Smoothwall Firewall vs Sophos XG comparison

Smoothwall and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Smoothwall is ranked #35 with an average rating of 9.0, while Sophos is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Smoothwall holds a 0.2% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sophos’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Smoothwall users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Sophos XG and Smoothwall Firewall are competing in the cybersecurity market. Sophos XG seems to have an edge due to its comprehensive security measures.

Features: Sophos XG offers advanced threat protection, integrated VPN, and web filtering capabilities. Smoothwall Firewall focuses on content filtering and real-time monitoring, appealing to educational institutions with its specialized features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Smoothwall Firewall is known for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service, making it suitable for institutions with limited IT resources. Sophos XG has more complex deployment, requiring additional configuration but provides constant updates and support.

Pricing and ROI: Sophos XG involves a higher initial setup cost but offers substantial ROI through its feature set and scalability. Smoothwall Firewall is more cost-effective upfront, providing scalable solutions for budget-conscious institutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

March 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smoothwall Firewall is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos XG is 11.5%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Himanshu-Sharma

Senior Engineer at Qualic

Offers good scalability and monitoring features

There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages. For example, if we're creating a rule, we should be able to do everything on the same page. Just a drop-down thing or something. This would improve productivity.

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SherifFouad

ICT Manager at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Gives us customizable policies, modifiable templates, and customized rules for single users

The major problem that I am facing, and I know that others are facing as well, is with the HTTPS classic, in general, or any classic that works on Secure Socket Layers. Let's say I set up a rule to block users from accessing YouTube or Facebook. The rule will only block the HTTP traffic, which is non-secure traffic. But most websites right now, most of the reputable web services providers, for extra security for their own web servers and for the user's security, provide a connection over Secure Socket Layer. The problem comes when you are trying to block, or allow, similar traffic that uses HTTPS. You have to create a certificate and import it into the users' web browsers, whatever they are using. Now, this is not a problem when you're dealing with users stationed and fixed in a specific site or location. They are using desktops, they will never take the desktops and go home with them, nor will they ever take the desktops and travel to another country, or another site with it. The problem occurs when you're dealing with roaming users who use laptops and have to move between different sites that have different types of policies applied to them. You have to import all sorts of certificates from each site into their browser. Doing so will most probably conflict with something else that is totally irrelevant and cause a problem. A way around this is if you are using authentication with Active Directory. But most of the time, especially if you're operating in a remote site with a very slow internet connection, if it's available in the first place, authentication with Active Directory is impossible. So it needs an easier way to apply HTTPS filters, without importing certificates into users' browsers and without the need for using an Active Directory. There must be a way around it. There are workarounds. But with applied workarounds, it will work out once, it won't work out properly 10 other times. That is my only request. Also, since Sophos took over Cyberoam, the online technical library and support library have become super messy. To get a piece of information is becoming a nightmare. They need to reorganize the online technical support and technical library. The easiest way to overcome this is to look at how the Cyberoam online technical library was structured and to build the Sophos technical library the same way. It is messy, totally unorganized, time-wasting. Instead of getting what you want in five minutes it takes half an hour.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The signature database and zero-day detection are Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features."

"It's a firewall that secures our internal network. I have been using it since 2013, and I find that most of the features are advanced, and very user friendly."

"We are very happy with the general bandwidth agility we have seen from one website to another website."

"Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic."

"From the firewall perspective, the rules and policies are very sufficient and easy to use."

"Their proxy-based inspection is responsive and secure."

"Security management tool that's easy to integrate and easy to work with. No issues found with its stability and scalability."

"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"It was easy to initially deploy it."

"It gives me a very good, stable connection in all tunnels."

"The solution is scalable."

"Web filtering is easy enough to deploy, manage, or make exceptions to."

"Valuable features include: the ease of setting up the VPN connection; the fact they have the cloud management option, so I can manage the firewall on a cloud platform from anywhere I am; the user interface is very user-friendly, so it's very easy for the administrator to make any policy changes."

"We get good usage out of the features. It has enabled us to gain popularity. It has great features."

"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."

"I like it for its simplicity. It is very simple to configure and implement. It is a very good product for medium-sized organizations."

"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."

More Sophos XG pros

Cons

"The ease of use could be improved."

"The support structure needs to be improved because every time we contact them, there is a delay in the response."

"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."

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

"Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."

"It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."

"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."

"Even though things work on the back end, we have encountered bugs in the solution."

"The user interface could be better."

"It would be helpful if they had a set of standard templates because it would assist in the beginning, when you are just getting started."

"There could be some room for improvement in its pricing since my clients usually feel like the product is on the expensive side."

"The support service level agreement in regard to the amount of time needed to upgrade things is too low. It should be higher."

"I would like to see in future releases a tool to scan for malicious packets and give the location of where they are coming from."

