Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] vs Sophos UTM comparison

Check Point Software Technologies and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 84% of Check Point Software Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] and Sophos UTM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls.

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April 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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William Cambronero

Consultant at ITQS

Great firewalls, VPN, and Intrusion prevention capabilities

Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management. Another point is to improve the technical support provided by Check Point UTM-1. Although the company offers different standards, including basic and premium, by mail and by telephone, they present a very large deficiency in the time it takes to comply with the provisions of the SLA. Coordinating a meeting is complicated by the schedules. The documentation should also be improved by having it unified.

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Bashir Bashir

IT Manager at Vegol

Firewall management has become simpler and now provides real-time visibility and bandwidth control

The features I have found most valuable in Sophos UTM are that it is much easier to configure, I appreciate the reporting side of it, and the rules are very straightforward to work with. Sophos UTM's real-time insights into network health help my organization because I get real-time reports on what is happening on my network, what is trying to access me, the destination, and all that. I can then be reactive or proactive, and for zero-day, I think it is beneficial because it can learn what my network does. If anything goes outside what it expects, it sends a report on Sophos Central, so I find zero-day makes my work a bit easier. The use of Sophos UTM's intuitive management console has impacted my security policy enforcement in that it is much easier to configure; I configure with information rather than with presumptions.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The signature database and zero-day detection are Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features."

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

"The payment function for applications is good."

"We went from being terrified about our firewalls screwing up to completely forgetting we had firewalls."

"The solution is extremely reliable."

"The most valuable feature is the VDOM, which allows the customer to have multiple firewalls in a single campus."

"The product is easy to configure."

"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The filtering was very good."

"This is my favorite product that I use, and I think it's one of the best in the world."

"It safeguards against cyber attacks."

"Check Point has been in the security industry for so long that it has evolved different solutions and technologies."

"The UTM platform has been the most valuable."

"The solution is very robust."

"Since I have installed the solution everything is working very great."

"Browsing speed has picked up considerably as users now have to do their official work and cannot browse social sites instead."

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] pros

"Sophos UTM is a good product for security purposes and maybe if Sophos provided another company option to implement their products then I would say that Sophos UTM is great."

"What I like about the solution is the ease of use."

"The solution can scale."

"We use Sophos UTM for multi-site VPN, quarantine, sandboxing, and IPF, and it blocks malware and other unauthorized apps."

"Beyond the initial cost, licenses are charged for annually, but they are good value for the service we receive."

"The most valuable feature is the IPS, and it also protects us from malware."

"The packet filtering's great. You get out what you put into it. It works great as long as you know your security and configure everything adequately. If you just pop one in and it's not configured, then it's basically wide open. It kind of depends on the admin skill, but it's an excellent product."

"The pricing and licensing are both good and better than Sophos's competitors, which is why we went with the product."

More Sophos UTM pros

Cons

"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."

"Fortinet should improve its software, as we are seeing lots of firmware versions generated for each vulnerability issue. It becomes difficult for us to keep updating the firmware frequently due to bugs."

"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."

"In the balance between links feature normally you can just choose one option to balance. It would be better for the solution to have more than one option, preferably three."

"The support team for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be more customer friendly."

"The reporting needs to be improved."

"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the configuration. In some use cases, there can be some configuration conflicts."

"There is a need for enhancement with the signature management, improving the datasheet numbers, and scalability issues."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution could be improved if there was a better way to report. The reporting functionality is not really good. Even though it's not the major function. Maybe adding a way to make a custom report."

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"I would like to see improvements in the report area. Some features should be integrated and not licensed separately."

"The interface needs improvement."

"As we don't have a representative of Check Point supplier in our country, this makes it very difficult when we have some issues to resolve."

"The pricing is too high."

"Yes, about once a year we have a catastrophic failure. It's pretty random."

"Memory and processing power: These devices are strictly for small business applications."

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] cons

"Monitoring and reporting are areas that need improvement."

"The initial setup may be difficult for those not familiar with the product."

