We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks PA-Series and Sophos XG 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 application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"Easy to use support and licensing portal as well as activation process."
"Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"The signature database and zero-day detection are Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."
"We can detect any attack of viruses or malware at the first point of contact."
"Valuable features include the Web Application Firewall, and it even has DLP (data leak prevention)."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The product's most valuable feature is web filtering."
"Palo Alto Networks firewalls offer single-mode panel processing with live scanning."
"The product's initial setup process was simple."
"A valuable feature that we can consider is the deployment time, which is significantly reduced, almost 90% faster compared to other solutions. This leads to quicker deployment and less downtime."
"The solution is robust."
"The direct profiles is a valuable feature."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The stability of Sophos XG is good, it has good performance."
"The security of Sophos XG is very good."
"The solution seems to be very easy to use."
"The product has all the latest features."
"I particularly like the visibility it provides into network traffic, allowing us to identify and address issues efficiently."
"The most valuable feature, according to the setup we have at our work place here, is the flexibility of the system or the firmware that's running the appliance. It's so flexible, performing multiple rules with different configurations. According to the set up here, we need to implement several firewalls with different access levels, because we have a variety of users. For this requirement, it's very flexible and very easy to use."
"A valuable feature involves the solution's manageability."
"Sophos XG has cybersecurity. It integrates with the antivirus software."
"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."
"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."
"Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas."
"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."
"The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"I would like reporting to be improved and should offer a lot more tools to monitor the products."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the logging and reporting. Additionally, the next-generation application's policies should be improved. When they were released they had bugs."
"I encountered a slight issue with the application portal, which was not functioning correctly."
"The product's gateway services can be improved."
"Compared to other vendors, the solution's community should be strong enough to solve the problems engineers face."
"With Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, I find that the support team takes a long time to resolve the issues that a user may face during the use of the product."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved because it is an expensive solution."
"The interface is complex."
"Utilizing these features as a unified solution can require additional setup, particularly when incorporating Panorama for centralized management, which may involve extra costs."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series should improve its price. It should also include a feature similar to Sophos' Security Heartbeat."
"Sophos can definitely improve with the interoperability between solutions."
"It is complicated to get the reports if you are not experienced with Sophos."
"The solution could improve by making the graphical interface better and increasing the performance."
"I've had experience with Sophos XG's threat intelligence features, and they provide good coverage, although I wouldn't say they're the best in the industry. The sandbox feature is available with top-tier subscriptions, allowing you to test content in a cloud sandbox. One improvement I'd suggest for Sophos XG is to make certain functionalities, like CR functionality, part of the default firewalling rather than exclusive to premium subscriptions. Enhancing DLP capabilities at the gateway level could significantly boost security for organizations."
"It would be great if the user can have a portal to check on activities related to their account."
"We encounter difficulties while navigating through certain features and functionalities of the product."
"Sophos XG could improve by making the remote access and VPN better."
"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."
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 28 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is rated 8.6, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series writes "Offers trained customer support, stability and ease of use ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is most compared with OPNsense, SonicWall NSa, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX. See our Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sophos XG report.
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