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.
"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"Initial setup is straightforward. There weren't too many issues with setting it up. It takes one hour or so."
"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"Fortinet FortiGate's reliability is valuable."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"Sophos is a stable solution, and we haven't had any bugs or limitations."
"It's a good security tool and it aligns with the rest of our security stack."
"This is a very stable solution."
"The solution has very good security features, is easy to use for administrators and users, and has informative reports."
"The most valuable feature I have found to be the reporting function."
"The user authentication rules are very useful."
"The solution is a next generation firewall and we have gotten good customer feedback."
"The VPN features and its capabilities are great."
"Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."
"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."
"There is one big configuration file with no separations for the unique VDOMs. Maybe they could separate individual VDOM configuration files with the root VDOM configuration file referencing the individual VDOM config files."
"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."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."
"I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."
"FortiOS is not simple."
"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."
"In the next release, I would like to see improvements to simplify the interface and more policy deployments."
"Some of the firewall rules are complicated for us to understand, they should be simplified."
"Sophos needs improvements made to the console, such as host entry or defining rules directly from it."
"When I call, I have to wait at least one to two hours to reach them."
"They should include fiber ports on smaller product models and the tools should be improved for scalability."
"Our clients use Karios, and while it integrates well with it, the integration could be improved."
"Sophos XG's user interface has some room for improvement."
"I would like to next release to be able to support on-premise deployment. The construction of the rules within the firewall could also use some improvement."
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.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
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