"There needs to be some improvement in the IPsec VPN. There is implementation only support. I have version one. I'd be most interested in having IP version two from the protocol."

"During initial configuration, I encountered a few issues."

"On the effectiveness of the NGFW, Sophos is mostly good but has a few issues blocking all pieces of an application."

"Occasionally, there are certain failures; however, it's mostly user-friendly and reliable, with no major challenges in configuration."

"They could use more SSL VPN support."

"It would be nice if it had basic features, such as DLP (Data Loss Prevention)."

More Sophos UTM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are more expensive than others."

"Its pricing is good. It's average or normal as compared to Palo Alto and Check Point firewalls."

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"Fortinet is competitive price-wise."

"We pay $500 per year for the license."

"It is somewhat expensive compared to other solutions such as Sophos."

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"This cost is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per year, so some other solutions are cheaper and the pricing should be improved."

"The pricing is too high."

"I think the pricing of Sophos is very fair."

"Unless you are in the United States, or you have to use Sophos, you can't contact Sophos directly. You have to use a third-party company, and they all have different ways of how they explain their licensing."

"It's reasonably priced."

"Go to a vendor and let them assess your needs so you can get a right-sized device."

"I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands."

"Our licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."

"The product pricing and licensing are higher, but they offer good value for the features and stability provided."

"The prices can be better, they could make it a lot cheaper."

More Sophos UTM pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Comms Service Provider

11%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	75
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?

The pricing for Sophos UTM is reasonable; I do not have an issue with it, though I was considering RED because I have...

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What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?

I would like to improve Sophos UTM in that there is software I use that goes deeper in the reporting on usage. There ...

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What is your primary use case for Sophos UTM?

Sophos UTM is the primary product I work with, specifically the firewalls. I mainly use the application control featu...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 31% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 15% of the time

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] Competitors

OPNsense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 10% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 5% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Sophos UTM

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 5% of the time

More Sophos UTM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

May 2026

Download Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos UTM

April 2026

Download Sophos UTM product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Astaro

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Check Point UTM-1 delivers proven, best-in-class security ideal for use in industrial Ethernet and SCADA environments. Robust performance and central management provide unmatched value in a simple, all-in-one solution.

Check Point Software Technologies

Sophos UTM delivers comprehensive network security with features like firewall, intrusion prevention, and endpoint protection. Its user-friendly interface and scalable options make it ideal for businesses of varying sizes, ensuring seamless integration with AWS, cloud services, and other Sophos offerings.

With robust Advanced Threat Protection, Sophos UTM offers a holistic approach to security through its intuitive platform. It includes a centralized console for enhanced threat visibility, integrated web application firewall, and secure remote access via SSL VPN and RED device. Critiques focus on limited reporting capabilities, complex licensing, and requiring improvements in VPN and email protection, centralized management, and application control.

What are the key features of Sophos UTM?

Advanced Threat Protection: Protects against sophisticated attacks by integrating multiple security technologies.
Firewall and Web Protection: Provides core security measures with intrusion prevention and application control.
Integrated WAF: Shields applications from vulnerabilities, ensuring secure user interactions.
Scalable Deployment: Supports diverse setups from small businesses to large enterprises, including cloud integrations.

What benefits should users expect from Sophos UTM?

Unified Management: Simplifies security operations through a single management console for cohesive control.
Secure Remote Access: Extends network security to remote users without compromising protection quality.
Cost Efficiency: Offers scalable, cost-effective security solutions to adapt to growing business needs.

Sophos UTM sees implementations in industries needing strong perimeter protection and secure remote access, such as finance, healthcare, and education. It supports seamless network integration, ensuring businesses maintain compliance and safeguard their digital environments effectively.

Sophos

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

AccessIT Group Inc., Accuvant, Cadre Computer Resources Inc., Compuquip Technologies Inc, Dimension Data North America Inc., Forsythe Solutions Group, Gotham Technology Group LLC, GuidePoint Security LLC, Iovations, IPS

One Housing Group

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