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Hillstone CloudEdge vs Sophos Firewall comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 19, 2026

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
591
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Hillstone CloudEdge
Ranking in Firewalls
50th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
304
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.3%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Firewall is 7.5%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate16.0%
Sophos Firewall7.5%
Hillstone CloudEdge0.3%
Other76.2%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
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.
Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies
Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities
Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.
Ashutosh Jha - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Engineer at IT Solution
Robust protection has blocked external threats and provides clear visibility into user activity
Sophos Firewall offers multiple features, including IPS, IDS, ATP, NDR, XOps, web protection, application protection, web server protection, and many more. Out of all those features, I find web protection and application protection to be very helpful and valuable in my daily work. Sophos Firewall has positively impacted my organization by preventing outside threats, allowing me to easily monitor my users, and configuring any rule for any user regarding what they need to use and what I am restricting for the particular user. I can share that it has improved productivity because if anyone could ransom my network, they could demand money to decrypt the files, thus saving us money, time, and providing reliability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I found the upgrades valuable."
"Our clients definitely get a return on investment; it is a really good product, and the stability of the product is a very important factor for our clients."
"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is its efficiency."
"We are very happy with the security features afforded by this product."
"It is easy to set up."
"It is user friendly, and has all the features you need."
"The performance is very good and the solution is simple to manage."
"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."
"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."
"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."
"I like the dashboard, the interface, the management console, and the remote login."
"The initial setup and configuration was very easy for us, and I think it's easier than the other options in the marketplace."
"We only use Sophos because it can integrate with other product like FortiGate and we can easily connect the two programs."
"It is scalable."
"One of the main advantages of Sophos XGS is the processor. You don't have to wait a long time for when you are managing the firewall and the traffic is faster now."
"From an ROI standpoint, the product I had before, even though they were basically the same thing, I found I was spending a lot of man-hours with it and calling support a lot and actually having to pay for support on the previous model; with this firewall, I rarely have to call support and when I do, it's free of charge, so the ROI is 100% there."
"The solution is good for web filtering; it's also possible to use it as a load balancer and a destination firewall and site-to-site channeling, and remote users can gain access via Sophos, so it solves a variety of uses that the client needs."
"We use XGS as a firewall, for web filtering, and network control."
 

Cons

"Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines."
"Quality control on their firmware versions needs improvement. When they introduce new firmware, there tend to be bugs."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the configuration. In some use cases, there can be some configuration conflicts."
"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."
"One area for improvement involves FortiAnalyzer, specifically regarding the SOC part and log interpretation. Sometimes interpretation is very difficult."
"The web filtering categories could improve in Fortinet FortiGate IPS. There are too many websites under the category of Unknown and the other categories are not featuring all the necessary sites."
"The solution lacks sufficient filtering."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."
"The VPN device could be improved upon."
"Sometimes we experience difficulties with our server and that is usually due to a bug."
"The support from the vendor needs to be improved."
"I'm just a sole proprietor for IT support, and from my perspective, there could be better ways to educate a proprietor, such as myself, on how to set it up, and program it, and manage it. They do tend to have support, but a lot of times, it is for larger networks. I need something that is simpler and more rudimentary as to how to go about setting up and configuring the firewall, setting up the rules, and that type of thing. So, if there is a missing component there, that would be it."
"The weakest point is the technical support because they are difficult to get into contact with."
"In future releases, this solution could have more graphical elements on the dashboard to make it easier to understand."
"Sometimes, we haven't received proper support. They couldn't find the solutions that we required."
"There is an area that is very specific to our setup, where working tools you cannot easily establish a VPN between two internal networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cost-effective, and provides a good value for your money. The pricing, and license renewal, is very reasonable for us."
"The price is high compared to some of the other solutions."
"I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle."
"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
"The product is expensive."
"We just pay a flat monthly fee to the vendor for the support."
"If you compare the price of Fortinet FortiGate IPS to other firewalls, Check Point is priced very high followed by Palo Alto and Sophos. Fortinet FortiGate IPS price is more reasonable."
"Its price is good."
Information not available
"This is a budget-friendly product with reasonable pricing."
"I live in Bolivia and the price of Sophos XGS is high. However, they have adjusted their price a little over the past while but the price could still be less expensive to be affordable."
"Because we're in education, Sophos gives us a very competitive price for it."
"There is a license required for this solution that is priced well and all the features are included."
"The price is not reasonable."
"We pay licensing fees of approximately $2,000. We have a contract for three years."
"The price of Sophos in PTR is significantly higher compared to Fortinet."
"A central firewall on the cloud with a cluster might be 70,000 to 80,000 euros for a three-year license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business368
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise193
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business209
Midsize Enterprise61
Large Enterprise53
 

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...
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...
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 ...
What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?
There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?
Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...
What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?
Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos XG?
The pricing is a little higher compared to Chinese products like Huawei. For those on a limited budget, I sometimes p...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
Sophos XG, Sophos XGS
 

Overview

 

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
LinkTime
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Sophos Firewall and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,510 professionals have used our research since 2012.