McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] vs SonicWall NSa comparison

McAfee and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 75% of McAfee users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] and SonicWall NSa based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

May 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 900,644 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

Fortinet FortiGate

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at airtel

Enables customers to manage security effortlessly with intuitive features and easy integration

In terms of improvements for Fortinet FortiGate, they could offer evaluation licenses, as compared to Meraki, which provides a 90-day evaluation. In Fortinet FortiGate, they do not provide standard evaluation licenses; instead, we need to request them from the OEM through the account manager for POCs. If we want to conduct a demo, we need to work with real hardware. In comparison to Cisco, we have DCloud, which helps with providing demos to customers, but in Meraki, I need to reach out to them, book a lab, and they need to provide all the hardware. I need remote access and L3 engineers to program it; only then can I offer a real-time demo to the customer.

Read full review

reviewer999975

Computer Technician at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We cannot find resources to help us configure it, so most of the time the virus still goes on our computer and McAfee doesn't detect it

It's pretty easy to use on a daily basis, but there are no other features because it's hard to configure on the server. On the endpoint it's really easy to push. It's hard to configure on the server, though. It's hard to find resources to help us configure it, and there is not much online help that you can find. Most of the time, we were looking at the forums, and we needed to go very deep to find what we were looking for. It was hard, and McAfee was not really helpful when we were trying to get the product to work perfectly. This is why are changing it.

Read full review

Mahendra Basera

Sr.Engineer at Akara Capital Advisor Pvt. Ltd.

Automated breach prevention has protected critical workloads and keeps external attacks blocked

I am familiar with SonicWall TZ. I have done a POC of TZ but I have not worked extensively with it. I have worked with the 2600 firewall and then the 3600. These are the models which we have worked with.SonicWall NSa was an on-premises solution. The two firewalls which were in production, in the data center and on the LAN side, were both on-premises solutions. We had a pre-decided budget under which we would purchase the firewall. All parameters including security, high availability, and budget concerns were covered with SonicWall NSa being implemented at that time. SonicWall NSa is a user-friendly product that is easy to configure, and it is easy for network personnel and firewall administrators to work with. Even the L1 team captured and learned this firewall effectively, helping us resolve all parameters related to high availability firewalls within budget-friendly costs. I rate this review a nine out of ten.

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

"Fortinet FortiGate has very good support."

"The most useful features are application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN."

"It is a UTM firewall with many features, helping me control users and public multi-servers easily while providing seamless, simple integration into a large network."

"One good thing about FortiGate is that you have got free training."

"The Fortinet FortiGate IPS has a good interface and integration."

"Overall, we're very happy with their firewalls, but when we have issues or bugs, there are some difficulties in finding the resolution."

"It's a user-friendly and stable firewall."

"The solution has a very good set of rules, the customization potential is quite impressive, it can be customized based on our licensing contracts, the initial setup was pretty simple, technical support is rather helpful, we find the stability to be pretty good, and we find the pricing to be fairly good."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We have 10 offices throughout Brazil, and now they are all connected by using the VPN feature of the firewall."

"ROI: It's good."

"For managing multiple MFE firewalls it is incredibly handy, convenient, and it is easy to use the product with McAfee Control Centre."

"It does give certain protection for everything that is well configured on our McAfee server. We have good protection with it. If we could find a feature and make it work, it would work perfectly, there would be no bugs, and it would be really good."

"It's a very functional and stable product if you're looking for a Layer 7 firewall with reputation filtering and encrypted traffic inspection."

"For small segments, such as a small office or home office environment, SonicWall is perfect."

"The technical support is very good."

"The most valuable features are that it is reasonably-priced and works well."

"Technical support is very, very good."

"Content Filtering and sandboxing are valuable features."

"SonicWall has USCS and anti-virus at the gateway level. Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line."

"User-friendly with good security and application control."

"Deploying SonicWall NSa is straightforward."

More SonicWall NSa pros

Cons

"Palo Alto has a feature called WildFire Analysis that is unavailable in FortiGate. WildFire is better than a sandbox because it can address zero-day threats and vulnerabilities. It can immediately identify zero-day threats from the cloud."

"It does not have key authentication for admin access."

"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."

"The firmware updates are sometimes not stable. The stability issues can vary, sometimes happening once a month or quarterly. New firmware updates can occasionally introduce bugs, causing some policies to fail. We then have to raise a ticket, and Fortinet usually provides a fix within a few days."

"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."

"Its pricing can be better."

"There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve their documentation on forward error correction and failover technologies."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Migrating from v7 to v8 of McAfee Firewall Enterprise, in many cases, involves you having to completely re-write all of your previous McAfee Firewall Enterprise v7 policies due to the difference in the way the interfaces are named in the product going from v7 to v8."

"HA configuration is a bit difficult for the first time."

"Customer support and AV are both lacking and are really hard to come to you when the product is installed. Those are the two major points that they need to work on."

"The hardware is not stable and we have faced many stability issues."

"Administration of the firewall is a little confusing for end users."

