Unified Communications Specialist at Agentra
Real User
We have a better level of protection and we have the ability for our devices to be more of a self-sustained type of resource.
Pros and Cons
  • "I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands."
  • "The memory and processing were problematic. The interface could be better."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is as a VPN, a firewall and a web filter.

How has it helped my organization?

We have a better level of protection and we have the ability for our devices to be more of a self-sustained type of resource.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are:

  • Firewall protection
  • Intrusion detection

What needs improvement?

The memory and processing were problematic. The interface could be better.

Buyer's Guide
Sophos UTM
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos UTM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Real User
Network Protection and Web Filtering help us provide next-gen threat handling
Pros and Cons
  • "They are all good, but most-used are Network Protection and Web Filtering."
  • "Scaling out cannot be easier, as there are many migration paths."
  • "VPN needs IKEv2, but it’s in the roadmap. Also, all new, cool features will only come to the new Sophos XG Firewall."

How has it helped my organization?

We give customers a device that can handle next-gen security threats, which is way better than a typical router.

What is most valuable?

They are all good, but most-used are the Network Protection and Web Filtering licenses.

What needs improvement?

VPN needs IKEv2, but it’s in the roadmap.

All other new, cool features will only come to the new Sophos XG Firewall.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are no more stability issues than with other vendors, so I would say it's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling out cannot be easier, as there are many migration paths.

How are customer service and technical support?

It’s satisfactory.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No previous solution. For next-gen firewalls, I began with Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward. There is a wizard running at first boot, making it easy for you to select the level of protection you want.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For under 50 users, MSP licensing is profitable.

What other advice do I have?

We don't use Sophos UTM on AWS.

I would recommend Sophos UTM. But also look at its successor, Sophos XG Firewall, as we do not know how many years Sophos UTM will "live." (Note that it will be free to migrate from UTM to XG).

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos UTM
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sophos UTM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,292 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Senior IT Support Engineer at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
Vendor
The email alert on event triggers is a valuable feature. The ability to disconnect the VPN connection needs to improve.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are:

  • Ease of configuration of the firewall rules and routing.

  • The email alert on event triggers.

  • Internal storage for logging, as you do not have to get another server to store the logs.

What needs improvement?

The ability to disconnect the VPN connection needs to improve. Currently, in order to disconnect an existing VPN connection of a device, the admin needs to change the password of the user.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for two and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We encountered stability issues more on the Web Filtering feature where certain valid websites are blocked or the video cannot be played and it requires extra exceptional configuration.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate the technical support a 8/10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using WatchGuard UTM. The pricing and ease of use of the configuration were the reasons as to why we moved over to this solution.

How was the initial setup?

Setup is straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

From time to time, there is a promotion and it is more cost effective to get the 3 years subscription licensing upfront.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Fortinet.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user472113 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systemadministrator at MCON Group GmbH
Real User
It is for beginners and hardcore professionals.

What is most valuable?

All the features are similar; we are real, hardcore users of the Sophos UTMs.

How has it helped my organization?

This product is for beginners and for hardcore professionals; beginners can get their feet wet and professionals can easily look into the product.

What needs improvement?

Certificate Management should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution since 2014, i.e. for around three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have over 30 Sophos UTMs running. There are some that are not stable, because of the bridges used or ISP used (Cisco vPCs/Dell MLAGs etc.).

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The Sophos UTM Internal DB sometimes has problems which affect its scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very good, but only to the distributor. Support is poor if the distributor escalates to the vendor or we complain directly to the vendor.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

It was not a change; in general, we have used many firewall vendors, but no one is as good as Sophos UTM.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Unfortunately, the pricing is very expensive, but for licensing, there are some "cheap" options for some scenarios.

What other advice do I have?

If you'd like to look into a system which is very robust and hardcore, then select Sophos UTM.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT and Data Security Manager at a tech services company
Consultant
An Excellent Product, easy to understand for an experienced engineer

The Sophos UTM products helped us manage and a global network of more than 20 sites. 

Their ability to firewall, filter and monitor network traffic and provide VPN connectivity really helped us day to day with such a complex network.

We chose the product initially because the user interface was simple to understand and made sense without requiring a long training course for an experienced network engineer to utilise. 

Central Management is made easy with the Sophos UTM Manager which allows you to set configurations, see patch status and pull reports from all your estate.

