We performed a comparison between Sophos XG and WatchGuard Firebox based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: WatchGuard Firebox comes out on top in this comparison. It is easy to use, performs well, and has robust security protocols. In addition, its support is better than that of Sophos XG.
"The solution can scale well."
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"The CLI and GUI do a good job of putting a lot at your fingertips."
"It's user-friendly and easy to operate."
"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."
"Good anti-malware and web filtering features."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."
"Sophos CG is cost-effective, which makes it really suitable for SMB. If you want basic security and more embedded features, go with Sophos XG."
"One of the most valuable features is the VPN."
"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 scalable."
"We've had good experiences with technical support."
"The performance of Sophos XG is generally good and it is stable."
"Sophos XG has cybersecurity. It integrates with the antivirus software."
"The dashboard is customizable as well. It gives you the feature of including what you need to see as soon as you open the dashboard and to remove the non-necessary stuff, which varies from one organization to the next and from one IT manager to the next. And it has a wide variety of reports as well, template and customizable reports."
"I like intrusion detection the most."
"Firebox's best feature is the access portal."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the FireWall features. The management side of WatchGuard is quite easy because it supports two ways to manage it - by the web and the other one they call WatchGuard systems manager. I used to be familiar with WSM only, but they improved their GUI in the web browser and now it is much easier to do it within the web browser."
"It saves us time in the respect that we now have the template built for it so we can get in and get it done. We've had much less problem supporting Voice over IP technologies from different companies. Because our client base has grown over the years, we're probably saving 20 to 30 man-hours a month now that we've got this on a good stable level."
"There are no problems with the technical support. If a problem occurs it gets resolved immediately with our technical support partners."
"There are many fantastic features."
"The firewall aspect and the branch office VPNs are the most valuable features... We don't have any issues with it. We don't have to spend a lot of time maintaining it."
"Simple to move settings between WatchGuard boxes."
"The room for improvement is about the global delivery time period. Usually I need to wait for almost one month to deliver it overseas. So if you can shorten the deliver time it'd be great."
"The solution could be more user friendly."
"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"I would like to see more advanced developments of a wireless controller in the future."
"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."
"The reports are very basic."
"I would like to have remote access to clients using a static IP for a certain period of time."
"Technical support is difficult to access."
"The program is rather expensive."
"The training manual provided to users lacks proper guidance on configuration procedures."
"Its price should be improved. It should be cheaper."
"Sophos XG could improve Data Loss Prevention(DLP)."
"Its price should be improved. Its features are pretty okay, but the price is the area where we have to fight more. They should do something about the price structure."
"Content filtering could be more effective and efficient."
"I would like to see more tutorials on setting up the Firebox."
"What could use some significant improvement in WatchGuard Firebox would be its interface and policy management. An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of WatchGuard Firebox is the ability to modify an existing policy instead of having to recreate a policy when changes are necessary. At the moment, there's no possibility to modify the policy. You have to delete the policy and recreate it."
"There's always room for improvement, especially if the threats are getting more sophisticated and the IT department cannot sufficiently meet this kind of sophistication with their own knowledge and experience. Knowing that this solution can get up to the level of addressing a lot of these threats is something that everybody wishes for. If we look at the dark web and the lawful web, they are two opposites, and if these two good and bad collide in the world of the internet, you want the best possible product—especially if you cannot get to that point of knowledge. I am just an individual and end user, with limited knowledge of usage. That's why I say there's always room for improvement, from their side and also from mine, because by knowing exactly what they can achieve and the knowledge that they can get on an everyday basis, and the portion that is understandable to me, it's an improvement for them as well."
"The scalability of the solution needs improvement."
"Last year, I had an issue with one of the Fireboxes going down. It was overheated, because my server room became overheated and this fried it."
"I would like to see more simplified management of the firewall... It's a complicated system to use."
"The data loss protection works well, but it could be easier to configure. The complexity of data loss protection makes it a more difficult feature to fully leverage. Better integration with third-party, two-factor authentication would be advantageous."
"Reporting is something you've got to set up separately. It's one of those things that you've got to put some time into. One of the options is to set up a local report server, which is what I did. It's not great. It's okay... Some of the stuff is a little complicated to get up and running. Once you do, it becomes very user-friendly and easy to work with, but I find there are some implementation headaches with some of their stuff."
Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Sophos XG is rated 8.2, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ and Check Point NGFW, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Sophos XG vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
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