Sophos Firewall Reviews

The solution has a variety of very good, very useful features. We take advantage of a lot of them.

The initial setup isn't overly difficult.

The stability is good.

We found the initial setup to be straightforward.

Technical support is helpful.

The pricing is reasonable.

The VPN device could be improved upon.

The firewalls could be strengthened.

The solution could be more scalable.

I've been working with the solution for four or five years or so at this point. It's been a while. 

The solution is very stable. We haven't dealt with bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's pretty reliable.

I wouldn't describe the solution as overly scalable. It's limited.

We have 100 to 150 users on the product currently.

Technical support has been oaky. When we have needed them, they have been helpful and responsive. We're satisfied with the level of support we receive.

The initial setup was okay. It wasn't too complicated or difficult. It was pretty straightforward overall.

We have ten to 20 people on staff that can handle deployment and maintenance. We look at the solution monthly to see if there's anything we have to do.

We find the pricing to be reasonable. It's not too expensive.

We purchase a new license every three years.

I can't speak to the exact pricing of the product, however.

We're satisfied with this solution currently. We aren't evaluating any others or looking for a replacement. 

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

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

I prefer the advanced Sophos models. they are reliable and work well for us.

The primary use case of this solution is to protect the perimeter, the edge of the network, as well as providing anti-virus protection. There are also RED devices that can be deployed and connect to Sophos and they go back to VPN connectivity. We've mainly worked with schools which is different to working with companies because they have particular guidelines to follow. I'm an engineer/revenue development manager and we partner with Sophos. 

In terms of hardware, I think Sophos is definitely the easiest to work with. It's very intuitive and easy to learn how to use. The reporting feature is great and they have great customer support. 

In terms of improvement, I think the UI could be faster. Sometimes the system freezes and there's a lag. It seems there were some issues with the firmware but it's not a big problem. The user interface could also be improved. It would be great if they could include a little bit more bandwidth management. If they would integrate FatPipe into their product, it would be closer to what Fortinet does.

I've been using this solution for 12 years. 

This is a very stable solution.

Sophos has different size appliances, so they're scalable regardless of whether you have 10,000 workstation nodes to any device down to the 1/10, which will provide up to 100 nodes. It's very scalable. I have implemented this mainly in K through 12 educational institutions and some other types of accounting businesses as well as in a wide variety of organizations and companies. In terms of physical maintenance it's a matter of once every six months blowing out the fans. The rest is done for you with Up2Date, which carries out all the firmware upgrades, and rolls it back if there's a problem. Once in a while, an update will get stuck and you'll have to manually push the update. 

Dealing with Sophos technical support is a very easy process, from the regional business directors all the way up to the president. They have very good people and their customer support is amazing. That's one of the big things I love about Sophos. Their customer support and the group of people that run that company are amazing people, great people. I've never seen the support on any other platform that I've seen with Sophos.

The initial setup was very straightforward. They give you an 800 number to call. The licensing portal has improved greatly over the years. So Sophos now has a new license platform which makes things a lot easier than previously and you can now buy individual licensing. 

I haven't evaluated other options but I know that Fortinet does much more in terms of protection and uses AI. They do a lot more now they have another platform that sits in the cloud and provides clients with AI, whereas Sophos only recently implemented AI. Fortinet has a much better reporting function, but Sophos has stepped up and is now providing the customer with the information they need to feel secure in the product. 

My advice would be to download the VMware and get to know the interface because running one of these devices is probably not as difficult as you'd think. If you have an onsite level one user, YouTube has online training and Sophos support will help you through it. It's a very easy device for a level one engineer to manage. My advice is to download the free VMware for 30 days and then either buy the platform or install the VMware product.

I rate this solution a 10 out of 10. 

We generally deploy this solution for our clients for its basic functionality; our clients generally don't have sophisticated requirements. The solution is used for the firewall rules and the VPN rules, as well as the WAF functionality. We are silver resellers of this product and I'm head of the software department. 

The most useful aspect of the solution is the concept of integrated security which is why I use and recommended this firewall to clients. However, given that we never use endpoint protection, there is less incentive for us to continue using it. Initially it provided a specificity which enabled one kind of endpoint protection managed through the appliance together with the WIFI integrated within the firewall, managing all basic security aspects for TPD. However, because the endpoint protection is not that good and there are problems with malware and we can't prioritize facility management over security of the finances, we can't continue to work this way.

