

Sophos UTM and Cisco Meraki MX are key players in the network security solutions category. Meraki MX holds an edge in deployment and management due to its cloud-based interface, whereas Sophos UTM is favored for its advanced threat protection capabilities.
Features: Sophos UTM offers advanced threat protection, integrated web application firewalls, and detailed security logs. Cisco Meraki MX provides a simplified management experience with automatic updates and intuitive traffic shaping. Its cloud-based management interface and easy VPN setup stand out.
Room for Improvement: Sophos UTM could enhance application control features and enterprise-level scalability. Its reporting capabilities also need improvement for more detailed insights. Cisco Meraki MX should focus on improving encryption for higher security and optimizing integration with third-party VPNs, alongside better pricing models.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sophos UTM requires on-premises deployment, offering flexibility but with more complex setup. Customer service experiences vary with occasional delays. Cisco Meraki MX boasts easy deployment through its cloud-managed model, ensuring straightforward setup and well-regarded customer service.
Pricing and ROI: Sophos UTM is competitively priced, offering good value through comprehensive features and flexible licensing, which results in a strong ROI. In contrast, Cisco Meraki MX is priced higher, justified by its automatic updates and cloud management features, offering convenience and enhanced security for a higher cost.
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Meraki MX because of the time saved through cloud management.
You can eliminate some positions because it manages itself.
It greatly helps out when I am moving away from the expensive MPLS circuits or MPLS hardware.
I have seen a return on investment with Sophos UTM, and I can share that the price is around thirty percent better, especially if you count in the employee time.
When we raise a ticket with Meraki MX, they instantly become available to support us for configurations or troubleshooting.
Cisco's TAC support for Cisco Meraki MX is excellent because no other OEM provides support at this level.
Cisco is one of the best vendors in the market.
The technical support by Sophos is amazing, especially when I pay for the enhanced support.
I would rate the technical support by Sophos a 10.
I would rate the technical support with Sophos a seven because sometimes the time of the first resolution is not ideal.
When you have hundreds of thousands of people it is very difficult to scale in Meraki.
The scalability of Cisco Meraki MX is rated 10 out of 10; you can scale up and scale down with no effort.
Cisco Meraki MX scales with my growing needs for my organization very well because they are easy to deploy.
You can have high availability clusters, so very, very scalable in my opinion.
There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits.
I have had zero downtime at all with Cisco Meraki MX.
I assess the stability and the reliability of Cisco Meraki MX as good, and I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
Data is the only path, so optimization is essential.
An improvement would be to use Cisco Meraki MX as a software solution as well, which might reduce the cost.
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.
I would prefer to see additional features in the next release of Sophos UTM because cyber crime increases every day, so we also need to improve our game to prevent any chances for intrusion.
In Sophos UTM, we could define IP hosts and use this IP host.
I get it for $25,000, a device that can connect up to 75-100 users, whereas in Meraki MX, it goes to 75,000-80,000 per access point.
The price could be reduced by around 30% to make it more comfortable.
If Cisco can make the pricing less, customers can purchase more licenses.
Pricing has become expensive recently due to the dollar hike and naira value changes in Nigeria.
The value between what I receive and what I pay is the best in the industry.
The pricing would be more economical if sold directly to the user compared to going through a partner, as they need to take their percentage.
Meraki MX is among those top solutions in their exceptional approach towards VPN-less, Zero Trust client access to office private networks.
Advanced security is the second tier of Cisco Meraki MX. It brings you the main next-generation firewalling features such as URL filtering, advanced malware protection, and threat protection.
Cisco Meraki MX API makes it really easy for me to automate a lot of changes over several thousand devices.
The zero-day protection and firewall rules are some of the most effective features for threat management.
It helps us quite a lot, especially because since we use Sophos UTM, malware intrusions are not rampant.
Sophos UTM's valuable features include the cost, which is very competitive when compared with other vendors, balanced with the features that it delivers.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Sophos UTM | 10.0% |
| Cisco Meraki MX | 8.2% |
| Other | 81.8% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 43 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 22 |
| Large Enterprise | 19 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 75 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 28 |
| Large Enterprise | 27 |
Cisco Meraki MX offers cloud-managed security with user-friendly setup and efficient management, enhancing VPN and firewall functionalities for businesses.
Cisco Meraki MX is known for its robust cloud-based network management, featuring AutoVPN, SD-WAN, and advanced security. Its centralized control over firewall, traffic shaping, and monitoring ensures excellent connectivity and security. The interface allows easy management by non-technical staff, offering remote access and seamless network performance through real-time alerts and troubleshooting. It supports global connectivity with minimal effort, addressing needs across small to enterprise environments. Despite its strengths, users point out areas needing improvement like load balancing, VPN features, more flexible logging, and session capabilities. Pricing, integration limits, and licensing need enhancement.
What are the key features of Cisco Meraki MX?In industries like retail, finance, and education, Cisco Meraki MX provides enhanced security and connectivity. Retail chains benefit from easy VPN setups for secure multi-site networking, while educational institutions find value in its ability to manage large campuses efficiently. Financial services leverage its robust security features to protect sensitive data, ensuring compliance and trust.
Sophos UTM delivers comprehensive network security with features like firewall, intrusion prevention, and endpoint protection. Its user-friendly interface and scalable options make it ideal for businesses of varying sizes, ensuring seamless integration with AWS, cloud services, and other Sophos offerings.
With robust Advanced Threat Protection, Sophos UTM offers a holistic approach to security through its intuitive platform. It includes a centralized console for enhanced threat visibility, integrated web application firewall, and secure remote access via SSL VPN and RED device. Critiques focus on limited reporting capabilities, complex licensing, and requiring improvements in VPN and email protection, centralized management, and application control.
What are the key features of Sophos UTM?Sophos UTM sees implementations in industries needing strong perimeter protection and secure remote access, such as finance, healthcare, and education. It supports seamless network integration, ensuring businesses maintain compliance and safeguard their digital environments effectively.
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