I use the solution in my home premises to protect my internal network. I am a customer of Sophos.
Owner at Perspectiva company
Provides great security with an excellent firewall
Pros and Cons
- "Sophos has great security features and does a good job of protecting my network."
- "The interface configuration could be improved."
- "The initial setup is very, very difficult. When I installed the new Sophos and tried to restore the backups, the restore process did not work."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Sophos has great security features and does a good job of protecting my network. The firewall feature is very, very good.
What needs improvement?
I think the interface configuration could be improved. It's very complex for now. They need to provide more videos and have more documentation. I think that's missing at the moment. By chance, I found something on a video that wasn't in the documentation and it was a lifesaver. I upgraded my hardware from 100 megabytes to 1,000 megabytes and had many problems. I had to start from scratch and get someone to help me with it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for seven years.
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Sophos UTM
July 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and support?
I only use the community support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very, very difficult. When I installed the new Sophos and tried to restore the backups, the restore process did not work. I tried more than 20 times, and in the end, implemented a fresh install which required a lot of work. It was too difficult. It took me a long couple of days. It's worth checking the YouTube videos, they really saved me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm using the free version.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution 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.
General manager at DotCom, Lda.
It's a complete firewall covering all layers of protection
Pros and Cons
- "The three most important features for us are web protection, web server protection, and network protection."
- "Considering the price and quality of the product, Sophos UTM is the best solution."
- "Sophos UTM sometimes falls short in high-availability environments. They used to launch firmware that didn't work very well in a high-availability environment."
What is our primary use case?
Sophos UTM is a complete firewall we use to protect from internet threats and check traffic from our network to the internet. It's a firewall covering all layers of protection.
Sophos has some plugins that run on the cloud, but it's transparent to the end-user. For example, there is something to identify threats on an email system called SenseStorm, which is connected to the Sophos Cloud and identifies new threats then spreads the same pattern to all Sophos installations in real-time. I can say that almost 100 percent of our customer companies who have a file solution use Sophos.
What is most valuable?
The three most important features for us are web protection, web server protection, and network protection.
What needs improvement?
Sophos UTM sometimes falls short in high-availability environments. They used to launch firmware that didn't work very well in a high-availability environment.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Sophos UTM for the last five years, but we started using Astaro Security Gateway, the predecessor to Sophos UTM, in 2002.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is a strong solution. I give it a 10 out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is somewhat tricky. You need to understand networking concepts well, and the company must have good policies for internet access. However, it's not that complicated. I would say it's an intermediate difficulty, but I also have a lot of experience with this solution. It might be challenging for a new technician. We do all the deployment in-house, and it takes about three business days. Our team consists of two technicians and me, the manager.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sophos UTM isn't cheap. It's in the middle, so not the cheapest, but not the most expensive. It's average. If you buy the full suite, you don't need to pay for add-ons, but if you buy some partial products, you have to pay to deploy more features.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Sophos UTM 10 out of 10. It's the most reliable solution in the firewall market. Considering the price and quality of the product, Sophos UTM is the best solution.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Sophos UTM
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Sophos UTM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
909,153 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Sales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Stable and scalable user-friendly software which offers good integration with other solutions
Pros and Cons
- "Sophos UTM is very user-friendly and has good integration with other solutions."
- "The overall visibility of the console is what I find most valuable, plus it's very user-friendly."
- "Flexibility in pricing could be improved. It's more rigid in its pricing compared to its competitor: Kaspersky."
- "Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing."
What is our primary use case?
Mostly when we see that the client has no security product, we offer both of the products: firewall and endpoint security. We offer endpoint security solutions: EDR and XDR.
Most of the time, we offer Sophos UTM and firewall products, but when we see that the customer has a firewall already deployed, we pitch endpoint security. If they're already using a different product, we cross-sell a product. For example, if someone has an environment with just endpoint security and doesn't have XDR or EDR, we'll suggest upgrading to XDR or we'll upsell XDR.
What is most valuable?
The overall visibility of the console is what I find most valuable, plus it's very user-friendly. It can be integrated with other solutions such as SOAR, SIEM, etc., even when you have an existing firewall. I really like that the console can be integrated. You'll see everything on the same window, and the single window feature of the machine is so good. These are the features I really like.
What needs improvement?
I have no suggestions for improvement for Sophos UTM. It's been a decade and it has been a very good product throughout the Pakistan market.
