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SonicWall NSa vs Sophos UTM 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
Fortinet FortiGate offers a high ROI through enhanced productivity, efficiency, security, cost savings, and simplified management.
Sentiment score
6.0
SonicWall NSa enhances efficiency and security, reducing costs for organizations, saving nearly ten lakh rupees annually.
Sentiment score
5.7
Sophos UTM offers quick returns, efficient network management, and cost savings, benefiting managed service providers and ensuring data protection.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems
When investing in cybersecurity with Fortinet FortiGate 200, which costs more than $10,000, companies that are growing directly can expect ROI within 1.5 to 3 years.
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
We had budgeted about thirty lakhs, but after negotiating with SonicWall NSa, we saved almost ten lakh rupees in a year.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
I have seen a return on investment with Sophos UTM, and I can share that the price is around thirty percent better, especially if you count in the employee time.
System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Fortinet FortiGate's 24/7 support is generally well-rated but needs improvement in response speed for urgent issues.
Sentiment score
8.5
SonicWall NSa customer support is praised for expertise but needs improvement in response times and accessibility.
Sentiment score
6.7
Sophos UTM's customer service receives mixed reviews for response times but is praised for expertise and community resources.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
SonicWall support is always available to help us on an immediate basis.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
The support from SonicWall was excellent.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SonicWall support is very helpful and responsive.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
The technical support by Sophos is amazing, especially when I pay for the enhanced support.
Associate Director - Management Support Services at CIHP
I would rate the technical support by Sophos a 10.
Network and Infrastructure Manager at Sonysugar
I would rate the technical support with Sophos a seven because sometimes the time of the first resolution is not ideal.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for scalability and adaptability across enterprises, though some users face cloud scaling and upgrade challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
SonicWall NSa provides scalable options for various company sizes, though some upgrades may be necessary to meet demands.
Sentiment score
6.0
Sophos UTM is highly scalable, supporting growth via licenses, hardware, and clustering, adaptable to varying deployment sizes.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo
I would rate its scalability around eight out of ten, meaning there are no issues, and it is pretty easy to scale.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Regarding scalability, it's important to ascertain the customer's future requirements, as firewalls need to be sized according to their expected scalability, such as moving from 500 users today to more in the coming years.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
SonicWall NSa is very supportive and capable of handling everything from smaller organizations to big enterprise-level organizations on a model-wise or configuration-wise basis.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
You can have high availability clusters, so very, very scalable in my opinion.
System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiGate offers reliable and consistent performance, with quick resolution for occasional bugs, ensuring minimal downtime and high availability.
Sentiment score
7.9
SonicWall NSa is stable and reliable, though some firmware and configuration issues require occasional technical support.
Sentiment score
7.5
Sophos UTM is praised for stability and reliability, with few issues occurring mainly during updates or resource demands.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Configuration changes have been made that have reduced that latency.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
The stability of SonicWall NSA is quite good.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate users face high costs, integration and stability issues, sluggish support, and need improvements in usability and security features.
SonicWall NSa faces challenges with its GUI, VPN, outdated technology, pricey nature, and support responsiveness, requiring enhancements.
Sophos UTM needs enhancements in reporting, UI, threat protection, VPN, technical support, scalability, pricing, and configuration simplicity.
It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is how quickly each of these companies adapts to that and brings in more value to the customer.
Principal Consultant at Epitome Infotech Solutions (P) Ltd
The main area for improvement in Fortinet FortiGate is the firmware versions, as we face uncertainties regarding upgrades and frequent bugs that require self-fixing of problems.
Senior Manager IT at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
More details in the analytical tools offered would be appreciated since it is not yet mature.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
At those times, the CPU spikes considerably, and due to that, the firewall response becomes slow.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
There are some aspects of the dashboard configuration or customization that could be improved.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
If you want to really implement some rules that are a little bit more difficult, Sophos always recommends getting the dedicated WAF, or web application firewall, but I would prefer to have more features on the web application firewall in the firewall itself because it would make more sense.
System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would prefer to see additional features in the next release of Sophos UTM because cyber crime increases every day, so we also need to improve our game to prevent any chances for intrusion.
Network and Infrastructure Manager at Sonysugar
It would make my work much simpler because it makes decision-making much easier.
IT Manager at Vegol
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate is cost-effective with a good feature set, ideal for mid to large enterprises, though complex licensing.
