Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Smoothwall Firewall vs Sophos Firewall comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
587
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Smoothwall Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
41st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
303
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.3%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smoothwall Firewall is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Firewall is 9.4%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate18.3%
Sophos Firewall9.4%
Smoothwall Firewall0.3%
Other72.0%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Himanshu-Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer at Qualic
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.
Nassif  Kaleny - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.
Dynamic web and mail filtering contribute to improved security measures
The reporting system is very poor. I cannot trace any traffic to our site if it feels some threats. It just tells me that there is something during a certain time but does not provide information about the type of threats or how to get rid of them. This needs improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I value it's IPS and application control solution."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall can be described as the most complete solution."
"Fortinet is one of the players who is having the full bucket of solutions for protecting applications across the deployment locations, being a branch or a head office or a data center or in the cloud as well."
"There is really nothing to complain about with this product; it's a very good product to use, and it has just started to get the top ratings for firewalls."
"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is inspection."
"It is a reliable solution."
"My company never had any complaints about the tool in terms of performance or stability."
"It was easy to initially deploy it."
"The solution is scalable."
"Sophos XG is user-friendly, easily configured, and has all the latest features, including URL filtering."
"Sophos XGS' most valuable features are protection and intrusion prevention detection."
"Excellent product, meets most of the security needs of companies of various sizes. You can buy it without fear."
"All of the features are amazing, especially Sandstorm, which prevents bad traffic or downloaded files from reaching our customers' and partners' networks."
"The firewall feature of Sophos XG has been the most effective for threat prevention."
"We find it easy to use; its internal configuration is very easy, and it has been fairly stable and is also scalable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is flexibility."
 

Cons

"The solution must improve the support provided for customers around the globe, considering the time differences in different places."
"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."
"The graphical interface could be improved."
"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
"At the moment, the main concern is the pricing and the type of licensing."
"Sometimes I experience stability issues, but sometimes they are related to hardware not functioning properly or related to a software bug."
"Some features of Fortinet FortiGate are actually fee enabled that are inconvenient for deploying in production. Other issues relate to isolation with Cisco products and your server."
"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."
"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."
"In future releases, this solution could have more graphical elements on the dashboard to make it easier to understand."
"The main problem with Sophos XG today is that it doesn't have a feature where you actually know the quality of an international link, which would allow us to we know if the link is operational or not. We need more information. It's losing packets on the network. It's high latency. So, we need more information to know if the link is really bad or really good, and today, we will only know if it's working and this just isn't enough."
"There are some bugs relating to the product that allow VPN users to bypass the firewall."
"The scalability is limited."
"There are some bugs relating to the product that allow VPN users to bypass the firewall."
"The program is rather expensive."
"There is no option for right-clicking on any feature after logging into the firewall."
"Integration with Active Directory is not reliable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less expensive than a Cisco solution."
"It's an expensive solution"
"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."
"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a seven and a half out of ten since it is not a cheap solution, though I feel it is a good product for the money one pays."
"It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable. We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years."
"Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."
"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."
Information not available
"I don't believe we have a license for this product."
"Sophos XG is not expensive for a firewall, especially when you compare it with Check Point."
"For licensing the XG 210, we paid approximately $3000 for three years. There are no additional fees on top of this."
"The price of Sophos XG is reasonable."
"The price of Sophos XGS is less than competitors worldwide. However, in Turkey the solution is expensive."
"The price of Sophos XGS is average compared to other offers from other OEMs."
"We generally buy it for a three-year license."
"The pricing is economical."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Comms Service Provider
16%
University
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business360
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise190
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business205
Midsize Enterprise61
Large Enterprise53
 

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 ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 si...
What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?
Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
Sophos XG, Sophos XGS
 

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
Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.