SonicWall NSv vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

SonicWall and Zscaler are both solutions in the Firewalls category. SonicWall is ranked #36 with an average rating of 7.8, while Zscaler is ranked #24 with an average rating of 8.3. SonicWall holds a 0.2% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Zscaler’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of SonicWall users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Zscaler users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Zscaler Cloud Firewall and SonicWall NSv are two competing network security solutions. Based on user reviews, Zscaler Cloud Firewall is preferred for support and deployment, while SonicWall NSv is seen as superior for its robust features and perceived value.

Features: Zscaler Cloud Firewall is noted for its scalability, ease of use, and consistent performance. SonicWall NSv stands out with its advanced security features, comprehensive monitoring, and high configurability.

Room for Improvement: Zscaler Cloud Firewall users highlight the need for better reporting tools, enhanced flexibility in policy management, and occasional issues with integration. SonicWall NSv users mention the need for improved documentation, better user training, and a more intuitive interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zscaler Cloud Firewall is praised for its straightforward deployment process and proactive customer service. SonicWall NSv, while offering powerful features, sometimes presents deployment challenges due to its complexity, and users note varying experiences with support quality.

Pricing and ROI: Zscaler Cloud Firewall is seen as reasonably priced with good cost-functionality balance and satisfactory ROI. SonicWall NSv, although more expensive, is viewed as worth the investment due to its comprehensive features and significant ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,384 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

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.8%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

Read full review

Sileesh Sivadasan

Director at Infosec Infra

Helps small businesses expand branches more easily

The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I want to talk to a customer executive, they ask many trivial questions. Even if I explain that I am asking for a Dell partner, they still ask specific questions, and they will explain many unnecessary questions.

Read full review

Bhaskar Rao

Network manager admin at Yamaha

Though it helps deal with web traffic or any malicious traffic, it needs to work on its DC performance issues

The product's initial setup phase is moderate in level, so it is neither very complex nor very easy. For the deployment, my company first needs to gather all the requirements of the users and the domain names and consider how many users there are in the company. In the implementation and planning part, my company needs to consider what kind of policies we will create while ensuring that the policies are created based on the requirements of the users. There is a need to segregate the users' requirements since there are separate departments in the company, like the HR department, sales department, IT department, and manufacturing department, so that our company can create policies depending on their requirements. On-site, if you want a GRE tunnel, our company can handle GRE tunnel traffic routing and Zscaler Cloud Firewall, after which Zscaler will take action based on the policies created by our organization. For the deployments and maintenance, a team of five members consisting of two managers and three engineers is required.

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

"I would advise others considering or evaluating the Fortinet FortiGate to buy it."

"What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."

"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."

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

"It's a good product that significantly enhances security and protects organizational data."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."

"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."

"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."

"Out of ten, I would rate the solution at an eight."

"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."

"For my small NFB banking services, when they are expanding their branches, I could incorporate a little bit easier."

"The customization of firewall rules provides great value to our customers as it allows them to lock things up in the way that they desire. When it is used for internal access, with a VPN in place for remote workers, the firewalling services provided by Azure, such as the default services that can be turned on, are applied. However, the use of a software-based virtual firewall gives us greater flexibility in introducing security controls for customers who are publishing applications that are publicly accessible from the public cloud. This virtual firewall provides an additional layer of security and more extensive security control options to ensure the protection of our customers' valuable information and assets."

"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."

More SonicWall NSv pros

"Zscaler provides effective protection against various cyber threats ensuring a safe environment"

"The scalability is okay. We have around 2200 people using this solution."

"Includes advanced tech protection."

"It provides in-depth visibility into your network, ensuring that traffic flowing into your organization, be it from offices or individual users, is effectively filtered and secured through multiple layers of protection."

"I like the ease of deployment and its flexibility. We don't need to deal with license, quotes, procurement, delivery, and installation. Everything is software-based, and it's very easy to operate."

"The solution is scalable."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The technical support from Zscaler was excellent."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall pros

Cons

"There are some license issues. Not every feature must have a separate license. There must be some of kind synergy between the license so we don't have to pay for every individual license that we would like to have."

"Not all features are available in the web UI. Features such as enabling multiple MPLS circuits can only be accomplished through the command line, so these need to be made available in the web UI."

"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

"Regarding challenges, customers initially faced issues like internet dropping, but after firmware upgrades, everything worked well."

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

"FortiOS is not simple."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a very good device overall, though it can be improved in certain areas regarding the licenses, particularly the big one called unified threat management, which has many capabilities."

"Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The price is a significant factor."

"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."

"There are limitations to bandwidth management."

"I would like to see the reporting opened up and have several more opportunities for automatic reports."

"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."

"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."

"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."

"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."

More SonicWall NSv cons

"We are having some issues with internet access being denied when organizational ID-based policies change. For example, a lower level employee ends up getting the same level of access as that of a higher level employee."

"Instead of the standard license, they should certainly provide customers with the visibility to access and view the logs."

"Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP."

"There are some areas it could improve when it comes to blocking, we have to block some things manually. For example, if we block a top-level domain we have seen that the new IPs come through, the IPs are not blocked. There should be some more granular way of doing it. My only request is if you're blocking something at a top level, the sub-level sub-domains and all those other IPs should be blocked too automatically."

"Data Leak Prevention is only for web filtering and there is no protection for email."

"Because it's on cloud, it doesn't allow application of extra settings."

"Pricing is a challenge."

"Its technical support services could be better."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"We pay for the solution annually."

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

"I think the price of Fortinet FortiGate is very reasonable."

"The price is fair compared to the other competitors."

"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."

"Fortinet is competitive price-wise."

"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"We are currently using the trial version."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."

"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."

"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."

"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."

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

"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."

"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."

"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."

"It comes at a significantly reduced cost while ensuring control and effectiveness."

"There are licensing costs, and I would not say that it's a cheap vendor."

"It is not the most budget-friendly solution, but it's important to consider its overall value."

"It is expensive for small businesses."

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall 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

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

28%

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?

The product helps improve our security.

See all answers

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

I am somewhat satisfied with the price for SonicWall NSv, rating it as eight because, compared to other products, the...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?

Currently, we are getting challenges with user-wise reports and other reporting details. At present, they do not prov...

See all answers

Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?

Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datac...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?

Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors. However, it offered moderate value for money.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Azure Firewall vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 25% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 24% of the time

Stormshield Network Security vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 20% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 10% of the time

More SonicWall NSv Competitors

Azure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 15% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

OPNsense vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

More Zscaler Cloud Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

August 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

August 2025

Download SonicWall NSv product report

Buyer's Guide

Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

Download Zscaler Cloud Firewall product report

Also Known As

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

SonicWall Network Security Virtual

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

SonicWall NSV is a software-based virtual firewall that provides additional security for customers with public-facing servers or services on Microsoft Azure. The AGSS Bundle is considered the most valuable feature, providing security services such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI.

Additionally, customization of firewall rules provides great value to customers, allowing them to lock things up in the way they desire. SonicWall NSV offers extensive security control options to protect customers' valuable information and assets.

SonicWall

Zscaler enables the world’s leading organizations to securely transform their networks and applications for a mobile and cloud first world. Its flagship services, Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access, create fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Zscaler services are 100% cloud-delivered and offer the simplicity, enhanced security, and improved user experience that traditional appliances or hybrid solutions are unable to match. Used in more than 185 countries, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting thousands of enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.

Check more details: https://www.zscaler.com/produc...

Zscaler

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

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

July 2025

Free Report: SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall

Find out what your peers are saying about SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our SonicWall NSv vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall report.

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.