Comparing Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos XG based on user reviews reveals distinct contrasts in user satisfaction levels, setup complexities, and interface experiences. FortiGate's customer service varies significantly, with some users satisfied and others seeking improvement, while Sophos XG also sees mixed support reviews but with emphasis on the need for more tutorials and documentation. Deployment times for FortiGate can extend significantly depending on the project, contrasting with Sophos XG's faster, albeit sometimes technical setup. FortiGate's interface and performance have been criticized for complexity and sluggishness, against Sophos XG's calls for a more intuitive interface and streamlined reporting. Licensing and costs are mixed for FortiGate, with some preferences over competing brands, whereas Sophos XG is noted for its reasonable, albeit varied, subscription pricing. Valuable features for each highlight FortiGate's robust security and customization, versus Sophos XG's emphasis on infiltration prevention, user-friendly monitoring, and comprehensive security solutions, displaying their individual strengths tailored to different user priorities.
The summary above is based on 426 interviews we conducted recently with Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos XG users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"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."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."
"Sophos Control Center is a good feature. We can monitor everything from the control panel."
"It has a very friendly interface like the Cyberoam iNG units, it has customizable policies, it has proper templates that you can even modify, and you can customize the rules, down to each single user."
"Most of the features Sophos XG has are valuable. However, if I have two different ISP, I'm able to create an automatic switch between the two ISPs. I can do the same thing for the cloud as well. If I have two subnets coming from the cloud, I'm able to create a type of switch between both of them where if there is traffic on one and has the traffic drop, I'm able to switch to the other ISP without any problems. It's a normal feature and I get to enjoy the ability to switch between services with no issues."
"Orchestration of the firewall is the most valuable feature. It is a fast and agile solution. It is good with protection. It is also very easy to deploy and manage, and its user interface is easy to use."
"The cloud-based interface makes it easy to manage."
"The solution is easy to set up and configure."
"Sophos XG has cybersecurity. It integrates with the antivirus software."
"The two most valuable feature of Sophos XG is, one the option to filter according to different applications and two, the integration with the Active Directory."
"One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."
"I feel that the reporting needs to be improved."
"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
"The UI could be improved."
"For the moment, managing the Sophos interface is a little bit challenging."
"LAN inbound and outbound traffic requires more control."
"The price should be cheaper."
"The time taken by Sophos XG's support team to respond to and resolve an issue is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"I think that the main area for improvement is the quality assurance of the updates."
"They should include fiber ports on smaller product models and the tools should be improved for scalability."
"The reports could improve, they do not seem complete and more information could be added."
"The initial setup is not straightforward."
Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, WatchGuard Firebox and Check Point NGFW, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX. See our Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sophos XG report.
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Go with Sophos XG or if you have tight budget and technical expertise then can move with pFsense.
Dear Sharif.
For 150 users any firewall will work perfectly. You can choose as per your convenience, availability, price, and better implementation partner in your region. Keep a bigger box at the central location and configure SD-WAN. SOPHOS has by default SD WAN. Make sure you have secure access to the cloud and all endpoints should have endpoint protection else only firewall will not help.
Most of the cloud service providers work on any-any rule because their responsibility is network uptime and availability. Security of your setup is your responsibility.
Manageability is better in Fortinet however features are better in SOPHOS. License bundle & ATP functions are are good in SOPHOS. Support response is good in SOPHOS but you will find less tickets in FORTINET once it is implemented as per your setup.
Overall both are good for your setup. You can choose as per convenience.
Hope this will help.. Greetings .. Ravi
In my opinion, the first point of strength is the support, and FortiGate is doing a great job in terms of support. It has numerous reference guides for configuration. The other advantage is ease of management in both the UI and CLI levels. You can use FortiGate modules to protect against web and virus attacks.
Hello Sharif,
I prefer FortiGate SDWAN Devices (FortiGate) even though we also deliver Sophos to our clients.
The decentralized FortiGate devices work as firewalls with an excellent security ecosystem. FortiGate and most other items work as Hardware units or on virtual machines.
As a Telco company we have a lot of companies working in different industries with various requirements. We can support them all with FortiGate.
Our customers prefer the security features, the stable ecosystem for life cycle management, for device/user/policy management, thread detection & prevention, intrusion prevention, sandboxing, ... the low operation effort to build a stable company network that supports the need of any customer size.
In our business, we also like that the architecture of a company network can be easily changed if the customer requirements change. From single-line sites to Data Centers with high availability and Cloud integration FortiGate can be used in any design.
The different security features that can be added by the license are powerful and integrated into the management dashboard. Updates of protection mechanisms against new threads happen automatically as soon as a new protection mechanism is available when new threads occur. The security team at Fortinet is excellent.
Greetings
Andre
Hi, XG is EOL the new series is XGS, both are excellent equipment but I prefer Fortigate, why ??? DHCP slection, leader SD-WAN, many IPSEC dynamics is possible on SOPHOS but is limit the are conflicts with many IP's dynamics you need to use DDNS, SSL tunnel for remote clients, VRF, advanced routing with OSPF and BGP ("as path"). Greetings