"I am not sure if SonicWall has finally addressed this issue but a major area for improvement would be being able to export the settings file in a non-binary readable and editable format."

"The logging, reporting, and storage capacity size could improve in a future release."

"SonicWall NSa doesn't have a proxy. It also needs a quota management feature in specific scenarios where you must limit user bandwidth for a particular day."

"I'm not quite impressed with their new logging interface."

"The web interface administration of SonicWall NSa could be improved. Compared to Sophos and FortiGate, making rules is easier with those systems."

"I would like to have a built-in vulnerability scanner in the firewall. It would be great to have such functionality."

"The ongoing service fees are high."

"The reporting and monitoring are a bit complex and should be easier in SonicWall NSa because other firewalls I have experienced have been more simple, such as Palo Alto. We are able to receive a clear view of our network. As a general user with little experience, it would be difficult for them to handle."

More SonicWall NSa cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."

"I would say that all things considered, the pricing is pretty good."

"There is a subscription-based model to use Fortinet FortiGate. We pay annually for the solution along with the support. If you want to have all the updates, and security patches you will need to renew your support."

"It's an expensive solution"

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."

"The pricing is flexible."

"While slightly more affordable than competitors, it remains relatively expensive due to its inclusive subscription."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"They do have the option to purchase yearly, or two years, and three years renewal."

"NSa is not expensive, not high. It's at a moderate or medium level."

"Normally, when we buy any product, we buy it with a five-year service built into it. Later on, depending on the growth of the organization, we go for a new one or an upgrade."

"The solution is based on a yearly licensing model that is reasonable compared to other options."

"The price is reasonable."

"SonicWall NSa has reasonable pricing. My company pays for it yearly, but I forgot how much the company pays. From what I remember, you only pay for the license fees."

"A firewall doing anti-spam might be a low cost solution, but it is not your best strategy."

"There is a license required for this solution and you can purchase a one, two, or three year term. Typically businesses choose the one year subscription and then later choose the three year licensing option if they are satisfied."

More SonicWall NSa pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	370
Midsize Enterprise	138
Large Enterprise	195

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	56
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	24

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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

I am overall satisfied with everything, including the price.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?

The CPU configuration for SonicWall NSa, based on my experience, is average. It should be increased somewhat because ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSa?

We have SonicWall NSa models including NSA 2600, NSA 3600, and 6600 firewalls in our environment.We have used the Dee...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% 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

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 1% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 18% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 15% of the time

Trellix Network Detection and Response vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL]

Compared 10% of the time

More McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] Competitors

Cisco Meraki MX vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 9% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs SonicWall NSa

Compared 6% of the time

More SonicWall NSa Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

June 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

May 2026

McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] report

Download McAfee Firewall Enterprise MFE [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSa

May 2026

Download SonicWall NSa product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Firewall Enterprise MFE, Intel Security Firewall Enterprise MFE

NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA

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

McAfee Firewall Enterprise defends critical assets, such as regulated data repositories (customer, financial, and healthcare data), email and web servers, extranets, and data centers. This proxy-based firewall also offers application visibility and deep application controls for defense, delivers strong policy-based controls, blocks the latest threats, and eliminates unwanted traffic.

McAfee

SonicWall NSa stands out for its advanced security features, easy management, and cost-effectiveness, making it effective for businesses seeking robust network protection and efficient management.

Renowned for its comprehensive security mechanisms, SonicWall NSa provides a user-centric interface with enhanced VPN capabilities and content filtering. Features like deep packet inspection, application control, and site-to-site VPN ensure that it meets complex business needs. Its scalability is supported by SD-WAN functionality and unified threat management services. However, enhancements in firmware reliability, VPN scalability, and reporting tools are needed to fully optimize its potential for smaller businesses. Improved integration with AI and better threat detection will further enhance its robust security offering.

What are SonicWall NSa's most important features?

Deep Packet Inspection: Identifies threats through thorough traffic analysis.
Application Control: Manages and controls application activity for network efficiency.
Site-to-Site VPN: Creates secure connections between different office locations.
Automated Breach Prevention: Proactively blocks security threats.
Scalability with SD-WAN: Adapts to growing network demands with controlled traffic across multiple sites.

What benefits or ROI should users recognize?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies management tasks with straightforward operation.
Cost-Effective Throughput: Delivers high performance at a competitive price, ensuring value for investment.
Reliable Performance: Provides consistent security and operational efficiency.
Single-Pane Management: Facilitates integrated and cohesive network oversight.
Comprehensive UTM Services: Offers extensive security coverage suitable for business requirements.

In industries like education, industry, and government, SonicWall NSa plays a key role in safeguarding networks against potential cyber threats. Service providers and integrators deploy it for efficient firewalling, VPN management, bandwidth monitoring, and intrusion prevention. Its flexibility attends to needs from small businesses seeking secure internet access to large enterprises requiring thorough connectivity controls.

SonicWall

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

French Ministry of Education, RWTH Aachen, Avency, Cegedim, Cobweb, Intel Security, Cemex Mauser, R_sler Oberfl_chentechnik

Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: May 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.