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Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls deliver strong ROI through reduced risks, costs, and enhanced security features despite high initial costs.
Sentiment score
6.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is praised for cost-effectiveness, centralized management, and ROI in security, saving time and resources.
Their user-friendly interface and Panorama central management, which provides a comprehensive overview, make them an ideal investment.
Technical Lead at Accenture
The solution helped reduce downtime, which is crucial in time-sensitive industries like manufacturing.
Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment as there are definitely clear cost reductions, resource savings, time savings, and improved risk detection.
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with language barriers and emergency response times needing improvement.
Sentiment score
7.3
Sophos Cyberoam UTM customer service has mixed reviews, praised for expertise but criticized for occasional delays and communication issues.
Palo Alto's network support is excellent, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.
Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Their response time is within one hour.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
They offer fast and competent assistance.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
They resolve issues timely once connected.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
Technical support is effective and responsive.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
I would rate their technical support a solid nine out of ten.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer scalability and customization, but hardware limitations and cost issues affect extensive scaling options.
Sentiment score
6.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is scalable for medium enterprises, though scalability can depend on hardware, model, and integration choices.
Cloud deployments benefit from auto-scaling, allowing for automatic adjustments to firewall capacity based on demand.
Technical Lead at Accenture
It is important to assess the infrastructure size before choosing a model.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are scalable and reliable.
Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are favored for their consistent stability and reliability, outperforming competitors in various scenarios.
Sentiment score
8.4
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is praised for its high stability, minimal issues, and reliable performance compared to competitors.
With appropriately configured policies, these firewalls can provide robust network security.
Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees
After the upgrade, we are experiencing performance issues.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I have not experienced any outages or issues.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
 

Room For Improvement

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls need improved reporting, support, affordability, AI features, integration, scalability, and better-performing hardware.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM struggles with high costs, scalability, outdated features, complex setup, and limited support for new technologies.
When performance degrades due to full packet inspection, the solution should be to increase the computing power within the same firewall, not to recommend upgrading to a larger, more expensive model.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Further integration into a unified system could improve usability.
Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls lack built-in multi-factor authentication, requiring the purchase of a third-party tool to implement this essential security feature.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
For Sophos Cyberoam UTM, you don't really have that access that can give you those network flexibilities that would allow you to do some other types of architectures.
Chief Technology Officer at Super Digital Highways Ltd
It would be beneficial if phone calls or SMS for two-factor authentication were available.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
Sophos Cyberoam UTM should move in the direction of AI capabilities, as the world is moving toward AI.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
 

Setup Cost

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are costly but valued for premium security, offering better value with multi-year licenses.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM is competitively priced, with flexible licensing options, but costs vary based on features and network size.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls come at a premium, exceeding the cost of most competitors by 45 percent.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
Colleagues looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall can still use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because they are affordable.
Director at Zuci Systems
The price is appropriate, but if you want the real truth, it's actually quite expensive.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
 

Valuable Features

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer robust, user-friendly security with advanced AI, threat prevention, and centralized management features.
Sophos Cyberoam UTM offers advanced protection with real-time features, centralized management, scalability, and user-friendly operations for all organizations.
The most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are DNS sync calls, enabled security features, and Wildfire.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Threat Vault allows us access to a comprehensive threat database, enabling us to get detailed information on threats and how to mitigate them.
Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is Cortex Data Lake.
Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees
It provides bandwidth management, category management of websites, blocking certain elements, IPS blocking, DDoS protection, and VPN management between sites and clients.
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
I assess the benefit of Sophos Cyberoam UTM's centralized management for multi-appliance handling as a welcome feature because you can manage all the devices at one location, giving you notifications of downtime and updates without necessarily logging into each appliance, so that central management is a very genius move.
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
The way the rule sets are configured makes it an easily understandable way to manage.
Managing Consultant at Affordable IT
 

Categories and Ranking

Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
199
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (6th)
Sophos Cyberoam UTM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (9th)
 

Featured Reviews

Nitin Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.
Strong threat prevention has reduced phishing and malware while I monitor traffic in depth
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers application and user awareness, which allow me to control traffic based on threats. The product includes threat prevention, advanced threat prevention, and deep packet inspection that really helps prevent issues in our network. Deep packet inspection inspects full traffic content, even inside applications and encrypted sessions. Deep packet inspection makes a very practical difference day to day because it lets me see and control what is actually inside the traffic, not just the open port or IP. I have real visibility of which application is running instead of just seeing HTTPS. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls WildFire sandboxing is really good at detecting and blocking zero-day malware automatically, along with its GlobalProtect and DNS security features. Using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls positively impacts my organization by providing strong security, better visibility, faster response, and simplified operations. After deploying Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls in our network, it blocks malicious traffic and prevents compromises that occurred before Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. I can now block outside IPs to prevent issues. After Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls installation, I reduced 60 to 70 percent of malware and phishing attacks. Its threat prevention and DNS security features detect these attacks, block malicious domains, and reduce manual efforts for the security team.
SH
Global IT Manager at Express KItchen
Has transitioned fully to SD-WAN and centralized management simplifies appliance handling
As for areas where Sophos Cyberoam UTM can be improved, it's hard to say; I have not at the moment seen anything that I could not get a solution for, but if there's anything, I'll make sure to raise that with the Sophos team. Regarding the documentation, I find that it is still lacking, although the YouTube videos, user training, and knowledge forum are now better than they were before. Sophos Cyberoam UTM should move in the direction of AI capabilities, as the world is moving toward AI. Sophos Cyberoam UTM is not promoted enough. I see FortiGates organizing student competitions and Cisco doing CCNA classes, so Sophos should follow that route as well.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise57
Large Enterprise87
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include int...
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 kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
The price is appropriate, but if you want the real truth, it's actually quite expensive. The annual software licensing is reasonably pricey, with probably about four years' license annual.
What needs improvement with Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
There is room for improvement when it comes to their features and architectures they're trying to implement that they can't directly help with. But by and large, it's actually relatively good. More...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Cyberoam UTM?
I do work with clients that use both Cisco and Sophos products. My work is mostly with firewalls, storages, switches, and routers.
 

Also Known As

Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Gulf Corporation for Technology, Maridive & Oil Services, Fidelity Bank, Petra University, Capital FM Kenya, Safari Park Hotel and Casino, Mayfair Casino, Pacific International Lines, Mozambique Ministry of Education, University of Namibia, Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, University of Hawai, New Delhi Municipal Council
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902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.