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Hillstone A-Series vs Sophos Firewall comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

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

Hillstone A-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
49th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
304
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone A-Series is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Firewall is 6.9%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sophos Firewall6.9%
Hillstone A-Series0.3%
Other92.8%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies
Good performance, responsive support, and an easy setup
We use the product for small and medium-sized businesses. Their scalability is good. They have a lot of choices based on their performance. Even on one unit, they have multiple ports to support customers so that they can connect to different devices. I'd rate the scalability nine out of ten.
Ashutosh Jha - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Engineer at IT Solution
Robust protection has blocked external threats and provides clear visibility into user activity
Sophos Firewall offers multiple features, including IPS, IDS, ATP, NDR, XOps, web protection, application protection, web server protection, and many more. Out of all those features, I find web protection and application protection to be very helpful and valuable in my daily work. Sophos Firewall has positively impacted my organization by preventing outside threats, allowing me to easily monitor my users, and configuring any rule for any user regarding what they need to use and what I am restricting for the particular user. I can share that it has improved productivity because if anyone could ransom my network, they could demand money to decrypt the files, thus saving us money, time, and providing reliability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The antivirus is very good."
"The installation is easy. There is a wizard that can be used for a single connection making it simple and if you have multiple connections you can configure it manually."
"The Multi-Link, or the Multi-Wan, SD-WAN, is extremely valuable to our organization."
"XGS' most valuable feature is ransomware protection."
"It provides good protection services."
"It's able to detect cloud applications like Zoom or Microsoft Teams and allows traffic shaping based on the application."
"The solution has very good security features, is easy to use for administrators and users, and has informative reports."
"We recommend Sophos XG as a priority as it is much more reliable and has efficient technical assistance."
"Sophos is a comprehensive solution which allows me to configure all the attendant products, such as Sophos' firewall, Endpoint and Encryption features, and a nice feature of Sophos is that it offers in sync and heartbeat security."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful if they could integrate more with third-party security systems."
"However, the response time could stand improvement, as I do not benefit from immediate support."
"It would be good if we could do dual customization."
"The pricing can be high unless you choose a longer contract."
"The SD-WAN capability is not as good as it is in FortiGate, and is something that should be improved."
"Having a web portal where you could make requests for the categorization of non-categorized items, would be beneficial."
"The customer support is not that good. We found the support to be extremely slow in response."
"We need better reporting and a clear vision of the network, and Sophos XG does not provide that."
"It could offer other important functions such as a DNS Filter for blocking botnet networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is priced well."
"The solution is not expensive since one pays as he goes."
"The tool's pricing and licensing are very complex. As a developing company, we need approvals from management to make a purchase, which can take time. We asked Sophos XG to renew our current firewall license for one or two months while we plan to accommodate our increasing IT assets."
"The price is reasonable"
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"There is an annual licensing fee to use Sophos XGS. It is an expensive solution."
"The price of Sophos in PTR is significantly higher compared to Fortinet."
"I pay close to $10,000 per year, which I find to be expensive compared to the other similar solution or equivalent solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Retailer
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business209
Midsize Enterprise61
Large Enterprise53
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hillstone A-Series?
The solution is cheaper than other Western brands. The pricing is reasonable. There are costs for the hardware as well as the license.
What needs improvement with Hillstone A-Series?
It would be helpful if they could integrate more with third-party security systems. Often, a client will have deployed multiple security solutions into their network and the different brands need t...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone A-Series?
We use these devices in the office or in the public cloud environment to protect networks.
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 the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat signatures and updates. I also appreciate that I can just import addresses and URL...
What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?
Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Factor. The Sophos XG appliance that offers a direct competition to the Fortigate 80...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sophos XG, Sophos XGS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. IBM 5. Cisco 6. Oracle 7. Intel 8. HP 9. Dell 10. Apple 11. Facebook 12. Twitter 13. LinkedIn 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. Salesforce 17. VMware 18. Samsung 19. Sony 20. Toshiba 21. Panasonic 22. LG 23. Nokia 24. Ericsson 25. Siemens 26. Philips 27. General Electric 28. Honeywell 29. BMW 30. Mercedes-Benz 31. Audi 32. Volkswagen
Information Not Available
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