KerioControl vs SonicWall NSv comparison

GFI and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. GFI is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.8, while SonicWall is ranked #39 with an average rating of 7.8. GFI holds a 1.3% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of GFI users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

KerioControl and SonicWall NSv are leading network security solutions with distinct differences. KerioControl has the upper hand for its cost-effectiveness and customer support, while SonicWall NSv shines due to its advanced features and robust performance.

Features: KerioControl offers robust VPN capabilities, easy-to-manage firewall settings, and comprehensive reporting tools. SonicWall NSv includes advanced threat protection, deep packet inspection, and extensive firewall functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest KerioControl could improve scalability, enhance its malware detection capabilities, and refine its interface. For SonicWall NSv, users request better documentation, a more intuitive setup process, and enhanced user interface design.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: KerioControl is praised for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. SonicWall NSv requires more effort during initial setup, but users note the efficiency of its support team.

Pricing and ROI: KerioControl is viewed as cost-effective with low initial setup costs, offering good ROI. SonicWall NSv, though higher in price, delivers value through its advanced security features. Users find the higher investment in SonicWall NSv justified by its superior capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed KerioControl vs. SonicWall NSv Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

KerioControl vs. SonicWall NSv

September 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.4%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KerioControl is 1.3%, up from 1.2% 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 Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	20.4%
KerioControl	1.3%
SonicWall NSv	0.2%
Other	78.1%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

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Constantnos Achilleos

Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean

Leveraging geo-tagging and web filtering for enhanced network security

The solution is used for site-to-site VPN connections and it is valued for its cost efficiency and easy connectivity. It is especially beneficial for multi-site VPNs and is used in about fifteen different components KerioControl has provided a financial benefit as it allows purchasing one license…

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Sileesh Sivadasan

Director at Infosec Infra

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The firewall is pretty good if you understand how to use it. It performs at a very high level, and we are loving it."

"For application filtration, I really appreciate many features of Fortinet FortiGate because it is more reliable, easy to use, and the reports are easy to read and understand."

"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"

"The solution can scale well."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG's content is its most valuable feature."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a simple solution, and the integration with other solutions in the Fortinet portfolio, such as the Security Fabric integration, is competitive."

"Fortinet FortiGate meets all the security demands of my industry. It covers endpoint security, including web interface, DNS security, and ELP. I'm currently using the latest version. The features that have most improved our network security are Web Control, filtering, application control, IDS, IPS policies, and Deep SSL inspection."

"My company never had any complaints about the tool in terms of performance or stability."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I love the VPN that we set up. A few of us have it on our computers so that if we leave, we can still access the stores. And we can work from home if needed. When I sign into that Kerio VPN, it links me like I'm sitting in the store. It puts me in our secure network so that I can sign on to each individual store and I can run numbers... If I have to work from home, it's so much faster than the way we used to do it."

"The ease of use in the GUI itself is the most valuable feature. The GUI is really the best part of it. We like the traffic rules so we can control who can get to what. It's easy to determine the flow of the traffic itself so we aren't having to guess through command lines and reading out basically command-driven output. It's just a very easy-to-use interface. The interface is the best part of the product."

"The stability of Kerio Control is good."

"One very good thing about the Kerio device is its authentication. I don't have a Windows domain for authentication. Instead, I use the Kerio product because it can separate users by Mac addresses and give them IP addresses based on their usernames, automatically logging them in. This makes for a very simple authentication system."

"The flexibility of the system, the capacity to provide the right level of security, and the ability to be integrated into different kinds of infrastructures are the most valuable features."

"The firewall and intrusion detection features are very useful these days because hackers have a lot of tricks that they use to get into a system. With Kerio Control you can see something that's happening. Otherwise, you have to use other tools to see what's happening on the firewalls. Having IPS in it is quite useful for us."

