McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] vs SonicWall NSa comparison

Why PeerSpot?

McAfee and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 75% of McAfee users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

McAfee Firewall Enterprise ...

Read 5 McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] reviews

75% willing to recommend

SonicWall NSa

Read 89 SonicWall NSa reviews

7,229 Views
6,795 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

McAfee Firewall Enterprise ...

SonicWall NSa

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] and SonicWall NSa based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls.

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2026

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Helped 913,683 peers since 2012

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

McAfee Firewall Enterprise ...

Average Rating

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall NSa

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Firewalls (25th)

Featured Reviews

reviewer999975

Computer Technician at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We cannot find resources to help us configure it, so most of the time the virus still goes on our computer and McAfee doesn't detect it

It's pretty easy to use on a daily basis, but there are no other features because it's hard to configure on the server. On the endpoint it's really easy to push. It's hard to configure on the server, though. It's hard to find resources to help us configure it, and there is not much online help that you can find. Most of the time, we were looking at the forums, and we needed to go very deep to find what we were looking for. It was hard, and McAfee was not really helpful when we were trying to get the product to work perfectly. This is why are changing it.

Read full review

Mahendra Basera

Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient

Automated breach prevention has protected critical workloads and keeps external attacks blocked

I am familiar with SonicWall TZ. I have done a POC of TZ but I have not worked extensively with it. I have worked with the 2600 firewall and then the 3600. These are the models which we have worked with.SonicWall NSa was an on-premises solution. The two firewalls which were in production, in the data center and on the LAN side, were both on-premises solutions. We had a pre-decided budget under which we would purchase the firewall. All parameters including security, high availability, and budget concerns were covered with SonicWall NSa being implemented at that time. SonicWall NSa is a user-friendly product that is easy to configure, and it is easy for network personnel and firewall administrators to work with. Even the L1 team captured and learned this firewall effectively, helping us resolve all parameters related to high availability firewalls within budget-friendly costs. I rate this review a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It does give certain protection for everything that is well configured on our McAfee server. We have good protection with it. If we could find a feature and make it work, it would work perfectly, there would be no bugs, and it would be really good."

"We have 10 offices throughout Brazil, and now they are all connected by using the VPN feature of the firewall."

"It's a very functional and stable product if you're looking for a Layer 7 firewall with reputation filtering and encrypted traffic inspection."

"ROI: It's good."

"For managing multiple MFE firewalls it is incredibly handy, convenient, and it is easy to use the product with McAfee Control Centre."

"The solution can scale."

"User friendly and intuitive."

"It's very simple to use and the support is great."

"Deep packet inspection and intelligent application control are the most valuable features. It is a very updated solution. It is very current as compared to other brands and vendors."

"Improved our corporate security; we have bandwidth management configured and app control enabled."

"Feature wise, the content filtering is good."

"The features that I have found most valuable are the firewalling, which is very good and the GUI which is very intuitive. It is easy to use, and provides great security."

"The most valuable features are the VPN, SSL VPN, and IPSec VPN."

More SonicWall NSa pros

Cons

"Migrating from v7 to v8 of McAfee Firewall Enterprise, in many cases, involves you having to completely re-write all of your previous McAfee Firewall Enterprise v7 policies due to the difference in the way the interfaces are named in the product going from v7 to v8."

"HA configuration is a bit difficult for the first time."

"The hardware is not stable and we have faced many stability issues."

"Customer support and AV are both lacking and are really hard to come to you when the product is installed. Those are the two major points that they need to work on."

"Administration of the firewall is a little confusing for end users."

"Over time, this solution is becoming more complicated, and when I need support it often is not available."

"The content ID needs to be improved. If I compare it with Palo Alto, there are more features in Palo Alto that are not included in SonicWall."

"I would like to see better integration, the easy of bandwidth monitoring."

"A room for improvement in SonicWall NSa is the log server because it could be more user-friendly compared to Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks. My company has many rule sets up for review, so sometimes, my team needs to use Excel for filtering, but the UI cannot support the Excel function."

