We performed a comparison between Check Point NGFW and SonicWall TZ based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Check Point NGFW is highly regarded for its extensive security features, centralized management, and virtualization capabilities. SonicWall TZ distinguishes itself with its unified threat management, VPN capabilities, web security, and intuitive interface.
Check Point NGFW needs improvements in integration with other infrastructures, hardware upgrades, cost and pricing perspective, stability and security, setup process, load balancing capabilities, technical support, and reporting capabilities. SonicWall TZ requires improvements in rated throughput, secondary DNS hosting, cloud management, user interface, integration and flexibility, marketing and branding, reporting and licensing, additional ports, GSM and Sonic Analyzer features, advanced features and pricing, load balancing and data filtering, DLP integration, reporting analytics and user support, affordability and competition, and support and automation.
Service and Support: The feedback on Check Point NGFW's customer service varies, with some customers appreciating its helpful and responsive nature, while others believe there is room for improvement. SonicWall TZ's support is deemed satisfactory, although there have been instances of language difficulties and delays in assistance.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Check Point NGFW can be complex and may require specialized knowledge and experience for certain configurations and migrations. The initial setup for SonicWall TZ is described as simple, direct, and user-friendly, with a seamless out-of-the-box experience.
Pricing: Based on the feedback, Check Point NGFW is known for its high setup cost, however, it provides flexible licensing options. SonicWall TZ has mixed reviews regarding its pricing and setup cost. That said, it is considered fairly priced for medium-sized companies. There are extra fees associated with its cloud management capabilities.
Comparison Results: Check Point NGFW is the preferred product over SonicWall TZ. Users appreciate Check Point NGFW's comprehensive security features, centralized management, virtualization capabilities, stability, ease of use, and scalability. They also value its ability to protect against next-generation attacks and its strong security features. Users consider the customer service and support for Check Point NGFW to be superior.
"The solution can scale well."
"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."
"This product is definitely scalable."
"It is easy to use and performs very well."
"It is user friendly, and has all the features you need."
"It does a lot for you for intrusion protection and as an antivirus. The threat management bundle is worth the money. You don't need another company to monitor your web traffic for you. You can do everything yourself on the firewall. You restrict your own black list for people on the firewall. You don't need to pay some other company for another product to do that for you. The firewall can do that for you. So, it's an easy-to-use product for people to be independent. They don't need to rely on other vendors to do what the firewall can do. They can do everything."
"We use the filtering feature the most. It has filtering and inbuilt securities. We can create customized rules to define which users can access a particular type of site. We can create policies inside the firewall."
"The stability of the solution is excellent, as it is with other Fortinet products."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Its management web interface is very easy and user-friendly."
"Its simplified management, enhanced remote support capabilities, and the ability to facilitate secure VPN connectivity for numerous offices and employees are highly beneficial."
"It is user-friendly and straightforward to manage, which simplifies our overall network security management."
"Check Point is able to satisfy almost any security tool for enterprise clients. This allows us to deploy complex changes from a single management interface, get better visibility, and significantly reduce operational complexity."
"Only allows authorized connections and prevents vulnerabilities in a network."
"The feature I like the most is their central management, the Smart controller which you can use to manage all the firewalls from one location... Being able to access almost everything in one location — manage all your gateways and get all your logs — for me, is the best feature to work with."
"The sales, pre-sales, professional services, and tech support are all very nice."
"The most valuable feature is the protection available, and then ease of use and flexibility."
"SonicWall TZ is a stable product."
"The solution boasts good performance and is easy to use."
"It protects against intrusion while allowing needed access."
"We use the content filter quite a lot because it's an office setting. During working hours, we like to censor the sites users can visit so it increases productivity. Therefore, the content filter has been good for us."
"I've found the technical support to be helpful."
"Technical support is good."
"Its user interface and simplicity are the most favorite parts for our clients. They find it stable and easy to use. Its performance is also good."
"I need user-behavior analytics, to find threat scenarios from inside the organization, insider attacks. That would be very helpful for us. In addition, I would like next-generation features for small and medium businesses. These businesses require UTM, all in one product. Fortinet must include it."
"They can do more tests before they release new versions because I would like to be more assured. We had some experiences where they release something new and great, but some of the old features are disabled or they don't work well, which impacts the product satisfaction. The manufacturer should be able to prove that everything works or not only that it might work. This is applicable to most of the other services, software, and hardware companies. They all should work on this. We cannot trust every new release, such as a beta release, on the first day. We wait for some comments on the forums and from other companies that we know. We always wait a few weeks before we use the updated version. They should also extend the VPN client application, especially for Linux versions. Currently, it has an application for Linux devices, but it doesn't work the way we want to connect to the VPN. They use only the old connection, not the new one. They have VPN client applications for Windows and Mac, but they can add more useful features to better manage the devices and monitor the current health of each device. Such features would be helpful for our company."
"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."
"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"Monitoring and reporting could be better."
"Their software support needs improvement. I would prefer to have better support for bug fixes. Sometimes, we open a ticket, and it is very difficult to get a solution. Specifically, we are not at all happy with their support for load balancing."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."
"There are some GUI features in Check Point's SmartConsole that are still from the old versions and are in separate/duplicated interfaces; it would be most useful if it is integrated and not on different menus."
"One feature that could be improved is the internet object in the application control/URL filtering blade."
"Check Point could improve the time for delivering requested features from customers."
"There should be better integration with our current NAC solution to increase the granularity of policies that we implement."
"IoT should be considered in future development."
"The frequency of the antivirus updates which we get for Check Point firewalls should increase. They should be of good quality compared to the competitive firewalls on the market. They should give us stable antivirus signatures. That is an area in which they can improve."
"Reporting has to be improved."
"Timely updates to security databases, firmware, and software are crucial for addressing new threats."
"The areas we would like to see improvement include more features available similar to the equivalent FortiGate appliance, e.g. SSL encryption and inspection. Two-factor authentication capability would be another additional feature that could be included in the next release."
"It could probably be more user-friendly, and it could be more scalable with releases and subscriptions."
"Its pricing can be better. It is very expensive."
"In terms of what needs to be improved, I would say better load balancing and data filtering."
"I'd like to have cloud management at no additional cost. Unfortunately, leveraging SonicWall's cloud management capabilities is cost-prohibitive, so we don't use it. They should have a reasonable subscription or offer it to us at no cost as an MSP."
"The interface and technical support are probably the two most important things that I would like SonicWall to improve."
"It would be good if Analyzer would be part of the stock license, so even if a layperson is getting the device, he or she doesn't forgets about ordering the Analyzer because it's already there."
"The VPN that is available in the new version is a bit bulky and slower in speed."
Check Point NGFW is ranked 5th in Firewalls with 277 reviews while SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Check Point NGFW is rated 8.8, while SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Check Point NGFW writes "Good antivirus protection and URL filtering with very good user identification capabilities". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". Check Point NGFW is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and Azure Firewall, whereas SonicWall TZ is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, SonicWall NSa and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Check Point NGFW vs. SonicWall TZ report.
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