Africa. If they improve services for web caching, it would be better."
"The security of Sophos XG could be improved."
"Fortinet surpasses Sophos in terms of support, particularly with its comprehensive five-one feature console."
"I would like to next release to be able to support on-premise deployment. The construction of the rules within the firewall could also use some improvement."
Fortinet FortiGate-VM is ranked 8th in Firewalls with 27 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 38 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is rated 8.8, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate-VM writes "Flexible with good cloud management and a straightforward user interface". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Secure, duel switch capabilities, and good support". Fortinet FortiGate-VM is most compared with Azure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Fortinet FortiOS, OPNsense and Sophos UTM, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Sophos XG report.
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