We're using the solution as a gateway-level device.
System engineer at a wholesaler/distributor with 51-200 employees
Straightforward to set up with good firewall and gateway-level security
Pros and Cons
- "Sometimes I have some queries, and the SonicWall support team resolves my queries."
- "The solution can be a bit expensive."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It's good for firewall and gateway-level security. The VPN service is quite good, including the site-to-site VPN.
It works well for the corporate sector.
Sometimes I have some queries, and the SonicWall support team resolves my queries.
It offers a very straightforward setup.
What needs improvement?
I do not see any specific areas that need improvement.
The solution can be a bit expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for more than ten years.
Buyer's Guide
SonicWall NSa
January 2026
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881,515 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SonicWall is scalable. Currently, I have two NSa 4600s and they are good for my users.
We have around 400 people using the solution.
At this time, there is no plan to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Sophos.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is easy to set up. It is also easy to deploy. How long it takes to deploy depends on your work culture and how you want to use it.
What about the implementation team?
For my organization, I deployed it with my support partner, and it has been working fine over the last few years.
What was our ROI?
There is a good ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For some services, we have to pay for a license. We need to renew for either one or three years.
It can be quite expensive compared to other products with the same features.
What other advice do I have?
I have the on-premise model, and I have the TZ270. There are more than 20 devices.
I can recommend it to people who are somewhat technical. They would have no trouble with SonicWall products.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior System Administrator at a government with 201-500 employees
Reliable and easy to expand with good features on offer
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale."
- "The user interface could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for a lot of things, so it's hard to talk about an individual use case.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution seems to help with any intrusion.
What is most valuable?
I like all the features. The global filtering and the content filtering are great. It's not always intuitive, however, you can usually figure it out. It's really handling all of our firewall needs.
It's stable.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been at the company for about two years and have used the solution since my arrival.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. As long as we maintain patching, we're good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution has been scalable.
About 150 people are using it in our organization.
I'm not sure if we have plans to increase usage at this time.
How are customer service and support?
We have been very satisfied with the technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution. this product was in place when I arrived at the company.
How was the initial setup?
The product was already set up when I got here, so I can't speak to the implementation process.
You only need one person to handle deployment and maintenance tasks.
What was our ROI?
We've had it for quite a while and therefore must find it to be quite cost-effective.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not familiar with the licensing aspects of the solution.
I'm a technical person. I don't care about the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have a very old SonicWall NSa. That's why we're looking to upgrade.
What other advice do I have?
I'd advise new users to just learn how to work around the interface. That's my one complaint. It's sometimes a little cumbersome to use the UI.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
SonicWall NSa
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about SonicWall NSa. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,515 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Power System Engineer at a retailer with 201-500 employees
Provides security and basic protection for VPNs, but the cost could be lower
Pros and Cons
- "I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection."
- "The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is deployed on-premises. We're using the latest version.
There are around 3,000 users of this solution in my company.
What is most valuable?
I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection.
What needs improvement?
The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies. The cost to maintain SonicWall is quite high.
After updating the firmware, sometimes the solution stops working. I had to do a factory reset and reconfiguration to solve the problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I would rate the stability as seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support isn't bad, but it isn't the best. Sometimes, we don't receive the answers we're looking for, so we have to look it up on the internet.
I would rate technical support as three out of five.
How was the initial setup?
Setup isn't difficult, but it's not easy either. It depends on the experience of the person who is implementing the solution.
We use four people for maintenance. There's also a support team of three people.
What about the implementation team?
SonicWall's technical support helped us with implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We paid about 10,000 in our currency for one packet of SonicWall NSa.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution as seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior System Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
We use this solution for the VPN and to give permissions for on-premises access
Pros and Cons
- "SD-WAN is a good feature."
- "We also use the Sophos Firewall for web configuration, which we don't have in SonicWall. Only Sophos has those options. If SonicWall included that feature, that would be a benefit for us."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for the VPN and to give permissions for on-premises access.
We're using the latest update.
The solution is deployed on-premises. There are two people using this solution in my organization.
What is most valuable?
SD-WAN is a good feature.
What needs improvement?
We also use the Sophos Firewall for web configuration, which we don't have in SonicWall. Only Sophos has those options. If SonicWall included that feature, that would be a benefit for us.
We have configured radius configuration. I would like to see an in-built authentication feature that would authenticate results and directly communicate to the cloud. Right now, we have a third party server for that. We are manually configuring it.
If anything goes wrong, sometimes we are unable to bring up that MPS configuration immediately. Our main VPN connection is always authenticated with the MFA option itself. When that happens, we have to revert those changes back as LDAP authentication. That isn't a good recommendation for our organization for VPN purposes. Anybody can connect directly, so they won't get two-factor authentication. It would be great for us if that was an in-built feature included in the Azure authentication.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for more than six years.
How was the initial setup?
It's straightforward. There wasn't any kind of complexity. Deployment took one hour.
I would rate the setup as 4.5 out of 5.
We do the maintenance ourselves. Whenever there's any kind of patch release or upgrade release, we do the maintenance from our side. We have a dedicated team for maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
Deployment was done in-house, but we did take some help from SonicWall.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution eight out of ten.
I would recommend that product. If those small features were included, it would be a good, all-in-one product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Staff at a university with 501-1,000 employees
Useful controls, scalable, and most features available
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of SonicWall NSa is the control aspect of the solution."
- "The detection of malware can improve in SonicWall NSa."
What is our primary use case?
