Comparing Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos XG based on user reviews reveals distinct contrasts in user satisfaction levels, setup complexities, and interface experiences. FortiGate's customer service varies significantly, with some users satisfied and others seeking improvement, while Sophos XG also sees mixed support reviews but with emphasis on the need for more tutorials and documentation. Deployment times for FortiGate can extend significantly depending on the project, contrasting with Sophos XG's faster, albeit sometimes technical setup. FortiGate's interface and performance have been criticized for complexity and sluggishness, against Sophos XG's calls for a more intuitive interface and streamlined reporting. Licensing and costs are mixed for FortiGate, with some preferences over competing brands, whereas Sophos XG is noted for its reasonable, albeit varied, subscription pricing. Valuable features for each highlight FortiGate's robust security and customization, versus Sophos XG's emphasis on infiltration prevention, user-friendly monitoring, and comprehensive security solutions, displaying their individual strengths tailored to different user priorities.
The summary above is based on 426 interviews we conducted recently with Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos XG users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"A strong point of FortiGate is that the graphical interface is complete and easy to use, especially if we think there is a list of operations that we are able to perform inside."
"The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN."
"The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."
"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"
"It's very easy to configure."
"The payment function for applications is good."
"The solution was able to be integrated well with exciting hardware and software and in multiple business sectors."
"The tool's most valuable feature is threat protection and DLP features. So far, basic DLP features like content protection and blocking. Furthermore, for remote users, features such as back filtering and application control are available, allowing for command and control from our side. It is very easy to understand policy applications."
"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its ability to protect our organization's web servers."
"Sophos began with a basic version and evolved into something more efficient in terms of performance."
"Great reporting feature and great customer support."
"Using Sophos endpoint and the firewall, synchronized security is easy."
"If you want to install antivirus and firewalling on endpoints, then Sophos is the best option."
"In my experience, the solution was easy to use, has lots of features, and is easy to configure."
"It is stable, but its stability can be improved."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."
"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."
"Fortinet could improve the windows opener or the virtual IP solutions for opening windows. The virtual IP settings need improvement as firewalls are trending in new development directions."
"Bandwidth usage in reporting could be improved for Fortinet FortiGate."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"I do prefer when updates come out a bit quicker."
"While it is possible to configure between two of the solution's devices in the same model, the high available usually fails."
"Network security is in need of improvement."
"The cloud support needs to be improved."
"Over the last six months, we have noticed that the hardware is slow, especially the VPN connections."
"The GUI and support could be better. I think there are other products that we are going to deploy instead of Sophos. We have already upgraded a month ago because the interfaces and support for Sophos are really weak. But other products like Juniper, Cisco, or FortiGate are better than Sophos. It's also complicated, and the end-user or client does not understand it."
"Their support is fairly good, and they come back to me. I've had an issue once or twice where I couldn't understand what the support person was saying because those calls were probably routed to India. They were a bit difficult to understand, but it is generally not an issue."
"Sophos can definitely improve with the interoperability between solutions."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, WatchGuard Firebox and Check Point NGFW, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sophos XG report.
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Go with Sophos XG or if you have tight budget and technical expertise then can move with pFsense.
Dear Sharif.
For 150 users any firewall will work perfectly. You can choose as per your convenience, availability, price, and better implementation partner in your region. Keep a bigger box at the central location and configure SD-WAN. SOPHOS has by default SD WAN. Make sure you have secure access to the cloud and all endpoints should have endpoint protection else only firewall will not help.
Most of the cloud service providers work on any-any rule because their responsibility is network uptime and availability. Security of your setup is your responsibility.
Manageability is better in Fortinet however features are better in SOPHOS. License bundle & ATP functions are are good in SOPHOS. Support response is good in SOPHOS but you will find less tickets in FORTINET once it is implemented as per your setup.
Overall both are good for your setup. You can choose as per convenience.
Hope this will help.. Greetings .. Ravi
In my opinion, the first point of strength is the support, and FortiGate is doing a great job in terms of support. It has numerous reference guides for configuration. The other advantage is ease of management in both the UI and CLI levels. You can use FortiGate modules to protect against web and virus attacks.
Hello Sharif,
I prefer FortiGate SDWAN Devices (FortiGate) even though we also deliver Sophos to our clients.
The decentralized FortiGate devices work as firewalls with an excellent security ecosystem. FortiGate and most other items work as Hardware units or on virtual machines.
As a Telco company we have a lot of companies working in different industries with various requirements. We can support them all with FortiGate.
Our customers prefer the security features, the stable ecosystem for life cycle management, for device/user/policy management, thread detection & prevention, intrusion prevention, sandboxing, ... the low operation effort to build a stable company network that supports the need of any customer size.
In our business, we also like that the architecture of a company network can be easily changed if the customer requirements change. From single-line sites to Data Centers with high availability and Cloud integration FortiGate can be used in any design.
The different security features that can be added by the license are powerful and integrated into the management dashboard. Updates of protection mechanisms against new threads happen automatically as soon as a new protection mechanism is available when new threads occur. The security team at Fortinet is excellent.
Greetings
Andre
Hi, XG is EOL the new series is XGS, both are excellent equipment but I prefer Fortigate, why ??? DHCP slection, leader SD-WAN, many IPSEC dynamics is possible on SOPHOS but is limit the are conflicts with many IP's dynamics you need to use DDNS, SSL tunnel for remote clients, VRF, advanced routing with OSPF and BGP ("as path"). Greetings