"The top features are ones that we're not using yet but we soon will be because we've just had broadband upgraded in Australia. We've got something called the National Broadband Network, which is forced onto you, so you have to take it when it arrives. We'll be trying the high availability out soon. We tried that with some load balancing, it didn't quite work as we expected, but I think that was more of a configuration thing rather than a product thing."

"One thing we use quite a lot, as well, is the DHCP Server, because we do a lot of work where all our devices need to have static IP addresses. Rather than going around and configuring every box, we do it all through DHCP reservations. It's easier. We've got a record of it. We can manipulate it if we need to change something or change some hardware. It's all easy. Even guys who are not used to using it can pick it up quite quickly."

More KerioControl pros

"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."

"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."

"We are very impressed with it."

"The solution has no additional charges and no restrictions on the number of users."

"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."

"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."

"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."

"The product helps improve our security."

More SonicWall NSv pros

Cons

"There were situations of availability related to their switching solutions due to box errors."

"I haven't had a single issue since using Fortinet."

"It is complicated to manage different kinds of on-premise boxes."

"Two-way inspections are not possible in FortiGate."

"They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."

"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."

"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."

"The user interface of the Fortinet FortiGate management console could be more intuitive and user-friendly, and the log analysis and reporting features could be enhanced to provide more flexibility and customizable insights."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There's also room for improvement in the Traffic Rules. We define networks to use a specific outgoing interface, say VSAT, shore, or marine WiFi, which is okay. But then all we have is a checkbox that says "Use other internet interfaces if this one is unavailable." What we would prefer would be to have a priority list. So if VSAT is unavailable, try to use 4G, etc. We haven't really found a reliable way of doing that in the current release."

"My experience with the solutions technical support is fine but they could be faster in responding."

"I would like for there to be a difference between international and national links."

"The security part of the software, like virus scanning, website, traffic monitoring, things like that, can take a beating on the appliance. And when there's a lot of things going on, the system can get bogged down. The actual security functionality of it needs a little bit more work, which I believe they are remedying or attempting to remedy at this time, but that's the downfall at this time."

"The logs could be improved for better clarity."

"When it comes to dealing with updates, there are often bugs on the solution. They should do a lot more testing before they release new versions."

"The filtering on the unlicensed version of Kerio Control is inefficient - you have to add each website manually, which isn't feasible."

"The one thing that did put me off of the solution was that, after they were taken over by GFI, the licensing and a few other items have gotten very complicated."

More KerioControl cons

"The price is a significant factor."

"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."

"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."

"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."

"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."

"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."

"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."

More SonicWall NSv cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you are looking for a quality product, it will come at a higher price. Expecting them to be significantly cheaper is unrealistic. In terms of pricing, it is a bit costly. However, the functionality and support offered are worth it."

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

"The pricing is perfect."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"The product pricing is reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution."

"We pay about $4,000 for a yearly license, and there aren't any additional fees."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It's too expensive. The license, in the last year or so, has gone up by over a £100. We're almost being out-priced by the annual license at the minute."

"There is a yearly upkeep fee."

"It gets expensive pretty quickly if you need to purchase license packs."

"The fixed model of users and devices is a bit of a problem for us. We want to be able to expand it fast and not have to contact our supplier first to get a license... If they had a larger fixed price with unlimited users or devices, that would help. Now, it's five users each time. A pack of 100 or 200 users for a certain price would make it more dynamic and user-scalable."

"The price is inexpensive."

"KerioControl's pricing is good."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. For additional costs, you can add on more features such as antivirus."

"The yearly maintenance fee is a bit high for the Kerio Control Boxes. The end of life for the devices is kind of short. It seems like they're making you upgrade within a short period of time. They should at least allow five years, but it seems like they are changing their end of life to be shorter to generate revenue."

More KerioControl pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."

"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."

"We are currently using the trial version."

"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

21%

Comms Service Provider

Media Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

26%

Educational Organization

Performing Arts

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

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...

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about KerioControl?

The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioControl?

KerioControl offers good pricing as one license covers all features needed without extra payment. The price for the p...

