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Operations Manager at VL Toolbox Express Computer Solutions
Real User
Stable, with easy integration and good VPN logging, monitoring and notifications
Pros and Cons
  • "The VPN is easy and has good logging, monitoring and notifications."
  • "When it comes to improvements that the vendor can make, we see that the cloud integration for managing all the firewalls is essentially a replacement of the on-prem version we had and is not sufficiently mature."

What is our primary use case?

We use the latest version.

What is most valuable?

We are very familiar with the solution. It's pretty straightforward, our personnel is properly trained and we use it efficiently. The solution integrates very easily with other brands.  I've done VPN tunnels with other brands, and that was fine as well. The solution is quite stable and we don't have any issues with it. The VPN is easy and has good logging, monitoring and notifications.

When compared with Sophos XG, Fortinet lacks the notifications and reporting features. 

What needs improvement?

When it comes to improvements that the vendor can make, we see that the cloud integration for managing all the firewalls is essentially a replacement of the on-prem version we had. It's not mature yet, being still in its infancy stage. That would require some improvement. As I have many firewalls, having the ability to delegate access to use, such as exists with Microsoft CSP or other services, would be a nice feature to see. 

Also, as a tech person, I know that executives do not wish to receive complicated reports, so a simplified executive report for executives would be a nice improvement. This would save us from having to explain issues which are beyond the scope of their knowledge. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Sophos XG is basically a mix of UTM9, Check Point and several other technologies. It is essentially a merging of technologies. We've been using it since version UTM9, at which point we switched to Sophos XG..

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Sophos XG
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, but an organization should assess in advance its size based needs. Say, for example, a company utilizes the XG 125 version, but grows rapidly. At this point it may need to switch to the 210 version. Yet, switching from one version to another would not really present an issue. One can restore the backup configuration version on the new hardware and be up and running. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is pretty good, although I did have some issues with its availability during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though this seems to have been a challenge faced by all major support companies. There were delay issues owing to their teleworking, but the support they offer is quite supportive and they have all the necessary documentation.  The truth is that I have a need for many cases, although the ones I require have to do with things that are out of my control, such as licensing or the occasion of a new app that failed to show up in the console. I have many sub-sites and I did face a serious issue. Technical support was pretty helpful even though I had to redesign the typology of one of my sites. They actually tried assisting me with the original design and I found them to be quite helpful and to possess a good base of knowledge on the site. 

What other advice do I have?

It is important for a person to properly learn the features of any product so that he can optimize its utilization. The setup of the solution is pretty straightforward. What is truly important for a person with only a basic network background is to undergo proper training, so that he may learn about all the features and how to configure them. 

For any product a person uses, it is a good idea to do a test run. Sophos allows for its product to be evaluated without any financial commitment. It offers a free virtual machine for home use testing of the features. 

At present, Fortinet seems to have a slightly higher rating than Sophos XG, so if it were also to turn out to be more cost effective this would affect my rating of it. The reason is that this factor does have an impact on the decisions reached by CEOs when it comes to cost-benefit analysis.

This said, I rate Sophos XG as a nine out of ten, because we are very happy with it and don't really have any issues. We have actually been replacing Cisco normal routers, not sets, with Sophos and we're very happy with them.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. VL Toolbox Express Computer Solutions
PeerSpot user
Manojkumar Deshmukh - PeerSpot reviewer
VP of Operations at Caprihans India Ltd
MSP
Top 10
A stable firewall solution with a useful tunneling feature.
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the tunneling part which we are using for the VOIP. We have various other sites where we connect via tunneling. The tunneling part is very fast and easy to implement."
  • "It would be better if they made their own hardware like Palo Alto and Fortinet. They use their own ASICs and claim it is more secure."

What is our primary use case?

We use Sophos XG for the firewall.

What is most valuable?

I like the tunneling part which we are using for the VOIP. We have various other sites where we connect via tunneling. The tunneling part is very fast and easy to implement.

The deployment is very easy for my network team, and it is very easy to implement policies. The support that Sophos provides for the upgrade of new features and their interaction with the customer is very good.

Customer engagement is what I like about the product. We are very well informed about what is going on and new best practices. If anything new has gone wrong or anything in the world of cybersecurity we should know about, they will let us know.

Any firewall is dependent on how you use it. It's also on the user, how you configure it, what you allow, and what you don't allow, and so on. The ease of defining policies and the customer connect is what I appreciate about Sophos.

What needs improvement?

It would be better if they made their own hardware like Palo Alto and Fortinet. They use their own ASICs and claim it is more secure. 

The SD-WAN can be improved. The traffic optimization somehow needs to be improved, or there is a scope for improvement in Sophos XG.

It would be better if they moved towards the cloud side of things. Now a lot of things are moving on to the cloud.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XG is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos XG is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The Sophos forum and Sophos direct support are excellent. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos support a ten.

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

We had Cyberoam, which Sophos took over.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward and took us about a week to deploy.

What about the implementation team?

An internal team made up of two people implemented Sophos XG.