I think the management console could be improved. I also find the partner portal difficult to work with because it never functions correctly and it's exhausting to deal with. They should also improve the failover management and the reliability of failover, and there are sometimes issues with the WAF functionality, whereby a number of applications can't be used correctly. Finally, I think the support could be improved because when you open a ticket, there's a long wait time for a response. 

I've been using this solution for three years. 

The stability is quite good there are no major vulnerabilities. 

The technical support is a real weakness but that seems to always be the case. Sophos has improved over the last couple of years. It's better than before but it's still not good.  

I find the solution too expensive, to be honest. It's one of the reasons I'm looking for an alternative. It's overpriced for what they offer.  When you buy a commercial appliance, the only thing you really need is good support, and they don't provide that, so the cost for hardware and software is too expensive. If the support was responsive, I'd be happy to pay. Now I'd prefer to acquire my own hardware and install pfSense and spend the money helping technicians and engineers gain good skills and improve our own support. We'd have the same level of protection at a lower cost. 

I rate this solution a seven out of 10. 

We manage other companies' IT infrastructure and some of them use this network solution.

The most valuable feature I have found to be the reporting function.

Some of the firewall rules are complicated for us to understand, they should be simplified.

I have been using this solution for approximately five years.

We have used many different versions. In some of the older versions, the refreshing time took approximately 20 min which is too long, and in other versions, we experienced other stability issues.

The solution is scalable. We have approximately 25 clients using this solution.

The technical support was very good before. However, now it is very difficult for us to reach them. There are crucial times when we need to speak to support but they take up to three hours to resolve or to address the issue. Sometimes it takes them 45 minutes to answer the call. When you are with a client you cannot wait this long. 

The technical support needs to improve their response time in answering the calls and finding a solution.

The installation is easy. However, configuring the permissions or rules in the new version is difficult and in the older version, it was simple.

The price of the solution is reasonable when comparing it to other solutions.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Sophos XG a seven out of ten.

We use it for the protection of our network. We also have a product from Sophos for ransomware protection using which we are able to protect our network from ransomware. All of our solutions are from Sophos, and we have everything integrated. 

We can define which systems can be accessed from outside of our company. We can define the connection rules for inside and outside of the company. It is easy to implement or modify rules.

It is very easy to use. You can configure and monitor everything from one unique dashboard. It is also easy to install.

Its price should be improved. It should be cheaper. 

In terms of features, I am happy, and I don't need more features. The firewall is perfect, but the antivirus could be better. It would be useful if the antivirus was less heavy and had better performance.

I have been using this solution for two years.

It is stable. We receive the updates online. They provide the updates at a good frequency. 

It is scalable to a limit. If the size of the network grows, you will have to buy new equipment. If you need just a few more connections, you will able to work with the existing system.

Currently, we have 16 users who are using it. We don't have any plans to increase its usage because our company is in liquidation. If the government decides, we can have more projects, but, as of now, we are in liquidation. We are keeping things working for now, and we plan to keep using this solution, but there are no investments.

We have support from the supplier of our firewall, and if needed, we also get support from the people who develop our software.

It is easy to install. Our company is at three locations. It takes two days to install it at all locations. It takes one day for one location and another day for the other two locations.

For the first installation, we took the help of the supplier. Since then, we do it ourselves. We don't have teams attached directly to the system. We have two or three IT guys who work with this system, but we can have support from the maintenance team.

Currently, we have a contract for three years. It would be good if its price is reduced before we renew the contract. We will buy the equipment if it is cheaper.

I'm happy with what I am getting. I haven't faced any problems. Everything is integrated, and it is easy to install and easy to control. 

I would rate Sophos XG a nine out of ten. I am very satisfied with this solution.

The solution is very easy to use. It's easy to navigate. 

I like that I can create new rules and policies quite easily.

The solution works quite well overall.

The solution is easy to set up and configure.

Technical support has been very good.

The solution is scalable.

The product so far has been quite stable.

We are in the movie industry. We're a movie distribution company. Currently, we are affected badly by corona, since March of 2020. We are working from home, however, this solution is for on-premises tasks.

