Network Team Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
It is user friendly and reliable, but it needs granular control over the traffic
Pros and Cons
  • "It is very user friendly and easy to manage from the administrative point of view. It is good, reliable, and easy to implement."
  • "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."

What is most valuable?

It is very user friendly and easy to manage from the administrative point of view. It is good, reliable, and easy to implement.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for the last two years. We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its stability and reliability are fine.

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Sophos XG
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If you want to have multiple firewall rules, it has this type of scalability. When I compare it with some other products, such as Palo Alto, I can't find similar scalability in Sophos XG. In Palo Alto, we can have rules based on applications or app IDs, and we can create multiple rules for a single ID. We can create a single user or single IP, but such options are not there in Sophos XG. Granular level scalability should be there in Sophos, and they should do better.

How are customer service and support?

I appreciate their support. Their support is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I also use Palo Alto. Palo Alto provides application IDs, which is a very powerful feature. Sophos XG is a very normal next-generation firewall with URL filtering, application filtering, and all such features. It is not something extraordinary. It is a very normal next-generation firewall. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is a single day task to do the initial configuration and move the traffic over there. The firewall hardening, of course, will take some time depending upon the traffic, but the initial setup is a single day task.

What other advice do I have?

It is a normal firewall. All the basic features are there. However, it is not as advanced as some of the other solutions, such as Palo Alto. As we have more security threats, we need more granular control, but these features are not available in Sophos XG.

I would rate Sophos XG a five out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
LauriLaanenurm - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer at Datafox OÜ
Real User
Simple implementation, useful synchronized security, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability of Sophos XG is very good. However, there have been some issues with other weaker models because they are limited in hardware in resources."
  • "Sophos XG could improve the connectivity with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory(AD). It doesn't work directly as other solutions do, such as Fortinet FortiGate. The client needs a separate AD server which is a problem."

What is our primary use case?

Sophos XG can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud.

We use Sophos XG as a network firewall for many use cases, such as offices, residential, and data centers. 

What needs improvement?

Sophos XG could improve the connectivity with Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory(AD). It doesn't work directly as other solutions do, such as Fortinet FortiGate. The client needs a separate AD server which is a problem.

There is no endpoint software for Linux systems, only the server version runs on Linux.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for approximately fours years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Sophos XG is very good. However, there have been some issues with other weaker models because they are limited in hardware in resources.

How are customer service and support?

We had an issue, but after speaking to the technical support, I understood it was a problem with Sophos, not a firewall problem, but with the endpoint that was related to the encryption of the disc. The problem is if you have a computer controlled by Azure at the same time as Sophos, then there may be some incompatibility problem between them because both of them are trying to control the computer and the encryption of the hard drive.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used other firewall solutions, such as Fortinet Foregate and Check Point.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Sophos XG is simple, but Cisco Meraki is easier. 

Since I have used Sophos XG long time it is easier than Fortinet FortiGate or Check Point.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sophos XG is not an expensive solution. If you are willing to pay more, then there is the Check Point firewall which is the best out of all the vendors.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise other Sophos XG is a great solution because it is synchronized security between the endpoint and firewall which is unique. I'm not sure if Fortinet FortiGate has this technology, but it is a good technology in Sophos XG. Sophos was perhaps the first to use this kind of technology. What it does is if your computer gets infected, then the endpoint tells the firewall that, it is infected and the firewall doesn't allow the use of the network at all. It'll lock it down on this computer.

I rate Sophos XG a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos XG
March 2024
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Infrastructure Administrator at CFA-INSTA
Real User
Top 20
Fully integrated, easy to use, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the solution easy to use and fully integrated."
  • "The solution could improve by having better security."

What is most valuable?

I have found the solution easy to use and fully integrated.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by having better security.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In my experience, I have found it to be scalable.

How was the initial setup?

The installation took approximately one day to complete.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution and we used a team of two.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Sophos XG a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Senior Executive IT at Mattsen Kumar LLC
Real User
After four years, we've never had a complaint from a customer
Pros and Cons
  • "We created and configured a VPN for connecting our remote sites and also to make it more secure and reliable. We also like its two-factor authentication features."
  • "The support service level agreement in regard to the amount of time needed to upgrade things is too low. It should be higher."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use this solution for team meetings. We also implemented the LAN control for Sophos XG.

How has it helped my organization?

We have been dealing with this solution for the past four years and we haven't had any challenges or complaints from any of our clients.

What is most valuable?

We created and configured a VPN for connecting our remote sites to make them more secure and reliable. We also like its two-factor authentication features.

What needs improvement?

The support service level agreement in regard to the amount of time needed to upgrade things is too low. It should be higher.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XG for roughly four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is both stable and secure.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good enough. 

