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Sophos UTM vs Zyxel Unified Security Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

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
Ranking in Unified Threat Management (UTM)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zyxel Unified Security Gateway
Ranking in Unified Threat Management (UTM)
13th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Unified Threat Management (UTM) category, the mindshare of Sophos UTM is 8.1%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is 4.0%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Unified Threat Management (UTM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sophos UTM8.1%
Zyxel Unified Security Gateway4.0%
Other87.9%
Unified Threat Management (UTM)
 

Featured Reviews

Thomas Zimmerman - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer SDDC / VCF at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Integrated firewall and VPN have provided cost savings and strengthened customer security
The needed improvements for Sophos UTM include that the GUI could be a little more high-resolution-aware because it's still stuck in the small, low-resolution admin days, and those are long over. I choose a rating of nine out of ten for Sophos UTM because, as I mentioned, the graphical user interface is stuck in the past, and some things here and there are not implemented to the full, such as the reverse gateway thing, reverse proxy, and web application firewall. If you want to really implement some rules that are a little bit more difficult, Sophos always recommends getting the dedicated WAF, or web application firewall, but I would prefer to have more features on the web application firewall in the firewall itself because it would make more sense. Other than that, it's a very smooth experience, and I really appreciate it.
reviewer2399337 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales and technical consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
User has benefited from stable performance and effective completion of security tasks
I use it mostly for VPN and for some firewall solutions When considering my main use case with VPN, I can say that I got the Zyxel Unified Security Gateway, and it works fine. However, we are thinking about using a different solution based on open source because Zyxel Unified Security Gateway…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Sophos is a unified solution. We have anti-virus protection, firewall rules, knotting, and DACC all in one box."
"This is a very stable product."
"The most valuable feature is the IPS. It also protects us from malware."
"Technical support is very responsive."
"The management suite is easy and the agent is easy to develop."
"It has helped by identifying threats within the company. If there are computers or servers that are compromised, then we are able to identify them right away in the system."
"The packet filtering's great. You get out what you put into it. It works great as long as you know your security and configure everything adequately. If you just pop one in and it's not configured, then it's basically wide open. It kind of depends on the admin skill, but it's an excellent product."
"It is easy to manage."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from web filtering, malware protection, and antivirus."
"The solution can scale well."
"This is a capable appliance and the standard features work well for us."
"The Zyxel Unified Security Gateway solution is stable and does its job effectively."
 

Cons

"I would like this solution to support ICAP. Also, they no longer support on-premises management, and are forcing clients to use centralized management via the cloud, which I don't agree with."
"The interface configuration could be improved."
"They could definitely improve on the support, especially in other countries."
"The reporting could be a lot better."
"An area for improvement in Sophos UTM is load balancing because my company cannot use it currently. If Sophos could release a new configuration for the load balancing feature to work for my company, that would be great."
"The pricing is an issue."
"With artificial intelligence, there is room for improvement in all antivirus and security software."
"The reporting system needs to allow for customizations because many reports do not include details that we expect."
"Although manageable, the user interface is a little bit slow and could be improved."
"Sometimes it reboots when you least expect it, and that's the main issue."
"The product has some scalability and data management issues where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The prices can be better, they could make it a lot cheaper."
"The problem with the Sophos is not the cost of the hardware but the cost of the modules, packages, and the subscription."
"Sophos offers free training when selling their products from within the partner portal.​"
"We pay for the service on a yearly basis. The last time we paid was in June, for a year. At the time, it was about $20,000."
"Both the technical and cost aspects are feasible since it is possible to obtain and use the device as a PnP solution."
"It is the cheapest product available. It's good if you have a low budget."
"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."
"The price is comparable to other products of this kind."
"The price of Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is good compared to other similar products in the market."
"This gateway is pretty cheap."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Comms Service Provider
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Non Profit
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise25
No data available
 

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...
What do you like most about Sophos UTM?
The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is the endpoint protection feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos UTM?
I have no declaration regarding my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Sophos UTM.
What do you like most about Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from web filtering, malware protection, and antivirus.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
I cannot definitively comment on whether Zyxel Unified Security Gateway is an affordable product as I haven't done comparisons with other solutions. When our license expires, we plan to explore ope...
What needs improvement with Zyxel Unified Security Gateway?
The integration capability is quite challenging. The system is very complicated, and many features are hidden. I'm looking for something new that is slightly simpler. Regarding user experience, the...
 

Also Known As

Astaro
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

One Housing Group
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Sophos UTM vs. Zyxel Unified Security Gateway and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.