Sangfor NGAF vs SonicWall TZ comparison

Sangfor and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Sangfor is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.4, while SonicWall is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.3. Sangfor holds a 1.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Sangfor users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

SonicWall TZ and Sangfor NGAF compete in the firewall market. Sangfor NGAF has an edge due to its user-friendly deployment and cost-effective solutions.

Features: SonicWall TZ is praised for its straightforward firewall policy configuration, VPN fail-over capabilities, and comprehensive security features, while Sangfor NGAF is notable for effective application control, WAN optimization, and user-friendliness.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall TZ could improve its complex interface, outdated hardware, and support. Sangfor NGAF needs enhancements in user interface experience, reporting capabilities, and market presence.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall TZ, suitable for on-premises setups, faces support issues, while Sangfor NGAF is applauded for easy deployment in hybrid environments and generally satisfactory support.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall TZ operates on an al a carte pricing model with upfront hardware costs and yearly subscriptions, which some find costly long-term. Sangfor NGAF is considered more affordable with competitive licensing costs, offering a better total cost of ownership.

To learn more, read our detailed Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall TZ Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall TZ

April 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 1.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	16.0%
Sangfor NGAF	1.1%
SonicWall TZ	1.9%
Other	81.0%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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Zaid Farooqui

CIO at Indus Motor Company

Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support

We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.

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Fernando Kavindra Fernando

Senior Pre-sales and Solutions Engineer - Cyber Security at Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd

Web filtering and traffic balancing have improved security for SMBs but threat insight still needs work

I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhere in between, so I would not recommend it for a large enterprise-level organization to rely on because it is not at that level. SonicWall TZ's content filtering service is reliable. We have used it, but it is not very reliable compared to brands such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, or Check Point. What could be improved about SonicWall TZ is the threat intelligence, which by far is not at the level of vendors such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Check Point. Their threat intelligence needs to be improved, as does the GUI, which is not as user-friendly compared to devices such as Fortinet. They could learn from their competitors by making the product more user-friendly. The product interface is not that user-friendly. By adopting a more user-friendly GUI, improving threat intelligence, and enhancing the available guides would be beneficial. In my understanding, in some cases, the KB articles and knowledge articles were not that efficient. They were useful, but they could have been more precise with the knowledge base articles. They need to provide more information about SonicWall TZ, specifically more documentation and more troubleshooting articles. Other than the threat intelligence and the user-friendly GUI, there are no other additional features that I can think of for SonicWall TZ in the future or at least in the next release to make it more competitive.

Read full review

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 IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility."

"Fortinet FortiGate is considered the best in the European market for security reasons."

"We have used multiple WAN ASPs and set up SD-WAN; it's quite interesting and user-friendly; essentially, anyone can configure it—just go through the documentation and you'll be able to set it up directly."

"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team; it is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."

"It enables our organization to become more productive, and it protects our NetWare from viruses and malware."

"The security for endpoints is the most valuable. It is very secure for our workers. It allows us to secure a transaction and enable security for a specific segment in the workflow."

"I think FortiGate is more reliable, consistent, and easy to learn."

"The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentation and assessing their support is necessary."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"In four steps one can configure the entire firewall."

"Sangfor NGAF works accordingly with our customers, the solution has good performance, is easy to use, and integrates well with the endpoints."

"Sangfor has the best capabilities for securing connections, securing web browsers, securing servers, and general threat protection."

"The capabilities are mostly within the box."

"We can utilize our own network rather than paying for a private one."

"I think the tool has the feature to detect and kill ransomware in three seconds."

"In our hospital, Sangfor NGAF works well for us in terms of ensuring confidentiality and availability, which are crucial in the healthcare industry."

"We've found the technical support to be helpful."

More Sangfor NGAF pros

"The installation is straightforward and took approximately 30 minutes."

"The solution is very simple and works great and is working fine in the regions that are here."

"Whatever is required for my organization, the TZ 400 has performed admirably."