What other advice do I have?

I would absolutely recommend this solution to others. It's far better than other solutions available on the market right now. This solution could benefit any organization. 

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Technical Consultant at Hash 1 IP services llp
Consultant
Good content filtering and intrusion prevention, but needs better quality checks for firmware upgrades and better support
Pros and Cons
  • "Content filtering and intrusion prevention are most valuable. Our customers are fully satisfied with the performance of Sophos. It has all the features that they require in a firewall."
  • "They need to do more quality checks before they release firmware upgrades. Currently, a few Cyberoam firewall customers are facing some issues while upgrading the Cyberoam firmware to Sophos. After the new firmware is installed, they are seeing some performance issues, which require some bug fixes. The performance is fine after getting the required support. Customers who are already using Sophos hardware are quite satisfied with this solution. Their support should also be improved. We are facing difficulties getting support on time through email or phone."

What is our primary use case?

I'm providing services to my customers. They are using Sophos firewalls, and a few of them are also using antivirus.

What is most valuable?

Content filtering and intrusion prevention are most valuable. Our customers are fully satisfied with the performance of Sophos. It has all the features that they require in a firewall. 

What needs improvement?

They need to do more quality checks before they release firmware upgrades. Currently, a few Cyberoam firewall customers are facing some issues while upgrading the Cyberoam firmware to Sophos. After the new firmware is installed, they are seeing some performance issues, which require some bug fixes. The performance is fine after getting the required support. Customers who are already using Sophos hardware are quite satisfied with this solution. 

Their support should also be improved. We are facing difficulties getting support on time through email or phone.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three to four years.

How are customer service and technical support?

I regularly contact them. Connecting Sophos support is quite a difficult task during the pandemic. We are facing difficulties getting support on time through email or phone. Sometimes when a problem comes, it has to be sorted for the customer quickly, but it is taking time. One of the customers has just upgraded a firewall from Cyberoam firmware to Sophos, and it took them around ten days to get that firewall upgraded from Sophos.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Most of the customers compare Sophos with Fortinet. In comparison to Fortinet, people are more satisfied with Sophos. Sophos has a big customer base in India. Therefore, they are good in terms of performance and customer satisfaction.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Sophos XG a seven out of ten. We are satisfied with its performance.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Head of Network Department at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A stable firewall solution, but the GUI and support could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Sophos is a stable solution, and we haven't had any bugs or limitations."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

We use the SRX from Juniper as the second firewall, and Sophos is useful as a first firewall facing the internet edge. We also use it as an SD-WAN, and we're going to use it as a load balancer instead of a BIG F5 load balancer. All of the things like web filtering and internal email filtering will be inside Sophos XG.

What is most valuable?

Sophos is a stable solution, and we haven't had any bugs or limitations.

What needs improvement?

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.

The interfaces and the GUI design are not easy, and when you do something, unrelated things are in the same configuration site. There are different sites to visit to configure Sophos. This is even more than other products. Many features can be improved, especially the VPN and web filtering features.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Sophos XG for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XG is stable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support could be better. I already opened a ticket three days ago, but they are not interested or have not cooperated with the end customer. But Juniper and Cisco are fast to respond compared to Sophos. Sophos is really complicated, and it's not fair to buy the annual support when they don't provide any support quickly when you request it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is fair.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise potential users not to use Sophos if they are not buying the appliance. They should use another product like FortiGate, Check Point, or Palo Alto.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos XG a six.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Alex Clerici - PeerSpot reviewer
System Integrator IT Manager at Tecnimex S.r.l.
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Very good at web and application filtering with a great GUI
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability has been excellent."
  • "Technical support could be improved. They aren't as responsive as they could be."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution as a comprehensive security device.

What is most valuable?

The VPN capabilities are quite good.

The solution is very good at web and application filtering.

It's quite a comprehensive security solution.

The performance the solution offers is excellent. Compared to the older solution, and especially on the cloud, it can reach very good performance. It depends on the licenses, of course. 

The graphical user interface is excellent. 

The intrusion protection module is very useful.

You can easily connect the solution to cloud management.

The stability has been excellent.

What needs improvement?

Technical support could be improved. They aren't as responsive as they could be.

It would be ideal if we could have a more populated and detailed knowledge base. Generally, the new features must be tested before applying them to the production side. I would like to see more case studies, more application notes, and so on.

We would like to see an improvement in mail management. When passing from FG Series to XG Series, some mail features have been lost. We would like to regain them.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for many years - before it was even Sophos. Sophos, some years ago, was Astaro AG. Sophos acquired Astaro AG. We have at least ten years of experience with the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've found the stability to be very good. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no glitches. The performance and reliability are excellent. 

