Sophos Firewall Reviews

This solution is like our gateway to the internet. We use it for access control. 

This solution is very simple to manage. It's user-friendly and quite easy to configure. It's easy to communicate with the Sophos support team.

I would like to see a history of the monthly bandwidth utilization, the bandwidth consumption for a period of time. Right now, I know they have something where you can see the live bandwidth utilization when you go to reports. However, there is not a history where you can go back and say, "I want to see what was consumed during the last month." You can't get that history. I know there are other third-party tools that do that, but if Sophos could have it integrated into its file device, that would be cool. 

I would like to see them reduce the price.

I have had experience with this tool for about three years now.

This is a stable product. 

This solution is scalable. There are currently 250 systems connected to this solution. 

My experience with the Sophos technical team has been fantastic. I was trying to set up a VPN tunnel through a SAP X server, so I was having some challenges, and our consultant tried and then he just decided to set up an appointment with the Sophos technical team. Within a short period of time, we were able to pinpoint where the problem was coming from and we got the problem solved. I would rate the technical support as a five out of five.

The initial setup is quite easy. It's not a challenge. On a scale of one to five, where one is difficult and five is easy, I would give it a four. 

It was done in-house but we consulted a third party that is more experienced with Sophos.

The price of this solution is quite high. Currently in my country, in Nigeria, we are facing a lot of problems with products. The value of the naira and the dollar keep heating up, and it's not good for us here Nigeria, so the Sophos price is not friendly. I think the price needs to be worked on so that it can at least be commercially available to us here in Nigeria. I would rate the pricing as a three out of five.

Sophos is always my preferred solution. I've worked with Sophos, Fortinet, and MikroTik in terms of configuring VPN access to the routers. I find it very, very easy to do it on Sophos, so I prefer to use it instead of the other two solutions. 

I would rate this solution as a nine out of ten.

In terms of the firewall, I'm using Sophos X on everything, including the VPN, firewall, and endpoints.

Everything about the product is okay. 

I cannot single out anything specifically, as the firewall is working perfectly. The endpoint is helping me greatly and people have been able to work from home using the VPN. It has been great.

The pricing has been fine so far.

It has a pretty straightforward initial setup.

The solution's quite stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

Technical support has always been very helpful.

In terms of updates with the current technologies and current trends, which we're always exposed to, they update their databases frequently. 

It quickly detects issues. 

It is a plug-and-play system. 

Mainly, it's a cloud-based firewall for cloud-based endpoint protection. I can be able to manage my devices from anywhere without configuring all these VLANs and whatnot.

If I could host my emails using an email transfer agent, hosting it, it would be ideal.

The configurations can be a bit complex. It may be a while before you understand the configuration process.

If you do not have any experience with the product, you may struggle to set it up.

I'd like to see more integrated services from Sophos so I can handle everything from one place without a third-party. I would like to have email hosting and management integrated into Sophos XGS.

I've been using the solution for more than five years now.

It is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The solution can scale. It just depends on the model we are using. For example, on an XG transit, I can add as many users as I want. On XG 105, I can only have limited users. It depends on the package.

We have more than 80 general users on the solution. We use it intermittently.

I've dealt with support several times. They were awesome. We found them to be helpful and responsive. They are quite knowledgable. 

Positive

The setup process is perfectly okay. I'm an IT administrator. It's not very difficult for me to get everything up and running. I also need to check the integration. 

I'd rate the initial setup a four out of five in terms of ease of execution. 

In terms of pricing, it's good. They've been giving us some promotions where we would pay for two years and get an extra year free. We appreciate that level of savings.

We paid for a three-year license a while ago. I can't recall the exact amount that was paid. It was likely around $12,000 or less - around $4,000 a year.

It's one of the best pricing strategies they have used. Initially, if I were paying for a year, I would pay around $5,000 or $6,000. 

It is very affordable for a small enterprise. It is very competitive.

I am looking into Sophos NAC.

We are a customer of Sophos. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Basically, we are using these products for our waste filtering, then application filtering and bandwidth management purpose.

The major benefit is that I can shape my bandwidth, basically. In Bangladesh, we do not have a lot of bandwidth management or bandwidth capacity. We have a limited capacity and we share the many people in this capacity. I can shape my bandwidth using this Sophos file, so everyone gets a minimum level of bandwidth. If the user is higher-end, then getting the lower end and the user has the minimum level or less than 1000 or 500, and they're getting better than that.

Sophos has a feature for user credentials, which means if users are not logging into the capital portal of Sophos, they're not using any internet. We can advertise some products and features using these portals for our university. Basically, I am working at a university, so the university's different features and the different departments are using this portal. If students see this advertisement and then after they log in to the credential in the capital portal and use the internet.

