SonicWall TZ vs Sophos XG comparison

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Fortinet Logo
117,316 views|85,923 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
SonicWall Logo
11,842 views|10,897 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
Sophos Logo
58,529 views|42,105 comparisons
93% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 5, 2022

We performed a comparison between Sonicwall TZ and Sophos XG based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of both solutions relate that they are easy and straightforward to deploy.
  • Features: SonicWall offers solid security with application control, URL filtering, Gateway Anti-Virus, and IPS protection. Users say the unified threat management provides a robust VPN and security intelligence for both site-to-site and remote access. However, they feel that reporting can be somewhat vague and ambiguous and should be improved.

    Sophos XG offers VPN, solid firewalling, robust intrusion detection, and content blocking. Users find the solution easy to use and manage and the interface user friendly and very intuitive. They would like to see improvement to the SD-WAN, GDPR capabilities, and better integrations.
  • Pricing: SonicWall TZ users feel the price can be a bit expensive. Sophos XG users feel the price is reasonable.
  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions are satisfied with the service and support.

Comparison Results: Sophos XG’s single pane of glass makes it easy to manage the entire solution and it can be done anywhere. Users find it very light, stable, and it provides excellent real-time control. Users say SonicWall TZ struggles a bit with load balancing and data filtering, making it a slightly less desirable solution.

To learn more, read our detailed SonicWall TZ vs. Sophos XG Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We can detect any attack of viruses or malware at the first point of contact.""FortiGate is flexible and easy to use.""The most valuable features are the policies, filtering, and configuration.""It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well.""It's quite comfortable to handle the FortiGate firewall.""Fortinet FortiGate protects against internet-based threats, both internal and external. It is scalable, stable, easy to use, and easy to install.""Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network.""Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"The performance has been very good. Overall, the solution is quite stable.""I have found the stability of this product to be excellent.""It lets me monitor in live time if someone is 'hogging' bandwidth.""The best thing about the product is the very good threat prevention output.""I find the security we are able to do with the policies to be valuable. The monitoring is valuable as well.""Offers the right amount of control without being incredibly convoluted and frustrating.""Ease of management and the VPN integration.""The installation is straightforward and took approximately 30 minutes."

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"I rate Sophos support 10 out of 10. When my device was freezing, I contacted them, and sent me a replacement. It only took a couple of days for Sophos to ship the device to Kenya. I didn't have a redundant device, so it was urgent.""The SL VPNs are the most valuable feature. I have a lot of systems out of the head office that need to connect to the local networks, and they all connect wirelessly via the Sophos VPN client.""The stability of Sophos XG is good, it has good performance.""The initial setup is pretty simple.""The solution seems to be very easy to use.""I like their firewall and the intrusion detection feature""The firewall feature of Sophos XG has been the most effective for threat prevention.""Everything is consolidated into a single box, offering comprehensive functionality, including Wi-Fi access and other features."

More Sophos XG Pros →

Cons
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data.""Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface.""Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve to be on par with its competitors, such as Palo Alto and Sophos. They are the market leaders. Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve its capabilities. However, we are happy with Fortinet FortiGate.""I would like to have logs, monitoring, and reporting for a month without extra fees.""There are mainly two areas of improvement in Fortinet FortiGate— the licensing cost and the timing of upgrading licenses for boxes.""A lack of integration between our data centers.""Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful.""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."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"It needs more robust self-help documentation along with examples and things to watch out for.""GUI interface could be improved.""It could be made more user friendly.""SonicWall TZ can improve the UI application and when you create any net policies or any new policy, it will not sync or work properly.""Sometimes there is a glitch between the network connection. Last time, something happened on our IP phone, the SonicWall team did some updates to fix the issue. However, glitches happen very rarely. I did not experience any other types of problems.""The lack of support is having me look into other solutions to replace SonicWALL.""I can't get the support that I need from SonicWall.""The log analyzer in SonicWall TZ is something that they need to improve upon."

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"It would be beneficial if the platform provided more flexible support for a variety of devices.""Content filtering could be more effective and efficient.""Their technical support needs improvement. I've been on hold with them for hours waiting for their support.""It would be better if they made their own hardware like Palo Alto and Fortinet. They use their own ASICs and claim it is more secure.""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.""Sophos XG could improve the connectivity with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory(AD). It doesn't work directly as other solutions do, such as Fortinet FortiGate. The client needs a separate AD server which is a problem.""There needs to be a way that we can distinguish between educational institutions on Youtube and other Youtube videos. You can do this on Fortinet. Basically, they can block all other Youtube videos besides those that are from educational institutions. With Sophos, you either allow for all Youtube videos or none at all. They need to allow for more specification on different websites.""I would like to have a more efficient login process."

