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Hillstone E-Series vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
40th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (19th)
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
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 September 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 1.7%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall TZ1.7%
Hillstone E-Series0.8%
Other97.5%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Ashutosh Jha - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Engineer at IT Solution
Advanced security filters have blocked threats and protect our users’ web and application access
SonicWall TZ gives us multiple features, such as Content Filter, Application Filter, ATP, IPS policy, Geo-Filter, Botnet filter, and many more. I use Content Filter with SonicWall TZ most of the time because we need to create a policy on behalf of the content filter to track who is using what. If we want to block any types of websites for any specific user, we can do it from the firewall. SonicWall TZ has multiple features, such as Application Filter as well. SonicWall TZ has impacted our organization positively because it stops all threats. If any types of malware signature or any types of bad behavior malware appear, it prevents them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"I would recommend this solution for implementing security."
"The scalability of SonicWall TZ is good and easy to add users."
"I like the firewall product, the security server, and the content filter."
"The MSSP partnership program is valuable, but is still too expensive."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is easy to install and maintain."
"I usually recommend SonicWall TZ for organizations that are looking for a solution without a big budget because it is quite budget-friendly and easy to deploy."
"I have found this solution to be easier to use when compared to other products, such as those offered by Cisco."
"Sonic has been very progressive, continually updating their product-line and service offerings to stay current with, and ahead of the evolving security landscape."
 

Cons

"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"An additional feature that I would like to see is reporting that includes metrics to give me more information about the number of viruses that it has actually detected and interrupted."
"I would like them to make the interface a little bit easier to use so you can find out where in the heck you're going instead of having to go to 15 different places to get something installed."
"The solution's antivirus checking could be improved so that we can have a deeper inspection of the packets."
"The SonicWall is somewhat misunderstood due to its being a lot more complicated to use and set up."
"I find that the user interface for the product configuration needs improvement."
"Not relating to this product specifically, but I think overall the company needs to think more broadly about security continuity across the entire security spectrum and integrate more security options with their solutions, like Cisco is doing."
"If the operation increases and the bandwidth consumption increases, it does not perform as per the expectations."
"The areas we would like to see improvement include more features available similar to the equivalent FortiGate appliance, e.g. SSL encryption and inspection. Two-factor authentication capability would be another additional feature that could be included in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The price is high compared to some other solutions."
"Its pricing is okay as compared to other solutions."
"We have to pay yearly. Its licensing can be improved, and they should provide more features, such as AV, email filtering, and so on with the basic subscription."
"The solution is expensive."
"SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."
"The prices are expensive."
"It is an expensive solution compared to one of its competitors."
"The pricing was a factor for us, and we felt that the price was good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business65
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

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 firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. Wh...
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 which are available in the firewall.
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 have not used any AI in the tool. I recommend the tool to others. I rate the tool ...
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 similar basic features. However, Fortinet offers more performance, scalability, and in...
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 to purchase the perpetual license for SSL VPN and Global VPN. Only one SSL VPN a...
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 other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhe...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
911,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.