We performed a comparison between Meraki MX and SonicWall TZ based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Users consider Meraki MX devices to be part of a comprehensive next-generation firewall solution with all the advanced security services required for today’s IT marketplace. They say it is also a robust dynamic Unified Threat Management (UTM) tool. Meraki MX offers zero-touch installation, is cloud-based, and can seamlessly integrate with most of today’s popular platforms. Many users feel SonicWall TZ can be bulky and slow and is lacking some key features.
"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"The most valuable feature is the VDOM, which allows the customer to have multiple firewalls in a single campus."
"FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"The solution is very, very easy to use."
"Very easy to use and navigate."
"The features we have found most valuable are the firewall and the monitoring tools."
"Easy to administer and saves time when you have many smaller locations that you have to manage."
"It prevents us from being hacked and delivers information about who and where the attack came from."
"In general, Meraki MX is easy to work with."
"We switched to Meraki because it lets you see what's happening in your LAN and WAN in a graphic and web environment."
"I think cloud management is key. The cloud management and support are the two things that make the product great."
"A strong, reliable solution for small companies with little or no dedicated IT department."
"No negative impression of the scalability."
"It's a very cost-effective solution."
"Most of the features are useful. It is easy to configure and easy to troubleshoot. I can see the utilization of different networks, and there are also App control features."
"It does what it says it is going to do."
"It lets me monitor in live time if someone is 'hogging' bandwidth."
"The feature with SonicWall that I have found most valuable is that all the models have the same interface. We don't need to learn different interfaces in the smaller or bigger models."
"SonicWall TZ is a very cost-effective solution that provides good security."
"The most valuable feature is content filtering and app control."
"We have an issue with hotel guest vouchers."
"The platform's interface could improve."
"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."
"The feedback that I have received is that the performance could be better, and the user experience is not as good compared to a previous solution we used. It could be more user-friendly. Of course, it still works fine for our operations."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."
"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."
"More detail needed for configuration of the VPN."
"Meraki has some hidden features and information that is only privy to their engineers. If that information became available to us, then it would improve our ease of management, and we would be able to make certain adjustments instead of having to go to them."
"The current lead time is longer for Meraki MX, and it needs to be improved."
"The product is quite complex to set up."
"Could possibly use deeper configurations."
"The security is not as strong as it could be"
"The product doesn't support route summarization and BGP dynamic routing protocol."
"Meraki MX firewalls are great for small to medium-sized businesses, but other solutions are better for enterprise-sized companies."
"The VPN that is available in the new version is a bit bulky and slower in speed."
"The stability could be a lot better."
"The user support could be improved because you have to go outside to get that kind of support."
"I would like to see a SonicWall integration with the DLP tool, this would be interesting. Data Loss Prevention integration."
"It needs more robust self-help documentation along with examples and things to watch out for."
"I can't get the support that I need from SonicWall."
"There is still room for improvement, and it's not advisable even if the organization has grown."
"Sometimes there is a glitch between the network connection. Last time, something happened on our IP phone, the SonicWall team did some updates to fix the issue. However, glitches happen very rarely. I did not experience any other types of problems."
Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 57 reviews while SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Meraki MX is rated 8.2, while SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0. 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 TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and SonicWall NSa, whereas SonicWall TZ is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, SonicWall NSa, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Meraki MX vs. SonicWall TZ report.
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