Occasionally, we do have to do a debug, however, that's typical of all firewall solutions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is very good overall. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.

We have about 200 people using the solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The reaction times of technical support are slow. They should be more responsive. We're not completely satisfied with the way they handle it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In the past, I've had some experience with SonicWall, Fortinet, and with a Linux solution. However, compared to other solutions, we prefer Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

It's better to be certified to install in a good manner. You need to understand what you are doing. Sophos offers the chance to certify at different levels. There are commercial levels and technical levels.

The time it takes to deploy depends on the complexity of the setup and environment. It can take a few hours or a few days. It can even take a week if the architecture is very advanced.

Generally, you need to be an engineer to handle maintenance. We have three people at our office that can handle implementation and setup as well as maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You need a license to use the solution. We offer the license as a box license, or we can offer a license like an MSP, as a service provider. We often acquire the licenses and we give them to our customers as an MSP.

What other advice do I have?

We are an authorized partner for Sophos.

We're using the latest version of the solution.

I'd recommend the solution, especially over, for example, Cisco. 

I'd rate the solution ten out often. It's really worked well for us.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
CIO LATAM at i-Track Systems Development, S.A. de C.V.
Reseller
Great cost benefits, reliable, easy to set up, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is that the license offers everything."
  • "It is complicated to get the reports if you are not experienced with Sophos."

What is our primary use case?

We implement different security solutions. We also integrate the different environments and secure them, based on the customer's needs.

Our customers are from banking or financial institutions, insurance institutions, telecommunication companies, advocacy companies, construction companies, and retail companies.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is that the license offers everything. You don't have to purchase a license for the VPN, or the mobile VPN, or for any other features that the firewall works with. That is the best thing about Sophos. 

They include everything on the firewall as a base and if you want other exclusive services or to add more security to your service, you would have to purchase the full license.

To me, the cost benefits are the best.

What needs improvement?

They can improve all indicators, all KPIs, all the scores, the consoles, and the monitors. These are all areas that need improvement.

These areas need to be more clear for the customers. You have to have good experience working with Sophos to know how to get to the forums and to get to the information that you want from the beginning.

It is complicated to get the reports if you are not experienced with Sophos. For example, if you want to get a report on what the firewall is doing, you have to be a very experienced engineer.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Sophos XG for three years.

The version we use is up to the customer and their environment's needs. For example, if the customer has a small infrastructure, we implement a small firewall, which could be an XG 115 or an XG 125.

For larger companies, we implement an XG 450 or XG 500.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. Stability is the main reason we use Sophos.

We have no complaints about the reliability, performance, or stability. It's a very strong product.

We are currently building the security architecture and we are trying to build according to the customer's requirements. The plan is for 35% growth in the next three years.

Our clients are usually medium to large-sized businesses. 

We currently have 23 engineers to maintain this solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Depending on the firewall that you are using, or that you purchase with the biggest supply end, you can add other cards that can grow with some other services.

How are customer service and technical support?

We provide technical support to the customers. We provide our own SOC to support the security solution and we complement the Sophos support plan.

Their technical support is fair, as well as the forums. Today there are only webinars, but we are trying to keep up with the latest technologies and trends.

We are also trying to keep up on how the hackers work because we are working with different associations of security worldwide that way we know the best way to protect our customers and what we need to sell to our customers.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We work with several brands. Sophos is in the top sales.

Previous to Sophos XG, we were working with Sophos and Cyberoam.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It's easy, using the wizard.

If you go outside the wizard and you are not an experienced engineer, it could get a little tricky.

Our implementation strategy is to have clear communication with the customer. Implementation is based on 99% of the information that the customer is providing to your other anything else.

It can take five days to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license includes most of the features that are necessary, but the basis of the firewall does not include everything, which helps us to continue to sell.

When comparing with Palo Alto and Cisco, Sophos is cheaper.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The top three solutions that we sell and that the customers consider are Sophos, Palo Alto, and Cisco.

The main difference is the pricing.

What other advice do I have?

We try to sell some cloud services but in Mexico, customers are not familiar with the cloud services yet. We are starting to grow, but it is very common that customers prefer services on-premises.

We do not only plan for the sales, but we also plan with the customers and their growth, and how we are going to increase their services. We also consider what will be selling to the customers in the next three years. We plan with the customer, as well.

When we sell a firewall, it is not for sale for right now, it's for sale for long-term use. We build long-term relationships with our clients.

My suggestion to others who are interested in using this solution is to try it. The only way to know how well it works is to try it.

Sophos XG is an excellent solution and I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Updated: March 2024
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