The pricing can be high unless you choose a longer contract.

We've been using the solution for about two years. 

We have no complaints in regards to the stability. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. It's good. We find it to be reliable in terms of performance.

The scalability potential is very good. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so with ease.

We have 100 users on the solution.

We have 24/7 help if we need it. The technical support on offer is quite helpful. The offices are also in Mumbai, and that makes it very easy to connect with them and get help when we need it.

Previous to Sophos, we worked with Cyberoam. We switched due to the fact that Sophos took over Cyberoam and the Cyberoam model we had was outdated. Therefore, we were upgraded in Sophos.

The initial setup is quite easy. it's not overly complex. The configuration process is also very simple.

We have a team within our organization that can handle any maintenance that is required.

The pricing is not an issue. We pay almost it's $40,000 per year. Longer contracts offer better pricing. I'm taking a renewal with a four-year core contract.

I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies. Sophos has been great so far.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. It loses some marks due to the fact that I have had some technical issues with it. I also don't use it that much and wouldn't consider myself a Sophos expert. I need to spend more time with it.

We use it for firewalling. Lately, we are also using it for remote access or VPN access for the users to the firewall and then onto the local network for people working from home. We've seen a huge jump in work from home. Everybody is working from home, so we need a secure connection to the office.

I am not using its latest version. I normally wait for a couple of months before upgrading the unit to make sure there are no bugs or issues. I check on the forums to see what other people are saying and whether there are any issues. 

There are many features. VPN, firewalling, and intrusion detection are the main features that are most useful for us at this time.

Their support is fairly good, and they come back to me. I've had an issue once or twice where I couldn't understand what the support person was saying because those calls were probably routed to India. They were a bit difficult to understand, but it is generally not an issue.

I have been using this solution for seven years.

It is stable. We've been dealing with it for such a long time. We know exactly how to set it up. Sometimes, clients have got funny ideas, and I just say to them, "You tell me what you need, and I'll do the config and set it up." I've got two clients who have got technical skills. One of them is fairly proficient on Sophos, so he does the work as well, but for most of our other clients, we set it up, and there are no issues. It just works.

It is scalable provided you purchase the correct product. We do a bit of homework. We don't just sell you the first device on the list because that's not always suitable. We do a scope of the client's business. They may be a startup with just five users, but they might have a plan to have 100 or 200 users. We need to just size according to what they anticipate to be. It is no good if we sell them an entry-level device now, and two months later, it is too small. We purchase according to a client's requirements.

We've got clients with four users, and the number can go up to hundreds. I'm currently busy setting one up for 150 users, and obviously, there is much more work involved in doing the remote VPN setups.

I use the local support in South Africa. If they can't help me, then I log a case with their international support. They're fairly good, and they come back to me. 

I've had an issue once or twice where I couldn't understand what the support person was saying because those calls were probably routed to India. They were a bit difficult to understand. They spoke so fast, and I could not hear what they were saying, but it is generally not an issue. It is not a showstopper, and we manage to work. If I don't understand, I say to them, "Can we rather chat by email?", which makes it a lot easier.

There some other firewalls that my company is using, but they're way below in terms of specs and what they can do. Sophos XG is a layer 7 firewall, and most of the others are only layer 2 firewalls. Sophos is far superior. 

I do not have any knowledge about Cisco, Juniper, or other firewalls. I don't really use them. I use some open-source firewalls, but they're also a lot lighter. I've got one or two very small clients or non-profits where we run an open-source firewall, but the feature set is way limited compared to Sophos.

Sophos XG comes in at a fair price as compared to some of the other products out there. Its learning curve wasn't that steep. It makes sense, and it is a sensible product. It is not like some of the other products.

It is simple for me. I've done so many setups. I can probably do these things in my sleep. In fact, I have got one in front of me now that I need to configure and install. I'm fairly proficient in the use of these devices. I'm happy with it.

The deployment duration depends on the setup. Some simple setups can be up and running within two hours. Complex ones most probably will take four to six hours. It also depends on the client's needs. Some of them have simple requirements, and they just want firewalling and one or two remote-access VPNs. Others have got a complex setup where we need to set up cameras and VoIP telephone systems. It all depends on a client's requirements.

