KerioControl vs Sophos UTM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between KerioControl and Sophos UTM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed KerioControl vs. Sophos UTM Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable.""This solution has solid UTM features combined with a nice GUI.""Unified Threat Management (UTM) features.""Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use.""FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use.""The main benefit is the grouping of our security monitoring.""​Easy to implement, and it is also reliable.​""The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"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 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.""The stability of Kerio Control is good.""The solution is user-friendly.""Kerio Control is easy to use and provides the ability to deliver customized solutions.""The firewall and the content filtering options are valuable.""Kerio has improved my organization's security.""All of the features of Kerio Control are equally good. Most valuable to us are the firewall rules, the intrusion detection system, and IP address features.""Its support is very good, and it is stable product.​"

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"The initial setup was easy.""The solution is scalable.""Sophos UTM provides security for our network here and access through a VPN connection for our remote users. It also offers the flexibility to create different tools for accessibility.""The solution is easy to handle and configure.""With Sophos, we have not had any incidents this year. The security provided has been good. It has proven to be okay for our needs.""The stability of Sophos UTM is very good. The solution has been stable since Sophos took over Cyberoam which was the original company providing this solution.""What I like about the solution is the ease of use.""Technical support is very responsive."

More Sophos UTM Pros →

Cons
"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great.""It needs more available central management.""The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper.""The Web-filter in this solution is not very good.""Palo Alto has a feature called WildFire Analysis that is unavailable in FortiGate. WildFire is better than a sandbox because it can address zero-day threats and vulnerabilities. It can immediately identify zero-day threats from the cloud.""There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated.""It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco.""This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"I would like for them to add more security features.""Their support is getting better but still needs improvement.""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.""The denial of service could also be improved. There recently was a big issue with denial of service attacks and it was a bit laborious.""I have had a few issues with HTTPS decryption. The solution also does not show the actual user's Internet usage.""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.""Kerio Control could improve content filtering.""After the takeover by GFI, one of the things that Kerio built was MyKerio environment. This has not been very reliable because I get many messages that MyKerio is not functioning. For some reason, there are things that they changed and it is not very reliable at this moment, instead I have to connect to the firewall to see what is happening."

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"The reporting could be a lot better.""The initial setup was straightforward. The full deployment takes approximately two days which could be simplified to reduce the time. The major part of the process is the configuration and the policy setup.""The solution needs to do better at covering mobile devices, although they may have an integrated solution for that purpose.""It is a pretty straightforward setup, but it should be some sort of documentation that takes you step-by-step to help set it up for your VPC.""The UI can be cumbersome and, sometimes, features are not where you think they should be.""We'd like to see them offer their services on mobile devices like tablets. I'm not sure if that's an option or not.""Flexibility in pricing could be improved. It's more rigid in its pricing compared to its competitor: Kaspersky.""There's an issue that when we deploy UTM on fiber, it automatically upgrades to the latest version without giving an option to stay on the current one."

More Sophos UTM Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Search and compare."
  • "Pricing is good, but the licensing took a lot of time."
  • "The price is inexpensive."
  • "It's very affordable."
  • "The pricing is in-line with our expectations in terms of the quality that we get for it."
  • "There is a yearly upkeep fee."
  • "My advice is to use your own hardware, and do not use theirs."
  • "It is a good fit for SMBs because of its maintainability. When you want to keep your costs low, then Kerio Control is a very good solution. It's not an expensive product that is well integrated. It has a complete set of features within it that make it a very strong product."
  • More KerioControl Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The licensing model is very straightforward, it's a bit pricey, but for what you get, it's well worth it."
  • "If you can afford it, go for a small Check Point, as it is easier to manage."
  • "Unless you are in the United States, or you have to use Sophos, you can't contact Sophos directly. You have to use a third-party ​company, and they all have different ways of how they explain their licensing."
  • "Go to a vendor and let them assess your needs so you can get a right-sized device."
  • "Sophos offers free training when selling their products from within the partner portal.​"
  • "I would recommend to follow Sophos’ sizing guidelines for choosing which license and model to use. Sophos has their own way of going about this and supplies partners with all the information required. If you follow their documentation and guidelines, there should be zero questions about licensing and sizing."
  • "For under 50 users, MSP licensing is profitable."
  • "​In the case of a software/virtual appliance subscription, you pay by protecting user/IP addresses. You can do this to as much hardware resources as you like.​​"
  • More Sophos UTM Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main hang-ups will be with the VIP/load balancing and SSL. For some reason that completely escapes me, both of these vendors make getting valid certificates onto their boxes unnecessarily difficult -- the Fortinet appliances more so than the Sophos UTM appliances. At one point a Fortinet engineer had to write an entire manual on how to get an SSL certificate uploaded successfully on the 4.x firmware Sophos: The one feature that is missing (and this makes some amount of sense) from the Sophos appliance is BITS caching for updates. Other than that, Sophos offers a full replacement for TMG on UTM9. The XG platform also offers a replacement for the TMG; however, some of the rumblings about upcoming releases suggests that Sophos is going to give XG the Apple iOS treatment and "streamline" the interface...potentially cutting out/hiding some functionality. On the effectiveness of the NGFW, Sophos is mostly good but has a few issues blocking all pieces of an application. For instance, we had to build custom blocking rules for OpenVPN (the vpn was being used to bypass the content filter) because the default Application Control wasn't effectively blocking the application. Fortinet: If it… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite… more »
    Top Answer:The solution provides feasibility regarding cyber privacy.
    Top Answer:The pricing is reasonable. We have to pay approximately EUR 175 for the product.
    Top Answer:The pricing of the product can be improved. The trial duration of the product should also be extended.
    Top Answer:The Sophos UTM is a UTM and Sophos XG is the NGFW. First, you must know about the difference between a UTM and NGFW… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of the solution are application filtering and web filtering.
    Top Answer:Sophos UTM is a reasonably priced product. I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Astaro
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    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."