See all answers

What needs improvement with KerioControl?

Regarding KerioControl's application awareness and control feature, I have not used it much.

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?

The product helps improve our security.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs KerioControl

Compared 22% of the time

OPNsense vs KerioControl

Compared 17% of the time

Sophos XG vs KerioControl

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos UTM vs KerioControl

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs KerioControl

Compared 7% of the time

More KerioControl Competitors

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 24% of the time

Azure Firewall vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 22% of the time

Stormshield Network Security vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 21% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 12% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 10% of the time

More SonicWall NSv Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

KerioControl

October 2025

Download KerioControl product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2025

Download SonicWall NSv product report

Also Known As

No data available

SonicWall Network Security Virtual

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Kerio Control is a popular security product for small and medium-sized businesses. It is a next-generation firewall that provides unified threat management without complexity. Kerio Control provides advanced anti-virus protection and industry-leading web and content application filtering, and has a secure VPN.

With Kerio Control you can:

Preserve the integrity of your network.
Manage bandwidth to streamline traffic flows.
Improve productivity with filtering capabilities.

Kerio Control Features

Some of Kerio Control’s most valuable features include:

High availability, deployment flexibility, deep packet inspection, advanced routing, usage reporting, quick administering, intrusion detection and prevention (IPS), gateway anti-virus, VPN, web and content application filtering, and centralized administration with MyKerio.

Kerio Control Benefits

Eliminate downtime risks: Because Kerio Control offers high availability and failover protection, you can eliminate the risk and cost of connectivity or threat protection downtime.
Detailed reports: Kerio Control makes it easy to view individual users’ internet activity through detailed reports.
Traffic monitoring: Traffic monitoring allows you to manage bandwidth and makes it possible for you to control access to streaming video and peer-to-peer networks.
Server protection: Using Kerio Control’s advanced networking routing and deep packet inspection, you can protect servers.
Easily create policies: With Kerio Control, you can create both inbound and outbound traffic policies, and can also restrict communication by specific URLs, applications, traffic type, content category, or even time of day.
Snort-based analysis: Kerio Control gives you the ability to add a transparent layer of intrusion prevention with snort-based analysis along with a database of rule and blacklisted IP addresses that is regularly refreshed.
Optionally integrated anti-virus: WIth this feature, you can prevent viruses, Trojans, or spyware from entering your networks.

Reviews from Real Users

Here is some feedback from some of our users who are currently using the solution:

PeerSpot user Brian C., Senior Technology Specialist, VP at Unified Technology Solutions, writes "It is very comprehensive and simple. It has all the active protections. It's updated. We love that you can set how often it is updated so you can work on what is right for you. A large company with a lot of bandwidth can update the virus definitions and security definitions hourly, if they want. A smaller site that's remote, where maybe updating the definitions will eat into the bandwidth, we can schedule those more to go later at night. It's very flexible and works for us in all types of situations. This is great because then we don't have to learn seven different products to be able to work with seven different scenarios."

Andy D., IT Manager at Flare Technologies, praises how easy it is to use and says, "One thing we use quite a lot, as well, is the DHCP Server, because we do a lot of work where all our devices need to have static IP addresses. Rather than going around and configuring every box, we do it all through DHCP reservations. It's easier. We've got a record of it. We can manipulate it if we need to change something or change some hardware. It's all easy. Even guys who are not used to using it can pick it up quite quickly."

GFI

SonicWall NSV is a software-based virtual firewall that provides additional security for customers with public-facing servers or services on Microsoft Azure. The AGSS Bundle is considered the most valuable feature, providing security services such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI.

Additionally, customization of firewall rules provides great value to customers, allowing them to lock things up in the way they desire. SonicWall NSV offers extensive security control options to protect customers' valuable information and assets.

SonicWall

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

Triton Technical, McDonald's

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Buyer's Guide

KerioControl vs. SonicWall NSv

September 2025

Free Report: KerioControl vs. SonicWall NSv

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