Fortinet FortiGate vs. Sophos Firewall

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FortiGate
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
FortiNet FortiGate is a firewall option with high integrability. It offers a variety of deployment options and next-gen firewall capabilities, including integration with IaaS cloud platforms and public cloud environments.N/A
Sophos Firewall
Score 9.6 out of 10
N/A
Sophos XG Firewall provides comprehensive next-generation firewall protection powered by deep learning and Synchronized Security. Sophos Firewall supplies insights and exposes hidden user, application, and threat risks on the network, and say the product is differentiated by its ability to respond automatically to security incidents by isolating compromised systems, with Security Heartbeat™.N/A
Pricing
Fortinet FortiGateSophos Firewall
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FortiGateSophos Firewall
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFortiGate pricing starts at $250 for home office use, up to $300,000 for large enterprise appliances. Must contact sales team for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Fortinet FortiGateSophos Firewall
Features
Fortinet FortiGateSophos Firewall
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Fortinet FortiGate
8.9
Ratings
3% above category average
Sophos Firewall
9.4
Ratings
9% above category average
Identification Technologies8.60 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.50 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Content Inspection9.40 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Policy-based Controls9.10 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP9.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Firewall Management Console8.60 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.50 Ratings9.50 Ratings
VPN8.60 Ratings9.70 Ratings
High Availability9.50 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Stateful Inspection9.50 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Proxy Server10.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
User Ratings
Fortinet FortiGateSophos Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Fortinet FortiGateSophos Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
We reviewed many different vendors product offerings, we found the Fortinet FortiGate to best fit our needs. We upgraded from a previous firewall, the migration was a fairly easy process. We were also able to consolidate multiple firewalls into one unit using vdoms. It's been helpful to have one pain of glass, one support contract and easy to work with support. These firewalls are feature rich which is great, but the support contracts are expensive.
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It is well-suited for small, medium, and large organizations looking for comprehensive cybersecurity protection. It will not only safeguard their network from cyberattacks but also provide them with many advanced features like deep packet inspection, centralized management, web filtering, application control, etc. in one place. It will help them optimize bandwidth and ensure continued connectivity.
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Pros
  • It is the most reliable NGFW that we have ever been touch with it.
  • You can easily upgrade the firewall cluster firmware without user attention!!!
  • User IDentity based feature is fantastic and intrusion prevention just works with least false-positive possible.
  • Very reachfull and intuitive GUI, just love it
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  • Web filtering. This allows us to monitor web usage and block certain categories from being access at the perimeter.
  • Application Control. With application control we can block certain applications that get categorized from working accessing the Internet.
  • Synchronized Security. When utilizing the Sophos Endpoint product you can use Synchronized Security to minimize Lateral Movement in a network. If a machine is shows a Red status you can auto-isolate it and it is unable to communicate with anything else on the network.
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Cons
  • When we switched to Fortinet Fortigate, it took some time getting used to and become familiar with the new interface. Being used to strictly command-line interfaces, a full GUI-based firewall was something brand new. Careful planning had to be done when creating rules to ensure we didn't miss anything. However, once we got used to the new GUI interface, going from one Fortinet product to another was simple, as Fortinet used the same interface for all of its devices.
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  • If using Endpoint security and the Firewall it would be nice to have an easier back and forth between the portals rather than have two separate tabs open. Especially if using more than one in multiple locations.
  • If dealing with different revisions options are moved around and sometimes in places that doesn't normally seem like they should be there.
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Likelihood to Renew
Fortinet's products have kept improving with new software releases and they continue to deliver great value. Their support is also very good. I believe that as a small enterprise, their products have given us competitive advantage delivering features and functionality that enable us to innovate and do things better. They also continue to be a leader in the markets they serve.
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Usability
The user interface shared among many simultaneous users is very easy to get around. With shared favorites among users, most tasks are easily bookmarked and can quickly be found and edited. Their strategy for web filter integration is easy to understand and manage as well. With some general direction, setup and maintenance were easy to do and easy to teach others in the organization to do as well.
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Because this is a user-friendly interface, and anyone can use it there are multiple articles and guidelines available, it has advanced-level security features. they provide VPN solutions all the features are very practical, SSID MAC-based authentications web control, Firewall rules segregation of the rules and policies, On-premises Active directory single sign-on feature is also available.
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Reliability and Availability
We had didn't any hardware failures at our two main office locations and upgraded our units last year after using them for about 5-6 years
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Good performance and really good integration. We have integration with Microsoft AD.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
We live in Turkey. Fortinet's Turkey office [dealt] constantly with us in our every problem or our experience. In addition, global support teams also supported every ticket we opened in every problem we encountered. They support innovative approaches and evaluate and offer solutions. In this context, they were very supportive of the problems we encountered in previous versions.
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As we are all addicted to graphics-oriented interfaces for all our life products. Easy to manage and access as a good way of using anything
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In-Person Training
I received it a couple years afters use it and it was just to confirm my knowledge about the tool.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Make sure that you have the most current version of FortiOS. Make sure all Fortigates are on the same version
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
One of the biggest advantages over competitors that Fortinet FortiGate leverages well is its remote virtual private networks options. Licensing is included with Fortinet FortiGate units at no extra cost. We find that the telemetry is easier to compile and most importantly communicate with non technical members of staff. The Fortinet FortiGate unit is also extremely stable for long periods of time without showing signs of needing a reboot.
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I was a big fan of Cisco ASA products, but when I saw all of the security feature differences between both firewalls, I moved to Sophos devices. Its sandbox, IPS, and many more features are really advanced. Cisco does not provide features like this.
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Scalability
My environments are pretty small (less than 100 users per location) so no issues here.
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Return on Investment
  • SD-WAN : Can't stress it further that we are very happy with this functionality and outcomes in the org. We have multiple WAN and MPLS links and traffic switching becomes an important in order to utilize the best performing line.
  • QoS : We use QoS for almost all internet traffic, be it Web browsing by users, IOT segment, Application based traffic policy and VIP and normal user based bandwidth allocation.
  • SSL and IPSec VPN, both features are fully used to it absolute capacity. IPSec tunnels with multiple sister companies across globe.
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  • True UTM device.
  • Very Active customer help for any help.
  • Easy license and cost effective.
  • Should [do] more work on logging and reporting.
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ScreenShots

Sophos Firewall Screenshots

Screenshot of Sophos Firewall v17.5 Control Center