We compared SonicWall NSa and WatchGuard Firebox across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Comparison Results: SonicWall NSa's setup is generally considered easy, while WatchGuard Firebox is described as straightforward and simple. SonicWall NSa offers advanced threat protection and unique features like centralized firewall management, while WatchGuard Firebox is praised for its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface. SonicWall NSa could improve integration and bandwidth monitoring, while WatchGuard Firebox needs enhancements in areas such as interface, web blocker feature, reporting, and customer support. The pricing and licensing for both products are generally reasonable, but SonicWall NSa offers more diverse pricing models.
"It is a good source for firewall protection."
"Consolidated our network environment at all locations, but mainly at our datacenter."
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."
"The SD-WAN feature is the most valuable. This feature evolved from link load balancing. It has helped us in terms of our uptime and privatizing applications whenever we experience an outage. The SD-WAN feature has been a plus for us. Two-factor authentication has allowed us to add more users in terms of remote working. We have two-factor authentication for remote workers to authenticate them before they get on the network."
"I like how we can achieve total integration."
"Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"Compared to Cisco, SonicWall NSa is much easier to configure."
"They offer good antivirus solutions."
"The product is simple to manage."
"Sometimes I have some queries, and the SonicWall support team resolves my queries."
"The most valuable features are that it is reasonably-priced and works well."
"I like the solution's configuration, interfaces, and user guides."
"SonicWall's technical support is very good."
"It's pretty simple to understand when you want to do any diagnostics on your network. If you want to go in and see what packages are having trouble getting through, what's being held, stalled, etc., it's very easy to use in that way."
"The main features of the solution are the control of the site-to-site network access and the overall features."
"The solution simplifies my business. Normally, for administration, we are using NetApp System Manager on Window since it's easy to create new policies. In a short amount of time, you can create new policies based on new requirements. For example, in the last few months, many requirements changed due to the coronavirus, adding the use of new services, like Office 365, and eLearning tools, like Zoom."
"It's hard to pick one feature over another. But if I had to pick one, the UTM would be the most valuable because of the notification. I get notified via email if there is any type of threat detection or alert, telling me something is wrong."
"I like the High Availability features of the newest ones I'm using because they allow a firewall to fail and still be up and running."
"Among the most valuable features is the ease of use — love the interface — of both the web interface and of the WatchGuard System Manager."
"It's pretty simple to use. It's pretty simple to understand, and there's plenty of documentation. It does a pretty good job of what it is meant to do."
"The solution has increased productivity with our outside salespeople being able to connect into their computers and use those remotely."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."
"The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."
"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."
"With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support."
"The support is the main thing that needs to be improved."
"The support system could be improved."
"FortiGate is really good. We have been using it for quite some time. Initially, when we started off, we had around 70 plus devices of FortiGate, but then Check Point and Palo Alto took over the place. From the product perspective, there are no issues, but from the account perspective, we have had issues. Fortinet's presence in our company is very less. I don't see any Fortinet account managers talking to us, and that presence has diluted in the last two and a half or three years. We have close to 1,500 firewalls. Out of these, 60% of firewalls are from Palo Alto, and a few firewalls are from Check Point. FortiGate firewalls are very less now. It is not because of the product; it is because of the relationship. I don't think they had a good relationship with us, and there was some kind of disconnect for a very long time. The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate."
"The content filter needs to be improved."
"The product must enable integration with endpoint protection tools."
"The implementation for VLANs is a little bit cumbersome. It would be good to make that a little bit easier."
"A room for improvement in SonicWall NSa is the log server because it could be more user-friendly compared to Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks. My company has many rule sets up for review, so sometimes, my team needs to use Excel for filtering, but the UI cannot support the Excel function."
"There are a few areas that need improvement including the VPN, user management, and reporting."
"SonicWall NSa needs to make their product more user-friendly."
"They should consider upgrading the capabilities within the GUI."
"We're not particularly fond of the way it generally performs. We are finding ourselves rebooting often. There are freeze-ups and that kind of thing. The stability needs to improve exponentially."
"I'd like to have better access to workstation monitoring, connection monitoring, and the amount of time an address is being used, to better gauge proper network utilization. If I knew that something was connected to a particular external location for an extended period that seems abnormal, I'd be able to act upon it."
"There are a couple of things I wished that it would do, but I can't think of those off the top of my head."
"Cloud-based central administration of all devices from one point would be nice"
"It's sometimes not easy to understand and can require specialist assistance."
"I believe there is a need for additional measures to connect mobile devices securely to the Firebox router."
"The software in it could be a bit more friendly for an amateur user. I look at it and don't understand what half the stuff is. Looking at the interface, it is all mumbo-jumbo to me. It's not a simple interface. You have to be an IT guy to understand it. It is not for your average person to use, then walk away from it. It is much more entailed."
"Sometimes, the writing rules are a little confusing in how am I doing them."
"The user interface for WatchGuard Firebox has room for improvement. Right now, it's a bit complex to work with and could be easier."
SonicWall NSa is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 77 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and OPNsense, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ and Check Point NGFW. See our SonicWall NSa vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors and 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.