"The best thing about the product is the very good threat prevention output."

"The VPN connection is the most valuable feature for us; for me, it's all good as implementation and data tools are also good."

"The most common feature in the firewall, apart from that traditional firewall, would be the security services, like application control, URL filtering, Gateway Anti-Virus, and IPS protection. These are the essential features in the firewalls which I think, has to be enabled and properly used at every network infrastructure."

"The solution is stable."

"The technical support is prompt, often resolving issues quickly through remote sessions."

More SonicWall TZ pros

Cons

"The reports provided by the equipment could be more detailed, and not so dependent on the FortiAnalyzer."

"From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They're providing FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement."

"Fortinet FortiGate is not a scalable solution, as they give you a number and each box comes with concurrent connections; if you need to expand, you have to change the box."

"Its performance can be better. We have had performance issues in the past, but we sometimes tend to find that it is more related to what we do in our network than anything else. It is quite a good product, and there isn't much to improve."

"The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer."

"The cloud management should improve."

"The support is the main thing that needs to be improved."

"The speed of the detection could be improved. The prevention mechanisms and implementation are not easy and could be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"An area for improvement would be the number of ports defined on the box. In the next release, I would like them to develop their provisioning stage of enrolling end devices."

"They need to improve their research team and they need to study their data to analyze it and build the product."

"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardware scalability, allowing for more storage and memory capacity."

"Sangfor could improve by providing better real-time reporting, as the current reports don't offer the level of detail we need, especially for runtime insights."

"Sangfor could improve their interface capacity on the 5100 series model and upgrade their hardware from one gig to 10 gig. This would improve the overall throughput."

"Sangfor NGAF could improve by refining its application control policies, especially in addressing challenges with certain types of applications."

"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here."

"The solution has too many bugs and these slow down the implementation."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

"You need to be a certificate holder to set it up and configure it. It's really important because it looks easy, but it is complex."

"The solution has lost the trust of its customers because of moving from one company to another."

"There is a point I don't like about SonicWall in the past and now. Most of the destinations we look at when we're detecting some user using too much bandwidth or something like that, SonicWall just gave us the destination IP address instead of the fully qualified domain name."

"The solution's cost needs improvement."

"I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point."

"Sometimes there is a glitch between the network connection. Last time, something happened on our IP phone, the SonicWall team did some updates to fix the issue."

"The reporting analytics could be improved, it is very unstable."

"The pricing is of this solution is high and could be reduced to make it more competitive."

More SonicWall TZ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In my opinion, the pricing of the product is reasonable."

"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."

"You need to pay a license for this solution. Our licensing is now done in our subsidiary."

"The main reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was that the price was better than the competition."

"I think price-wise, the solution is totally reasonable since it has many products to serve, starting from small homes to massive scale sites."

"FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint."

"For the price, I'd rate it a ten because it's very cost-effective."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Sangfor NGAF is a cheaply priced product, especially if I consider the previous product that was used in my company."

"Sangfor is cheaper than competing vendors."

"The solution has a TCO that is 32% to 50% less than Sophos, Fortinet, and SonicWall."

"It costs about 8 to 10 thousand dollars per year for 500 users, standard licensing fees included."

"The price is unmatcheable."

"Price-wise, I would not consider Sangfor NGAF to be a cheap product. It is an expensive firewall solution, though not as expensive as something like Palo Alto, which is costly. However, the higher price point is justifiable given the feature set the tool provides that other firewalls may not offer in a single dedicated appliance."

"For over 2000 users, the cost is around 5000 to 6000 USD. If you want a web application firewall, you have to purchase an additional license for it."

"We purchased one year technical support and return to factory support, and we also purchased one-year technical support services. So those were additional."

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

"We have to pay yearly. Its licensing can be improved, and they should provide more features, such as AV, email filtering, and so on with the basic subscription."

"The product pricing is justified for the features provided."

"Its price is very high, which makes it difficult to convince the clients to buy this solution."