While the product was originally with Astaro the low end (1xx) units had serious reliability issues and support was extremely challenging to engage with. However, once Sophos took over their world class technical support teams soon brought responsiveness up to the level I would expect from a premium product. And the newer hardware is much better quality.

The ability to have either software, hardware or virtual appliances allows excellent freedom of choice.

High Availability is easy to configure and works really well, with options to have either active \ active or active \ passive depending on your needs and budget.

The fact you can use the full product for Free at home is a wonderful idea for engineers to become more familiar with the product and keep their skills up to date.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user230352 - PeerSpot reviewer
Support Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
RED appliances and APs make a difference, however, performance is suffering under high traffic usage.

Valuable Features

I think the RED appliances and APs make a difference, and add value to Sophos. Also, it is easy to configure, robust and is a stable appliance. The licensing is great, because you don't have to pay the same license fee for a standby appliance.

Improvements to My Organization

Actually, we were not used to firewalls in our organization, but I was working at a distributor previously so I had a chance to do many demos. The customers like its GUI because it's easy to manage and RED takes attention of the customer which has distributed locations like shops, cafes, fast food stores etc.

Room for Improvement

They should have more powerful appliances. The appliances throughput and performance is suffering under high traffic usage. Also, I think they need better appliances for enterprise and high end customers.

Use of Solution

I've used it for one year.

Deployment Issues

Because we have local laws about logging, we had to get permission to develop a logging mechanism. Also, we had lots of requests to improve URL filtering categories.

Stability Issues

I had an issue with transparent mode in a demo, but mostly it is a very stable appliance and software.

Scalability Issues

Sophos has a sizing guide which is a great during the planning phase in ensuring you are getting the sizing right. I have used it many times when I preparing customer demands. I haven't had any problems yet.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

I was working with Sophos' Germany office, and they always supported me. It was really great working with them.

Technical Support:

They're 6/10. I had many cases, but they don't like to do a remote session immediately. To be honest, I have worked with better support teams from other vendors,.

Initial Setup

It is very easy.

Implementation Team

I implemented it but got help from the vendor when I got stuck wit something. They are great.

Other Advice

It is great solution for customers who have small, branch offices. I would advise you get Sophos for distributed locations (with RED and APs).

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user197961 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user197961Network Solutions Engineer at a tech services company
Consultant

I agree with Patrik. Specially SG series devices running on Sophos UTM 9.3 are amazingly performing devices. If they are correctly sized and scoped, I gurantee they match even out perform many of their competition. They offer 360 degree Security peace of mind. Still though, my favaroutes are WatchGuard M series UTMs for SMBs.
Regards,
Serhat

See all 2 comments
PeerSpot user
Senior IT Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Great security and logging.

What is most valuable?

Great security and logging. Easy GUI.

What needs improvement?

It really needs to update IPSec to enable IKEv2.

For how long have I used the solution?

Two years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is great and responds really fast.

Technical Support:

Technical support might be a bit better and there are not enough easily accessible guides.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously used the OpenSource pfSense which works great, but Sophos adds the little extra that is needed in security.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

In-house.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated pfSense, and still go with pfSense where IPSec to AzurePack services are needed because Sophos does not support IKEv2.

What other advice do I have?

At first I did not like Sophos UTM but after second setup and config I liked it a lot and now recommend it to all my customers. It has great security features, and together with Sophos Endpoint Protection it works perfectly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Architect at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Feature rich and provides good security for SMB
Pros and Cons
  • "We find all of the features valuable because together they fit the needs of our customers."
  • "We would like to have unique viewable IDs for rules and in the packet filter logfile, for easier debugging of old log files."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use this solution for:

  • VLAN separated network
  • Proxy / SSL-Interception
  • VPN (IPsec and SSL)
  • Reverse Proxy / Webserver Security
  • Email Security / Mail gateway
  • HA (Hot-Standby)
  • IPS / ATP

How has it helped my organization?

This is a very good security solution for SMB, so this solution is a good fit for many of our customers.

What is most valuable?

We find all of the features valuable because together they fit the needs of our customers.

What needs improvement?

We would be happy with fewer new features over the same time, but with more stable updates!

We would like to have unique viewable IDs for rules and in the packet filter logfile, for easier debugging of old log files.

Sophos UTM shouldn't die.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for fifteen years.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos UTM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos UTM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.