McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] vs Sophos UTM comparison

McAfee and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 75% of McAfee users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

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

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

January 2026

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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

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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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.

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Thomas Zimmerman

System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Integrated firewall and VPN have provided cost savings and strengthened customer security

The needed improvements for Sophos UTM include that the GUI could be a little more high-resolution-aware because it's still stuck in the small, low-resolution admin days, and those are long over. I choose a rating of nine out of ten for Sophos UTM because, as I mentioned, the graphical user interface is stuck in the past, and some things here and there are not implemented to the full, such as the reverse gateway thing, reverse proxy, and web application firewall. If you want to really implement some rules that are a little bit more difficult, Sophos always recommends getting the dedicated WAF, or web application firewall, but I would prefer to have more features on the web application firewall in the firewall itself because it would make more sense. Other than that, it's a very smooth experience, and I really appreciate it.

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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

"This solution works well on a daily basis, detecting various types of malicious traffic."

"It's safe and secures my network and applications in some sites."

"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is value for money."

"Good anti-malware and web filtering features."

"The interface and other reports are all user-friendly."

"Has a very user-friendly interface and doesn't require any prior knowledge."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are UTM, web filtering, and IPS."

More Fortinet FortiGate 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."

"The packet filtering's great. You get out what you put into it. It works great as long as you know your security and configure everything adequately. If you just pop one in and it's not configured, then it's basically wide open. It kind of depends on the admin skill, but it's an excellent product."

"Has great security features and does a good job of protecting the network."

"Good basic firewall functions with advanced firewall scanning."

"Advanced protection (Sophos Sandstorm) - Protects against crypto viruses in real-time."

"It helped to connect our satellite offices to the main Amazon infrastructure in a circular way."

"Sophos UTM has improved the porting section. It has improved security by seeing the gaps. For example, when you discover that an entry has been using a certain application, with Sophos UTM acting as a Layer 7 firewall, you can block the application, not the port."

"The stability, overall, is excellent. I haven't had a problem in the last two years."

"We find all of the features valuable because together they fit the needs of our customers."

More Sophos UTM pros

Cons

"They could improve the response time and quality of support."

"The interface and product support could use improvement."

"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."

"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."

"I face difficulties integrating Fortinet FortiGate with Active Directory."

"When considering the policy of the vendors, they do not offer much of a discount policy, making the licensing model an area that needs improvement."

"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

"We also have FortiAnalyzer deployed here, so we want to enable the soft functionality of FortiGate and built-in compression for a firewall VPN use case. We want the ability to deploy a gateway for HTTPS enabled on this firewall. It is currently only for use in our headquarters."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"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."

"I am going to flat out say technical support is terrible. Being a Platinum level customer, I am not happy with the support."

"Anti-phishing functionality should be improved."

"There is absolutely no support when using AWS. If you buy the on-premise Sophos solution, you get support."

"The integration capabilities could be better."

"The scalability of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"We need to speed up the support."

"The application control is really bad. It needs a lot of enhancements. The traffic shaping and bandwidth control, and application control need a lot of work."

"Doesn't provide antivirus for individual computers."

More Sophos UTM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."

"Fortinet is reasonable in pricing and licensing. Overall, FortiGate is affordable. The licensing fee can be a little high, depending on the budget for your project."

"It is a cost-effective solution that meets the user's needs."

"I had to pay for the license for the firewall, but it is guaranteed to have updates. I expect a good service for it. It was about €1000 for a year, and there was no additional cost."

"Its licenses cost the same for different subscription plans."

"Pricing and licensing is a little bit complicated in FortiGate. They are always on the higher side. This is one issue that we always raise with the company that they should reduce the price according to Indian market requirements. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"The pricing is very reasonable."

"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"The appliance should be purchased and there is a fee for the license."

"Go to a vendor and let them assess your needs so you can get a right-sized device."

"If you would like to run an active-passive HA system, you only need to buy an additional hardware without subscription. At other vendors, you need subscription for both devices."

"Sophos UTM has very reasonable pricing."

"Pricing for the upgrade was very competitive as Sophos wanted to retain existing customers."

"Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing. It is a very fine product, but when someone wants more relaxed pricing or more leverage in pricing, Sophos is more rigid."

"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."

"The product pricing and licensing are higher, but they offer good value for the features and stability provided."

More Sophos UTM pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	189

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	74
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	25

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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Sophos UTM?

The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the endpoint protection feature.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?

I have no declaration regarding my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Sophos UTM.

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What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?

The needed improvements for Sophos UTM include that the GUI could be a little more high-resolution-aware because it's...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

No data available

OPNsense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Sophos UTM

Compared 6% of the time

More Sophos UTM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

February 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

January 2026

McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] report

Download McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos UTM

January 2026

Download Sophos UTM product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Firewall Enterprise MFE, Intel Security Firewall Enterprise MFE

Astaro

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

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

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.”

Sophos

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

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

One Housing Group

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