Sophos is good for a mid-level company, not a large-level one. If the user level is very large, Sophos is not capable of handling such a high level of users. It, therefore, needs to improve the devices so that they work in larger organizations and with a large number of users.

When we use the hardware level of the device, the RAM or other storage capacity is fixed. We could not change the memory or other capacity of this device. If we need some improvement in capacity, we get different types of problems. If RAM usage is too high or capacity moves higher, the Sophos device does not work properly.

Sophos has a number of additional features, however, the user graphical interface, the graphical interface when we are using CyberRoam, the user portal, or user interfaces, are so much smarter than Sophos. In Sophos, the user portal is not user-friendly. This needs to change, the UI.

I've worked with the solution for the last four years. 

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. I'd rate the performance at 75%. Some improvements could be made. 

We have 4,000 or 5,000 people that are connected in Sophos.

It is not easily scalable as it has fixed capabilities and that means C2 RAM is fixed. That makes it not easily scalable.

We use the product on a daily basis. 

Sophos' technical support is not good. I have not been getting better support from their technical people. The response time needs to be better.

I am also using the Cisco Firepower model 4110.

The main difference is basically Sophos is not like a Firepower. Sophos we can call by the UTM device management. For security purposes, we are using a Cisco firewall for different types of attacks. For bandwidth management with filtering and other activities, just normal activities, we are using Sophos.

The initial deployment is not complex, however, it's mid-level. You do need some experience. It depends on the device model. If we purchase the higher model, then the price or other investment is also more.

The deployment takes a maximum of one month. We do maintenance on the devices maybe once a year. 

For the deployment process, the partner helped us deploy the devices and three people were working on the deployment.

The initial price is high and we purchased a three-year licensing model. Every three years, after every three years, we need to renew Sophos. Everything is included under the license. 

The pricing is quite low, and we are quite happy with it.

We're a customer and end-user.

We are using the hardware version of the product. It's the latest version. 

I'd rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Sophos XGS is used as a firewall to protect my home network.

Sophos XGS that's a good firewall. If you use the endpoint, then you have what Sophos calls synchronized security. That will mean that if one of the endpoints is affected, it will be automatically set in isolation.

In the new release 19, there should be the implementation of a cloud service that you can use to set up the IPSec tunnels, and the SD-WAN from the WAN dashboard, and then you can push that configuration out to every firewall that you have.

I have been using Sophos XGS within the last 12 months.

Sophos XGS is highly stable.

The hardware is more scalable than the MSPs, you can have a firewall as big as your want. The solution is scalable.

The technical support in Norway is very good. I have had an excellent experience with them. However, I am the technical support for the Sophos XGS in my country of Norway. 

We have very good contact with the Sophos SEs in Scandinavia. I think we're good.

When comparing Sophos XGS to other similar solutions they are 80 to 90 percent similar. But Sophos firewall has a web application firewall that you can license and use in the firewall. Not every firewall has that functionality. Typically you have to buy another client if you want the web application firewall but within Sophos XGS, you can have it within the firewall.

I have used other solutions, such as CheckPoint, SonicWall, and WatchGuard.

The initial setup could be difficult depending on what you are looking to do with it. However, if you only use it as a firewall, it's straightforward. You can make complex SD WANs and other configurations. You can do whatever you want with it. At home, I can just configure it straight as it is by clicking next until it is finished. If you have a complex environment then the setup of Sophos XGS could be difficult.

The price of the solution is reasonable and their target market is small to medium-sized companies.

We do not have any complaints from our customers and have the functionality that our partners and customers need.

I rate Sophos XGS a ten out of ten.

We use it for network protection. We use Sophos XG as a firewall in our own company, and we have also implemented it for customers. I have been using Sophos XG for a small office for my own family. 

We have also implemented Sophos Email Gateway for government mailing servers. It is not so elaborate, but for basic usage, it works very well.

We have implemented version 17 to the latest version of Sophos XG.

I like it for its simplicity. It is very simple to configure and implement. It is a very good product for medium-sized organizations.

There should be web caching to improve bandwidth utilization. It should have a very good caching feature. That's because we are in a very poor continent, and the connectivity cost is very high. We have low bandwidth, and the intensive usage of bandwidth is not easy here in Africa. If they improve services for web caching, it would be better.

It should also support a feature for Virtual Domains. Similar to FortiGate, we should be able to use a single device to create two or more virtual units. Such a feature is useful for separating the traffic between departments in a large enterprise.

When I try to use Sophos for Email Gateway, it's not easy to check a user in the LDAP directory. It's not as good as other products, such as HCL Domino. Sophos is good, but it is not so good. When we use the LDAP filter to select some users, we have small problems, but overall, Sophos is very good for me.

