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Sangfor NGAF vs SonicWall NSa comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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
6.9
Number of Reviews
575
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 (2nd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Sangfor NGAF
Ranking in Firewalls
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.4%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.7%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate20.4%
SonicWall NSa1.7%
Sangfor NGAF1.2%
Other76.7%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Zaid Farooqui - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support
We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.
Constantnos Achilleos - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security has strengthened with next-generation firewall features and cost savings
I primarily use SonicWall NSA as a next-generation firewall for network security architecture. It is especially used for securing business operations with networks of more than 250 people SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks. These…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
"The solution is stable."
"The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access."
"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"Its user interface is good, and it is always working fine."
"Regionally, we are well covered. Technical support is good in this area."
"We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."
"The stability of Sangfor NGAF is good."
"The price versus value is good because the solution is less expensive than Sophos, Fortinet, or SonicWall."
"It seems to be a durable, stable product."
"The VPN connectivity feature is really nice."
"We've found the technical support to be helpful."
"The most valuable features are the WAN optimization, the internet access gateway (IAG), and the central console, which allows us to implement on their firewall."
"The product is very fast and reliable."
"Particularly good in the DPI where we can inspect inbound and outbound traffic."
"SonicWall provides endpoint security with advanced protection. Moreover, SonicWall includes access points and additional features."
"The ease of configuration is excellent."
"SonicWall NSa has a user-friendly firmware"
"It is able to fulfill my requirements. It protects our network environment. It has control over IPS, signatures, and it can also manage bandwidth and mapping. It is also stable and has good support."
"I like that SonicWall NSa is a stable product. It's also a scalable product."
"The functionality is the same whether it is on hardware or a virtual appliance. The interface is the same. It's nice that it's standardized."
"The most valuable features are flexibility, ease of setup, and it's a good product cost-wise."
"I like the solution's configuration, interfaces, and user guides."
 

Cons

"The captive portal could be improved."
"The support is not good because I generally search for solutions online. When I open a case, they usually identify it as a bug they are working on."
"Lacks training for new features."
"It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system."
"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."
"They should offer special pricing to premium partners and customers."
"I need user-behavior analytics, to find threat scenarios from inside the organization, insider attacks. That would be very helpful for us. In addition, I would like next-generation features for small and medium businesses. These businesses require UTM, all in one product. Fortinet must include it."
"One issue is that they have retired SSL VPN for existing devices. This causes significant effort for us to change customer setups."
"The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here."
"The firewall system needs gradual improvements because there are more threats and challenges every day."
"The support for YouTube or the Internet is not enough."
"Sangfor NGAF could improve by refining its application control policies, especially in addressing challenges with certain types of applications."
"The support offered by the product has certain shortcomings where improvements are required. The knowledge levels and response time of the support team need improvement."
"The web interface needs to be improved, making it more user-friendly."
"It has an issue with the Sangfor Cloud Platform rather than the firewall. When we run a virtual machine, the window tabs display Chinese characters."
"Sangfor could improve by providing better real-time reporting, as the current reports don't offer the level of detail we need, especially for runtime insights."
"We still get phishing emails that manage to come through from time to time."
"After-sales support and hands-on training facilities are not available in my country."
"SonicWall NSa's reporting could be improved."
"The web interface administration of SonicWall NSa could be improved. Compared to Sophos and FortiGate, making rules is easier with those systems."
"The tool needs to improve its reporting features."
"One area for improvement in SonicWall NSa is the GUI. It isn't easy to understand. The support for SonicWall NSa is mediocre, which is another area for improvement."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"It would be useful to have an application firewall that prevents the outside world from seeing your private IPs. You don't need to publicize your private IPs to the outside world, and you can create a barrier, like a proxy server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's not the cheapest, but it's value for money. Given everything we've got out of it: the DMZ port, the VPN, and the high availability, it's a pretty reasonable price."
"The solution's pricing is competitive."
"Pricing is lower than Cisco."
"The pricing of the solution is very competitive."
"When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost."
"It is not the cheapest one, but its price is very competitive."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall."
"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."
"If one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the tool's price as three out of ten."
"For over 2000 users, the cost is around 5000 to 6000 USD. If you want a web application firewall, you have to purchase an additional license for it."
"It costs about 8 to 10 thousand dollars per year for 500 users, standard licensing fees included."
"When it comes to the price of firewall solutions, Sangfor NGAF takes the cake."
"Sangfor NGAF is a cheaply priced product, especially if I consider the previous product that was used in my company."
"The product is very cost-effective compared to other brands or vendors."
"The price is unmatcheable."
"I rate the product price as one on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"NSa is not expensive, not high. It's at a moderate or medium level."
"SonicWall still is only a dollar or Euro per gigabit. This means, of the IPsec, it's the cheapest solution."
"The solution is based on a yearly licensing model that is reasonable compared to other options."
"SonicWall NSa has two types of license. The advanced license is a bit expensive when compared to the comprehensive license, but when you compare the advanced license to the licensing cost of other brands or competitors, it is expensive."
"Considering the market, I believe that the price of this solution is great."
"SonicWall NSa's pricing is subscription-based and I rate it a six out of ten."
"In our evaluation, we found that the costs of deploying the solution, and also purchasing the hardware and licenses, were very attractive."
"The CPUs are not able to compete with a similar price point to the Fortinet, WatchGuard, or Palo Alto product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business350
Midsize Enterprise130
Large Enterprise187
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise24
 

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 do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?
I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?
The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.
What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?
The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...
What do you like most about SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
I have not really seen any problems with SonicWall NSa on the technical front, but the quality of support is not that...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
 

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
The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.
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 Sangfor NGAF vs. SonicWall NSa and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,785 professionals have used our research since 2012.