SonicWall NSa offers competitive pricing and value; however, advanced feature fees may challenge companies with tight IT budgets.
Sophos UTM offers flexible pricing with incentives, praised for its features and value despite some regional variances.
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1
It is about 20% cheaper.
Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX
The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost.
Information Technology Infrastructure Section Head at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
SonicWall is much cheaper compared to Fortinet, particularly regarding renewal and licensing costs.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
Pricing has become expensive recently due to the dollar hike and naira value changes in Nigeria.
Associate Director - Management Support Services at CIHP
The value between what I receive and what I pay is the best in the industry.
System Administrator at a training & coaching company with 11-50 employees
The pricing would be more economical if sold directly to the user compared to going through a partner, as they need to take their percentage.
Network and Infrastructure Manager at Sonysugar
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers robust security, ease of use, and integration, with cost-effectiveness and reliable support, enhancing network efficiency.
SonicWall NSa features VPN, deep inspection, user-friendly interface, threat protection, and scalable security for enhanced network protection.
Sophos UTM excels in configuration ease, real-time reporting, cost-effectiveness, and flexible security features, benefiting efficient management.
They put in a thing called the FortiCookbook, which is very easy to read with real-life scenarios that make networking tasks like joining networks very straightforward.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks.
Sales & Support at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The most valuable feature is the deep inspection for traffic, which is capable of identifying zero-day attacks.
Consultant at SKYE AS
Real-time deep memory inspection is very helpful and has had a positive impact on our security posture.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
We were the only organization that remained secure with a zero infection rate.
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
The zero-day protection and firewall rules are some of the most effective features for threat management.
Associate Director - Management Support Services at CIHP
It helps us quite a lot, especially because since we use Sophos UTM, malware intrusions are not rampant.
Network and Infrastructure Manager at Sonysugar
Sophos UTM's valuable features include the cost, which is very competitive when compared with other vendors, balanced with the features that it delivers.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
592
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
SonicWall NSa
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (18th)
Sophos UTM
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

JK
IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana
Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.
Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.
Mahendra Basera - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.
Automated breach prevention has protected critical workloads and keeps external attacks blocked
I am familiar with SonicWall TZ. I have done a POC of TZ but I have not worked extensively with it. I have worked with the 2600 firewall and then the 3600. These are the models which we have worked with.SonicWall NSa was an on-premises solution. The two firewalls which were in production, in the data center and on the LAN side, were both on-premises solutions. We had a pre-decided budget under which we would purchase the firewall. All parameters including security, high availability, and budget concerns were covered with SonicWall NSa being implemented at that time. SonicWall NSa is a user-friendly product that is easy to configure, and it is easy for network personnel and firewall administrators to work with. Even the L1 team captured and learned this firewall effectively, helping us resolve all parameters related to high availability firewalls within budget-friendly costs. I rate this review a nine out of ten.
Bashir Bashir - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Vegol
Firewall management has become simpler and now provides real-time visibility and bandwidth control
The features I have found most valuable in Sophos UTM are that it is much easier to configure, I appreciate the reporting side of it, and the rules are very straightforward to work with. Sophos UTM's real-time insights into network health help my organization because I get real-time reports on what is happening on my network, what is trying to access me, the destination, and all that. I can then be reactive or proactive, and for zero-day, I think it is beneficial because it can learn what my network does. If anything goes outside what it expects, it sends a report on Sophos Central, so I find zero-day makes my work a bit easier. The use of Sophos UTM's intuitive management console has impacted my security policy enforcement in that it is much easier to configure; I configure with information rather than with presumptions.
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business369
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise27
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
I am overall satisfied with everything, including the price.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
The CPU configuration for SonicWall NSa, based on my experience, is average. It should be increased somewhat because ...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSa?
We have SonicWall NSa models including NSA 2600, NSA 3600, and 6600 firewalls in our environment.We have used the Dee...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
The pricing for Sophos UTM is reasonable; I do not have an issue with it, though I was considering RED because I have...
What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?
I would like to improve Sophos UTM in that there is software I use that goes deeper in the reporting on usage. There ...
What is your primary use case for Sophos UTM?
Sophos UTM is the primary product I work with, specifically the firewalls. I mainly use the application control featu...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
Astaro
 

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
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
One Housing Group
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