We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and SonicWall NSv 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."This solution made it very easy to manage our bandwidth."
"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."
"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."
"The main benefit is the grouping of our security monitoring."
"The technical support in our region is excellent."
"We are a visual effects company, and there have been a number of high profile security issues in our industry. This has brought us to a higher standard of security, which our clients are very keen on these days."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The concurrent users are perfect for us."
"The main features of this solution are customization and ease to use."
"Its reliability and cost-effectiveness stand out."
"It is a stable solution. It is also easy to install and can be deployed and maintained by one team member."
"This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution."
"At our peak time, we have reached more than 5,000 concurrent connections."
"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."
"The product helps improve our security."
"The solution has no additional charges and no restrictions on the number of users."
"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."
"The customization of firewall rules provides great value to our customers as it allows them to lock things up in the way that they desire. When it is used for internal access, with a VPN in place for remote workers, the firewalling services provided by Azure, such as the default services that can be turned on, are applied. However, the use of a software-based virtual firewall gives us greater flexibility in introducing security controls for customers who are publishing applications that are publicly accessible from the public cloud. This virtual firewall provides an additional layer of security and more extensive security control options to ensure the protection of our customers' valuable information and assets."
"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."
"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."
"The solution could be more evenly structured."
"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."
"The UI could be improved."
"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."
"The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."
"FortiOS is not simple."
"I don't really have anything negative to say as far as Fortinet firewalls are concerned. If anything, they can support a user a little bit better. They can stop being so time-sensitive about how much time the support call has taken, and they can help you do it yourself."
"The renewal price and the availability could be improved."
"This product needs improvements with respect to reporting and auditing."
"The solution requires a lot of administration."
"There is more demand for UTMs than a simple firewall. pfSense should support real-time features for handling the latest viruses and threats. It should support real-time checks and real-time status of threats. Some other vendors, such as Fortinet, already offer this type of capability. Such capability will be good for bringing pfSense at the same level as other solutions."
"It needs better parsing of logs. At the moment, you have to use an external server for this if you want a deeper analysis."
"There could be a way to remote to it through a mobile app. You can always browse through your browser on your mobile phone or tablet, but it would be good to have a dedicated app. I understand that iOS and Android developers are expensive, but there should be a mobile app."
"The GUI could use more “bells and whistles”. It's got plenty of info for a Sysadmin but some people like shiny things."
"The integration should be improved."
"They can improve the dynamic of the input of IPs from outside."
"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."
"I would like to see the reporting opened up and have several more opportunities for automatic reports."
"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."
"It has been brought to our attention by a few customers that they are dissatisfied with the fact that our virtualized service is only offered as a subscription option on the cloud. However, it is worth noting that many other similar services are also offered through a subscription model on the cloud and not through perpetual licensing. It is unclear why these customers would have an issue with this subscription service when so many others are utilizing similar methods."
"There are limitations to bandwidth management."
"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."
"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while SonicWall NSv is ranked 35th in Firewalls with 7 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while SonicWall NSv is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSv writes "Easy to use, stable, and the security features work well". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas SonicWall NSv is most compared with Azure Firewall, SonicWall NSa, SonicWall TZ and Fortinet FortiGate-VM. See our Netgate pfSense vs. SonicWall NSv report.
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