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."FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use."
"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"The next-generation firewall is great."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"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 features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."
"The most valuable features in OPNsense are reporting and visibility."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"We have been operating here in our lab for several months, and everything appears to be extremely stable."
"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."
"The most valuable features are reporting, the Sensei plugin, and firewall capabilities."
"The feature I find most valuable, is that the program helped me to realize all the requested functionality that was needed."
"I have found the solution has some great features overall, such as guest access capabilities, dashboards, and ease of use. There is plenty of documentation and support and it has the plugins that I needed."
"The initial setup is easy. It only takes 15-30 minutes to deploy."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is its ability to work like any other firewall."
"The most valuable feature I've found is VPN and web protection, particularly with navigation assessment. We use the application control feature to create rules controlling specific application navigation."
"Easy to setup and implement"
"It allows us to block applications, i.e., websites by application type category. It is far more capable than content filtering alone."
"Deep packet inspection and intelligent application control are the most valuable features. It is a very updated solution. It is very current as compared to other brands and vendors."
"The product is working okay. The product is working feature-wise."
"SD-WAN is a good feature."
"Support has improved dramatically since their separation from Dell."
"The logging details need to be improved."
"Its reporting capabilities can be improved. It should have some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities and some degree of customization. The basic reporting that it currently has is not sufficient to create more usable reports. It needs some sort of out-of-the-box reporting. They try to make customers purchase FortiAnalyzer for this kind of reporting, which is an additional cost. Other firewall vendors, such as SonicWall and Sophos, provide this sort of reporting without any additional cost."
"We had a minor problem where there was a major system upgrade on the hardware platfrom and the Mac client was not available as soon as it might have been. The PC client was available immediately, but we had to wait a month or so, before there was a mac client. I was slightly irritated that it was not ready on time, but it was eventually resolved."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."
"The way everything is set up could be easier. Currently, people need a lot of experience and knowledge to administer it and to link it to devices."
"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."
"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"They should improve IPEs for security in the future."
"The interface of the solution is an area with shortcomings."
"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 solution could be more secure."
"While they do have paid options that actually gives better features, for most of the clients, if they tend to take a paid option will instead opt for Fortinet."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"After-sales support and hands-on training facilities are not available in my country."
"I would like to see better integration."
"The only thing that we would want would be single-pane management, which it has, but the GMS is not very good. It's purely the management of multiple devices for multiple customers, that's the only thing that it's lacking."
"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."
"We have security as a service, and they make recommendations about adding to the denylist and other things. That part could be more accessible and more user-friendly. I'd like to see SonicWall add a user-friendly interface where our internal team can drag and drop everything."
"The content ID needs to be improved."
"The filter settings are confusing and overly complicated. The user interface can be improved."
"The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
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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