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Fortinet FortiGate vs Sangfor NGAF vs Sophos UTM comparison

 

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:
 

Mindshare comparison

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate17.2%
OPNsense9.6%
Netgate pfSense8.6%
Other64.6%
Firewalls
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sangfor NGAF1.0%
Fortinet FortiGate17.2%
OPNsense9.6%
Other72.2%
Firewalls
Unified Threat Management (UTM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sophos UTM8.8%
Fortinet FortiGate28.6%
WatchGuard Firebox8.6%
Other53.99999999999999%
Unified Threat Management (UTM)
 

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches
Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.
Zaid Farooqui - PeerSpot reviewer
CIO at Indus Motor Company
Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support
We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.
Bashir Bashir - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Vegol
Firewall management has become simpler and now provides real-time visibility and bandwidth control
The features I have found most valuable in Sophos UTM are that it is much easier to configure, I appreciate the reporting side of it, and the rules are very straightforward to work with. Sophos UTM's real-time insights into network health help my organization because I get real-time reports on what is happening on my network, what is trying to access me, the destination, and all that. I can then be reactive or proactive, and for zero-day, I think it is beneficial because it can learn what my network does. If anything goes outside what it expects, it sends a report on Sophos Central, so I find zero-day makes my work a bit easier. The use of Sophos UTM's intuitive management console has impacted my security policy enforcement in that it is much easier to configure; I configure with information rather than with presumptions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Routing and reporting are two areas where the product has an added advantage compared to any other product."
"Overall, it's a great solution; the detection is great, the possibility to detect any anomaly under our match work is great, and we have a quick response."
"Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls."
"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."
"The services on offer are just superb."
"The features that I have found most valuable are that it is good to use, and most importantly, the pricing. The customer especially likes the discount when they trade up or something like that."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"The ease of use, concise reports, and threat identification are very user-friendly and valuable."
"The price versus value is good because the solution is less expensive than Sophos, Fortinet, or SonicWall."
"Sangfor NGAF works accordingly with our customers, the solution has good performance, is easy to use, and integrates well with the endpoints."
"While the features are not dissimilar to other brands, configuration is much more simple, which works out great for Indonesian people."
"The product is very fast and reliable."
"The stability of Sangfor NGAF is good."
"It offers good value for money and is much cheaper compared to other firewalls."
"Sangfor is a good solution that provides a WAF and firewall solution; most other vendors, like Sophos and Fortinet and Cisco, only provide one solution, and that's a valuable feature of Sangfor."
"We use Sangfor NGAF primarily for security, which has helped save our files from being encrypted by ransomware."
"To me it is the Web Server Protection, it is not an easy task to protect your web servers from the big bad internet."
"The management suite is easy and the agent is easy to develop."
"It helps us with protection, with concurrent use of the VPN."
"Sophos UTM has a good user interface and granular security controls."
"It allows me to easily connect with more than forty-five remote sites and more than fifty remote users between IPsec and SSL VPN, applying the web filter and application filter to ensure a secure connection."
"Sophos UTM's most valuable features are profiling and its simple configuration."
"The solution is scalable."
"It is a very good product. The threat monitoring process is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"Improvements could be made when companies expand and need better equipment and more licenses."
"Right now, it's not really scalable, but it's okay for us. However, looking ahead to three years from now, we might have a problem with scalability."
"One issue that I have had is that sometimes I need to monitor the traffic, so I need to filter it according to the user and which user is using it the most. I experience a bottleneck most of the time, particularly at the peak time when the number of contracts and users are at maximum."
"I would like Fortinet to add more automation to FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"It would be good if they had fewer updates."
"I would like to see improvements in the IPS/IDS feature to enhance protection against attacks from attackers, including ransomware protection."
"The solution could maybe use more integration with artificial intelligence to be more proactive."
"They need to increase the number of ports in the firewall."
"Sangfor NGAF could improve the policies and default criteria. They could be much better."
"I believe that IAM and NGFW need to merge into a single box, instead of there being two separate box solutions."
"The product must provide more IPS features."
"Sangfor could improve their interface capacity on the 5100 series model and upgrade their hardware from one gig to 10 gig. This would improve the overall throughput."