"The reporting and monitoring are a bit complex and should be easier in SonicWall NSa because other firewalls I have experienced have been more simple, such as Palo Alto. We are able to receive a clear view of our network. As a general user with little experience, it would be difficult for them to handle."

"It would be beneficial if they could enhance the analytics part."

"It would be useful to have an application firewall that prevents the outside world from seeing your private IPs. You don't need to publicize your private IPs to the outside world, and you can create a barrier, like a proxy server."

"Having to deal with too many lower-level people in technical support means that it takes longer to resolve issues, so escalating support tickets should be faster."

More SonicWall NSa cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"When implemented properly, the total cost of operation is very low."

"It would be better if it has a better price, but its price is okay considering the benefits that you receive."

"The CPUs are not able to compete with a similar price point to the Fortinet, WatchGuard, or Palo Alto product."

"The solution is expensive. Its pricing is based on the number of users."

"The solution is cheaper than others."

"Additional resources are too expensive."

"We are on a three-year license for the solution. The price is inexpensive compared to other solutions."

"NSa is not expensive, not high. It's at a moderate or medium level."

More SonicWall NSa pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Construction Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	56
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	24

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?

I am overall satisfied with everything, including the price.

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What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?

The CPU configuration for SonicWall NSa, based on my experience, is average. It should be increased somewhat because we are not always aware of the load under varying organizational working standar...

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What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSa?

We have SonicWall NSa models including NSA 2600, NSA 3600, and 6600 firewalls in our environment.We have used the Deep Packet Inspection feature of SonicWall NSa. We adopted a security package that...

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Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

Trellix Network Detection and Response vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 10% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

More McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] Competitors

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Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall NSv vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

More SonicWall NSa Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2026

McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] report

Download McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSa

August 2026

Download SonicWall NSa product report

Also Known As

Firewall Enterprise MFE, Intel Security Firewall Enterprise MFE

NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA

Overview

McAfee Firewall Enterprise defends critical assets, such as regulated data repositories (customer, financial, and healthcare data), email and web servers, extranets, and data centers. This proxy-based firewall also offers application visibility and deep application controls for defense, delivers strong policy-based controls, blocks the latest threats, and eliminates unwanted traffic.

McAfee

SonicWall NSa stands out for its advanced security features, easy management, and cost-effectiveness, making it effective for businesses seeking robust network protection and efficient management.

Renowned for its comprehensive security mechanisms, SonicWall NSa provides a user-centric interface with enhanced VPN capabilities and content filtering. Features like deep packet inspection, application control, and site-to-site VPN ensure that it meets complex business needs. Its scalability is supported by SD-WAN functionality and unified threat management services. However, enhancements in firmware reliability, VPN scalability, and reporting tools are needed to fully optimize its potential for smaller businesses. Improved integration with AI and better threat detection will further enhance its robust security offering.

What are SonicWall NSa's most important features?

Deep Packet Inspection: Identifies threats through thorough traffic analysis.
Application Control: Manages and controls application activity for network efficiency.
Site-to-Site VPN: Creates secure connections between different office locations.
Automated Breach Prevention: Proactively blocks security threats.
Scalability with SD-WAN: Adapts to growing network demands with controlled traffic across multiple sites.

What benefits or ROI should users recognize?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies management tasks with straightforward operation.
Cost-Effective Throughput: Delivers high performance at a competitive price, ensuring value for investment.
Reliable Performance: Provides consistent security and operational efficiency.
Single-Pane Management: Facilitates integrated and cohesive network oversight.
Comprehensive UTM Services: Offers extensive security coverage suitable for business requirements.

In industries like education, industry, and government, SonicWall NSa plays a key role in safeguarding networks against potential cyber threats. Service providers and integrators deploy it for efficient firewalling, VPN management, bandwidth monitoring, and intrusion prevention. Its flexibility attends to needs from small businesses seeking secure internet access to large enterprises requiring thorough connectivity controls.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

French Ministry of Education, RWTH Aachen, Avency, Cegedim, Cobweb, Intel Security, Cemex Mauser, R_sler Oberfl_chentechnik

Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls. Updated: September 2026.

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