More Sophos XG Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Getting licenses in our country, Ghana, is not easy. Though, once we have them, adding them is quick (about a day)."
  • "SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."
  • "The pricing was a factor for us, and we felt that the price was good."
  • "The product pricing is relatively good, compared to other products, including the licenses."
  • "Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."
  • "License renewals come in around $35,000 to $45,000."
  • "The price is high compared to some other solutions."
  • "Its pricing is okay as compared to other solutions."
  • More SonicWall TZ Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "For licensing the XG 210, we paid approximately $3000 for three years. There are no additional fees on top of this."
  • "It's a suitable price and license."
  • "We are paying about $1,500 yearly for the Enterprise Plus. As far as I know, there aren't costs above this standard fee."
  • "The Sophos pricing, in general, is better than SonicWall, Fortinet, WatchGuard, or anybody else."
  • "We paid for our licensing for three years, upfront, and there are no costs in addition to the standard fees."
  • "The price is cheaper than that of some competing vendors."
  • "The pricing is flexible. Sophos looks at a country's economy and offers flexible pricing. This is how they have managed to penetrate the market."
  • "It's approximately $6,000 for each device."
  • More Sophos XG Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite… more »
    Top Answer:I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive.
    Top Answer:Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat… more »
    Top Answer:Hi Arvind P ,  The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form… more »
    Top Answer:The Sophos UTM is a UTM and Sophos XG is the NGFW. First, you must know about the difference between a UTM and NGFW… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Dell SonicWALL TZ
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    The secure, sophisticated SonicWALL TZ is widely deployed at small businesses, retail, government, remote sites and branch offices. It combines high-performance intrusion prevention, malware blocking, content/URL filtering and application control.

    Sophos XG Firewall is a complete firewall solution that provides all the real-time security and insights you need to protect your network from ransomware and advanced threats. Sophos XG Firewall provides visibility into suspicious users, unknown and unwanted apps, encrypted traffic, and other threats. With its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, Sophos XG Firewall immediately identifies potential risks and intrusions on web servers and networks.

    Sophos XG Firewall Features

    Sophos XG Firewall offers a wide range of security features, including:

    • Application control: Prevent widespread infections with XG’s Security Heartbeat. XG Firewall automatically identifies the source of an infection on a network and automatically prevents it from accessing other network resources.

    • Synchronized user ID: Eliminate the need for client or server authentication agents by sharing user identification between the endpoint and the firewall through Security Heartbeat.

    • Centralized management: Easily manage all activities with Sophos Central. The XG cloud management platform allows users to easily set up, manage, and monitor XG firewalls along with other Sophos products. Some of Sophos Central’s features include alerting, backup management, one-click firmware updates, and rapid deployments of new firewalls.

    • Lateral movement protection: Automatically isolate compromised systems at every point in the network to stop attacks dead in their tracks.

    • Network protection: Protect networks from attacks and threats while providing secure network access.

    • Web protection: Gain clear visibility and control over all users’ web and application activity.

    • Web server protection: Solidify web servers and applications against hacking attacks while providing secure web access.

    • Email protection: Consolidate email protection with anti-spam, DLP, and encryption. XG’s Live Anti-Spam provides protection from the most recent spam campaigns, phishing attacks, and malicious attachments. Data Loss Prevention automatically triggers encryption on sensitive data in outgoing emails.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Sophos XG Firewall stands out among its competitors, among other reasons, for its intrusion detection capabilities, its user-friendly management platform, and in general, for being a complete and robust firewall solution.

    Niranjan P., a network & system support engineer, writes, “Sophos is a comprehensive solution which allows me to configure all the attendant products, such as Sophos's firewall, endpoint, and encryption features. A nice feature of Sophos is that it offers in sync and heartbeat security. When my clients have a perimeter involving Sophos firewall and endpoints with Sophos Endpoint, they can communicate with each other.”

    Antonio D., sales manager at INFOSEC, notes, “The product has a console that is based in the cloud for all their products. In this console, they have email security, firewall security, endpoint security, et cetera. All of the products on offer in the console are very useful for us. The solution is stable. The solution works well for enterprises and large-scale organizations.”

    Antony M., ICT/HMIS supervisor at a healthcare company, writes, “The VPN feature is the most valuable. It has come in handy during this period when people are working from home. The filtering feature is also valuable because you can easily filter the sites that you don't want to visit. You can also set timely surfing quotas”

    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Construction Company12%
    Healthcare Company12%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Non Profit7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government6%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business61%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise15%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise42%
    Buyer's Guide
    SonicWall TZ vs. Sophos XG
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall TZ vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 6th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of SonicWall TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". SonicWall TZ is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, SonicWall NSa, WatchGuard Firebox and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, Sophos UTM and Meraki MX. See our SonicWall TZ 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.