Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL] comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Sophos and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 90% of Sophos users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Sophos UTM

Read 120 Sophos UTM reviews

14,020 Views
6,309 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Read 34 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Sophos UTM

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Sophos UTM and WatchGuard XTM [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

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Firewalls

October 2026

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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

Sophos UTM

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

Unified Threat Management (UTM) (5th)

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Heinz Raecke

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.

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Generalm4545

General Manager- IT & Automation - Serum at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Protects from attack software and hacking but it doesn't provide the reports in a readable format

In my opinion, image clarity is very important, because I don't get the proper image product on reports. This means that functionality is not there. My engineer does not know how he can replace an order. We attach a log after any kind of keys using a utility instead. For the internet policies that we are implementing, the policy should be based on proper protocols. We use the default policies and there are a number of third-party protocols that appear here. Management with WatchGuard XTM means that out of policy is the problem from our side. In this way, we can not do effective services for people with this one. The policy definition with WatchGuard XTM is not proper for all use case requirements. I've got weekly business reports that I am expecting attachments with from WatchGuard XTM that display data for all kinds of consideration which should be required. Main User Functionality Level Order must adhere to using the admin functionality on the registry, or else our users publish their own name. Maybe these recommendations are irrelevant, but I say that the issue to improve most with WatchGuard XTM is the Main User Function.

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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

"Sophos SG UTM had all the basic functionality that you needed. It is user-friendly and easy to manage for any integrator."

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the efficiency and mail filtering module."

"In terms of quality and functionality, Sophos is very useful and better than the competition."

"I can share specific outcomes regarding Sophos UTM; we've seen reduced costs certainly, and we've also seen time saved, definitely, because we streamlined all our clients into using Sophos UTM if they want to have their on-premise infrastructure monitored, and that really saves a ton of time."

"The product has provided us with unified threat management as well as comprehensive list of reports."

"Protected it against malware and allowed us to serve our servers safely."

"For the features, how well it works, and how easy it is to use, I would give Sophos a ten out of ten."

More Sophos UTM pros

"Lots of enterprise-grade features in SMB firewall Cost-price performance is at its best"

"After installing the product, we achieved awareness of our data protection needs and email misuse."

"They have a reporting system which can store data over a very long period of time. Not many other firewall vendors provide a reporting system, but if they do, like Fortinet does, then you've got buy that as an additional product and that can be more than twice as expensive as the initial investment in the firewall. And without reporting over a long-term period, you're just about wasting your time."

"VPN tunnel creation in WSM is very easy to set up BOVPN tunnel between two sites by dragging and playing."

"We use WatchGuard XTM as a privileged access management solution; I complained about another unstable product and we switched to WatchGuard, which has been good."

"I have found the GUI interface to be invaluable, as it is very intuitive and easy to manage."

"The multi-WAN feature allows us to configure multiple external interfaces."

"After it is installed, you will have plenty of time to do something else, because it is stable and does not require you to reboot all the time."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"They could definitely improve on the support, especially in other countries."

"The initial setup is very, very difficult. When I installed the new Sophos and tried to restore the backups, the restore process did not work."

"It needs a better user interface. The one they have is not so good."

"We would be happy with fewer new features over the same time, but with more stable updates!"

"I would like some features that are available in other brands. For example, I sometimes a person is using too much bandwidth, and it isn't easy to find this information in Sophos. Also, we have to switch connections manually when we are using a VPN and lose the MPLS connection. It isn't automatic."

"Support for IKEv2 is needed in this solution."

"While the product was originally with Astaro the low end (1xx) units had serious reliability issues and support was extremely challenging to engage with."

"With Sophos UTM, there is a general rule in the firewall when the country blocking can block some countries from accessing your data. In the current version, you still need to add it by putting in the IP range. This feature would be helpful for administrators and it gives them the advantage to block stuff in less time."

More Sophos UTM cons

"We had some problems of instability with older versions of the software."

"The issue that we had was that the integration with Active Directory was a bit of a hassle."

"Expensive Requires client-server application to use some advanced features"

"I think the anti-Spam feature, and the real time log to inspect the bandwidth users both need improving."

