We performed a comparison between Meraki MX and SonicWall NSa based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Meraki MX has a slight edge in this comparison. Unlike SonicWall NSa, its users report a proven ROI.
"The most valuable features are the policies, filtering, and configuration."
"In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."
"The most valuable feature is the VDOM, which allows the customer to have multiple firewalls in a single campus."
"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."
"The CLI and GUI do a good job of putting a lot at your fingertips."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."
"The tool is a nice product and easy to handle. The software's user interface is also good. You can easily implement remote access in the solution."
"Since it has an integrated dashboard for all the products, customers can get complete network analytics regarding what the user is doing, monitoring, and observing."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"Managed centrally over the web: You can manages all your Meraki devices in a single account."
"I use Meraki in my POCs and with my customers as well."
"It is very easy to use and manage. It is also very easy to scale."
"The simplicity of configuration is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"Point-to-point VPNs can dynamically follow IP changes with no need for static IPs."
"Very easy to use and navigate."
"Anti-Spam reduces unwanted mail on corporate exchange services."
"We can do the hosting and security all under one box. The UTM is a good feature."
"We have not found any vulnerabilities since implementing the solution."
"Sometimes I have some queries, and the SonicWall support team resolves my queries."
"The product is simple to manage."
"One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of SonicWall NSa is the control aspect of the solution."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"I could not configure sFlow from the FortiGate graphical user interface. I realized that the sFlow configuration is available only from the CLI, and discovered that sFlow is not supported on virtual interfaces, such as VDOM links, IPsec, or GRE."
"This product needs to have an analysis feature, rather than having the analysis done through the integration of a different product."
"We would like to have the ability to disable some of the security functionalities."
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."
"Its customer service could be better."
"We feel that Cisco provides smaller features, with fewer possibilities versus other solutions out there."
"From the improvement perspective, we need more monitoring capabilities. We want to have full-based access visibility, such as, what is happening when something is trying to reach and it is denying. We cannot see some parts of it. The integration of active directory with this product is not very fruitful. It has some bugs or lacks in the functionality of active directory integration. We are unable to identify where exactly and whether it has really applied our policy."
"You cannot use switching behaviors as you see on the Meraki switch."
"The product is quite complex to set up."
"The whole Cisco Meraki range requires easier access for cameras. For a security center, it would be helpful to have easier access to cameras through the portal. Its licensing cost could also be better."
"We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."
"Meraki tech support staff have a lot more visibility into your network than you do, which is frustrating at times. I understand the approach is to keep the dashboard easier to understand. This will frustrate more advanced users at times."
"It would be nice to get detailed logging information without third-party software."
"It doesn't require much improvement. The only improvement area is that cloud reporting, assessment reporting, and other reporting features should be available with the subscription. They should provide reporting features with the subscription base, which is currently not there. We bought the reporting tool, but there are some complications. They have made some changes to the application, and now the reporting management is completely on the cloud."
"An area for improvement would be SonicWall NSa's integration with antiviruses."
"The detection of malware can improve in SonicWall NSa."
"We also use the Sophos Firewall for web configuration, which we don't have in SonicWall. Only Sophos has those options. If SonicWall included that feature, that would be a benefit for us."
"I would like U.S.-based technical support."
"You can do zero-trust networking with them, but it's not easy."
"The security standards for space and point of view should be improved so that the solution deploys in critical areas."
"The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break)."
Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 57 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Meraki MX is rated 8.2, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Meraki MX vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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