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SonicWall NSa vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
6.0
SonicWall NSa enhances efficiency and security, reducing costs for organizations, saving nearly ten lakh rupees annually.
Sentiment score
4.8
Zscaler Cloud Firewall enhances global security and efficiency with comprehensive features, delivering 60% savings in time and costs.
We had budgeted about thirty lakhs, but after negotiating with SonicWall NSa, we saved almost ten lakh rupees in a year.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
I have seen a return on investment with time saving and money saving.
Senior Devsecops Cloud Cybersecurity Specialist at CGI
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
SonicWall NSa customer support is praised for expertise but needs improvement in response times and accessibility.
Sentiment score
5.5
Zscaler Cloud Firewall support is generally helpful and responsive but may sometimes lack adequacy for premium expectations.
SonicWall support is always available to help us on an immediate basis.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
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 response and support are sometimes inadequate, which detracts from the overall experience of an otherwise impressive solution.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
The technical support from Zscaler was excellent.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
SonicWall NSa provides scalable options for various company sizes, though some upgrades may be necessary to meet demands.
Sentiment score
5.7
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers excellent scalability, supporting diverse organizations smoothly, with most users rating it between seven and ten.
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 InterGlobe Technology Quotient
In this case, Twingate will be very easy compared to Zscaler.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
SonicWall NSa is stable and reliable, though some firmware and configuration issues require occasional technical support.
Sentiment score
7.2
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is highly rated for stability and reliability despite minor latency and GUI lag issues.
Configuration changes have been made that have reduced that latency.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
The stability of SonicWall NSA is quite good.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There were some stability issues due to occasional latency and lags, particularly with the GUI and report generation.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Room For Improvement

SonicWall NSa faces challenges with its GUI, VPN, outdated technology, pricey nature, and support responsiveness, requiring enhancements.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall needs deployment, support, features, UI, pricing, integration, and dashboard improvements for optimal performance and usability.
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 InterGlobe Technology Quotient
There are some aspects of the dashboard configuration or customization that could be improved.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
I believe the integration of AI could improve the dashboard by making it more agile and effective in monitoring and predicting threats.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
The reverse proxy feature for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is missing.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
For now, there is no dashboard or network management system available for Twingate.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

SonicWall NSa offers competitive pricing and value; however, advanced feature fees may challenge companies with tight IT budgets.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall has subscription pricing influenced by user count and features, making it costlier than some competitors.
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
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Valuable Features

SonicWall NSa features VPN, deep inspection, user-friendly interface, threat protection, and scalable security for enhanced network protection.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers comprehensive security with real-time inspection, customizable controls, and automatic features, eliminating hardware needs.
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
We were the only organization that remained secure with a zero infection rate.
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
It is really customized, a security policy that can be applied to the users so they can access only the resources I enable them.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
The best features that Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers are that it is AI powered and automated.
Senior Devsecops Cloud Cybersecurity Specialist at CGI
 

Categories and Ranking

SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
38th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall NSa1.4%
Zscaler Cloud Firewall1.0%
Other97.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Mahendra Basera - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Engineer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient
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.
Carlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
Has streamlined secure deployments across large enterprises while offering reliable protection and intuitive management
The centralized management console, also referred to as the Zscaler dashboard, impacts the ability of my customers to respond to security incidents significantly. I see it as user-friendly, and clients are really happy with using it, which motivates them to keep using Zscaler Cloud Firewall because they enjoy the GUI. It's very intuitive, making it easy to navigate alerts and incidents. My clients rarely have questions about where to find specific information once Zscaler Cloud Firewall is running. The interface speaks for itself, requiring little to no additional training, which is a major plus. Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants. Unfortunately, it is an option and not included in the basic package. Clients need to pay for the next higher bundle to access it, but practically all clients I have dealt with want this feature 100%. Regarding visibility, I can confirm that Zscaler Cloud Firewall indeed includes a feature for application layer visibility embedded in the service. It provides visibility into what you're doing, which is especially interesting nowadays when discussing AI tools, as companies do not want their employees to copy-paste sensitive information into AI systems. We have seen cases such as Samsung's chip design where sensitive info got exposed. The visibility of applications, including cloud applications and AI tools, is significant for compliance with data policies, and you can also run reports and alerts on it.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business56
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

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 we are not always aware of the load under varying organizational working standar...
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 Deep Packet Inspection feature of SonicWall NSa. We adopted a security package that...
Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?
Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datacenter and endpoint. In between you have branch office. So blending EPP and firew...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was fine.
What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
I think Zscaler Cloud Firewall can be improved by adding more features. The needed improvements involve scalability, which is something I wish they would address.
 

Also Known As

NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall NSa vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,948 professionals have used our research since 2012.