Citrix Gateway vs SonicWall SMA comparison

Citrix and SonicWall are both solutions in the Universal Access Gateways category. Citrix is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1, while SonicWall is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.5. Citrix holds a 47.7% mindshare in UAG, compared to SonicWall’s 47.7% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Citrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Citrix Gateway

Read 38 Citrix Gateway reviews

1,907 Views
57 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SonicWall SMA

Read 15 SonicWall SMA reviews

988 Views
69 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Citrix Gateway

SonicWall SMA

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

SonicWall SMA and Citrix Gateway are secure remote access solutions. Citrix Gateway appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive features and application compatibility.

Features: SonicWall SMA is known for its robust threat detection, easy configuration, and comprehensive security technologies. Citrix Gateway offers extensive application integration capabilities, streamlined user experience, and high performance even under large user loads.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall SMA could enhance integration with additional platforms, improve scalability, and refine its user interface. Citrix Gateway may benefit from simplifying its deployment process, reducing its complexity, and potentially lowering its initial costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SonicWall SMA is simple to deploy and supported by responsive customer service, making it user-friendly. Citrix Gateway, while more complex to deploy, offers reliable support that helps navigate its detailed setup process, balancing complexity with effective assistance.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall SMA provides competitive pricing with a good return on investment, particularly attractive for small to medium-sized enterprises. Citrix Gateway has higher initial costs but promises greater ROI through its comprehensive feature set and scalability, appealing more to organizations seeking long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

September 2025

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Helped 868,787 peers since 2012

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

Citrix Gateway

Ranking in Universal Access Gateways

1st

Ranking in SSL VPN

2nd

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SonicWall SMA

Ranking in Universal Access Gateways

2nd

Ranking in SSL VPN

6th

Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Universal Access Gateways category, the mindshare of Citrix Gateway is 47.7%, up from 44.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 47.7%, up from 42.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Universal Access Gateways Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Citrix Gateway	47.7%
SonicWall SMA	47.7%
Other	4.599999999999994%

Universal Access Gateways

Featured Reviews

VivekKumar10

Co-Founder at Virajo

Enables secure remote access and load balancing with enhanced protection features

I find Citrix Gateway valuable for its capabilities as a reverse proxy, providing security to applications exposed to the Internet. Key features include load balancing, dual-factor authentication, clientless VPN, and Web Application Firewall (WAF). The product effectively helps me protect the organization's network from potential threats, thereby securing our environment from hackers and ransomware attacks.

Read full review

Mayur_Patel

Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care

Easy-to-manage product with efficient features for network security

SonicWall SMA facilitates and protects remote workforce access to corporate resources from any location Enhancing live tracking capabilities could improve the product, particularly in monitoring user activity and request statuses in real-time on the web interface. We have been using SonicWall…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The session monitoring capability is good."

"Citrix Gateway improved the security of the access of our applications outside the network."

"The solution is scalable and can go from a very small deployment to handling 10,000 transactions a second."

"These days, I find Citrix products to be very stable, and there is no need to struggle with them."

"The solution has very flexible configuration."

"Citrix primarily provides secure connectivity. If you need secure remote desktop functionality, it is a viable option."

"Its ease of use and how everybody can easily work through it are the most valuable features."

"If you need to share resources across a corporation, I would recommend this solution."

More Citrix Gateway pros

"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."

"I like the load balancing capability."

"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."

"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."

"SonicWall SMA allows us to provide CML-based access to any user."

"The performance is good."

"Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security."

"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."

More SonicWall SMA pros

Cons

"We are currently looking at automation. It would be good if there is some way to automate it in a fast way. It should be easy to automate. It also has some security issues."

"The major issue is price. I would also like them to make other aspects more accessible."

"Lacks access through a mobile device."

"I'd like to see support for reverse proxy and more security features."

"We have experienced issues relating to multi-factor authentication"

"The initial setup is very complex."

"The solution has unnecessary limitations."

"The solution can be a bit pricey."

More Citrix Gateway cons

"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."

"The timed synchronization between the network appliance needs improvement."

"User interface could be improved."

"The problem is that when combined with what the client already has, there are two different logins and two different management systems, and these should be consolidated into a single interface."

"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."

"SonicWall SMA is difficult to use and it does not provide easy access to different parts of the network."

"SonicWall's reporting isn't good. Reports should be part of a data plan. The login mechanism should be improved. It would be helpful if the client could use an agent to log in. An agent-server model would improve the performance of the RDB, which consumes a lot of bandwidth."

"The solution could integrate better with other platforms."

More SonicWall SMA cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are two or three different models, but you can actually have a CapEx where you purchase the unit outright and then there's a yearly maintenance cost on top for years two and three, and four, or you can actually do a subscription purchase through Citrix cloud and you pay on a monthly basis, or you can have a three-year subscription contract as well. I give the solution a six out of ten for its cost."

"The price could be lower."

"There is a license to use Citrix Gateway and it is less expensive to use when compared to other solutions."

"Pricing is very high if you do a comparison with what is available in the market."

"Usually with Citrix the issue is the pricing, especially for the African region. We believe it's really expensive."

"I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model."

"I believe the pricing is comparable to SaaS"

"It costs about 4,000 a year."

More Citrix Gateway pricing and cost advice

"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."

"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."

"All the costs are included in a bundled license."

"The platform has medium pricing."

"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."

"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Citrix Gateway?

We can maintain our systems using the solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix Gateway?

I consider Citrix Gateway to be an expensive solution, generally ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 yearly, depending on the model. It is seen as a premium product compared to competitors like F5, and ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Citrix Gateway?

In the past, I submitted some support tickets, and while the support did resolve the problems, the time taken was sometimes long. They can perhaps improve the time for solutions in the support tick...

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall SMA?

Blocklisting and allowlisting are the most beneficial features for network security.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SMA?

The pricing for the solution could be a lot less.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?

I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Secure Client (including AnyConnect) vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway vs Citrix Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 15% of the time

Ivanti Connect Secure vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 12% of the time

OpenVPN Access Server vs SonicWall SMA

Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway

October 2025

Download Citrix Gateway product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall SMA

September 2025

Download SonicWall SMA product report

Also Known As

Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway

SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access

Overview

Citrix Gateway is a customer-managed solution that can be deployed on premises or on any public cloud, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Citrix Gateway provides users with secure access and single sign-on to all the virtual, SaaS and web applications they need to be productive.

Citrix

SonicWall SMA is a unified secure access gateway that enables organizations to provide anytime, anywhere and any device access to mission critical corporate resources. SMA's granular access control policy engine, context aware device authorization, application level VPN and advanced authentication with single sign-on empowers organizations to embrace BYOD and mobility in a hybrid IT environment.

SonicWall

Sample Customers

Aeronamic, Avianca, Bechtel Corporation, Betfair UK, Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven), Centene Corporation, Cerner, Charityshare, City of High Point, Clark Builders

UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort

Buyer's Guide

Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

September 2025

Free Report: Citrix Gateway vs. SonicWall SMA

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