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Hillstone E-Series vs SonicWall NSv comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
6.9
Number of Reviews
592
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 E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
38th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (22nd)
SonicWall NSv
Ranking in Firewalls
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 15.1%, down from 21.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate15.1%
SonicWall NSv0.5%
Hillstone E-Series0.7%
Other83.7%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

JK
IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana
Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.
Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
SG
Senior Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Secures east-west cloud traffic and improves threat visibility through deep inspection
SonicWall NSv offers great features. I cannot pinpoint a single best feature, but the best feature is the ability to deliver the full, high-efficiency inspection power of a physical SonicWall, including zero-day defense using Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection to the cloud, efficiently removing the performance versus cloud trade-off typically associated with virtual firewalls. Regarding deep memory inspection and real-time zero-day defense in SonicWall NSv, deep memory inspection is distinct from traditional sandboxing methods because it is focused on what is happening in the memory during file execution time, rather than just observing file system behavior. The deep memory inspection process addresses all challenges by employing a proprietary technique within the secure analysis environment, focusing on CPU-level analysis and real-time verdict. Those are the key points. SonicWall NSv's user interface is quite clear and easy to navigate. If someone has not worked with SonicWall and this is their first experience with the platform, I would highly recommend it. It is very easy to navigate and very user-friendly. SonicWall NSv has positively impacted our organization because we gained clear visibility into our network, and it helps to identify potential security issues that we had. We were able to remediate those issues, and so far, we have had a great experience with SonicWall NSv. We were able to manage approximately 99% of network-based attacks through this platform.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
"FortiGate is on the cheaper end, and it offers good value."
"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are ease of use, flexibility, and most of the configuration can be done using the GUI, and when we compare Fortinet FortiGate with other solutions the firewall policies are very easy to understand."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The internet filtering feature has really benefited my organization because we have a lot of things that go on illegal sites like auto torrents sites and a lot of streaming and downloads."
"The firewalls are valuable for threat prevention."
"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by strengthening our overall security posture while simplifying network management."
"Five out of five ROI."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"Since using SonicWall NSv, it has positively impacted our organization by making the switches seem to be more efficient as we have changed to layer three networks in our network."
"The solution has no additional charges and no restrictions on the number of users."
"We have definitely seen a positive return on investment after implementing SonicWall NSv, mainly in terms of time savings, operational efficiency, and reduced security-related costs."
"SonicWall NSv is more stable and less of a headache compared to Palo Alto because we did not have any issues."
"SonicWall NSv has positively impacted my organization by regenerating the network infrastructure, making it more efficient and useful for all of the company's site-to-site VPNs."
"In my experience, the best feature SonicWall NSv offers is its stateful HA, which functions without any impact, ensuring a zero impact failover."
"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."
"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."
 

Cons

"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"It would be helpful to have a better tool for migrating all policy rules using an automatic script."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data."
"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."
"They should provide us with a CSV number for patch updates. It will help us block specific signatures as well."
"Its customer service could be better."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."
"Web security solutions can be improved."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."
"I have not really seen a return on investment."
"I would like to see the reporting opened up and have several more opportunities for automatic reports."
"Regarding improvements, I find that logs are required. I chose 8 out of 10 because logs are unable to restore in the same system, requiring a separate analyzer or analytics."
"For example, compared to Cisco, reporting is better than it is in SonicWall."
"The customer support for SonicWall NSv is not very reachable or speedy, but we can solve issues."
"SonicWall NSv can be improved due to the lack of proper documentation, because even though there are a lot of documentation available, there are particular use cases that are not included."
"I believe SonicWall NSv is performing well overall, but I think it would be beneficial to have physical versions, such as the hardware of SonicWall NSv, for some environments that may not necessarily need to be connected to the cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Easy to understand licensing requirements."
"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."
"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."
"For the price, I'd rate it a ten because it's very cost-effective."
"This is not a cheap solution but it isn't expensive, either. It's a good solution for the right price."
"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."
"The price is okay, so far so good."
"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"We are currently using the trial version."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."
"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."
"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."
"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Security Firm
11%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business369
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise9
 

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 E-Series?
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the fire...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?
I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features w...
What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?
Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I ha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSV?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of SonicWall NSv has been mostly positive, though there are...
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?
Overall, SonicWall NSv is a strong and reliable virtual firewall, but based on my hands-on experience, there are a fe...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSV?
The main use case for SonicWall NSv is to secure virtual and cloud-based infrastructure by providing centralized fire...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
SonicWall Network Security Virtual
 

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
Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. SonicWall NSv and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,588 professionals have used our research since 2012.