"It could offer a DNS Filter for blocking botnet networks."

"I would like to have more artificial intelligence in the web monitoring service that comes with it. It should alert us when particular events happen. It has already got some of that. I know that it is more of a service, and Sophos is already looking at it. It is called SIEM."

More Sophos XG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have the full version of Fortinet FortiGate and we are on a three-year contract with a commitment of five years."

"The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."

"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."

"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."

"Fortinet bundles FortiGate with other products and because of this, the price is a little expensive to some SMB enterprises."

"It has a competitive price."

"It's an expensive solution."

"It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable. We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"The subscription costs approximately $300 yearly."

"Sophos XG is not expensive for a firewall, especially when you compare it with Check Point."

"Sophos XG is expenses."

"I don't believe we have a license for this product."

"For our company, the price was reasonable."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"The price can be a bit steep but for the number of features, it is worth it."

"We pay licensing fees of approximately $2,000. We have a contract for three years."

More Sophos XG pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

23%

Educational Organization

16%

University

13%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Smoothwall Firewall?

It was easy to initially deploy it.

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What needs improvement with Smoothwall Firewall?

There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we d...

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What is your primary use case for Smoothwall Firewall?

Our use cases are for monitoring and security. The primary purpose of the firewall is maintaining security and benefi...

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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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Sophos XG?

IPS works smoothly.

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Comparisons

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Compared 33% of the time

IPFire vs Smoothwall Firewall

Compared 12% of the time

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Netgate pfSense vs Sophos XG

Compared 10% of the time

OPNsense vs Sophos XG

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sophos XG

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Sophos XG

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sophos XG

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos XG Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

March 2025

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Firewalls

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Sophos XG

March 2025

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Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Smoothwall Firewall ensures network safety and compliance through robust content filtering, safeguarding educational institutions by providing appropriate online access and effective threat protection.

Smoothwall Firewall focuses on content filtering and network security for educational institutions, ensuring students access appropriate online resources while protecting against cyber threats. It offers detailed internet usage reports and helps maintain seamless network performance. Users find its ease of management and advanced threat protection beneficial, although some note complexities in setup and reporting features.

What are the key features of Smoothwall Firewall?

Content Filtering: Exceptional capabilities to ensure safe and appropriate online access.
Real-Time Monitoring: Keeps constant vigilance over network usage and threats.
Robust Security: Offers advanced threat protection to safeguard network environments.
Ease of Use: Simplifies management with an intuitive interface and responsive customer support.
Comprehensive Reporting: Provides detailed reports on internet usage and security threats.
Customizable Filtering: Tailors security measures to meet specific requirements.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Smoothwall Firewall?

Enhanced Safety: Protects against cyber threats and ensures safe online access.
Compliance: Helps institutions adhere to internet usage policies efficiently.
Ease of Management: Simplifies the administration of network security.
Detailed Insights: Provides comprehensive reports on network and internet usage.
Customizability: Offers tailored security settings to meet specific needs.

Smoothwall Firewall is widely used in educational sectors to enhance network security and manage internet usage. Its content filtering and monitoring capabilities ensure a protected and compliant online environment. Though implementation can be complex, its robust security and comprehensive support make it a valuable choice for institutions focusing on safeguarding their networks.

Smoothwall

Sophos XG is a versatile network security solution that offers network protection, firewall management, VPN access, web filtering, and intrusion prevention, providing comprehensive security for businesses from small offices to large enterprises.

Sophos XG stands out for its Synchronized Security, easy setup, and robust templates. It manages VPN access, protects against threats, and handles load balancing and traffic monitoring. The cloud-based management, centralized dashboard, and detailed logging make it user-friendly and reliable. Integration of features like email protection, SD-WAN, and unified threat management ensures a broad spectrum of security needs are covered. However, it could benefit from improvements in network security, user portals, technical support, and more scalable SD-WAN features.

What are the key features of Sophos XG?

Synchronized Security: Orchestrates threat intelligence sharing between endpoints and firewall.
Unlimited SSL VPN Clients: Provides extensive VPN client support for secure remote access.
Cloud-Based Management: Facilitates remote administration with a cloud-hosted platform.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and blocks potential threats in real-time.
Centralized Dashboard: Offers a comprehensive view of network security status.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
User-Friendliness: Simplified setup and intuitive management.
Effective Threat Protection: Provides robust security against a wide range of threats.
Comprehensive Reporting: Delivers detailed insights and analytics.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive in pricing with flexible deployment options.

Sophos XG is implemented across industries such as healthcare, education, and finance to secure sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance. It aids in endpoint protection, application control, load balancing, and traffic monitoring essential for these industries. Enhancing network security, simplifying VPN setup, and integrating adaptive security features remain focal points for businesses.

Sophos

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

Information Not Available

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