Pricing could be improved. After-sales service is much better. Once you have a sales team and a technical team for any product, it definitely becomes very easy to pitch or get the revenues out of that product. Flexibility in pricing matters a lot.
For how long have I used the solution?
This is the fourth year we've been implementing this solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is stable which is why I like it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I find Sophos UTM scalable and it is one of the reasons I like it.
How are customer service and support?
For Sophos support: the distributor is responsible for providing maintenance, support, and after-sales service. Most of the time, we try to have an agreement between the customer and affiliates which is binding for two or three years.
The support team here is from the distributor. The first layer of support is really fine when compared to the support provided by other products, e.g. McAfee or Kaspersky. This means it doesn't go to the principal for resolution because the distributor or the partner experts try to fix it on their own before logging in to further complaints. We are good with this kind of solution for our customers, and we prefer those distributors who have their support team.
This is why I really like Softech, although everyone does this, Sophos relies on the Softech technical team. They fix the issues most of the time, so it's very rare for us to go to the principal solution. This is the first line of support we have here in Pakistan.
The principal response time is so quick. It took them only two or three hours maximum. I had the experience of addressing an issue to the principal and they were able to answer me in two or three hours maximum. They have a good TA team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing. It is a very fine product, but when someone wants more relaxed pricing or more leverage in pricing, Sophos is more rigid.
For example, Kaspersky is successful in Fintechs because of its services, plus they offer flexible pricing to their end users. It's a comparative advantage here in Pakistan because Pakistan is a very price-conscious market. This is the reason why every time we pitch, we have to pitch more than one product here in Pakistan. They spend their money on SIEM and other kinds of security firewall, but for endpoint solutions, they say any low-budget product could easily be implemented. Most of the customers here in Pakistan like it this way.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also implemented Kaspersky and McAfee.
What other advice do I have?
We are a partner for all these products. We market these products to the end customers or the end users. We are both selling and implementing these products. We're partners with Sophos. There's a distributor in Pakistan called Softech Microsystems, and we have a silver-level partnership with them.
We've been working with Sophos since 2019.
In the financial market, however, Kaspersky is being used more than Sophos because of its credibility, integration, and extra features offered by Kaspersky. We always try to recommend Sophos as it's what we want, but sometimes, because we also carry a Kaspersky partnership, when a customer demands for Kaspersky, we have to let the customer test it and we have to give them a quote for Kaspersky. We also carry another product, e.g. McAfee, aside from Kaspersky and Sophos. Sophos UTM is a product I want to go further. I try to pitch Sophos UTM rather than Kaspersky or McAfee.
I'm giving this solution a nine out of ten.
Whenever we go for the public tenders, because there's no price flexibility, most of the time I find other products win. Although we have completed our POCs and all that, convincing customers to go with our product, but when it goes to the tenders: in the tenders they mention specification rather than mentioning a particular product, so we'll have to qualify. We qualify technically, but when it comes to the commercial opening or the financial opening, we fail.
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.
Director at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Secure and stable with an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
- "With Sophos, we have not had any incidents this year. The security provided has been good. It has proven to be okay for our needs."
- "The solution needs to do better at covering mobile devices, although they may have an integrated solution for that purpose."
What is most valuable?
During the pandemic, telework grew, however, so did attacks. There was a higher degree of ransomware and so on. With Sophos, we have not had any incidents this year. The security provided has been good. It has proven to be okay for our needs.
The initial setup is very simple.
The solution is stable.
the scalability is good.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs to do better at covering mobile devices, although they may have an integrated solution for that purpose.
I don't really know how it behaves when it comes to web server protection. We have no web servers of our own. I don't know how it behaves if we open our servers to the outside. My sense is that the degree of protection must be higher.
For how long have I used the solution?
We haven't used the solution for very long. We've been using it for less than a year at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability on offer is quite good. If a company needs to expand, it can do so.
We are not a big company. We have about 70 or so people.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. It is provided by a local company, not Sophos directly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we did not have any integrated solutions. We had an antivirus of one kind, and a firewall of another. It was a good step for us to integrate all these features into one solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was simple and straightforward. The deployment was fast. It only took about a week or so, maybe less.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable. Of course, the customer would always like it to be lower, however, the quality to price ratio is positive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I'm also aware of Fortinet options, however, they are more expensive if you look at Fortinet vs Sophos.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers and end-users. We came into the pandemic situation needing a VPN and the one offered by the Sophos behaves quite well. From the point of view of our users, it has been a positive experience.