I am using SonicWall NSa as a firewall for many of its functionality, such as intrusion detection and traffic control.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of SonicWall NSa is the control aspect of the solution.
What needs improvement?
The detection of malware can improve in SonicWall NSa.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SonicWall NSa for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SonicWall NSa is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of SonicWall NSa is good.
We have approximately 2000 employees and 6000 students using the solution. We have plans to increase the usage of the solution in the future.
How are customer service and support?
The support is mostly online that we have received from SonicWall NSa.
I rate the support from SonicWall NSa a four out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another firewall previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SonicWall NSa is straightforward. The full deployment took approximately two weeks.
What about the implementation team?
We had an integrator do the implementation of SonicWall NSa for us.
I am the only one who maintains the solution.
What other advice do I have?
SonicWall NSa is a straightforward firewall appliance, and most of the features are available.
I rate SonicWall NSa a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
it has the CFS agent, which isn't available in any other competing solution
Pros and Cons
- "SonicWall has all the usual functions, like LAN configurations, security features, word filters, etc., but it also has the CFS agent, which isn't available in any other firewall. Reporting port support is also there."
- "The thing main thing is that there's no user admin and in other firewalls, we can enable the scalable features, but SonicWall doesn't have that feature."
What is our primary use case?
SonicWall is for general security purposes.
What is most valuable?
SonicWall has all the usual functions, like LAN configurations, security features, word filters, etc., but it also has the CFS agent, which isn't available in any other firewall. Reporting port support is also there.
I also like the ability to manage all the firewalls from a single location. We can support all those things from this application. It's a cloud-based solution.
What needs improvement?
The thing main thing is that there's no user admin and in other firewalls, we can enable the scalable features, but SonicWall doesn't have that feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used SonicWall for about seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SonicWall NSa is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's cloud-based, so the scalability is good, and it's suitable for any size of customer.
How are customer service and support?
SonicWall support is good. I rate it 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
SonicWall NSa is easy to understand. The initial setup for any firewall is straightforward. Having a single console is also good. The deployment time can vary depending on the client's requirements, like VPNs, routing, policies, load balancing, etc. At most, it will take one hour. I rate it 10 out of 10 for ease of setup. After deployment, SonicWall doesn't require specific maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We are resellers, so the clients who purchase the firewall deploy it themselves. We provide support, too.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SonicWall NSa nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
IT Manager at a construction company with 51-200 employees
Fast tech support and has the ability to collect mini routers
Pros and Cons
- "SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection."
- "Overall, Im satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for SonicWall NSa is a firewall and for analytics. I use SonicWall NSa to follow the users. Some users manage to bypass the firewall sometimes and install certain software. I track all of this "bad" behavior and block it.
What is most valuable?
SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection.
What needs improvement?
Overall, I'm satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC. This terminal could control technical configuration from a centralized configuration with the SonicWall appliance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution since last February. However, I have worked with SonicWall since 2007.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have about 150 users. Each employee configures up to three connections: one on a PC and one or two on mobiles.
How are customer service and support?
We are happy with SonicWall NSa's tech support. We have an account manager and whenever I run into any issues, I email him directly and he calls me within the hour. This is sufficiently fast for our needs.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously ran MicroTech and FortiGate. We switched because we wanted to try something new. We change the technology we use each year.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy for me because I am a specialist. I previously worked for a Dell and SonicWall partner before, so I'd configured SonicWall NSa many times before. However, now as a customer, I had a SonicWall consultant deploy it.
What about the implementation team?
We used a SonicWall NSa consultant for the deployment.
What was our ROI?
I can't speak to any ROI we've had in terms of numbers but all technology of this type will give you a return on investment because it's secure and makes your business run smoothly.
For example, as I am in the desert and there is no fiber connection here, I was using SIM cards that gave me seven GB a day. Before we deployed SonicWall NSa, I was running seven SIM cards for a total of about 50 GB per day. Right now, I use only one seven-GB SIM card.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Presales Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Their support is better than most competitors
Pros and Cons
- "SonicWall's sales support is much better than other vendors'."
- "Competitors provide SSL encryption licenses for free, whereas SonicWall only provides two licenses by default, but you have to pay for the rest of the licenses."
What is our primary use case?
SonicWall prevents and restricts access to websites for employees as well as anyone who comes into the office.
What needs improvement?
Most firewalls have active/active high-availability mode. If I'm paying for two firewalls, why shouldn't AI utilize both? It would be better if SonicWall came with n active/active feature instead of active/standby.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with SonicWall NSa for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SonicWall NSa is simple to scale. You can easily add more firewalls to the cluster.
How are customer service and support?
SonicWall's sales support is much better than other vendors'.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying SonicWall NSa is straightforward. A new user can easily configure the firewall. You can usually complete the deployment within a day. Setting up the prerequisites takes about two hours and then it takes some time to deploy the policies. That varies depending on what the customer wants.
Maintenance is primarily configuration-related stuff, and our customers have their own engineers, but we give them advice. One engineer can maintain the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You don't need to pay an annual fee, but any cost matters to the customer. Let's say SonicWall is giving me a firewall at a certain price, while a FortiGate firewall costs the same but offers added features like free SSL and active/active. Then customers might think it's better to buy a FortiGate.
Competitors provide SSL encryption licenses for free, whereas SonicWall only provides two licenses by default, but you have to pay for the rest of the licenses.
However, when most customers go beyond 20 or so users with SSL licenses, they usually go with a dedicated appliance, so a firewall should provide at least 20 to 25 SSL licenses for free.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SonicWall NSa eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: January 2026
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