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SonicWall SMA vs Symantec VIP Access Manager comparison

 

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

SonicWall SMA
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd), SSL VPN (6th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (16th)
Symantec VIP Access Manager
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (12th), Access Management (22nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

SonicWall SMA and Symantec VIP Access Manager aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. SonicWall SMA is designed for Universal Access Gateways and holds a mindshare of 38.1%, down 50.0% compared to last year.
Symantec VIP Access Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Authentication Systems, holds 2.0% mindshare, up 1.8% since last year.
Universal Access Gateways Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall SMA38.1%
Citrix Gateway38.4%
Other23.5%
Universal Access Gateways
Authentication Systems Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec VIP Access Manager2.0%
Microsoft Entra ID5.8%
Okta Platform4.4%
Other87.8%
Authentication Systems
 

Featured Reviews

BA
Owner at ThinkEzIT
Security enhances through autonomous protection and strong support while multi-factor authentication secures access
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, as I haven't been looking at what they're releasing. We're a small shop, so we drop stuff in and manage it and do what we need to do to maintain it. If we run into an issue, we contact support. There's a learning curve, but it comes down to getting support to train you on the product, and then once you have the training you need, you're able to make the changes and updates that you need to.
Berk Onur - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Consultant at Cyberwise
With its mobile application, this tool offers a convenient and user-friendly experience to its users
To improve the tool, I think that the solution should consider integrations with other cybersecurity and IT technologies, such as Privileged Access Management and Site Integration. Additionally, the implementation of second-factor authentication via Symantec VIP Access Manager, CyberArk, and Delinea, among other technologies, could be best for the product. While the existing technology is okay, improving the integration capabilities for Symantec VIP Access Manager would benefit the product. I would like to see the solution meet the integration needs at our company. While many cybersecurity solutions can function independently, they often lack integration with our systems due to missed integration points. Improving the solution's integration feature would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"These are very nice appliances and they give us all that we need for our work in the hospital."
"My advice to others is this solution is reliable, feature-rich, and reasonable-priced."
"Secure remote access is now available from home offices."
"I am very satisfied with the technical support."
"The SonicWall SSL-VPN solution offers the best protection with the least effect on services."
"I like the load balancing capability, it is very fast and it has a simple interface."
"The advanced threat protection and the endpoint control features of SonicWall SMA have helped improve security measures tremendously."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is they have IT consultants that know SonicWall."
"It is easy to use."
"It is a fast and easy solution for end users, and you are always online."
"In this version 9.1, lots of changes are done for the dashboard, User Store etc."
"I like the whole solution, and I would recommend it."
"The solution has helped to increase staff productivity by approximately a minute."
"The product is useful for providing user access from an in-built office server as we follow the work-from-home model."
"The two-factor authentication is most definitely valuable and moves us closer to being able to check off those important boxes for compliance."
"Mostly from a product expert's point of view, it provides solutions for my clients."
 

Cons

"The pricing for the solution could be a lot less."
"The overall menu is not very user-friendly and it could be easier."
"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."
"Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface."
"There are some features that are available on Palo Alto or Cisco that don't exist. The solution could integrate better with other platforms."
"This is an expensive solution and I think that the price could be improved."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."
"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan."
"Geofencing needs improvement."
"Technical support is one of the worst problems."
"It gets out of sync with Active Directory or whatever it might be, whatever the authentication piece is on Active Directory, and they just reset it on the backend. I never have to contact the vendor."
"At times, the relay server could not contact Symantec; it would fail open and allow access without a passcode."
"There are some shortcomings on the reporting side, such as how many connections you can get per month."
"If they had dashboards or a report for managers or executives, then it would allow them to see the status and have it make sense to them."
"The gateway server is a RADIUS server, but it lacks the functionality of returning RADIUS attributes other than those that are required for the gateway to authenticate the users."
"In the next release, I would like the ability to work offline with remote access."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."
"Licensing and pricing seems very fair."
"I can say that the solution is worth the money."
"There are additional costs for maintenance."
"There is a one-time setup fee plus the licenses are provided as per the number of users. For SMS and voice calls, the costs are separate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall SMA?
I have experience with the SonicWall SMA; we have rolled it back into our stack. We use SonicWall SMA for all of our clients that need VPNs, including doctor's offices and lawyer offices. Our clien...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
Symantec VIP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Maine Medical Center, Aria S.p.A
Find out what your peers are saying about Citrix, SonicWall and others in Universal Access Gateways. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.