We performed a comparison between OPNsense and SonicWall NSa 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.
"Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory."
"The security features that they have are quite good. On top of that, their licensing model is quite nice where they don't charge you anything for the SD-WAN functionality for the firewall."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly and affordable."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"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 technical support is very good."
"The initial setup is easy. It only takes 15-30 minutes to deploy."
"OPNsense is highly stable."
"The initial implementation process is simple."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"It has an open license. It works very well, and there is an update every month."
"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."
"It's open source."
"User friendly and intuitive."
"I like the solution's configuration, interfaces, and user guides."
"SonicWall's technical support is very good."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"The solution can scale."
"One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity."
"The solution has many useful features, such as content management, user management, user filtering, and domain controller connectivity mapping."
"For me, the most valuable feature of SonicWall NSa is the UTM."
"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."
"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."
"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"The scalability could be better."
"Their software support needs improvement. I would prefer to have better support for bug fixes. Sometimes, we open a ticket, and it is very difficult to get a solution. Specifically, we are not at all happy with their support for load balancing."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"There are some add-ons that need enhancements to make management easier for users, especially the reporting features. Some reports don't show the level of detail I'm looking for, and I've had trouble installing certain add-ons, especially for Internet bandwidth shaping within my company."
"The reporting part could be better."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
"I think the most important thing is that it should be easily accessible, but currently, that doesn't seem to be the case. We need a hardware platform that's based on common standards and open computing principles, which would be like a commodity and benefit us greatly."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"While they do have paid options that actually gives better features, for most of the clients, if they tend to take a paid option will instead opt for Fortinet."
"The ongoing service fees are high."
"I would like U.S.-based technical support."
"I would like to have a built-in vulnerability scanner in the firewall. It would be great to have such functionality. Its price could also be better. It would also be good to have a local warehouse. It doesn't get damaged a lot, but if a customer needs a replacement, currently, it has to come from Miami or Mexico, which can take a few days. It would be better if they have a local warehouse from where we can just pick replacements and quickly solve a client's needs in terms of replacing equipment. It would be great to have it locally instead of waiting for it from Mexico or the USA."
"The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
"The dynamics needs to be improved. The solution is not very compatible compared to the market products."
"The security standards for space and point of view should be improved so that the solution deploys in critical areas."
"Needs a more detailed reporting feature."
"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."
OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 77 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. See our OPNsense vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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