We performed a comparison between OPNsense and Sophos XG based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Sophos XG’s single pane of glass makes it easy for users to manage the entire solution from anywhere. The solution is very light, stable, and provides excellent real-time control. Users feel OPNsense is not a good product for medium to large businesses, as it has some very limited features and needs better reporting and documentation.
"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."
"I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."
"FortiGate has a strong security topic which allows all of the Fortinet devices to communicate and share information which makes their security more powerful."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."
"The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"The security fabric is excellent."
"I feel that its valuable features are that it is simple and free."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"It's 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."
"We have been operating here in our lab for several months, and everything appears to be extremely stable."
"The performance of Sophos XG is generally good and it is stable."
"Sophos XG is very useful, it does many things."
"One of the standout features of Sophos XG is its proprietary VPN technology known as RID (Remote Internet Device). This unique technology provides efficient branch connectivity without the need to invest in additional firewalls for each branch. By utilizing an affordable device called RED, users can effectively control and establish connections in a cost-effective manner. Additionally, the solution is feature-rich."
"Compared to other firewalls that I had looked at, I thought Sophos was the better solution. It just seems to be easier to manage versus Cisco, Fortinet, or one of the other options I was looking at."
"The most valuable feature of Sophos XG is the VBM."
"I have found configuring the ports to be easier in Sophos XG compared to the other devices."
"The solution comes with a common bundle which comprises all the feature."
"Over the past two years, during the COVID pandemic, the VPN has helped us a lot."
"The solution lacks sufficient filtering."
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"When we cluster the two Fortinet FortiGate boxes together we have some issues."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."
"There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."
"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 are a few weaknesses. For example, there is a lack of some features that I have in certain commercial products."
"An area for improvement in OPNsense is the hardware, which needs to be updated more frequently. DNS blocking is another good feature I want to be added to the solution. pfSense has a peer-blocking feature that I also want to see in OPNsense."
"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."
"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."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"We did not like the fact that you have to configure everything with the graphic user interface. We have used other firewalls, such as FortiGate, that you can configure via code. OPNsense is not easy to integrate. When you are deploying via GitHub or another source repository, this is not possible. That's one thing we didn't like much."
"The reporting part could be better."
"The user interface could be improved, and the DNS section should be more intuitive."
"The solution could be more secure."
"In the Sophos XG, the SD-WAN has all the rules done separately, such as net policy routing. In the previous version, they were all in a single rule and everything was done that way. The way it is now is difficult for us because we are not used to this newer version. The firewall rules should be easier to configure and create. Everything should be done with a single click."
"The support from the vendor needs to be improved."
"Sophos XG could improve by coming out with more innovative feature developments."
"The VPN features can be improved. Due to covid-19, we have a lot of employees that work from home and we need better VPN capabilities."
"SD-WAN would benefit from further improvement, particularly in terms of incorporating optimization techniques that are not typically found in traditional firewalls. Nowadays, WAN optimization features are being integrated into many firewalls, and implementing similar capabilities in SD-WAN would enhance its performance and functionality."
"Our clients use Karios, and while it integrates well with it, the integration could be improved."
"The interface of Sophos XG could be improved. I would prefer the Sophos XG to have an interface for the technician who is setting it up similar to the Sophos SG. I felt the Sophos SG user interface was superior. however, in terms of the functionality of the product, Sophos XG is in many ways more powerful than the Sophos SG. I have no complaints about the quality of the product or the end result. For someone who has used both, I preferred the old interface to the new one."
OPNsense is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 17 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 54 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "There are lots of capabilities built-in: Few would be High Availability, Proxy, DNS, Intrusion detection/prevention, content filtering, traffic and bandwidth management with 2factor autn. ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Secure, duel switch capabilities, and good support". OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XGS, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, WatchGuard Firebox and SonicWall TZ. See our OPNsense vs. Sophos XG report.
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