Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs Sophos UTM comparison

Palo Alto Networks and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 96% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and Sophos UTM 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.

To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sophos UTM Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sophos UTM

September 2025

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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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Krishnakumar M

enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

One of the best tools for the prevention of evasive threats

There is a feature called granular application controls, which I liked. Instead of relying on ports and IP addresses, they use AMP ID. This kind of solution is very good. Another valuable feature is the prevention of evasive threats, which is one of the best tools I've encountered. SSL decryption and app ID-based SSL decryption are also impressive, along with the integration with user ID. Identity-based policies ensuring only authorized users can access specific resources are excellent features. Normally, there is something called SIM or SCIM in IDA IDM, but this feature is provided on the box, which is exemplary.

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Samaila Yusuf

Associate Director - Management Support Services at CIHP

Network protection strengthens through effective threat management features and secure access control

The zero-day protection and firewall rules are some of the most effective features for threat management. I can set the rules and features, and also use IPsec to connect all my on-premises servers and link them to Sophos UTM so that they are protected even when in the cloud. Additionally, I use it to control access into the building through a captive portal integrated across all the PCs we have, ensuring secure access only for authenticated users.

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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

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."

"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."

"The impact of SD-WAN on the network performance has been significant."

"The ability to set up remote systems is the most valuable feature."

"Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market."

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."

"The initial setup is very easy."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable features are the intuitive user interface, ease of use, and reporting."

"Palo Alto has better and finer controls than, say, Cisco or Check Point."

"Palo Alto has a unique solution for DNS security, which is very good."

"Mainly, it is very easy to understand, and the logs are very good."

"The scalability of the product is quite high."

"This firewall is very good for our customers because they don't have to write their own rules for adding an application."

"Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories"

"The most valuable feature is availability."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"Sophos UTM is the simplest of these products to setup."

"It gives us the ability to manage our firewalls from the cloud and deploy a unified configuration onto them. Other competitors like Meraki have that ability, but they fail to optimize it in the way that Sophos has."

"The initial setup is pretty easy."

"It now controls all the security aspects of our web servers with Sophos UTM WAF."

"The technical support by Sophos is amazing, especially when I pay for the enhanced support."

"The most valuable feature is ransomware protection."

"An easy solution to learn because the graphics are very intuitive."

"I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands."

More Sophos UTM pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate can improve performance. There was a huge challenge in terms of CPU and memory where the IPS engine would keep triggering. There were random spikes of overutilization in the CPU and memory resources. They have to work on CPU and memory stability considering these IPS engines. A few versions were very unstable."

"We have experienced a number of failures when trying to upgrade firmware and the process takes a long time. We only experienced this when doing major upgrades between versions."

"At the moment, the main concern is the pricing and the type of licensing. Fortinet offers different types of licensing, and my idea is that the best approach is to have only one, two, or a maximum of three types of licensing."

"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."

"Vulnerabilities owing to viruses in the OS need to be reduced in FortiGate Next Generation Firewall from an improvement perspective."

"One area for improvement is the IPS engine."

"The support costs and licensing are sometimes so expensive."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The graphical user interface is a little complex and difficult to manage. L1 engineers cannot work on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series because it's too complex, which requires L2 and above level of engineers."

"It is recommended that the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series be implemented step by step for the Panorama. Sometimes we can't overwrite the configurations because it fails."

"We had some issues with upgrading in the past. They could make the process easier."

"I cannot think of anything specific to improve at the moment."

"They should implement the features that the other firewalls have."

"Palo Alto doesn't have extended visibility to the end point in their firewalls."

"When it comes to renewing the solution, they tend to try to jack up the pricing."

"The URL Filtering module needs to have more categories added to it."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"The solution is not scalable."

"The solution needs to do better at covering mobile devices, although they may have an integrated solution for that purpose."

"Sophos UTM could be simplified, and they can improve on the many other features, like SD-WAN and load balancing. Sophos UTM is missing a few features that their competitors have. For example, if you have multiple branches you would like to connect, the load balancing features aren't available on multilink. If we create a VPM for multiple LAN links, we cannot load balance the traffic."

"The reporting could be a lot better."

"Sophos UTM sometimes falls short in high-availability environments. They used to launch firmware that didn't work very well in a high-availability environment."

"Enhancing the user interface to achieve the same level of flexibility as the older UTM interface could improve the product."

"Flexibility in pricing could be improved. It's more rigid in its pricing compared to its competitor: Kaspersky."

"During initial configuration, I encountered a few issues."

More Sophos UTM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."

"It is around $50,000 per month."

"The tool's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive. Overall, I find it to be competitive in the market."

"It's very competitive."

"There is an annual license to use this solution. The prices have been increasing over the years."

"It is an expensive solution."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS' licensing is quite simple to understand."

"It's not the cheapest, but it's value for money. Given everything we've got out of it: the DMZ port, the VPN, and the high availability, it's a pretty reasonable price."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is expensive."

"When comparing Palo Alto Networks K2-Series with other solutions it is on the higher end of the price scale."

"Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."

"We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series."

"The price of this solution is too high."

"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."

"Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."

"It is an expensive solution."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"We pay for the service on a yearly basis. The last time we paid was in June, for a year. At the time, it was about $20,000."

"The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model and is competitive."

"Sophos UTM is moderately priced, but it could be improved."

"Our licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."

"Sophos UTM has very reasonable pricing."

"I would recommend to follow Sophos’ sizing guidelines for choosing which license and model to use. Sophos has their own way of going about this and supplies partners with all the information required. If you follow their documentation and guidelines, there should be zero questions about licensing and sizing."

"The problem with the Sophos is not the cost of the hardware but the cost of the modules, packages, and the subscription."

"The biggest issue with Sophos is the pricing. It's definitely more expensive. As I said, we looked at Webroot, which is a big alternative, and Sophos was almost three times the price of Webroot. That's a pretty big difference."

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

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Performing Arts

24%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	13

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	71
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	26

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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Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls

In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

The pricing for the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series solution is affordable and there are no complaints about the licensing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

The graphical user interface is a little complex and difficult to manage. L1 engineers cannot work on the Palo Alto N...

See all answers

What do you like most about Sophos UTM?

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

See all answers

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

The value between what I receive and what I pay is the best in the industry.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?

For the challenges I've faced, zero trust is one area where I haven't worked much or have sufficient experience.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 52% of the time

Juniper SRX Series Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 48% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Competitors

OPNsense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos XG vs Sophos UTM

Compared 6% of the time

More Sophos UTM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

September 2025

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos UTM

September 2025

Download Sophos UTM product report

Also Known As

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Astaro

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.

Palo Alto Networks

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

State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME

One Housing Group

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sophos UTM

September 2025

Free Report: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sophos UTM

Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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