We performed a comparison between SonicWall NSa and SonicWall NSSP 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."The most valuable feature is the interface, which is very user friendly. We are utilizing most of the features, like content filtering. The firewall is powerful."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."
"The pricing is great and very reasonable."
"This is a quality product with ok support, and it is better than the competition we've tried."
"The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."
"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."
"Consolidated our network environment at all locations, but mainly at our datacenter."
"What I like best about SonicWall NSa is the security it offers compared to other solutions in the market. Its reduction rate is also better than others."
"SonicWall provides endpoint security with advanced protection. Moreover, SonicWall includes access points and additional features."
"Easy to scale solution that provides advanced threat protection. Their technical support is very good, very knowledgeable, and easy to reach."
"The most valuable features of this solution are intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, and the advanced capture client, which provides live traffic analysis."
"I like the solution's configuration, interfaces, and user guides."
"The most valuable features are that it is reasonably-priced and works well."
"Valuable features include a web filter, DHCP, and monitoring capabilities."
"The antivirus and items of that nature were quite helpful to have."
"SonicWall NSSP is stable and scalable too."
"It has been delivering results efficiently. Its configurations and updates have been easy. It is also user-friendly."
"The VPN functionality is really good. Overall, the whole device is very easy to manage. The software that comes with it is also good."
"The solution's pricing is good."
"I like the filtering feature, which provides easy access. The SSL certification feature is also nice. The solution enhanced our security posture."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"The ease of use could be improved."
"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"The feature which gives us a lot of pain is ASIC architecture."
"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."
"Its price could be better."
"FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack."
"Having to deal with too many lower-level people in technical support means that it takes longer to resolve issues, so escalating support tickets should be faster."
"Some of the configurations could be better."
"The problem primarily with SonicWall is it's a Unix box. And it's all software, all the activities, blocking, censoring, everything has to happen in the software. If you start hitting the box with a lot of sessions it slows down and that's not what I expect from a firewall."
"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 likely isn't a good fit for a large organization."
"The dynamics needs to be improved. The solution is not very compatible compared to the market products."
"SonicWall NSa needs to make their product more user-friendly."
"It's very hard to manage this box. You really need a lot of skills to operate the SonicWall. There is training and the like, but it's just hard to manage. Even if you have the knowledge, there are too many options. The menus are not very clear, where you should find the information."
"Its reporting functions can be improved. It has decent reporting, but you got to pay a lot more money for it. That's where it begins to fall apart. It comes with minimal zero reporting unless you buy some extra modules. With those extra modules, you can get all the data, but it takes a while to put together what you need for your customer. It is for technical people, but there is no executive summary of the reporting."
"The solution's stability and scalability also need improvement."
"No security product is foolproof against hackers, intruders, and other such things. As a security product, they have to keep pace in terms of protection from new hackers and intruders."
"The product needs improvement for phishing emails."
"The user interface, the GUI, could be improved."
SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews while SonicWall NSSP is ranked 38th in Firewalls with 5 reviews. SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8, while SonicWall NSSP is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSSP writes "Good VPN functionality, very good support, easy to manage, and meets all of our needs". SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Netgate pfSense, whereas SonicWall NSSP is most compared with . See our SonicWall NSSP vs. SonicWall NSa 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.
