We performed a comparison between SonicWall NSa and SonicWall TZ based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: SonicWall TZ has an edge in this comparison. Unlike SonicWall NSa, its reviewers mention seeing an ROI.
"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."
"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."
"All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
"This product is definitely scalable."
"Our project needs to link two sides through the internet. One of these was in Cairo and the other in another city. We used FortiGate as the integrating solution between the two locations, i.e. the Fortinet 30E & 100E."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. With FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access."
"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"Anti-Spam reduces unwanted mail on corporate exchange services."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the GUI pre-filtering and the ATP (advanced threat protection)."
"SonicWall NSa has a user-friendly firmware"
"It's very flexible and meets our customer's needs."
"Our old firewall was running as HA (High Availability) on two different but identical rack mounted servers. Moving to SonicWall allowed the company to move to one unit, yet accommodate more connections because it had sixteen ports and handled fail-over better than the old firewall solution."
"It has good reporting, the reporting is marvelous."
"The functionality is the same whether it is on hardware or a virtual appliance. The interface is the same. It's nice that it's standardized."
"The VPN is quite useful for us, as well as the ATP."
"The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks for a four-digit code, which changes every 30 seconds."
"SonicWall TZ is stable."
"SonicWall TZ is very user-friendly and has network MAC binding. Additionally, the firewall works well."
"We are able to block whatever we want to block by using this product. It provides all required security features, such as content filtering, VPN, in one box. Before switching to SonicWall, we had specified all required features."
"Once it's configured properly, the solution is unbreakable."
"The site-to-site VPN connections, content filtering, and in our current remote working situation, SSL VPN remote desktop connectivity are the most valuable features."
"It's been very easy to implement and deploy."
"The feature which gives us a lot of pain is ASIC architecture."
"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."
"There is a lot of improvement needed with SSL-VPN."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"It would be nice if backups could more easily migrate between different models."
"This product needs to have an analysis feature, rather than having the analysis done through the integration of a different product."
"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."
"We have used other solutions such as pfSense and Linux native firewalls. I prefer SonicWall NSa but if you are going to use something for an enterprise you need another solution."
"Overall, Im satisfied with SonicWall NSa, but it would be better if they could add a small terminal to each device. This would help me deal with certain issues by running a small bot onto any PC."
"The reporting feature could be better because most of the companies want to have the analytics included, which is something that you have to buy separately."
"The product must enable integration with endpoint protection tools."
"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."
"It only has a single power interface, which has limitations in terms of high availability."
"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."
"This product is unable to secure access to endpoints for our external employees."
"The cost of the solution has room for improvement."
"You need to be a certificate holder to set it up and configure it. It's really important because it looks easy, but it is complex. You need to have the knowledge and experience. But this is normal for technical products. It's not a product for regular user. It's for technical people. You need to have skills."
"The VPN that is available in the new version is a bit bulky and slower in speed."
"In terms of what needs to be improved, I would say better load balancing and data filtering."
"The user support could be improved because you have to go outside to get that kind of support."
"Pricing could be lowered slightly."
"The small business line has less PPS throughput."
"Although the pricing is good, it could always be lower. If we get to pay less, we're happier."
SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews while SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8, while SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". SonicWall NSa is most compared with Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall TZ is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, WatchGuard Firebox and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our SonicWall NSa vs. SonicWall TZ report.
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Basically, the main difference is that the TZ series is intended for a Branch office since it has fewer ports and the speed is around 1 GB.
The NSA series has more processor power and more port where you can create subnets and zones (like DMZ). Also, it has ports with 10 Gb and a processor to support the demand.
I have read that an approximate number of users in the highest TZ series (TZ 670) is around 150 to 200 but that is just an estimate.
Hope this helps. You can get more details in SonicWall datasheets where you will find the speed, throughput and more technical specifications to select the one that fits your requirements.
In simple words,
TZ is for small businesses (less than 100, maximum 150 users).
TZ has fewer ports.
NSA is for medium and large enterprises: > 150 Users,
NSA has many ports to support large networks