We performed a comparison between Meraki MX and SonicWall NSa based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Meraki MX has a slight edge in this comparison. Unlike SonicWall NSa, its users report a proven ROI.
"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls."
"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."
"Their proxy-based inspection is responsive and secure."
"Offers good security and filtering."
"We use the filtering feature the most. It has filtering and inbuilt securities. We can create customized rules to define which users can access a particular type of site. We can create policies inside the firewall."
"I love the simplicity of Meraki MX — specifically, the simplicity of the dashboard."
"The simplicity of configuration is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The internet traffic shaping has been very valuable."
"The initial setup for me was straightforward."
"It is very fast to implement."
"Site to Site VPN: The device can establish a VPN connection to multiple sites in a mesh environment in seconds, and without complex VPN knowledge."
"It has a helpful feature for database troubleshooting issues."
"The solution is good for load balancing."
"Easy to setup and implement"
"The features I found most valuable are email security and web filtering."
"The most valuable features of this solution are intrusion detection, intrusion prevention, and the advanced capture client, which provides live traffic analysis."
"It has good reporting, the reporting is marvelous."
"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."
"Deep packet inspection and intelligent application control are the most valuable features. It is a very updated solution. It is very current as compared to other brands and vendors."
"SonicWall NSa has a user-friendly firmware"
"It's very flexible and meets our customer's needs."
"It would be nice if backups could more easily migrate between different models."
"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."
"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."
"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
"The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."
"FortiGate should have a better way of detecting and managing the system memory because otherwise if the memory is too low, a system restart is required."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."
"They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user. When you're trying to explain to somebody how a computer network is secured, sometimes it's difficult for an end user or customer to understand. If there was a way to make the terminology more accessible to the end user, the set up could be easier. They should translate the technical jargon to an easily relatable and understandable conversation for the end user, the customer, that would be brilliant. Particularly in an environment where the IT structure is audited regularly, there's always pressure from the auditor to up the standards and up the security and you get your USCERT's that come out and there's a warning about this and the customer will want to lock out so much and when you apply it they run into issue where they can't search the internet or print to their remote office. Of course they can't print to your remote office, they just locked it up. They should make the language more understandable for the customer. If there's a product out there that made the jargon understandable to John Q. Public, I would buy that."
"We do not have account managers in our region for the solution. Some governments don't use the product since it is attached to the internet."
"Meraki MX firewalls are great for small to medium-sized businesses, but other solutions are better for enterprise-sized companies."
"We could have more reporting options and the ability to send alarms to the administrator."
"The current lead time is longer for Meraki MX, and it needs to be improved."
"Right now, you can postpone the update but eventually, if you don't do the update, it will install the updates automatically for you and that's something that is not working for me."
"Direct logging is something that can be introduced. In the absence of cloud management, the possibility of local configurations and on-premise logins becomes restricted. This limitation stands as a primary concern. When it comes to resolving issues, the inability to access login options hampers troubleshooting efforts. The stability is noteworthy; but when compared to alternative products, its stability is comparatively lower. Additionally, certain limitations are observed in terms of remote control. Price-wise, the solution stands out for its competitive and cost-effective nature compared to other alternatives. Operationally, it is user-friendly and requires minimal effort from administrators, making configuration hassle-free."
"We feel that Cisco provides smaller features, with fewer possibilities versus other solutions out there."
"The client-side VPN is weak. The product could be improved with deployment templates."
"We have security as a service, and they make recommendations about adding to the denylist and other things. That part could be more accessible and more user-friendly. I'd like to see SonicWall add a user-friendly interface where our internal team can drag and drop everything."
"Needs a more detailed reporting feature."
"After-sales support and hands-on training facilities are not available in my country."
"The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break)."
"The only thing that we would want would be single-pane management, which it has, but the GMS is not very good. It's purely the management of multiple devices for multiple customers, that's the only thing that it's lacking."
"I would like to have a built-in vulnerability scanner in the firewall. It would be great to have such functionality. Its price could also be better. It would also be good to have a local warehouse. It doesn't get damaged a lot, but if a customer needs a replacement, currently, it has to come from Miami or Mexico, which can take a few days. It would be better if they have a local warehouse from where we can just pick replacements and quickly solve a client's needs in terms of replacing equipment. It would be great to have it locally instead of waiting for it from Mexico or the USA."
"I'd like to see integration with Microsoft 365 for authentication."
"Port forwarding could use streamlining."
Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 57 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 77 reviews. Meraki MX is rated 8.2, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. 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 NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Meraki MX vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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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.