Their support in Africa is not so good, which is a problem. Their support can be improved.

I have been using Sophos technology for four years.

It is very stable.

Generally, when we implement a Sophos product, we do the sizing and plan the resources based on the expected traffic. We anticipate the resource usage for one or two years, which helps with scalability, but it is a product for medium enterprises. In my company, we have around 20 employees.

Their account manager and support in Africa are not so good. Their community support is very good, and a lot of times, I use their community when I need any kind of support, and I get a response for my issue. 

I use Sophos and Fortinet. I sometimes also use Cisco Firepower. We are an integrator in West Africa, and my choice also depends on a customer's choice. Sometimes, they are telecom operators, and sometimes, they are small companies, such as non-governmental organizations.

It is very easy to implement.

Its price is good. All features are grouped in the same license. It is an all-in-one license, and the license price is acceptable.

I would rate it a nine out of 10.

Network Security

Performance has been as per expectations and productivity has greatly improved as there are no downtimes experienced.

All of Sophos XG's features are valuable.

Sometimes when you roll out a new firmware, you find that the rules you already have in place are broken, so it's difficult to migrate to a new firmware without going through release notes and user reviews. That's the only downside I've experienced in Sophos.

I've been using Sophos XG for about four years now.

So far, so good. Sophos XG has been stable, and we have not had any challenges.

I find Sophos XG to be scalable. I only have one site, so I still see room for that kind of deployment. I don't see a challenge when it comes to the scale. I have around 150 users.

I rate Sophos support 10 out of 10. When my device was freezing, I contacted them, and they sent me a replacement. I didn't have a redundant device, so it was urgent. It only took a couple of days for Sophos to ship the device to Kenya. 

Positive

I rate Sophos UTM eight out of 10 for ease of deployment. We didn't have any serious issues. The only challenge we had was migrating from Sophos UTM to XG. There was no direct migration, so we had to do a manual configuration. 

After deployment, the solution doesn't require much maintenance. So as long as my connections are up and running, I don't need to do any maintenance. All the updates are automatic.

Both teams were involved. The in-house team was more familiar with the network environment and requirements. I would rate the vendor team's expertise 8 out of 10.

Sophos XG's price is affordable for most organizations, so I rate it six out of 10 for affordability.

We looked at FortiGate to see how it performs compared to Sophos. I wouldn't speak for the other vendors because I'm mainly using XG, so I will praise Sophos.

I rate Sophos XG eight out of 10. I recommend Sophos XG. If you subscribe to the enhanced support, you get 24/7 customer service, so you can get help any time you need it. I wouldn't hesitate to advise people to implement Sophos.

I use this product for my VPN. It links site-to-site between us and my client's VPN.

All of the users have a unique ID that they use to connect to the VPN.

The product also does site blocking based on the category of the website that the users are trying to access.

I can also use it to monitor all of the users' activities.

We use this in our physical environment.

During the pandemic, this product helped our employees connect with the office network. Security-wise, it provides IPS filtering, which is also quite benefiticial.

The most valuable feature is the VPN. Over the past two years, during the COVID pandemic, the VPN has helped us a lot. All of the users are able to connect with our office network using their own devices.

The interface can bit a bit more user-friendly. For me, it's still user-friendly and I don't find it difficult to use. However, the configuration should be more user-based. As an example, IPSec is complex and a little bit difficult to configure. If it were more like Microsoft Azure and the way their online configuration works, it would be an improvement. As it is now, I have all of the settings inside the device, so I can clone them and use them for customers. But, on the customer's side, it is difficult for people to understand.

Our Wi-Fi network is not working as well as expected.

I have been working with Sophos XG since December 2019.

This is a product that we use every day. Without it, it is very difficult for us to work. I really like the reliability and the performance of the Sophos device, but I'm facing a few issues with my Wi-Fi networks. This device supports the Wi-Fi network, but it's not quite as good as we expected. I'm not sure why it is not working so well for me.

This is quite a reliable device, even as we scale it. We have fewer than 35 people in the company that uses it.

It has been a very long time since I have contacted Sophos technical support. It was very difficult to get connected with customer service. Finally, after reaching customer care, which was handled by Cyberoam, they helped me out and fixed whatever issue I was facing.

My customer care team is not in India, and this is something that we expected to have.

Prior to Sophos XG, I was using the Cyberoam product. Cyberoam was acquired by Sophos. Aside from this, I don't have much experience with other providers.

It is not complex to set up. Initially, it is a simple configuration but they should have default profiles available. For example, many companies only need a generic configuration. Even if it's just a static IP to get them started and then they can assign a default profile for all of the users inside the company.

