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Portnox vs Sophos Network Access Control comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 8, 2026

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

Portnox
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
ZTNA (7th), Passwordless Authentication (1st)
Sophos Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Portnox is 8.1%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Network Access Control is 3.2%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Portnox8.1%
Sophos Network Access Control3.2%
Other88.7%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

Maurice Mwaura - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Applied Principles Limited
Unified access control has improved compliance visibility and simplified passwordless access
There is work to be done when it comes to making the solution more seamless. For example, when a user is denied access, they would need a way to maybe self-resolve themselves, perhaps a way to generate a ticket on their own, something around resolutions. When it comes to users using the product, that is where good products are differentiated from products that are a bit of a challenge. Portnox has much to do in terms of their reporting. The generated reports need improvement. Things that other tools would say are normal are usually not present. For example, there is a page called NAS devices or NAS network that is able to show the switches that have been managed. Currently, there is no way of generating an easy report or an easy way of just generating something to tell the customer what they have been able to achieve so far. This is not done yet and is still very manual. I think there is work to be done there. More integrations around the various products being used would be beneficial. So far I have not encountered any major challenge. Where there was a challenge, I think support came in and helped us resolve. In fact, most of the challenges are not with the product; they are with the customer environment. I think that is just to update their documentation where they have come across a new vendor for easier integrations in the future.
PS
System Administrator And Network Engineer at Vidyashilp University
Access control has strengthened security and central console management streamlines device oversight
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a misbehaving email from the network but is not connected to our network and uses a personal network instead, it becomes difficult to trace and identify which network the email is coming from. An inventory system should also be added in the future. Some antivirus solutions have inventory systems that provide all system details. Since we install the Sophos client on client machines, we could obtain details about which software is being used and what the configuration of the machines is. This information would be valuable, as some information was missing when I was using the product previously.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Portnox's AI capabilities are excellent in terms of accuracy and reliability, consistently providing correct information or alerts."
"One of the features I enjoyed the most about Portnox was the ability to dive in with proper details on an endpoint."
"I surely recommend Portnox to other users because of the price, ease of use, and fast setup."
"Portnox is a highly effective tool that will significantly lower your incident resolution times, so be prepared to push through a slight learning curve at the beginning."
"For a network access control solution, Portnox is a very good solution."
"This is a self-sufficient network monitoring and security product that saves time and employee resources."
"If your team is burnt out on managing legacy on-prem network access control or wants to move to a pure cloud model, Portnox should definitely be on your shortlist."
"The most important feature is that this solution is agentless. So, you don't have to install any agents on endpoints."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control are the quick response times to threats and reliable security."
"Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control."
"There is good documentation that helps to deploy a new wireless access point and a controller in a very easy way."
"The user interface makes it easy to configure and use."
"The product has the capabilities to satisfy all kinds of needs that a company may have, and you can find the right solution without spending a lot of money."
"The installation is very straightforward."
"We have had interactions with the technical support team through the Xnet platform. It's good."
 

Cons

"It could be a little cheaper."
"Ideally, we should be able to search for any MAC address in the database, regardless of its authentication status, to see all its associated groups and potential conflicts."
"In terms of operational efficiency, things are more complicated now. It takes more time to get devices on the network, but we increased security quite a bit."
"Portnox Cloud is stable to a certain extent."
"One of the things for the on-premise is that sometimes you click on it and it takes a while for it to respond."
"It would be good to integrate Portnox CORE with CLEAR."
"From a resource perspective, the OEM can do better in terms of resource utilization."
"The integration between Portnox CORE and Portnox CLEAR can be better. These are two different systems, and there is no unique console for both devices. Portnox CORE is agentless, whereas Portnox CLEAR is not agentless."
"Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. Pricing could also be improved because it's costly."
"What needs to be improved on is the fact that Sophos consumes a lot of processor resources and, once it starts scanning, the RAM utilization is very high."
"The user interface, in terms of managing the product, could be better."
"Endpoint and firewall synchronization is not as smooth as we are expecting from Sophos Network Access Control."
"I'd like to see them include direct integration with Active Directory."
"It would be good if Sophos Network Access Control had better integration with other devices."
"In Indonesia, there are a lot of false positives. For example, many websites from our government and local industries are blocked by the IPS."
"The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for port licensing and support on a yearly basis, and it's not cheap."
"Pricing is not cheap. It is based on licenses per port. After licensing is purchased, you only pay for support."
"The vendor price is fair."
"The users are not very happy with the new licensing option where there is only a subscription license. There is no perpetual license."
"The cost of Portnox Clear is reasonable."
"The licensing module should be reviewed to count the number of devices instead of port numbers of total switches. There is a case for this where not all ports for a switch are used by devices. Unused ports are calculated in the license, then the customer pays for license for those unused ports."
"It's not cheap. It's not expensive. It's in the middle."
"The pricing is a bit high, possibly due to the cloud features and running instances across regions like the US, Asia, and Europe."
"It is quite expensive."
"Sophos Network Access Control is an expensive solution."
"Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it."
"I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten."
"Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto."
"It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Portnox Clear?
The pricing and setup cost as well as licensing is a bit high compared to the competition. If it were better, we could also have some pricing specific or special discounts to cater for SMBs.
What needs improvement with Portnox Clear?
If the MSSP offering could be the primary push or primary concern, it would be the best thing that could happen. Based on the Tanzanian market, AI governance is something that is coming through. Fo...
What is your primary use case for Portnox Clear?
Portnox is for the network access control use case. The use case focuses on wired network access, specifically how users are connecting to the network and how we are checking their security posture...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Network Access Control?
The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.
What needs improvement with Sophos Network Access Control?
In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos Network Access Control?
Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.
 

Also Known As

Access Layers Portnox, Portnox CLEAR
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sallie Mae, Roku, Vuori, Legal Zoom, Anaplan, Aecon, H.I.G. Capital, McLaren Construction Group, PFCU, UK Mortgage Lending Limited, CCC Intelligent Solutions
Rushmoor Borough Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Portnox vs. Sophos Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.