Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Huawei NGFW vs SonicWall NSv comparison

Sponsored
 

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
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
373
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Huawei NGFW
Ranking in Firewalls
27th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (12th)
SonicWall NSv
Ranking in Firewalls
36th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei NGFW is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Haseeb Mehdi - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides very little difference between NGFW throughput and switching, but needs WAF included
The solution's performance is good with IPSec. IPSec's capacity for Huawei Firewalls was much better than most of the vendors. What happens in Fortinet is when we see the overall switching capacity and the next-generation firewall throughput, there is a big gap. Maybe the overall switching capacity is 20 gigs, but the NGFW throughput is only two gigs. With Huawei, this difference is very little. Many of the features are implemented in the hardware. When we enable it, the firewall capacity does not go down by a big margin. This is something we look forward to, which is better. Huawei also has better core density, so we see a lot of 100G ports and 10G ports available with us. The solution is easy and convenient, and we don't need extra switches to deploy the solution in the network.
Sileesh Sivadasan - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps small businesses expand branches more easily
The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I want to talk to a customer executive, they ask many trivial questions. Even if I explain that I am asking for a Dell partner, they still ask specific questions, and they will explain many unnecessary questions.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate helps improve my organization since it's quick and easy to install, and we don't have to call support frequently."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."
"We purchased Fortinet because of the pricing, its functionality, because it met our requirements, and the total cost of ownership over five years was quite reasonable. In the market, Fortinet is rated quite well."
"The SD-WAN feature is the most valuable. This feature evolved from link load balancing. It has helped us in terms of our uptime and privatizing applications whenever we experience an outage. The SD-WAN feature has been a plus for us. Two-factor authentication has allowed us to add more users in terms of remote working. We have two-factor authentication for remote workers to authenticate them before they get on the network."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include its easy configuration and user interface."
"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"Its usability is good. We can easily navigate the system, and we have a very good user experience."
"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"The operational management dashboard is easy to use for the customers."
"We make use of the new data center, specifically the containerized data center which is built and reviewed by Huawei, including all the device's infrastructure."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"I like that the initial setup is straighforward. It's also a scalable solution."
"We have found the initial setup to be straightforward."
"The user interface is very, very good."
"I am impressed with the product's antivirus features, strong encryption, policy implementation and easier installation."
"The most useful feature is the performance of the firewalls and networking operations."
"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."
"Out of ten, I would rate the solution at an eight."
"For my small NFB banking services, when they are expanding their branches, I could incorporate a little bit easier."
"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."
"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."
"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."
"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."
"The customization of firewall rules provides great value to our customers as it allows them to lock things up in the way that they desire. When it is used for internal access, with a VPN in place for remote workers, the firewalling services provided by Azure, such as the default services that can be turned on, are applied. However, the use of a software-based virtual firewall gives us greater flexibility in introducing security controls for customers who are publishing applications that are publicly accessible from the public cloud. This virtual firewall provides an additional layer of security and more extensive security control options to ensure the protection of our customers' valuable information and assets."
 

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate can improve the integration with Active Directory. Additionally, I would like to have a Cloud Controller, such as they do in the Cisco Meraki solution."
"At this moment, we believe that Fortinet FortiGate should be improved by injecting more AI because the kind of threats we are seeing are more ransomware threats."
"The logging details need to be improved."
"In the next release, maybe the documentation on how to use this solution could be improved."
"I find the management console not very straightforward, so that's an area where Fortinet FortiGate can improve. They should simplify it and make it more user-friendly."
"As far as wanting more scalability or things in the network diagram, it's going to cost you."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"​It needs to improve its ISP load balancing.​"
"The solution does not have sandboxing features."
"Huawei should improve their threat intelligence."
"One issue is integration. Huawei can't detect Indicators of Compromise (IoC). I can get a lot of information about security, but can't automatically input the EP, domain URL, and file hashes I get from Hackersworld into my blocklist."
"With the Huawei firewall, none of the features comes at the top. We found out later that customer support is really not good. For this firewall, because of our customers' routine, for example, every six months they'll do a penetration test to find weaknesses. So whenever they came up with VAPT reports, they are looking to Huawei for help. I think that's basically because it's a different culture. Chinese culture and our culture is different. They have always tried to help find some excuses or say some other things that cannot help you solve the problem immediately."
"The solution requires a more interactive dashboard. That would make it easier than playing with configurations the way we have to now."
"One issue we've encountered with Huawei NGFW is that after using a firewall for two or three years, we need to replace it. The new firewalls often have more features and better memory or throughput. However, sometimes, they lack some features that the old ones had."
"Huawei NGFW should have better reporting and a dashboard for the visibility of traffic."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."
"The engine provided initially was quite heavy, creating a trade-off between software and hardware-based threat management."
"It has been brought to our attention by a few customers that they are dissatisfied with the fact that our virtualized service is only offered as a subscription option on the cloud. However, it is worth noting that many other similar services are also offered through a subscription model on the cloud and not through perpetual licensing. It is unclear why these customers would have an issue with this subscription service when so many others are utilizing similar methods."
"The engine provided initially was quite heavy, creating a trade-off between software and hardware-based threat management."
"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."
"Currently, we are getting challenges with user-wise reports and other reporting details. At present, they do not provide detailed reports compared to other products."
"The price is a significant factor."
"There are limitations to bandwidth management."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously."
"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."
"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."
"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."
"It has a competitive price."
"Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years."
"It was pretty affordable. We did go a little bit above MSRP, but the service pack that was included was quite worth the additional costs. It is competitively priced compared to other major players in the market. It is significantly cheaper than Check Point, which is a primary competitor. Additionally, its pricing is comparable to that of Cisco's ASA and a few other vendors."
"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."
"The solution is inexpensive."
"Huawei is priced lower than most competitors."
"I believe that we are entitled to a one-year extension on our licensing."
"Huawei is 30% cheaper than Arista."
"The pricing is cheap."
"When you compare the price with other products, it's quite cost-effective. But the problem is always after, let's say, two years or three years later because they are not able to provide updates or patches very quickly."
"The solution isn't cheap. It's market price."
"The price of the license of this solution is high."
"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."
"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."
"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."
"We are currently using the trial version."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
28%
Retailer
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
6%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 Huawei NGFW?
The solution's implementation is pretty easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei NGFW?
The pricing is quite cheap compared to other NGFWs like Palo Alto or Cisco.
What needs improvement with Huawei NGFW?
Huawei should improve their threat intelligence. They need to have a more diversified platform and continuously updat...
What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?
The product helps improve our security.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSV?
I am somewhat satisfied with the price for SonicWall NSv, rating it as eight because, compared to other products, the...
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?
Currently, we are getting challenges with user-wise reports and other reporting details. At present, they do not prov...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Huawei USG Firewalls, USG9500 Series, USG6600 Series, USG6300 Series
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
KMITL, Peking University
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Huawei NGFW vs. SonicWall NSv and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.