Our initial deployment took between two and three days to complete. This included deploying a new server. In advance of beginning deployment, we spent one day gathering requirements. The Sophos part of the deployment only took between three and four hours.

The initial deployment was done by the vendor and me together. We had an integrator to set up the rack, and they supplied us with Sophos. Most of the configuration was done by me because the integrator did not have enough time.

I also take care of the maintenance including the patching and updating. One person is enough for this. I used to have an assistant but now, I'm the only person that takes care of it.

The price of this product is fine for me. For example, there are open-source solutions available on the market, but I trust Sophos. I know the vendors in India and I trust the product.

I paid approximately 57,000 Rupees ($750 USD) for three years.

Personally, I like this product and I like the vendor. The platform is very good and apart from the wireless interface issue that I am having, working with this product has been a very good experience.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Sophos XG is used to handle my network and traffic.

It can control our employees' network behavior and prevent many attacks and other threats from outside of our company.

Sophos XG is very useful, it does many things.

It is secure.

While it is a secure solution, I believe it could be improved.

I have been using Sophos XG for almost one year.

We received the latest update one or two months back and it was great.

The stability is good.

Sophos XG is scalable.

We have 1,000 internal employees and nearly 4,000 external employees. However, Sophos Firewall only operates within an internal network or within a single company, so is used for nearly 1,000.

We plan to increase the usage in the future.

We communicate with support frequently. Many times, we encountered hardware technical issues in the previous version, and they replaced the device for us. We have contacted them numerous times for this purpose. They resolved this issue for us.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We have IT teams and managers, to help maintain this solution.

Licensing fees are paid monthly.

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Sophos XG a seven out of ten.

We are using Sophos XG, but not the latest version. The solution works as the main gateway. We are a small company of 250 employees so we also use the solution as a router.

The hardware and VPN connections are slow so we are planning on upgrading the solution. Next month we will be replacing the Sophos XG we have as it is reaching the end of life next year. We will be purchasing the XG 3000 to gain more options in the VPN tunnels.

The two most valuable feature of Sophos XG is, one the option to filter according to different applications and two, the integration with the Active Directory.

Over the last six months, we have noticed that the hardware is slow, especially the VPN connections.

Sophos would benefit if they could improve the integration with Active Directory. It does not function consistently and we have to reconfigure it to make it function again. 

Integration with IPA, which is like Active Directory for Linux servers, would be a nice feature to include.

I have been using Sophos XG for three years.

This solution is very stable. We have not had any problems in the three years we have been using Sophos XG. We did have one infection that gained access to one server in the DMZ but it was because the rules were not well configured and not because of the product.

We haven't had to scale the solution. 

Support from Sophos XG has been fine for what we have required.

We had been using Astaro. We selected Sophos XG because we knew it would be easy to set up and configure as the two solutions are similar.

Previously we were working with Astaro, so the setup and configuration of Sophos XG was easy. The implementation took less than a month.

The company that sold the firewall solution provided support hours while we were migrating the rules of our old firewall. They provided us with advice on some of the rules, especially on the routing to connect to a branch office.

We purchase an annual standard license.

I recommend Sophos XG if you are coming from pfSense or Astaro as the migration will be really easy. The learning path will also be easy. If you are coming from Barracuda or Cisco it will be more difficult especially the web interface of the firewall is not intuitive.

I would rate Sophos XG an 8 out of 10.

We're using Sophos XG within one business unit for security. We use it for the firewall and mapping some services.

Sophos XG's price is right, and it's easy to manage. It's a good fit for our current needs at the moment. 

Sophos XG's user interface has some room for improvement. 

We started using Sophos XG in June of this year, so it has only been a few months. 

I think Sophos XG is stable.

Sophos XG is scalable. We have about 600 users here in Mexico, and everyone is behind this solution. I think it's possible we might increase usage, and we've discussed this with our corporate office in Germany. We could decide to go with another product, but we might expand Sophos if it performs well.

Support is one area where I have some issues. Sophos support isn't that good. 

In some companies where I've worked, I used Fortinet and ASA with FirePOWER from Cisco. In some places, I used Meraki with the MX and the Advance Security licensing. I have some issues with other technologies. Last year, they had Sophos UTM on the devices, but there was an opportunity was to switch our clients to Sophos XG and try out the solution.

Setting up Sophos XG is too easy. It took about two hours. The only part of the solution that I deployed was the firewalls. It's something I do all the time in my business unit, so it was quick. We have two people responsible for deployment and maintenance, including me. 

I had some support from a partner.

A Sophos XG license costs approximately $45,000 

I rate Sophos XG nine out of 10. Our experience so far has been good, but maybe we'll come across another solution that's at the same or a higher level.