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

We generally buy it for a three-year license.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Sophos XG to potential users.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos XG an eight.

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.
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Buyer's Guide
Sophos XG
June 2025
Learn what your peers think about Sophos XG. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
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reviewer1096419 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Professional at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Is versatile and easy to install, and integrates well with other solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "We can configure rules with the user, traffic, etc., making it a very versatile solution for our network."
  • "Better instructions should be provided as part of the technical support so that we can understand the functionalities. This will help us to troubleshoot faster."

What is our primary use case?

We manage all the network services, like DHCP, of each branch office.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us because we have identified some of the loopholes in our assets that we did not know existed.

What is most valuable?

I like using the combination of XG firewalls and the XDR product with the end user. I also like the integration of all the solutions and the visual of all our clients and the traffic routing in to the network from inside the console. The synchronization and the integration with all the products in the central office, such as Office 365 or AWS, make it a valuable solution.

We can configure rules with the user, traffic, etc., making it a very versatile solution for our network.

What needs improvement?

Better instructions should be provided as part of the technical support so that we can understand the functionalities. This will help us to troubleshoot faster.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using Sophos XG for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos XG is a scalable solution. We have about 1,000 users.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good, in general.

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

We used Fortinet, and we changed the solution because there were additional costs for reporting, licensing, and centralization. If we compare Fortinet to Sophos XG, the XG firewall costs less and performs better. That's one of the reasons that we moved to XG.

The other and the most important reason is the integration with our security solution, Sophos XDR.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very easy. It's much easier than that for other products. 

Deployment and maintenance can be done by one or two people. I am a specialist, and an engineer and I worked on the deployment and maintenance. 

What about the implementation team?

The provider of the solution implemented it, and it took about a day.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an improvement in security not only in terms of technology but also in terms of internal practices in our company.

We predicted that it would take three years to obtain an ROI.

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

We bought the three-year license, and there are no additional costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Check Point, Barracuda, and Palo Alto.

What other advice do I have?

It's a good product, and you should go ahead with it.

I would rate Sophos XG at nine on a scale from one to 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.
PeerSpot user
Tahir  Awan - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Offers a great reporting feature but throughput performance could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "Reporting is the most valuable feature."
  • "Lacks improved throughput performance in a box."

What is our primary use case?

This product is our perimeter firewall with web filtering and application filtering, as well as also providing site-to-site VPN and SSL VPN. We are end-users and customers of Sophos. I'm a network administrator. 

How has it helped my organization?

Sophos XG enabled our organization to establish site-to-site connectivity with our Branch offices and enabled work from home during pandemic through very easy to deploy SSL VPN solution for our employees. 

What is most valuable?

Reporting is the most valuable feature. They also recently provided the SDWAN solution and we're currently working on implementing that. 

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see improved throughput performance in a box. It's already a cost effective solution but I'd like to see the cost further reduced for annual renewals.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for four years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos has the same issue as all firewalls where it's scalable for virtualization and for cloud deployment, but it's not so scalable when it comes to the hardware. 

How are customer service and support?

Customer service is good but has room for improvement like all others. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straight forward. 

What about the implementation team?

Vendor team has very good level of expertise, transfer of knowledge was excellent and we are managing firewalls at our own. 

What other advice do I have?

I believe there are better products on the market so I rate this solution seven 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.
PeerSpot user
Md. Shirajur Rahman Akash - PeerSpot reviewer
Branch Manager at Shakti Foundation
Real User
Top 10
Helpful support, secure, and user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Sophos XG are user-friendliness and it is highly secure."
  • "Sophos XG could improve by making the remote access and VPN better."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Sophos XG are user-friendliness and it is highly secure.

What needs improvement?

Sophos XG could improve by making the remote access and VPN better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Sophos XG within the last 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XG is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good. We have approximately 4,000 concurrent users.

How are customer service and support?

The Sophos XG technical support we receive from our local vendor, they are very helpful.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. I have recommended it to many organizations already. I have had a very good experience with the Sophos XG.

I rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1223154 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Lacking security, poor search tool, but stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The performance of Sophos XG is generally good and it is stable."
  • "The security of Sophos XG could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

 Sophos XG is a firewall and we use it to create networking rules.

What needs improvement?

The security of Sophos XG could be improved.

Sophos wants to move all things to the cloud, including access to the end-user PCs and data from the cloud. What will be easier to hack for a customer with an outdated firewall, or the Sophos cloud could get hacked which has all the access and information from customers. With my experience, it's not a question of if they will hack it, but a question of when they will do it. I'm not happy with the direction Sophos is going on.

We have problems with the use of the user interface. You have a poor search engine for objects via which you can write new rules. You have to start at the beginning of the whole object name. With the Sophos UTM, you can start with a pattern, with part of the whole word. In Sophos UTM it will list you all the hits with parts of what you type, and that does not happen on the Sophos XG.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The performance of Sophos XG is generally good and it is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the scalability of Sophos XG the same as Sophos XG.

