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Hillstone E-Series vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
40th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (24th)
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall TZ is 1.6%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SonicWall TZ1.6%
Hillstone E-Series0.9%
Other97.5%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Ashutosh Jha - PeerSpot reviewer
Project engineer at IT Solution india private limited
Advanced security filters have blocked threats and protect our users’ web and application access
SonicWall TZ gives us multiple features, such as Content Filter, Application Filter, ATP, IPS policy, Geo-Filter, Botnet filter, and many more. I use Content Filter with SonicWall TZ most of the time because we need to create a policy on behalf of the content filter to track who is using what. If we want to block any types of websites for any specific user, we can do it from the firewall. SonicWall TZ has multiple features, such as Application Filter as well. SonicWall TZ has impacted our organization positively because it stops all threats. If any types of malware signature or any types of bad behavior malware appear, it prevents them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"It's a very cost-effective solution."
"The general feature is the antivirus policy, followed by the ransomware protection, and these are the features I was looking at."
"The solution, as a firewall, is very useful for any company trying to protect their premise through the internet."
"The VPNs are rock solid. I never have an issue with them. We also have rules to block encrypted traffic to specific sites and geolocations. The integrated VPN functionality is easy to use."
"The technical support is prompt, often resolving issues quickly through remote sessions."
"All aspects are good with SonicWall TZ."
"I like to think that the TZ series has the best bang for the buck, full of features and options that you need to control security without breaking the bank."
"No issues with stability."
 

Cons

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"I would probably say their GSM or their Sonic Analyzer could be improved. I have always found it difficult to manage and not very intuitive."
"There is a point I don't like about SonicWall in the past and now. Most of the destinations we look at when we're detecting some user using too much bandwidth or something like that, SonicWall just gave us destination IP address, instead of the full qualified domain name. I think that's the most important part that is still missing. I think that's the most important for us."
"Content filtering, Load balancing. Bandwidth management."
"The monitoring is a little bit confusing."
"Its price is very high, which makes it difficult to convince the clients to buy this solution."
"Another thing which I don't like about SonicWall is that it tries to bypass the resellers. That is not good."
"We are not receiving the rated throughput that the solution claims; for example, if I have a device that is rated to handle 400 megabits of throughput, we are receiving significantly less than that in some cases."
"The technology in this particular version is very old."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"Its price is very high, which makes it difficult to convince the clients to buy this solution."
"It is an expensive solution compared to one of its competitors."
"The product is not expensive, but it is not cheap."
"I give the price an eight out of ten."
"The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive."
"The prices are expensive."
"We have to pay yearly. Its licensing can be improved, and they should provide more features, such as AV, email filtering, and so on with the basic subscription."
"Customers are required to pay for a yearly subscription."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business65
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar basic features. However, Fortinet offers more performance, scalability, and in...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required to purchase the perpetual license for SSL VPN and Global VPN. Only one SSL VPN a...
What needs improvement with SonicWall TZ?
I assess the machine learning capabilities of SonicWall TZ in proactive threat detection to not be at the level of other vendors such as Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Check Point. It is somewhe...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.