Sophos Firewall Reviews

The most valuable features of Sophos XG are user-friendliness and it is highly secure.

Sophos XG could improve by making the remote access and VPN better.

I have used Sophos XG within the last 12 months.

Sophos XG is a stable solution.

The scalability of the solution is good. We have approximately 4,000 concurrent users.

The Sophos XG technical support we receive from our local vendor, they are very helpful.

I would recommend this solution to others. I have recommended it to many organizations already. I have had a very good experience with the Sophos XG.

I rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

We are using Sophos XG, but not the latest version. The solution works as the main gateway. We are a small company of 250 employees so we also use the solution as a router.

The hardware and VPN connections are slow so we are planning on upgrading the solution. Next month we will be replacing the Sophos XG we have as it is reaching the end of life next year. We will be purchasing the XG 3000 to gain more options in the VPN tunnels.

The two most valuable feature of Sophos XG is, one the option to filter according to different applications and two, the integration with the Active Directory.

Over the last six months, we have noticed that the hardware is slow, especially the VPN connections.

Sophos would benefit if they could improve the integration with Active Directory. It does not function consistently and we have to reconfigure it to make it function again. 

Integration with IPA, which is like Active Directory for Linux servers, would be a nice feature to include.

I have been using Sophos XG for three years.

This solution is very stable. We have not had any problems in the three years we have been using Sophos XG. We did have one infection that gained access to one server in the DMZ but it was because the rules were not well configured and not because of the product.

We haven't had to scale the solution. 

Support from Sophos XG has been fine for what we have required.

We had been using Astaro. We selected Sophos XG because we knew it would be easy to set up and configure as the two solutions are similar.

Previously we were working with Astaro, so the setup and configuration of Sophos XG was easy. The implementation took less than a month.

The company that sold the firewall solution provided support hours while we were migrating the rules of our old firewall. They provided us with advice on some of the rules, especially on the routing to connect to a branch office.

We purchase an annual standard license.

I recommend Sophos XG if you are coming from pfSense or Astaro as the migration will be really easy. The learning path will also be easy. If you are coming from Barracuda or Cisco it will be more difficult especially the web interface of the firewall is not intuitive.

I would rate Sophos XG an 8 out of 10.

We're using Sophos XG within one business unit for security. We use it for the firewall and mapping some services.

Sophos XG's price is right, and it's easy to manage. It's a good fit for our current needs at the moment. 

Sophos XG's user interface has some room for improvement. 

We started using Sophos XG in June of this year, so it has only been a few months. 

I think Sophos XG is stable.

Sophos XG is scalable. We have about 600 users here in Mexico, and everyone is behind this solution. I think it's possible we might increase usage, and we've discussed this with our corporate office in Germany. We could decide to go with another product, but we might expand Sophos if it performs well.

Support is one area where I have some issues. Sophos support isn't that good. 

In some companies where I've worked, I used Fortinet and ASA with FirePOWER from Cisco. In some places, I used Meraki with the MX and the Advance Security licensing. I have some issues with other technologies. Last year, they had Sophos UTM on the devices, but there was an opportunity was to switch our clients to Sophos XG and try out the solution.

Setting up Sophos XG is too easy. It took about two hours. The only part of the solution that I deployed was the firewalls. It's something I do all the time in my business unit, so it was quick. We have two people responsible for deployment and maintenance, including me. 

I had some support from a partner.

A Sophos XG license costs approximately $45,000 

I rate Sophos XG nine out of 10. Our experience so far has been good, but maybe we'll come across another solution that's at the same or a higher level.

The majority of our customers use Sophos XG as a traditional firewall. Some use it for endpoint protection, which is similar to anti-virus.

We also have customers that have SD-WAN as part of their use case. For the most part, it is a firewall, it depends on what the customer environment looks like that would determine how you're going to configure the appliance to work for the customer.

Technology can deliver what you want based on your environment, what you do may differ from what others do.

We have customers from insurance, some oil, and gas, as well as some from the banking sector. Based on the technicality and the peculiarities of the environment, we must explain the technology, of how Fortinet delivers its own firewall, and also others such as Check Point, and Palo Alto deliver their own firewall.

With the explanation given the customer can choose the solution, they want in their environment.

Sophos XG is easy to use.

