We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security 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."All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
"The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution."
"The reporting and monitoring are very good."
"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."
"It is a safe product."
"It is user friendly, and has all the features you need."
"Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."
"The VPN connection portal scan works flawlessly, which was a big plus for us."
"Cisco IOS allows us to keep the same security features as our principal offices."
"The Intrusion Firewall is a valuable feature."
"Technical support for this solution is very good."
"The most valuable feature is the scalability. The nice thing with the bigger vendors is that they're very good at scale."
"Cisco IOS Security increases the overall security of our network, performs authentication, and provides level 15 access and privileges."
"The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with."
"Cisco IOS Security is very robust and works very well."
"Price-wise the solution offers acceptable rates. You can find cheaper solutions on the market but when you go cheaper you have fewer features. Today, based on iQuate market the price is very reasonable and affordable, and it's good if you get a good discount. Discounts can be offered by the vendor. If it's a competitive upgrade which means the customer is upgrading from another vendor, Sophos provides extra discount so they can win the deal. In general, it is a good price."
"In my experience, the solution was easy to use, has lots of features, and is easy to configure."
"Sophos began with a basic version and evolved into something more efficient in terms of performance."
"I like the tunneling part which we are using for the VOIP. We have various other sites where we connect via tunneling. The tunneling part is very fast and easy to implement."
"The most valuable features of Sophos XG for our use cases are its firewall capabilities, its ability to connect to wide area and local networks, and its VPN functionality."
"The product has all the latest features."
"It is a very stable solution."
"I've tried out Sophos XG a little. It has a good interface that's very user-friendly, but I haven't used all of its functions because I'm only configuring and running the system."
"In the future, I would like to see improvements made to cloud-based management."
"It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system."
"The support we receive when we need to upgrade is not satisfactory and has room for improvement."
"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."
"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."
"Tunnel flapping was one of the major things I had seen wherein your internet link remains but your VPN tunnel is down. However, since I got a fix from the TAC team, I have not noticed it, but the customer complained a few times that they couldn't access the internet because of this problem."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"One of the problems I was having was with user mapping, and it is an issue for which I have escalated tickets with Fortinet support."
"The pricing is the only con for this product."
"We cannot directly upgrade the system. The tool's deployment is also very difficult in legacy environments. The tool needs to have bigger ports as well."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve its security features. There are competitors that have some additional security features, such as Fortinet FortiGate. Additionally, there should be better synchronization with Cisco IOS Security and other vendors, and improved AI features would be beneficial."
"The product's technical support services need improvement."
"There's a technology called SD-WAN that we would like to see. We are unable to handle multiple connections or to automatically load balance. I would like to have a feature that enables us to automatically prepare for load balancing."
"The initial setup is complicated."
"The routers, don't have like long-term tendency features, or higher availability features available for the IOS. It could also use a better user interface."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"I would like to next release to be able to support on-premise deployment. The construction of the rules within the firewall could also use some improvement."
"I'd like to see better reporting. While the logs are great, the reports are not."
"There could be some room for improvement in its pricing since my clients usually feel like the product is on the expensive side."
"Sophos XG's web server protection and log viewer could improve. They should also introduce sandboxing."
"It is a very basic and entry-level firewall. It doesn't give very granular control over the traffic. It should have more granular control over the traffic. This feature should be there similar to Palo Alto and Cisco. It should have such advanced features."
"The solution could offer a bit more integration with other systems, with other platforms - just to be able to extend the capability and to interface with other kinds of platforms or systems that I can find on the market as it gives the possibility to improve the level of integration."
"There's an IP address delivery for our VPN client and a limited range of IP addresses. So this is a problem in the latest firmware release, but rather than using homework scenarios, we need a lot of VPN clients."
"Technical support is difficult to access."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense and OPNsense, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and SonicWall TZ. See our Cisco IOS Security 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.