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OPNsense Logo
86,816 views|75,772 comparisons
Sophos Logo
60,203 views|43,788 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 6, 2022

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.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of both solutions relate that they are easy and straightforward to deploy.
  • Features: OPNSense users say it offers good reporting and visibility and that it is a good option for home and small business use. Many users feel the solution could be more secure and user friendly. It can be a challenging solution to use for the complete novice.

    Sophos XG offers VPN, solid firewalling, robust intrusion detection, and content blocking. Users find it easy to use and manage. They find the interface user friendly and very intuitive. They would like to have improvement to the SD-WAN, GDPR capabilities, and better integrations.
  • Pricing: OPNsense is open source and free to use but provides limited features. Paid versions can be pricey. Sophos XG users find the price to be reasonable.
  • Service and Support: For the most part, users of both solutions are happy with the service and support.

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.

To learn more, read our detailed OPNsense vs. Sophos XG Report (Updated: March 2023).
686,748 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"OPNsense is easy to scale when running on the hardware.""What I like best about OPNsense is that, as a firewall, it's pretty good. I'm quite impressed with it. I had an excellent experience with OPNsense, which helped me achieve the targets I wanted.""The initial implementation process is simple.""It's more secure and more reliable.""The technical support is very good.""I have found the solution has some great features overall, such as guest access capabilities, dashboards, and ease of use. There is plenty of documentation and support and it has the plugins that I needed.""OPNsense is highly stable.""It has an open license. It works very well, and there is an update every month."

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"Overall the solution works well.""The solution is easy to set up and configure.""Sophos XG Firewall is very usable, very easy to install, and very user friendly.""Sophos offers great disk encryption, anti protection, and the interface is very user-friendly.""Most of the features Sophos XG has are valuable. However, if I have two different ISP, I'm able to create an automatic switch between the two ISPs. I can do the same thing for the cloud as well. If I have two subnets coming from the cloud, I'm able to create a type of switch between both of them where if there is traffic on one and has the traffic drop, I'm able to switch to the other ISP without any problems. It's a normal feature and I get to enjoy the ability to switch between services with no issues.""I've tried out Sophos XG a little. It has a good interface that's very user-friendly, but I haven't used all of its functions because I'm only configuring and running the system.""It is simple to use.""Easy to deploy and user friendly."

More Sophos XG Pros →

Cons
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly.""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 support for OPNsense is good because we have documents available on the internet. The support could improve a little.""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.""Its interface should be a little bit better.""They should improve IPEs for security in the future.""The IPS solution could be more reliable.""The solution could be more secure."

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"The initial setup is not straightforward.""The pricing has gotten much higher.""Lacks improved throughput performance in a box.""Could have a more simplified functionality for users.""It would be helpful if the solution offered some tutorial videos to help new users learn the system quickly.""Sophos XG could improve the connectivity with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory(AD). It doesn't work directly as other solutions do, such as Fortinet FortiGate. The client needs a separate AD server which is a problem.""I would like to have a more efficient login process.""Over the last six months, we have noticed that the hardware is slow, especially the VPN connections."