We have approximately 10 clients using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

Since Sophos XG moved the support from London to somewhere in the world, such as India, it's a little bit longer to receive a fast response. They are knowledgeable but they are slow to make decisions. For example, we had a firewall and the hardware was defect. It was really clear, but we had to have a long discussion for them to be able to send us the new firewall. It took one or two weeks until the supporter was able to talk to someone who can make the decision. This is too long, this process could be streamlined.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward . As long as you buy the appliances from Sophos, it works very well. However, in some cases, we have to use our own servers because they have more power and more network bandwidth.

What about the implementation team?

The amount of users needed for the implementation and maintenance depends on the size of the customer's infrastructure.

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

There is a license required to use this solution and my customers pay for it annually.

What other advice do I have?

I am not amazed by this solution.

I rate Sophos XG a four out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at Spectrum Engineering Consortium Ltd.
Real User
Reliable and flexible for small and large companies, but has some feature issues to resolve
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos XG Firewall is very usable, very easy to install, and very user friendly."
  • "We are facing some problems on this firmware version, version 18, that require improvement. We want to improve the email security because it doesn't give proper security with the data protection. Also, our clients are facing some problems where most of the sites which they're accessing are getting blocked. I want to improve those sites, that email security, and the data protection on the Firmware version 18."

What is our primary use case?

You can use Sophos XG in small or large companies. In a small company we are using it as a router and firewall. In larger company, like in the Bangladesh government, they are using Sophos Firewall in various sites, including the Bangladesh Navy. Many of the sites are using Sophos Firewall as a router and firewall and also for security purposes.

How has it helped my organization?

Sophos XG Firewall is for security purposes and we are also using it as a router. Wherever we are deploying it as a router we are mapping and also port forwarding. More clients take it as a router and also a firewall.

What is most valuable?

Sophos XG Firewall is very usable, very easy to install, and very user friendly.

The features that I have found most valuable are the infiltration prevention and data protection. We provide immune security. There are also many features on the VPN. We provide a social VPN. We deployed so many features.

What needs improvement?

We are facing some problems on this firmware version, version 18, that require improvement. We want to improve the email security because it doesn't give proper security with the data protection. Also, our clients are facing some problems where most of the sites which they're accessing are getting blocked. I want to improve those sites, that email security, and the data protection on the Firmware version 18. Also, sometimes it gets frozen and we cannot access it. After we shut it down and restart, then it's perfect. That's a point that we want to improve. 

In the next release, I want them to please improve version 18 so that it has more features and is more user friendly and it should have a VRF option.

For how long have I used the solution?

We are using Sophos XG for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XG is stable.

Maintenance, once it is established on the network, requires about two to three people dedicated to Sophos Firewall. We have to give about two to three days monthly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good.

We have about a thousand or more users and have plans to increase usage of this product.

How are customer service and support?

The Sophos support team is good now.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is easy. It took about one hour to do the initial setup.

What about the implementation team?

I am an implementer so I deployed it by myself.

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

Sophos XG is on a subscription basis. We can take a one year or two year subscription.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale of one to ten, I will give Sophos XG a seven.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1740045 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Good filtering and application control features, but the bandwidth could be more effective
Pros and Cons
  • "Some of the most valuable features are filtering and application control. The DDoS detection also shows traffic jamming and traffic shaping."
  • "This solution could be improved with more effective bandwidth. I found that when I enable DDoS detection for our clients, bandwidth is reduced. If DDoS detection is disabled, the bandwidth will be high, but it isn't secure. We recommend that customers enable DDoS detection, but if they need high bandwidth, we recommend Palo Alto and FortiGate instead of Sophos."

What is our primary use case?

We provide Sophos XG to customers. We work at deploying this solution from scratch to the customer, from unboxing, racking, or stacking, and doing licensing and upgrades for the box. Then we establish the process and security profiles that the customer requires. 

This solution is deployed on-prem. 

What is most valuable?

Some of the most valuable features are filtering and application control. The DDoS detection also shows traffic jamming and traffic shaping. 

What needs improvement?

This solution could be improved with more effective bandwidth. I found that when I enable DDoS detection for our clients, bandwidth is reduced. If DDoS detection is disabled, the bandwidth will be high, but it isn't secure. We recommend that customers enable DDoS detection, but if they need high bandwidth, we recommend Palo Alto and FortiGate instead of Sophos. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for about six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is not as stable as other products. In terms of stability, our number one recommendation is Palo Alto, number two is FortiGate, and number three is Sophos. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sophos is scalable, but not enough. 

How are customer service and support?

Sophos technical support is effective. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation takes two days. It is easy to deploy, and not as complicated as Palo Alto or FortiGate. We make it in our company labs and, for deployment and maintenance, we recommend one or two people. 

What about the implementation team?

We provide and implement this solution for customers. 

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

The licensing for Sophos XG is based on the number of users, so I get the module from the sizing of the customer. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also recommend that customers use FortiGate and Palo Alto, since these solutions are more stable and have more effective bandwidth. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sophos XG a seven out of ten. I would recommend it to others, based on their needs, but the stability could be better. 

We have five to seven customers who are using Sophos XG. 

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
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