Sophos UTM vs. UniFi WiFi Access Points

Sophos is a very powerful anti-virus program that can be used in small and big businesses. Sophos has multiple features that can be customized to fit IT and business needs. Sophos would be less appropriate for IT personnel that do not have the time or knowledge of implementing the problem. The setup of its policies can be very complex.

Incentivized

Ubiquiti is well suited to not just indoor WLAN access, but also outdoors. In fact, the range of the outdoor applications, while maintaining throughput is astonishing. I would say this is not a solution for a 1-5 person small office, due to the costs.

Incentivized

• Firewall Protection. The protection is unmatched, setup it a little daunting, but once set up it pretty much runs itself.
• Site-to-site VPN. Super easy to deploy so we are able to network all our sites together.
• The DHCP server function is actually really nice, I prefer using it over the traditional way of using a DC for DHCP.

Incentivized

• AP's are very affordable.
• Most of the AP's are highly reliable and can be used indoors or in covered outdoor spaces.
• Outdoor Mesh AP's with an external directional antenna can effectively cover outdoor spaces with dual band wifi better than much more expensive APs.
• Unifi Protect via the Cloud Key Gen2+ is probably the slickest, most affordable IP camera system on the market right now.
• Unifi controller is powerful yet simple to administrate.
• Remote management of entire networks through a single pane of glass is easy to accomplish with the Unifi controller.
• Cloud Key Gen2 solves problems with the first Cloud Key wiht a built-in battery backup.
• When you are "full stack" Unifi with wifi, network switches and gateways, the control you can wield over a network in just a few clicks and the amount of data you can glean from a quick glance in the controller is incredibly impressive. It makes an IT guy wish every product/service could be so tightly and well-integrated.
• Community support is excellent, Unifi staff monitors their official forums and responds to almost every thread.

Incentivized

• Better standard support, it used to be great, now, not so much (for paying customers, that only aquired the Hardware)
• Better wireless solution, there is always room for that, now that everybody needs robust wifi, even at home!
• Faster and more robust wireless Access Points, or different vendor-like compatibility.

Incentivized

• VLANs: They can make these work more smoothly. Setup can be more intuitive.
• Cloud Key: These need to be stabilized; they lose their programming a little too easily.
• Stop selling the Gen-1 cloud key: No battery means you need an external power source or you must be onsite to power it off before updating.
• Portal can be modernized.

Incentivized

The interface is no non-sense and easy to understand. No need for any consultants to help implement this solution. The performance is consistent and solid. Paired with a good amount of firmware and definitions, it's hard to find any fault in this product. It's interoperability with other Sophos products make a compelling argument to invest in more Sophos products.

Incentivized

Ubiquiti makes great Access points at various tiers provided far better coverage and throughput than consumer-grade wireless repeaters and routers. We have not had any performance complaints from guests or from the administration who use the wifi on a daily basis.

Incentivized

I find the support fair. The wait can be frustrating when dealing with fire. The pandemic has not helped with this. Although the wait can be long, the support reps are knowledgeable and was able to resolve the issues I was facing.

Incentivized

Ubiquiti support is minimal, which is said to help decrease the cost of the equipment. However, with many reports of emails going directly to the Ubiquiti support line taking days to hear a response, you're better off either engaging with the community forums for help from fellow UniFi users or reaching out to a reseller that has training on the equipment that can assist.

Incentivized

The Linksys was a router, so the comparison isn't quite the same, but I previously worked on a SonicWall firewall. The setup is by far easier on the Sophos UTM device. That alone makes it enticing, but thrown multiple services options such as email and web filtering, endpoint support, seamless WAP and RED device integration and it wasn't a very hard decision to make.

Incentivized

I've used Meraki AP and switches in a large-scale organization and Ubiquiti on a smaller scale. There is a big cost difference, and due to the different sizes and scope of the projects, it's difficult to compare or contrast. Both have worked great for each organization.

Incentivized

• Sophos has provided a secure Firewall for us.
• Integration with Sophos Central makes it easier to manage both.
• Site to site VPN Failover groups has caused more trouble than it's worth.
• High availability doesn't recognize when you are restarting for an update.

Incentivized

• The solid reliability means we hardly ever have to solve 'Wi-Fi issues'. It's now just one of those things we used to have to do, and now have more time to devote to other tasks.
• The relatively long life support for Ubiquiti products, in terms of firmware updates, etc, has resulted in us not having to replace access points half as often as we used to. The Ubiquiti gear in our offices is approximately three years old now and the APs and the Controller keep getting regular updates with useful new features and bug fixes.
• Great overall coverage and seamless handover between APs keeps productivity high and allows people to stay connected no matter where they are in the building.

Incentivized