"It is a bit expensive. We have to purchase the license and the reporting part separately, which makes it a bit pricey. This is the main reason why we have thought of moving to another firewall. It would be good if they combine both of these."

"Licensing fees are on a monthly basis."

"The product is not expensive, but it is not cheap."

"The price could be better for us in Bolivia."

"Customers are required to pay for a yearly subscription."

More SonicWall TZ pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	64
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	14

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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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?

The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?

The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Sangfor NGAF?

We are hosting applications over the platform, including websites and NAT traffic from our side. Because it's deploye...

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Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?

I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?

The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall TZ?

I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of ot...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 13% of the time

H3C SecPath Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 6% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 5% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

Sophos Firewall vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 8% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 5% of the time

More SonicWall TZ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

April 2026

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall TZ

April 2026

Download SonicWall TZ product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

Dell SonicWALL TZ

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Sangfor NGAF offers a user-friendly firewall solution with a strong virus database and competitive pricing. It supports SSL VPN connectivity, intrusion detection, and is known for easy deployment and integration capabilities.

Sangfor NGAF is a comprehensive security platform providing robust network protection through its application control and detailed threat insights. While effective in preventing threats and ensuring network security, it has areas needing improvement such as real-time reporting and system support. It delivers secure internet and VPN connections, proficiently handling malware threats. However, it faces challenges with user experience, reporting capabilities, hardware scalability, and needs better third-party integration. Licensing costs are noted to be high, and there are performance variations between versions.

What are the key features of Sangfor NGAF?

User-friendly deployment: Offers an uncomplicated setup process.
Robust virus database: Provides reliable threat detection.
SSL VPN connectivity: Ensures secure remote access.
Application control: Manages application usage for enhanced security.
Intrusion detection: Detects unauthorized access attempts.
URL filtering: Prevents access to malicious websites.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating Sangfor NGAF?

Affordability: Competitive pricing compared to peers.
Integration: Good capabilities with existing systems.
Support: Noted for providing reliable customer service.
Threat prevention: Effective in securing networks against various threats.

Sangfor NGAF is widely used across industries including education, healthcare, and finance for its reliable network security. It is favored for securing internal servers, offering robust threat protection, and managing bandwidth efficiently at a budget-friendly rate.

Sangfor

SonicWall TZ provides robust network security with ease of use and VPN integration, favored for its scalability and performance optimized for small to medium businesses.

SonicWall TZ is known for its comprehensive network security features, including advanced threat prevention, VPN integration, and content filtering. It is seen as reliable due to its scalability, performance, and thoughtful integration capabilities, tailored for small to medium businesses. Its cost-effectiveness and easy setup make it attractive, though users note that improvements could be made in pricing and the graphical interface. Reporting functions need enhancement to include more insightful and user-friendly options, and compatibility issues need addressing for advancement alongside competitors like Fortinet. The system supports site-to-site VPNs, deep packet inspection, and unified threat management, offering high security with dependable technical support.

What are the key features of SonicWall TZ?

Robust Network Security: Provides comprehensive protection against threats.
VPN Integration: Simplifies secure remote access.
Content Filtering: Enhances control over internet usage.
Advanced Threat Prevention: Guards against sophisticated cyber threats.
Scalability: Suitable for growing business needs.
Site-to-Site VPNs: Ensures secure connections between branches.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Cost-Effectiveness: Offers solid security without escalating costs.
Ease of Deployment: Streamlines implementation processes.
Unified Threat Management: Comprehensive threat detection and prevention.
Performance Reliability: Consistent performance in various conditions.

SonicWall TZ is widely implemented in sectors needing strong security measures such as finance, healthcare, and retail, where its firewall capabilities and network security facilitate robust protection and efficient traffic handling. It is particularly useful for businesses needing to secure multiple branch connections and ensure efficient remote access.

SonicWall

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

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.

AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall TZ

April 2026

Free Report: Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall TZ

Find out what your peers are saying about Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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