"There is room for improvement in dependency on certain infrastructure, like the DNS dependency on the current DNS server that the company has. It should be standalone. It should not depend on any other DNS server."
"Sangfor could improve by providing better real-time reporting, as the current reports don't offer the level of detail we need, especially for runtime insights."
"Sangfor NGAF could improve the policies and default criteria. They could be much better."
"They could definitely improve on the support, especially in other countries."
"The VPN could be better. We need a better VPN client for the customers."
"The reporting system needs to allow for customizations because many reports do not include details that we expect."
"I don't believe it has improved our organization; I don't actually like the product because of the features it is missing."
"The ease of configuration could be improved. It's not as simple as it could be just yet."
"The UI can be cumbersome and, sometimes, features are not where you think they should be."
"We'd like to see them offer their services on mobile devices like tablets. I'm not sure if that's an option or not."
"The memory and processing were problematic. The interface could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing costs are very low."
"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."
"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
"It's one of the more expensive brands. The 100 series costs around $4,000. They are similar in pricing to what you might get from Cisco solutions and probably other similar ones. They're not more expensive than other similar solutions, but they're certainly not cheaper either."
"The pricing is perfect."
"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."
"The pricing for the product is alright."
"The pricing is comprehensive and clear. You can easily understand what you are purchasing, including which features correspond to each license and maintenance contract. Overall, the information is straightforward. Additionally, compared to other vendors, their prices are competitive."
"I rate the product price as one on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"It is one of the cheapest tools in the market."
"The license of Sangfor NGAF can be purchased at different interval lengths, such as annually or three years. They offer a range of packages to choose from, such as combo or hybrid packages. We are using the complete solution package which includes IM, NGF and SSL VPN, and WAF."
"If one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the tool's price as three out of ten."
"We purchased one year technical support and return to factory support, and we also purchased one-year technical support services. So those were additional."
"If you know you have around 200+ computer users on your network, then the Sangfor NGAF 5200-F-I model would be the minimum recommended model for that amount of users. This model includes modules for packet filtering, deep packet inspection, malware scanning, DSCP filtration, and many other features."
"Sangfor NGAF price is reasonable and there is an annual license. However, the maintenance cost can be a bit high."
"The price is unmatcheable."
"Unless you are in the United States, or you have to use Sophos, you can't contact Sophos directly. You have to use a third-party ​company, and they all have different ways of how they explain their licensing."
"The biggest issue with Sophos is the pricing. It's definitely more expensive. As I said, we looked at Webroot, which is a big alternative, and Sophos was almost three times the price of Webroot. That's a pretty big difference."
"I would recommend to follow Sophos’ sizing guidelines for choosing which license and model to use. Sophos has their own way of going about this and supplies partners with all the information required. If you follow their documentation and guidelines, there should be zero questions about licensing and sizing."
"There was an up-front charge of around $70,000, to purchase the hub and license. Beyond the initial cost, licenses are charged for annually, but they are good value for the service we receive."
"The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model and is competitive."
"Our licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."
"The appliance should be purchased and there is a fee for the license."
"Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing. It is a very fine product, but when someone wants more relaxed pricing or more leverage in pricing, Sophos is more rigid."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business366
Midsize Enterprise136
Large Enterprise193
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?
I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?
The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.
What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?
The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
The pricing for Sophos UTM is reasonable; I do not have an issue with it, though I was considering RED because I have...
What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?
I would like to improve Sophos UTM in that there is software I use that goes deeper in the reporting on usage. There ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos UTM?
Sophos UTM is the primary product I work with, specifically the firewalls. I mainly use the application control featu...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform
Astaro
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.
One Housing Group
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