No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Hillstone CloudEdge vs SonicWall TZ comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
591
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Hillstone CloudEdge
Ranking in Firewalls
50th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
26th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 1.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate16.0%
SonicWall TZ1.9%
Hillstone CloudEdge0.3%
Other81.8%
Firewalls
 

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.
Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies
Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities
Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.
Fernando Kavindra Fernando - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd
Web filtering and traffic balancing have improved security for SMBs but threat insight still needs work
I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhere in between, so I would not recommend it for a large enterprise-level organization to rely on because it is not at that level. SonicWall TZ's content filtering service is reliable. We have used it, but it is not very reliable compared to brands such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, or Check Point. What could be improved about SonicWall TZ is the threat intelligence, which by far is not at the level of vendors such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Check Point. Their threat intelligence needs to be improved, as does the GUI, which is not as user-friendly compared to devices such as Fortinet. They could learn from their competitors by making the product more user-friendly. The product interface is not that user-friendly. By adopting a more user-friendly GUI, improving threat intelligence, and enhancing the available guides would be beneficial. In my understanding, in some cases, the KB articles and knowledge articles were not that efficient. They were useful, but they could have been more precise with the knowledge base articles. They need to provide more information about SonicWall TZ, specifically more documentation and more troubleshooting articles. Other than the threat intelligence and the user-friendly GUI, there are no other additional features that I can think of for SonicWall TZ in the future or at least in the next release to make it more competitive.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS has helped increase the efficiency of our network operations and we are experiencing fewer queries in the network and security domain."
"The most important features of Fortinet FortiGate are the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and firewall control applications."
"It is complemented by other equipment, such as the Fortinet switch, and it is integrated with other tools that help to prevent cyberattacks, including a web filter, IPS, and application control."
"Fortinet FortiGate is used to prevent security failures. Since implementing the solution, we have seen improvements in security and in the distribution of our network."
"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."
"The wireless control is helpful."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"The ease of setting the solution up is a valuable aspect for us."
"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."
"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."
"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."
"No issues with stability."
"As a customer and a reseller, we feel they are doing a really good job."
"Configuration of firewall policies is very easy."
"Once you get past all the configuration issues, If you are on a rock-solid GA (Generally Available firmware), I don't know if I want to say it's bulletproof, however, the stability is really, really good."
"The site-to-site VPN connections, content filtering, and in our current remote working situation, SSL VPN remote desktop connectivity are the most valuable features."
"It is very stable with no issues. The firewall's been up for the past 35 days non-stop. It's performed great. It has performed as it should perform."
"The most valuable features are security and technical support."
"From our point of view, the most valuable feature was the ease of deployment."
 

Cons

"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we use the command-line-interface."
"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's costs need improvement."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall could be made a little less expensive."
"The support is the main thing that needs to be improved."
"Some of the web policy reports could be improved."
"I'm happy with the product, however the licensing fees could be lower."
"The support we receive when we need to upgrade is not satisfactory and has room for improvement."
"The reports are very basic."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"In the next release, I would like to see a SonicWall integration with the DLP tool, this would be interesting."
"If the operation increases and the bandwidth consumption increases, it does not perform as per the expectations."
"There was one complaint I always had in the past. Years ago, you always had to enable the device; you had to go online to enable the device, and that was always a thing in my mind: "Well, why do I have to do that? Why do I have to go outside of my network just to do that?""
"There is a point I don't like about SonicWall in the past and now. Most of the destinations we look at when we're detecting some user using too much bandwidth or something like that, SonicWall just gave us destination IP address, instead of the full qualified domain name. I think that's the most important part that is still missing. I think that's the most important for us."
"The pricing is of this solution is high and could be reduced to make it more competitive."
"I can't get the support that I need from SonicWall."
"In an upcoming release, SonicWall could improve by adding cloud management for all devices for free or at a nominal cost. Currently, they have a cloud management platform but is not free. We have the MySonicWall portal for purchasing from them for software updates and renewals."
"We encounter issues while generating new reports."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair."
"Fortinet Secure SD-WAN delivered the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) per Mbps among all other vendors."
"Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software."
"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The price of the license and warranty can be better because it is very expensive."
"It is an inexpensive solution."
Information not available
"The price could be better for us in Bolivia."
"The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive."
"The product is not expensive, but it is not cheap."
"The price is high compared to some other solutions."
"It comes to a range between five hundred to seven hundred dollars."
"It is highly priced and has a slow performance compared to other firewalls."
"The product pricing is justified for the features provided."
"Its pricing is okay as compared to other solutions."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business367
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise193
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise14
 

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 needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?
There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?
Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required ...
What needs improvement with SonicWall TZ?
I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of ot...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

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
LinkTime
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone CloudEdge vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.