"I feel that paying a yearly maintenance fee for firmware updates is not worth it in my opinion."

"It's a fine product, but some features like the max bandwidth don't work well. Also, the VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."

"One huge issue with WatchGuard XTM is that I'm not getting reports in a readable format. Readable means, I don't want Excel online. We repeat auditing when we trigger the report or setup calendar. That functionality is what we are looking for from WatchGuard XTM here."

"The web interface is easy to use but it looks complicated and could be simplified."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Unless you are in the United States, or you have to use Sophos, you can't contact Sophos directly. You have to use a third-party company, and they all have different ways of how they explain their licensing."

"I have no problem with the cost or licensing of this solution. This is a primary reason whay I wanted this solution. It does the same thing cheaper than other name brands."

"Although Sophos UTM is a good product, other products have more flexibility with their pricing. It is a very fine product, but when someone wants more relaxed pricing or more leverage in pricing, Sophos is more rigid."

"The solution is very low cost compared to competitors. You have a good firewall, a lot of functions for less than the price of some omni firewall competitors."

"Both the technical and cost aspects are feasible since it is possible to obtain and use the device as a PnP solution."

"Pricing for Sophos UTM is OK. Here in Egypt, many companies use the solution because of its price and features. My company pays the Sophos UTM license fee yearly."

"The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model and is competitive."

"Sophos UTM is moderately priced, but it could be improved."

More Sophos UTM pricing and cost advice

"Get at least a maintenance contract for the updates and take a larger WatchGuard than you need. A WatchGuard creates new ways to secure your network."

"Like all other manufacturers, there are a lot of features and different pricing. The best is to talk to a representative."

"The licensing and renewal is very expensive."

"It costs less than the SO works and others (like SonicWall, Cisco, and Barracuda) without increasing so much CPU use."

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

13%

Construction Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	75
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	27

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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...

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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...

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What needs improvement with Sophos UTM?

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Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos UTM

Compared 9% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

OPNsense vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Sophos UTM

Compared 4% of the time

More Sophos UTM Competitors

Fortinet FortiGate vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 6% of the time

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Sophos UTM

October 2026

Download Sophos UTM product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

October 2026

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Astaro

No data available

Overview

Sophos UTM delivers comprehensive network security with features like firewall, intrusion prevention, and endpoint protection. Its user-friendly interface and scalable options make it ideal for businesses of varying sizes, ensuring seamless integration with AWS, cloud services, and other Sophos offerings.

With robust Advanced Threat Protection, Sophos UTM offers a holistic approach to security through its intuitive platform. It includes a centralized console for enhanced threat visibility, integrated web application firewall, and secure remote access via SSL VPN and RED device. Critiques focus on limited reporting capabilities, complex licensing, and requiring improvements in VPN and email protection, centralized management, and application control.

What are the key features of Sophos UTM?

Advanced Threat Protection: Protects against sophisticated attacks by integrating multiple security technologies.
Firewall and Web Protection: Provides core security measures with intrusion prevention and application control.
Integrated WAF: Shields applications from vulnerabilities, ensuring secure user interactions.
Scalable Deployment: Supports diverse setups from small businesses to large enterprises, including cloud integrations.

What benefits should users expect from Sophos UTM?

Unified Management: Simplifies security operations through a single management console for cohesive control.
Secure Remote Access: Extends network security to remote users without compromising protection quality.
Cost Efficiency: Offers scalable, cost-effective security solutions to adapt to growing business needs.

Sophos UTM sees implementations in industries needing strong perimeter protection and secure remote access, such as finance, healthcare, and education. It supports seamless network integration, ensuring businesses maintain compliance and safeguard their digital environments effectively.

Sophos

Small businesses need big security, too, and the WatchGuard XTM Series firewall/VPN appliances deliver that strong protection, but without the hefty price tag. Enterprise-grade security includes full HTTPS content inspection, VoIP support, and optional security subscriptions like Application Control and Intrusion Prevention Service.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

One Housing Group

AVG, Cyren, Kaspersky Lab, Lastline, NCP engineering, Trend Micro, Websense

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

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