We performed a comparison between OPNsense and SonicWall NSa based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution."
"The technical support in our region is excellent."
"I think that the UTM features are the most value, as it truly protects my infrastructure."
"The solution can scale well."
"The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well."
"The pricing is excellent. It's much less expensive than Cisco."
"Its administrative panel is very intuitive and simple. It is simpler than the other solutions that we had. As an administrator, we are always looking for the easiest solution to manage network policies. We are able to filter everything on our network and also use the VPN feature, which is important these days when people are working remotely during COVID."
"The most valuable feature is the Dual WAN in OPNSense, which offers advanced capabilities."
"It has firewall and VPN capabilities, which are very valuable features."
"We have been operating here in our lab for several months, and everything appears to be extremely stable."
"I find the solution to be user-friendly. It has a lot of reports and easy settings."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"I feel that its valuable features are that it is simple and free."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."
"It's very flexible and meets our customer's needs."
"One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity."
"Content Filtering and sandboxing are valuable features."
"SonicWall NS has a lot of valuable features. One of the best SonicWall NSa features is the ability to collect mini routers and get only one user connection."
"It is able to fulfill my requirements. It protects our network environment. It has control over IPS, signatures, and it can also manage bandwidth and mapping. It is also stable and has good support."
"Support is usually good when it comes to helping with issues."
"Sometimes I have some queries, and the SonicWall support team resolves my queries."
"Easy to setup and implement"
"I think that the infrastructure for the VPN could be improved. The way that it is bundled also made it difficult to use and sell as it is too expensive."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."
"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."
"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."
"Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem."
"At first glance, the interface for the device is very confusing."
"The pricing could always be better."
"I have to say that the initial setup was complex. The deployment took a few days to get set up. Initially, we were using an IPVanish. We switched to this tool since we thought it would be easier. But it turns out it wasn't easier to set up and run."
"The interface isn't so friendly user. But we have some technicians here who are quite confident with this tool. OPNSense could maybe add sets of rules so it's simpler to manage different groups with particular needs."
"An area for improvement in OPNsense is the hardware, which needs to be updated more frequently. DNS blocking is another good feature I want to be added to the solution. pfSense has a peer-blocking feature that I also want to see in OPNsense."
"The support for OPNsense is good because we have documents available on the internet. The support could improve a little."
"In terms of improvement, the performance could be enhanced."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"Its interface should be a little bit better."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
"They should improve IPEs for security in the future."
"They are not ready for managed security services. Their Cloud GMS product is weak, barely out of beta (buggy)."
"Vendor support needs improvement. The frequency of time and support should be increased."
"We also need to increase the throughput because the other devices are slower. The throughput will become slow. Since we're using VoIP, it tends to affect the voice quality. Even if you're using a quality service, it tends to decrease."
"The scalability is something that should be improved."
"One area for improvement in SonicWall NSa is the GUI. It isn't easy to understand. The support for SonicWall NSa is mediocre, which is another area for improvement."
"I would like to have a built-in vulnerability scanner in the firewall. It would be great to have such functionality. Its price could also be better. It would also be good to have a local warehouse. It doesn't get damaged a lot, but if a customer needs a replacement, currently, it has to come from Miami or Mexico, which can take a few days. It would be better if they have a local warehouse from where we can just pick replacements and quickly solve a client's needs in terms of replacing equipment. It would be great to have it locally instead of waiting for it from Mexico or the USA."
"The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break)."
"It would be useful to have an application firewall that prevents the outside world from seeing your private IPs. You don't need to publicize your private IPs to the outside world, and you can create a barrier, like a proxy server."
OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Check Point NGFW. See our OPNsense vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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