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Smoothwall Firewall vs SonicWall Capture Security appliance (CSa) comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
370
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Smoothwall Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
33rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall Capture Security ...
Ranking in Firewalls
31st
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Himanshu-Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good scalability and monitoring features
There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages. For example, if we're creating a rule, we should be able to do everything on the same page. Just a drop-down thing or something. This would improve productivity.
Mark Richmond - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced security with efficient threat detection for worry-free operations
Capture scans attachments, sending them to a sandbox. It runs executables or PDFs in Windows Server, Linux, and other operating systems to detect any malicious content before releasing them for download The setup of Capture results in an absence of breaches and infections, thus becoming part of a…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiGate's ability to perform as expected and fulfil our needs has been the most compelling feature for network security."
"The initial installation is very straightforward."
"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."
"It is a safe product."
"One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is that it's a very powerful equipment that gives many security features in a single box with good performance, and the user interface is friendly to use and configure."
"The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."
"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."
"It was easy to initially deploy it."
"The setup of Capture results in an absence of breaches and infections, thus becoming part of a comprehensive protection suite."
 

Cons

"Its reporting and pricing need improvement."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"They could improve the response time and quality of support."
"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."
"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."
"Security is a continuous process. In every product, there is a requirement for improvement. Its pricing should also be improved according to Indian market requirements. They must also improve on the reporting part. Its reporting can be more precise. If we can get a real-time report in a specific format, it will be helpful for customers to know about the current status of their security."
"One of the most important areas for improvement for Fortinet FortiGate is the limited resources for tests."
"The main thing they have to improve in Fortinet FortiGate is the technical support; the rest of the features are good enough. We can handle them, but sometimes you really need support, and in that case, we are not getting it at the proper time."
"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."
"An improvement could be made in its speed, as there are instances where it holds up processes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I do not have first-hand experience with the rice of Fortinet FortiGate, but I have heard the price was reasonable."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."
"The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars."
"Fortinet FortiGate is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
13%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
23%
Educational Organization
14%
University
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
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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...
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...
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 ...
What needs improvement with Smoothwall Firewall?
There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we d...
What is your primary use case for Smoothwall Firewall?
Our use cases are for monitoring and security. The primary purpose of the firewall is maintaining security and benefi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Capture Security appliance (CSa)?
It's a mid-range protection suite, not as expensive as Cisco and not as cheap as Linksys.
What needs improvement with SonicWall Capture Security appliance (CSa)?
An improvement could be made in its speed, as there are instances where it holds up processes. However, it's still re...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Capture Security appliance (CSa)?
Capture scans attachments, sending them to a sandbox. It runs executables or PDFs in Windows Server, Linux, and other...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
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Overview

 

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
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