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IPFire vs Sophos UTM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

IPFire
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (29th)
Sophos UTM
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
120
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

AE
Chief Technology Officer at Agileware Limited
Firewall deployment has secured mission-critical public apps and simplifies Linux-based management
The best features IPFire offers include its very intuitive nature because, even though it has a Linux back-end, in terms of configuration, it has a very rich GUI interface. The GUI and configuration features of IPFire have made my work easier and more efficient because their positioning and the sequence with which I follow is easy. In terms of all the processes, what you need to do at first and the next thing that you need to do is clear. The GUI is well arranged in sequential order, so you can follow that from whatever you want to do until you get the target objective. IPFire includes features with a very robust and rich community that is very much valid in terms of content. IPFire has positively impacted my organization by giving us some mileage. At least, a lot of organizations now know that we have a solution that can deliver the same value.
HR
CEO at iSource GmbH
Integrated security tools have supported critical infrastructure and improved network performance
Regarding Secureworks Taegis VDR Vulnerability Management, I do not have all these shortcuts in my head. Perhaps I have to ask my technicians, but we are in full stress because we have to change this entire firewall equipment, also the entire access points, because of the end of life. We also have the full product in for XDR and extensions. We are also part of the webinars from Sophos. It would be better if there were also some important webinars in German. Everything needs improvement, because also the wireless, also RED box and so on. The handling was much easier on the old equipment than on the new XGS. I think there should also be a little more automatic for SD-WAN routing and so on. Because we have to learn some things from the basic completely new because it is different than Sophos UTM, the XGS. The features that could be improved about Sophos UTM include the new features we have in XGS with a simpler interface. For example, in Sophos UTM, we could define IP hosts and use this IP host. We did not have to insert on every, for example, for wide area networks, we had to put the IP addresses from the other side by hand. In Sophos UTM, we could define it under definitions and then use this IP host where we needed it. In the new XGS, if there is a change in the IP address, we have to do it on all, for example, site-to-site VPN tunnels and so on. We have much more work and it is not so easy because we have to check all the definitions. It is also, for example, some of the male technicians like me, we have a biology handicap. For example, male technicians in Europe also have a red-green problem. So we use these light colors on the interface. In some cases, it is not easy to see the, for example, letters or numbers because of the contrast.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Regarding IPFire's AI capabilities, I think they are quite focused; in all the deployments I have done, I have not had any incidents or breaches."
"What I appreciate the most about IPFire is that it is simple, and I learned it when I was in school, so that is really something simple and I know it, so I continue to use it."
"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."
"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."
"It has allowed us to design a bespoke cloud space for our clients, while still having an excellent level of protection."
"We are very happy with the product so far."
"Sophos integrates seamlessly, and we don't even feel it is running in the background."
"Sophos UTM's valuable features include the cost, which is very competitive when compared with other vendors, balanced with the features that it delivers."
"Installing Sophos UTM is straightforward. The deployment itself doesn't take long, but you have to spend some time planning and waiting for the hardware to be delivered."
"I think the RED appliances and APs make a difference, and add value to Sophos."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"Sophos UTM has positively impacted my organization with its various functions, and it is the best choice I could have ever made."
 

Cons

"If anything, a graphical interface would be what I want."
"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."
"I would rate IPFire 8 out of 10 because I do not think there is any solution anywhere in the world that is 100 percent efficient."
"The graphical interface could be much better."
"Sophos customer support could use some improvement."
"There is still room for improvement in wireless protection. I don't mean their WiFi device is bad, but there are still things to improve on, such as WiFi roaming."
"The solution is not scalable."
"They should have more powerful appliances."
"The functionality is not granular enough to monitor or identify issues effectively."
"The SG platform does however not scale to a large enterprise deployment."
"The memory and processing were problematic. The interface could be better."
"Everything needs improvement, because also the wireless, also RED box and so on. The handling was much easier on the old equipment than on the new XGS."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price of the solution is high. The price from USD to my currency is expensive."
"The pricing and licensing are both good and better than Sophos's competitors. This is why we went with the product."
"The AWS Marketplace product should be a better fit, but it is a little pricier."
"The biggest issue with Sophos is the pricing. It's definitely more expensive. As I said, we looked at Webroot, which is a big alternative, and Sophos was almost three times the price of Webroot. That's a pretty big difference."
"I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"Sometimes more is less, meaning if you want more than three features, take the FullGuard licence."
"I think the pricing of Sophos is very fair."
"You cannot really say that the solution is expensive, given the protection it gives."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
18%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business75
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IPFire?
To be honest, I have not made the updates of IPFire since a long time, so I continue to use the 2017 asset. I do not know if today there is something I can add on it. I am just comfortable with it ...
What is your primary use case for IPFire?
I am still using IPFire, but at home, not at work. I have my own servers at home, and I have my test infrastructure here. I have my VPN, my DMZ, and my LAN actually on IPFire. I connect to my home ...
What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?
I would give IPFire a good eight on a scale from one to ten. This review reflects my overall rating of eight.
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 good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...
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 different sites I wanted to connect, and instead of doing site-to-site, the RED...
What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?
Regarding Secureworks Taegis VDR Vulnerability Management, I do not have all these shortcuts in my head. Perhaps I have to ask my technicians, but we are in full stress because we have to change th...
 

Comparisons

 

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Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about IPFire vs. Sophos UTM and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.