More Sophos XG Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The solution is not expensive."
  • "As an appliance, it's in the medium price range."
  • "Its pricing is unbeatable in comparison to other firewalls. You can have a small instance that could be €80 a month with the hardware underneath. Azure Firewall and FortiGate are out of the question at this price. If you are on a public cloud, you need the underlying infrastructure. Other than that, there is no additional cost. If you have it on-prem, you have to buy the server or the appliance. The hardware cost is replaced with the infrastructure cost in the cloud. You also have costs for the public IPs and underlying VMs, but that's not related to OPNsense. It would be the same for a FortiGate deployment on Azure. You need a FortiGate license, and you need the underlying infrastructure that scales up depending on your needs."
  • "It is open source and free."
  • "The price of OPNsense is good."
  • "I'm using the free version of OPNsense. I didn't check the pricing for the solution because I still need to test it before getting the approval to purchase OPNsense, and it isn't easy to get approval from the higher-ups."
  • More OPNsense Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price for the firewall is reasonable."
  • "Its licensing cost is around 700 bucks a year or something like that. It is 100 bucks a month at the most. It seems to be standard licensing with no additional costs."
  • "The price is fair."
  • "There is no license required to use this solution."
  • "The price can be a bit steep but for the number of features, it is worth it."
  • "We have our license for three years."
  • "The price is not reasonable."
  • "The price is good and licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis."
  • More Sophos XG Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and client, Open VPN and client, and PPTP client. Both also have intrusion detection and… more »
    Top Answer:What I like best about OPNsense is that, as a firewall, it's pretty good. I'm quite impressed with it. I had an excellent experience with OPNsense, which helped me achieve the targets I wanted.
    Top Answer:I'm using the free version of OPNsense. I didn't check the pricing for the solution because I still need to test it before getting the approval to purchase OPNsense, and it isn't easy to get approval… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to… more »
    Top Answer:Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat signatures and updates. I also appreciate that I can just import addresses and URL… more »
    Top Answer:Hi Arvind P ,  The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Factor. The Sophos XG appliance that offers a direct competition to the Fortigate 80F… more »
    Ranking
    7th
    out of 48 in Firewalls
    Views
    86,816
    Comparisons
    75,772
    Reviews
    11
    Average Words per Review
    397
    Rating
    8.3
    6th
    out of 48 in Firewalls
    Views
    60,203
    Comparisons
    43,788
    Reviews
    87
    Average Words per Review
    484
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Learn More
    OPNsense
    Video Not Available
    Overview

    OPNsense is a user-friendly, fast-track, open-source FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform. This software offers features that are generally available from costly commercial firewalls, with the added benefit of open and verifiable sources. The firewall provides users, developers, and organizations with an advantageous environment through transparency. The development of this project is driven by a strong focus on security and code quality.

    The solution offers a variety of components, such as:

    • Weekly security updates. These updates provide the user with the ability to reach new emerging threats in a timely manner through small increments.

    • Two major releases every year. These yearly releases are on a fixed release cycle and provide organizations with the ability to plan ahead of an upcoming upgrade.

    • A roadmap of instructions. Each major release provides a guide and a set of clear goals.

    A team of professionals developed OPNsense. Other professional and experienced software architects, engineers, and developers are encouraged to join in the development of the solution to make it as successful as possible. OPNsense offers a variety of rich features with each release. Each upgrade is based on FreeBSD for continual, long-term support and utilizes a freshly advanced MVC framework based on Phalcon. OPNsense is committed to helping businesses, school networks, remote offices, hotels, and other markets in keeping their data protected.

    OPNsense Core Features

    OPNsense continually offers a free, complete, high-end security platform with new releases and features. With each release, OPNsense focuses on providing more unique and better security features in a timely manner. These features include:

    • Captive Portal
    • Built-in reporting and monitoring tools including RRD Graphs
    • Network Flow Monitoring
    • Traffic Shaper
    • Support for Plugins
    • Granular Control Over State Table
    • Dynamic DNS
    • Two-factor authentication throughout the system
    • Netflow Exporter
    • Encrypted Configuration Backup to Google Drive
    • Forward Caching Proxy (transparent) with Blacklist Support
    • Stateful inspection firewall
    • DNS Server & DNS Forwarder
    • High Availability & Hardware Failover (with configuration synchronization & synchronized state tables)
    • DHCP Server and Relay
    • Virtual Private Network (site to site & road warrior, IPsec, OpenVPN & legacy PPTP support)
    • Intrusion Detection and Prevention
    • 802.1Q VLAN support

    Reviews from Real Users

    OPNsense is a favorite security solution among reviewers for a number of reasons. Two of those reasons include the user-friendliness of the solution, which makes it easy to use, and its ability to easily scale.