The only area that requires improvement is scalability.

I understand why scalability is difficult in all firewalls. I understand why it is difficult in our firewalls. If you want to scale, you can scale vertically or horizontally. That is the world of scalability. However, you cannot do so for the firewall. It's a forklift, you have to buy a new appliance.

We have been deploying Sophos XG for our customers for many years.

The stability is based on the environment.

Every firewall solution has a different level of scalability. The majority of firewalls are based on the user. Scalability, in Sophos XG, requires a forklift.

The scalability could be improved.

We have between 12 and 16 customers.

I have never contacted technical support.

We have deployed more Sophos this year than in any previous year.

I have six engineers dedicated to deploying and maintaining the solution.

It is a price-based solution, not based on technology.

Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

I implemented this firewall for my clients. They're small offices. One has got half a dozen computers, and the other one has about 30 computers on the network. Both utilize VPN to remotely access their workstations in the office.

It is sized based on the client. So, there are actually two different versions that I've utilized.

VPN setup is great and easy to implement for outside users to access data or workstations in the network.  Easy to manage and set up.  No major glitches.  Runs reliably.   Setting up iPhones and Macs is a bit more involved since you have to use VPN apps that are compatible with Apple for VPN and remote desktop.

Compared to other firewalls that I had looked at, I thought Sophos was the better solution. It just seems to be easier to manage versus Cisco, Fortinet, or one of the other options I was looking at.

I'm not going to say that it's easy to configure, but I can understand how to configure it. There is a certain amount of support available to do the configurations. 

I'm just a sole proprietor for IT support, and from my perspective, there could be better ways to educate a proprietor, such as myself, on how to set it up, program it, and manage it. They do tend to have support, but a lot of times, it is for larger networks. I need something simpler and more rudimentary to set up and configure the firewall, set up the rules, and that type of thing. So, if there is a missing component there, that would be it. 

Any firewall will need rules for how it protects the network against a variety of threats or various degrees of protection.  My comments are not aimed at Sophos specifically.  As a new person just learning about firewall protection, it would be helpful for any vendor to have an education area that runs through various scenarios and implements them in the firewall.  Videos would be helpful.  From my initial research on which firewall to choose,  Sophos appeared to have the most straightforward interface. 

I purchased the units from www.firewalls.com, and they worked with me to do the initial setup.  That was very helpful to get started

I have been using Sophos XG for 4 years.

It is very stable.

It is scalable. There are different models, and you really need to choose a model that is appropriate for your current situation. You can buy something with a certain degree of scalability. Because I purchased it through firewalls.com, I was able to have that discussion, describe the application, and then choose a model that would suit that particular client with a degree of scalability. Now, for instance, if they went from 20 employees to 500 employees, then it is not scalable to that degree, but if they went from 20 employees to 50 employees, then it would be scalable. So, you've got to define the criteria in terms of what you're trying to protect, the number of users, the bandwidth that is going through it, the speed, etc. When I purchased them through firewalls.com, they explained and helped me choose the most appropriate appliance for what I'm doing.

I did have a circumstance where the firewall had been damaged during a lightning storm or something like that, and I called them to help me diagnose what the issue was. They were good about the diagnostic. They were good about spending the time with me to figure out what was wrong. In the particular case that I was researching, it turned out that one of the ports was bad for some reason. It was either because of the lightning storm or some other reason. It was under warranty, and they replaced it with a new unit. So, I'm satisfied with Sophos' support.

Previously used a small $100 cisco unit.  Not easy to implement VPN.  They may have an app, now, but at the time it was problematic and way too  complicated. 

I purchased it through firewalls.com. They're an online vendor, and they did the initial setup and configuration on both firewalls. My experience with them was good.

I used firewalls.com and they were excellent

Fewer management headaches

The pricing was reasonable.  VPN licensing is included.

I looked at Cisco, Fortinet, and one of the others, and compared to them, I thought Sophos was the better solution. It seemed to be easier to manage. After the implementation, I could figure out what to do with a Sophos interface. If it was something like Cisco or other vendors, it would be far more complicated to deal with. So, that's one of the reasons why I chose Sophos.

For someone who is not acquainted with firewalls, whether it is Sophos or anything else, dealing with a third party for the implementation is kind of a must. 

