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SonicWall NSa pros and cons

Vendor: SonicWall
3.9 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

SonicWall NSa offers robust security features such as VPN, SSL VPN, and IPSec VPN.
The performance of SonicWall NSa is praised for no delays or latency, enhancing productivity.
SonicWall NSa provides strong content filtering and application control, beneficial for maintaining workplace productivity.
The UTM feature in SonicWall NSa offers comprehensive security services for perimeter protection.
SonicWall NSa employs advanced threat protection with features like deep packet inspection and intelligent application control.

CONS

SonicWall NSa is not ready for managed security services, and its Cloud GMS product is weak and buggy.
NetExtender is considered unreliable, with numerous issues reported by users.
It does not support DynDNS, which is vital for smaller companies without a static IP address.
The reporting features need significant improvement in terms of clarity and depth.
There is a lack of integration with endpoint protection tools, affecting overall security management.
 

SonicWall NSa Pros review quotes

it_user219912 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastucture - Cloud Admin at Primary S.A.
Feb 10, 2016
With Site-to-Site VPN we can connect several branch office that we have and with the routing options we can setup a VPN backup route using different ISPs, this is great when the ISP stability is not good.
it_user634512 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Jun 27, 2017
SonicWall absolutely has the best bang for the buck hands down.
Presalesa8b7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Manager
Jul 5, 2017
If you looking for a simple site-to-site VPN, stable UTM feature, and easy SSL VPN setup, then this solution is OK.
Learn what your peers think about SonicWall NSa. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MY
Director Information Systems at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Jul 10, 2017
We bought this device for security and to filter traffic on our network -- these features are working fine.
it_user577668 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Supervisor at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 12, 2017
We have had zero downtime since the deployment of NSA 4600 (HA).
it_user646620 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Systems Specialist at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jul 12, 2017
Because this is a UTM, we appreciate having a single pane of glass for a firewall, content filtering, and IPS/IDS services.
SSL - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Apr 6, 2020
It allows us to block applications, i.e., websites by application type category. It is far more capable than content filtering alone.
TC
Manager at Smeja Enterprises
Mar 7, 2018
Support is usually good when it comes to helping with issues.
VF
Consultant at Techmail
Jul 3, 2018
Valuable features include a web filter, DHCP, and monitoring capabilities.
LV
IT Superintendent at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
Jul 15, 2018
It has good reporting, the reporting is marvelous.
 

SonicWall NSa Cons review quotes

it_user219912 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastucture - Cloud Admin at Primary S.A.
Feb 10, 2016
Sometimes, the GUI is extremely annoying and you need to implement external tools for better network monitoring.
it_user634512 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Administrator at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Jun 27, 2017
I am not sure if SonicWall has finally addressed this issue but a major area for improvement would be being able to export the settings file in a non-binary readable and editable format.
Presalesa8b7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Manager
Jul 5, 2017
We had a scalability issue.
Learn what your peers think about SonicWall NSa. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MY
Director Information Systems at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Jul 10, 2017
Firmware. Sometimes the integrated certificates get expired and you need to contact support to get these certificates updated on your device to let all the services work properly.
it_user577668 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Supervisor at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 12, 2017
I'm not quite impressed with their new logging interface.
it_user646620 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Systems Specialist at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jul 12, 2017
SonicWall uses a cloud-based database for content filtering. If the NSA cannot contact that online DB, filtering is handled one of two ways.
SSL - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Apr 6, 2020
The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break).
TC
Manager at Smeja Enterprises
Mar 7, 2018
Port forwarding could use streamlining.
VF
Consultant at Techmail
Jul 3, 2018
It is very modular and with native resources which are much lower than its competitors.
LV
IT Superintendent at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
Jul 15, 2018
The problem primarily with SonicWall is it's a Unix box. And it's all software, all the activities, blocking, censoring, everything has to happen in the software. If you start hitting the box with a lot of sessions it slows down and that's not what I expect from a firewall.