    Sophos UTM is a unified threat management platform designed to protect your businesses from known and emerging malware including viruses, rootkits and spyware. The solution provides a complete network security package with everything your organization needs in a single modular appliance.

    Sophos UTM Features

    Sophos UTM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Web and Email Filtering
    • General Management
    • Network Protection
    • Network Routing and Services
    • Advanced Threat Protection
    • Authentication
    • Email Encryption and DLP
    • Web Policy
    • End-User Portal
    • VPN IPsec Client, VPN SSL Client, and Clientless VPN
    • Web Application Firewall Protection
    • UTM Endpoint Protection and Management
    • SEC Endpoint Integration
    • Logging and Reporting

    Sophos UTM Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Sophos UTM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Simplifies your IT security without the complexity of multiple point solutions
    • Intuitive interface to help you quickly create policies to control security risks
    • Provides clear, detailed reports to give you the insight you need to improve your network performance and protection
    • Complete control to block, allow, shape and prioritize applications
    • Two-factor authentication with one-time password (OTP)
    • Integrated wireless controller
    • Allows you to connect remote offices with easy VPN and Wi-Fi

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Sophos UTM solution.

    PeerSpot user Dana B., Network Administrator at a manufacturing company, says “The web and email filtering are the two biggest and most valuable aspects of the solution for us. The solution overall has just been a good, cost-effective solution for us. The solution offers a lot of functionality. The solution scales well. We've found the technical support to be helpful. The stability and performance are quite good.”

    A Technical Director at a security firm mentions, "Sophos SG UTM had all the basic functionality that you needed. It is user-friendly and easy to manage for any integrator."

    Marek M., Senior Network Engineer at a computer software company, comments, “Sophos UTM is the simplest of these products to set up. If you follow the instructions using the wizard, which is just a few steps, then you will have a firewall to protect you and your customer.”

    A Software Sales Manager at a tech services company explains, “The overall visibility of the console is what I find most valuable, plus it's very user-friendly. It can be integrated with other solutions such as SOAR, SIEM, etc., even when you have an existing firewall. I really like that the console can be integrated. You'll see everything on the same window, and the single window feature of the machine is so good. These are the features I really like.”

    James D., IT Manager at Manual Workers Union, states, “The fact that it's on the cloud means we don't have to administer it on our network or deal with a physical machine, which saves us money. The solution has many great features. From the console, we can start different scannings on different machines. We enjoy the centralized reporting part of it. The initial setup is simple. We enjoy its general stability. The solution can scale. So far, the solution has been problem-free.”

    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    Triton Technical, McDonald's
    One Housing Group
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Media Company7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Computer Software Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government8%
    Educational Organization6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business79%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise46%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business58%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise21%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise45%
    Buyer's Guide
    KerioControl vs. Sophos UTM
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about KerioControl vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    KerioControl is ranked 28th in Firewalls with 54 reviews while Sophos UTM is ranked 1st in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 110 reviews. KerioControl is rated 8.0, while Sophos UTM is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of KerioControl writes "With VPN, any of our guys can log in to the system and effectively be on board; helps with our customers all over the world". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos UTM writes "It's a highly stable platform with very few hardware issues". KerioControl is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Sophos UTM is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and Sophos XGS. See our KerioControl vs. Sophos UTM report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.