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KerioControl 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
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
330
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
KerioControl
Ranking in Firewalls
34th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (19th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (11th)
SonicWall NSv
Ranking in Firewalls
28th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.4%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of KerioControl is 1.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable
In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Sumesh Panikkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides effective threat prevention and helps improve security
We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution. If I use NSv 400, I can't upgrade to the next generation. We cannot upgrade the VM to the next generation. We have to rebuild a new VM and copy the configurations. We cannot upgrade straightaway. The solution must allow us to upgrade the same machine to a newer version without many changes.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and the UI. It has always provided me with what I needed. I have no need for additional costs that other solutions have, such as Sophos."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are remote access, web filtering, and IPS."
"It is user friendly, and has all the features you need."
"Some of the key features of the solution is that it has good reporting, you can receive many details from the connection, for example, clients and website information."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing. It can provide central management and VPNA. Additionally, it has enhanced our security environment."
"Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"Secure, user-friendly, stable, and scalable network security solution. Installation is straightforward."
"The solution’s firewall and intrusion detection features are quite good because you can see exactly who is attacking you and who is getting blocked."
"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 statistic feature enables us to better use bandwidth management. We monitored the use by mobile, type of application, department, and by users. The bandwidth was solid. Our internet speed is optimized for our research."
"The installation is straightforward."
"The tool shows what has been blocked externally. It's very good because once installed and correctly set up, it allows you to work from home as if you are in the office, without any errors or issues. It's very simple to use, click to connect or disconnect."
"The most valuable features include geo-tagging, which blocks all other IPs except for the specified accounts, and web filtering."
"When one of the employees of my customers is using the VPN Client, I have created for them that they will always get a message. When the VPN Client connects to Kerio Control from the outside, they will get an email so they know when they are connected and when they are disconnected what is happening to their network."
"Its support is very good, and it is stable product.​"
"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."
"The product helps improve our security."
"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."
"Out of ten, I would rate the solution at an eight."
"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."
"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."
"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."
"The solution has no additional charges and no restrictions on the number of users."
 

Cons

"The cloud features and integration could be improved."
"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"The support system could be improved."
"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."
"The SD-WAN functionality is a bit overly complicated and not fully documented."
"I would like to have logs, monitoring, and reporting for a month without extra fees."
"They should add wireless features."
"It has a VPN back to our data center but I don't think it has increased the number of VPN clients extended to those outside our environment"
"Filtering of pages and greater personalization in services need improvement."
"Improvements are needed to the Next Generation Firewall Protection, specifically with user-level protection."
"I can no longer renew my subscription directly with GFI but we have to go through third-party resellers like CDW. The first time I did it with CDW. I went to CDW and it was almost like they didn't even know anything. They didn't know what package I was supposed to get. Then after I got it, it took almost five days to get everything working."
"Kerio Control has just improved on their biggest problem, which was to introduce better support for high-availability requirements in production."
"One of the problems we do have causes problems with the VPN. The software slows the throughput down too much. You could have a one-gigabit connection from the internet, and it slows it down to the area of upload and download is extremely slow. There's too much content filtering at that point."
"I would like to see geo-IP filtering added to the filtering rules. Incorporating these rules would be very beneficial if you have different ideas or reasons to filter, such as communication to the email server or specific websites."
"The price is a significant factor."
"There are limitations to bandwidth management."
"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."
"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."
"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."
"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an inexpensive solution."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."
"The price of FortiGate is good."
"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."
"It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable. We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years."
"The licensing costs are very low."
"It's very affordable."
"Pricing is good, but the licensing took a lot of time."
"It gets expensive pretty quickly if you need to purchase license packs."
"The price is inexpensive."
"There's a one-time fee. For KerioConnect, it's just a server. With KerioControl, you have an option. You can virtualize it on a VMware system or have the hardware. I think mid-range or desktop KerioControl hardware could cost around 2000 dollars for a 25 user client. You need annual renewal for additional features like antivirus."
"My advice is to use your own hardware, and do not use theirs."
"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."
"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."
"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"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."
"We are currently using the trial version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
20%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
23%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Media Company
8%
Computer Software Company
24%
Government
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Retailer
7%
 

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 KerioControl?
The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.
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...
What needs improvement with KerioControl?
The logs could be improved for better clarity. It is difficult to understand when there is a threat attack, and handl...
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?
The tool is moderately priced. We need to purchase an additional license for NSM. We can manage all the firewalls thr...
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?
The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I w...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet 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
Triton Technical, McDonald's
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about KerioControl vs. SonicWall NSv and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.