I don't quite know by heart the version of the solution, however, it's quite recent. It's not the newest one. I saw that the brand new one which came out this year and we don't have that.
I'd rate the solution at an 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.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Stable with good documentation and fair pricing
Pros and Cons
- "The cost of the solution is very reasonable."
- "The stability is great."
- "The initial setup may be difficult for those not familiar with the product."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily used the solution to replace Cyberoam. For a client recently, we replaced their old SD device with the latest version, XG 210.
What is most valuable?
At the moment we have deployed the web filtering application as they have their own web servers and their email protection. The web filtering is great. At the moment, we haven't heard any negative feedback from the client.
There is plenty of documentation that can help you check scenarios or different situations that might you have.
The stability is great.
The cost of the solution is very reasonable.
What needs improvement?
I can't recall dealing with any missing features.
Lately, I've dealt more with Fortinet, and haven't focused too much on Sophos.
The initial setup may be difficult for those not familiar with the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
If I recall correctly, I've been dealing with the solution for about five or so years. It's been a while at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are actually in the process of discussing scaling with a client. We're working on the business planning aspect right now. We're looking at opportunities on how to protect their network, besides just the webserver and the email servers.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't made any request for technical support previously. That is due to the fact that even the local authorized distributor here in the Philippines is very helpful in deploying and configuring the product. Therefore, we have no need to contact Sophos directly.
There's also lots of documentation to reference.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Recently, I've used a lot of Fortinet products.
How was the initial setup?
Although I hadn't done a setup in a while, I quickly recalled the steps taken. If you've handled a setup before, you're likely to find the implementation process rather straightforward. I found I was able to adapt quickly and figure out the necessary configurations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of licensing, here in the Philippines, we just pay on a yearly basis. The renewal is up for this year in Q3. We are talking now with the distributor where we purchased the hardware for a possible renewal with the client.
Overall, they provide very reasonable pricing.
What other advice do I have?
My company is a reseller of Sophos.
I haven't deployed one of their latest solutions yet. We just had a recent project for a basic firewall, and they were actually 210. That's the last project I had with Sophos.
We are in the process of taking up certification exams for Sophos.
I definitely recommend Sophos. It's one of our top products in the company.
I'd rate the solution at a nine 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.
System Analyst at Abbey Mortgage Bank
Good protection, scalable, easy to setup, and it has good local vendor support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is ransomware protection."
- "We also know very well that Sophos is proactive in monitoring and protecting against malware and brute-force attacks."
- "I think that additional metrics features are needed to be able to monitor other areas or to monitor as much as you can, at a fine-grain resolution."
- "I would also like it if they could work on the price because it is expensive."
What is our primary use case?
I use this solution for my severs.
How has it helped my organization?
At some point in time, it seemed to be ravaging organizations around us and we couldn't definitely outrightly isolate ourselves from it. While we were attacked, I want to believe that it was solely because there was that in addition to the fact that there are triggers.
We also know very well that Sophos is proactive in monitoring and protecting against malware and brute-force attacks.
It's one of the things that it is quite good for.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is ransomware protection. It is known for ransomware protection.
In terms of additional features, I'm still getting to understand more about how it works.
What needs improvement?
I'm still exploring the features and I haven't used them in totality.
I think that additional metrics features are needed to be able to monitor other areas or to monitor as much as you can, at a fine-grain resolution. This would be good. Somewhat similar to what Darktrace can do.
Proactively understand and using AI intelligence to monitor and see activities that are away from the norm and then proactively see how they can either isolate the quarantine system and inject it back into the system upon validation.
They could explore most of the products in Symantec's and Fresh Services and run from the same file to see what additional feature one is offering.
I would also like it if they could work on the price because it is expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos UTM for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I understand that it's had a couple of releases too frequently but I want to believe that it's relatively stable.
I still believe that in terms of stability, Symantec is better, so this can be improved.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sophos UTM is quite scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't had any reason to contact support directly because I have MacBytes, which happens to be a local vendor that we have been using. It's been pretty good.