I am satisfied with this solution. I don't really have any hands-on experience with other firewalls that I can compare it against, but I'm satisfied with it. I like it, and I'd buy it again.

I would rate Sophos XG a 10 out of 10.

We primarily use the solution for gateway purposes, in order to provide us with gateway security.

The product is good in terms of routing multiple ISP Internet and also it's good in internet traffic control.

The updates are helpful and add to the solution in a positive way.

The initial setup is simple.

The solution is stable.

For the most part, you can easily scale the solution.

I'm not seeing any such things that require any improvement. It's good. From time to time, some updates will come through. It's meeting our requirements right now.

The pricing has gotten much higher. 

We've been using the solution for three years. It's been a while now. 

The stability and performance are excellent. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's very reliable. 

We have 50 users spread across three devices. 

The solution, in terms of scalability, has its limitations, of course. Scalability in the sense of if I want to add more ISPs all depends upon my port availability. Transitions and migrations are fine and doable. I don't find any challenges there.  

Technical support from Sophos has been brilliant. We deal with them on any L3 issues and they are always helpful. 

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. it's not overly complex or difficult. 

The deployment was quick and took maybe one day.

In terms of maintenance requirements, We have an L1 technical person who will take care of all the routine maintenance of the firewall, and we also have L2 support with the vendor. We have an L3 support from the Sophos team itself. 

We did the implementation with the assistance of a vendor. We did not completely handle it ourselves. 

While, at first, the pricing was very good, it's since crept up. Now, upon renewal, it's pretty high. They've increased the costs. 

Currently, we have three devices that are similar. Only the capacity varies.

I'm a customer and an end-user. I don't have a business relationship with Sophos. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users and organizations. I'd rate it at a ten out of ten. it's the best. 

I've tried out Sophos XG a little. It has a good interface that's very user-friendly, but I haven't used all of its functions because I'm only configuring and running the system.

I've been working with Sophos XG for six months. I am not an end-user. I only provide the solution and implementation.

I think Sophos XG is very stable because the users who have installed it never mention any issues. It's very stable and scalable. 

Sophos XG is a scalable solution. Our clients who use Sophos are not big companies. 

I haven't dealt with Sophos support because I'm just doing the basic implementation for the Sophos. But I Sophos support is very experienced and helpful. Sophos has a team for administration and implementation—a good team to improve the application. 

It depends on the implementation and the deployment of systems. In my small company, I have four people on my technical team. Two of them specialize in firewall and security. They're working on Fortinet. They deal with antivirus and security implementation as well as Veeam Backup. The other two handle the administration implementation, including Active Directory and other administration solutions.

I would prefer if Sophos XG were cheaper. A lower price would benefit me as a system provider for the end customer. The cost of the license and renewal for all the software and devices is somewhat high. 

I rate Sophos XG nine out of 10. I am a Fortinet partner. If a user asks me which solution to buy, I'll tell them Fortinet. But if the customer needs Sophos, I will implement it for him. However, if I had a Sophos partnership, I would recommend it every time.

Sophos XG is very good.

It's very friendly.

The performance is good.

The reporting could be improved.

Many other firewalls give you the option to disconnect a user. For example, if an end-user is using too much bandwidth, you could right-click to disconnect this user, but Sophos XG does not support this feature.

Sophos XG does not have the ability to disconnect a user.

I have been using Sophos XG for one and a half years.

We are using the latest version.

The stability of Sophos XG is great!

Sophos XG is scalable.

We have approximately 120 users in our organization who are using this solution.

We have never contacted the technical support for Sophos. Once or twice we called the local support but not for Sophos.

Previously we used Cyberoam. When they announced the end of life we switched to Sophos XG.

It was upgraded because it had reached the end of its life. We only had one option for upgrading to Sophos XG. They gave us the option to upgrade and provided us with the hardware for free.

We migrated from Cyberoam. The migration went very well.

The migration process did not require a lot of configuration.

It took a few days to complete the migration and the testing.

This solution is being managed by myself and a colleague. We are a team of two.

We were able to complete the migration ourselves.

They have different options for the license.

We paid for three years which included the migration and the free hardware.

In most cases, I believe that the licensing is paid yearly.

I don't have any issues with this solution. I would recommend this solution for others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.