    For many, a user-friendly solution is essential. FiorindoDi A., a system administration specialist at a tech vendor, says, "The graphic user interface is very good and it is user-friendly, which makes the product easy-to-use."

    Peerspot reviewers speak of the scalability of the solution. For example, an anonymous cloud and infrastructure manager at a venture capital and private equity firm reviewer notes, "OPNsense is easy to scale when running on the hardware."

    Sophos XG Firewall is a complete firewall solution that provides all the real-time security and insights you need to protect your network from ransomware and advanced threats. Sophos XG Firewall provides visibility into suspicious users, unknown and unwanted apps, encrypted traffic, and other threats. With its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, Sophos XG Firewall immediately identifies potential risks and intrusions on web servers and networks.

    Sophos XG Firewall Features

    Sophos XG Firewall offers a wide range of security features, including:

    • Application control: Prevent widespread infections with XG’s Security Heartbeat. XG Firewall automatically identifies the source of an infection on a network and automatically prevents it from accessing other network resources.

    • Synchronized user ID: Eliminate the need for client or server authentication agents by sharing user identification between the endpoint and the firewall through Security Heartbeat.

    • Centralized management: Easily manage all activities with Sophos Central. The XG cloud management platform allows users to easily set up, manage, and monitor XG firewalls along with other Sophos products. Some of Sophos Central’s features include alerting, backup management, one-click firmware updates, and rapid deployments of new firewalls.

    • Lateral movement protection: Automatically isolate compromised systems at every point in the network to stop attacks dead in their tracks.

    • Network protection: Protect networks from attacks and threats while providing secure network access.

    • Web protection: Gain clear visibility and control over all users’ web and application activity.

    • Web server protection: Solidify web servers and applications against hacking attacks while providing secure web access.

    • Email protection: Consolidate email protection with anti-spam, DLP, and encryption. XG’s Live Anti-Spam provides protection from the most recent spam campaigns, phishing attacks, and malicious attachments. Data Loss Prevention automatically triggers encryption on sensitive data in outgoing emails.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Sophos XG Firewall stands out among its competitors, among other reasons, for its intrusion detection capabilities, its user-friendly management platform, and in general, for being a complete and robust firewall solution.

    Niranjan P., a network & system support engineer, writes, “Sophos is a comprehensive solution which allows me to configure all the attendant products, such as Sophos's firewall, endpoint, and encryption features. A nice feature of Sophos is that it offers in sync and heartbeat security. When my clients have a perimeter involving Sophos firewall and endpoints with Sophos Endpoint, they can communicate with each other.”

    Antonio D., sales manager at INFOSEC, notes, “The product has a console that is based in the cloud for all their products. In this console, they have email security, firewall security, endpoint security, et cetera. All of the products on offer in the console are very useful for us. The solution is stable. The solution works well for enterprises and large-scale organizations.”

    Antony M., ICT/HMIS supervisor at a healthcare company, writes, “The VPN feature is the most valuable. It has come in handy during this period when people are working from home. The filtering feature is also valuable because you can easily filter the sites that you don't want to visit. You can also set timely surfing quotas”

    Offer
    Learn more about OPNsense
    Learn more about Sophos XG
    Sample Customers
    CompuNet Systems GmbH,
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    Logistics Company18%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Aerospace/Defense Firm9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Comms Service Provider20%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government9%
    Educational Organization6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Healthcare Company9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider17%
    Government7%
    Retailer5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business65%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise26%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise52%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business62%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise14%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise44%
    Buyer's Guide
    OPNsense vs. Sophos XG
    March 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about OPNsense vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
    686,748 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    OPNsense is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 14 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 6th in Firewalls with 97 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Supports high availability, good content filtering capabilities, and ability to protect against various types of malware". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Secure, duel switch capabilities, and good support". OPNsense is most compared with pfSense, Untangle NG Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, pfSense, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox. See our OPNsense vs. Sophos XG report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.