They are very good at supporting us technically when the need arises.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am currently using Symantec for my own workstations and I use Sophos for my server Endpoint protection.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is relatively straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The prices can be better, they could make it a lot cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
You are on the right track with Sophos UTM, but you should keep up with the trends as they become available.
I would rate Sophos UTM a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
IT Manager at Cartlis
Stable with an easy initial implementation and a very nice user interface
Pros and Cons
- "The stability, overall, is excellent. I haven't had a problem in the last two years."
- "Everything from the updates to the signatures has been very helpful for our business."
- "It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention)."
- "The pricing is too high."
What is most valuable?
The solution's user interface is very user-friendly. It's very easy to navigate.
They have an all-in-one product for small businesses. Basically, I do not want to manage the firewall for four products. I'll take it all in one. It makes everything easier to manage.
It's really good and it's been working really well over the last few years.
The initial setup has been very simple and straightforward.
The stability, overall, is excellent. I haven't had a problem in the last two years.
What needs improvement?
It is a fine product, however, I need more endpoint protection.
They should release a license for more than 50 IPs. As of now I have had some discussion about with management, and we need to do some planning and around that to see if we can change things.
The pricing is too high. There are other options that are less expensive, such as Bitdefender. In fact, Bitdefender is very good, aside from lacking a firewall such as this. Beyond that, it's a very good product with central management on-premises.
It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention).
For how long have I used the solution?
I've only been using the solution for about two years or so at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been excellent. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. It's very good and very reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is perfect for small businesses.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't have too much experience with technical support. I only recall one case where I had to contact them directly. I recall them being very helpful and responsive. I had a good experience and was satisfied with their level of service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The solution is being discontinued. Hopefully, whatever they replace it with will be very good for small businesses as well.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex. It was very simple and very straightforward. It was not difficult at all. A company shouldn't have any trouble with the process. Specifically, if you have experience in IT, you will find it very easy to deploy these products.
What other advice do I have?
I am a Sophos customer.
I'm using UTM for home use only. It's only four 50 IPS.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. Overall, it's worked really really well. Everything from the updates to the signatures has been very helpful for our business.
I would recommend this product to other users and other organizations.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Manager at Digital World
Easy to install, scalable, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "It's a stable solution."
- "We recommend this solution."
- "We need to speed up the support."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as a firewall, for DCP filtering, applications, and training.
What needs improvement?
We need to speed up the support.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution but the only disadvantage is that when we use a proxy, we can bypass Sophos.
We have 50 customers. The maximum number of users in one device is approximately 4,000. It's a large network.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support is okay, but it takes time to connect to the support team.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to install.
We only require one engineer to deploy and maintain this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The appliance should be purchased and there is a fee for the license.
There is an option for a yearly licensing fee or for three years.
What other advice do I have?
We recommend this solution. We complete between 20 and 30 installations per month.
I would rate Sophos UTM a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Science Technician at a government with 201-500 employees
Simple to use, good technical support, but not scalable
Pros and Cons
- "What I like about the solution is the ease of use."
- "The solution is not scalable."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use of the solution is to create a firewall, web filters, and load balance. We also use it as an IPS.
What is most valuable?
What I like about the solution is the ease of use.
What needs improvement?
In the next release, the solution should contain an administration security user to access the interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is not scalable. In my organization, we have approximately 500 employees using it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support of the solution is good.
How was the initial setup?
The installation of the solution is easy. It can be finalized in approximately five hours.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment of the solution was completed by a consultant. We have three technicians and two administrators that oversee the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is necessary to pay for a licence to use the solution, but it is not very expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I will continue to use and recommend the solution.
I rate Sophos UTM a seven 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.
Manager at New Outlook Group
A great network security package with everything you need in a single modular appliance
Pros and Cons
- "Sophos is a unified solution. We have anti-virus protection, firewall rules, knotting, and DACC all in one box."
What is most valuable?
Sophos is a unified solution. We have anti-virus protection, firewall rules, knotting, and DACC all in one box. With Fortinet, everything is separate with multiple devices and solutions.
What needs improvement?
We are very happy with Sophos. I can't think of any pressing issues that need to be addressed.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for roughly five to six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Both the stability and scalability are great.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't need to contact their technical support. We have our own skilled team of IT experts.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think the pricing of Sophos is very fair.
What other advice do I have?
Sophos is good for small and mid-sized organizations. Big companies need solutions with layered security.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos a rating of eight.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
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