It doesn't require any maintenance because the definitions are auto-updated. I've got a dashboard where I can manage all of the firewall devices from one dashboard. If I want to upgrade the software on 20 of them, I'll log onto the dashboard and upgrade the software just by selecting it and saying upgrade the software, and it is done. It requires very minimal handling on a day-to-day basis. Antivirus definitions, scanning definitions, and all those things are auto-updated anyway.

It comes at a fair price as compared to some of the other products out there. Its price is in the middle. It is not the cheapest, and it is also not as expensive as Juniper, Check Point, and definitely Cisco. Nowadays, everybody is very cost-sensitive, and people don't want to spend unnecessary money, but even before that, it was a fairly priced product.

You've got your choice of what license you want. There are basically two types of licenses, and it depends on what you need to do, and everything is included in that license. There is no cost for VPN and DMZ. You purchase the license, and you know upfront what you're getting or what you're not getting, and that's it. It is one license fee and done and dusted.

I would definitely recommend this solution to others. I recommend it to all my clients. I'm using it at home as well, and it works great. I'm fairly proficient in it, so I'm very confident. I can recommend it to anybody and everybody. It is a great product, and I've got no issue with it.

I would rate Sophos XG a ten out of ten. It is a rock-solid product that works. We've so many deployments of this solution. I'm just happy with it. 

Most of the clients use it for web filtering, application control, SSL inspection, and VPN. We have on-premise and cloud or virtual environment deployments. On the cloud, Sophos XG is on Azure or OVH.

The most valuable is the synchronized security between Sophos XG and Sophos endpoint because it provides a lot of visibility about unknown applications. The endpoint shares the information of unknown applications, and you can learn about those applications and create policies to allow or block those applications.

Everything is working as expected at this moment, but the anti-spam solution in Sophos XG needs to be improved. It needs more granular features and more stability. The anti-spam solution currently doesn't have many features, and we would like to have more features. At this moment, there is no expression filter for anti-spam. We need something to be able to filter subjects or attachments in emails based on the keyword. Sometimes, there is an issue with anti-spam, and Sophos XG suddenly stops processing incoming or outgoing emails. The only solution for this issue is to restart the appliance.

Their support should be improved. It takes a long time to escalate a support case from level one to level two.

I have been using Sophos XG for six years.

It is stable, but sometimes, there is an issue with anti-spam, and Sophos XG suddenly stops processing incoming or outgoing emails. This is the only issue that I have with the anti-spam solution on Sophos XG.

It is scalable. Most of our clients are small enterprises. We also have some medium enterprises.

Their support should be improved. When we open a support case on their support portal, it first goes to their tier-one support. When an issue is complex, it takes a long time to escalate a support case to a level-two engineer, which is frustrating. Their response time is slow.

Its deployment and setup are very easy. It is not at all complex to set up. The deployment duration varies. It can take around three days for a deployment with anti-spam, application control, IPS, and VPN with filtering.

For its deployment and maintenance, usually, there are two of us, but sometimes, there is just one person.

Most of the customers here evaluate FortiGate against Sophos XG. Some of them also evaluate WatchGuard Firebox. In the past, FortiGate had the advantage of having an SD-WAN solution, but now Sophos also has an SD-WAN solution with a graphical user interface.

Sophos XG is very easy to follow and easy to configure, which is something very valuable for me and our customers. It is also very easy to use a site-to-site VPN with certificates, which is another pro. SD-RED devices are one more advantage that Sophos has over other vendors. These devices are very useful for those customers who don't have IT personnel in branch offices. With SD-RED devices, they can connect to the central site. The connection is automatically established with Sophos XG on the site. There is no need to have an IT person on the site.

I would recommend this solution because it is really easy to implement. Sophos XG is very focused on cybersecurity. Its ability to synchronize information with Sophos endpoint is a very good feature when you are concerned about security. Other vendors or firewalls are more focused on establishing the connection and policies.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten. It is very good, but it could be better.

It is a firewall. It is used in my defense line. It provides defense and a form of security for my internal network.

IPS and advanced threat protection (ATP) are the most valuable features. I am able to segment my network traffic and block incoming connections. It is also easy to use.

I would like to have better SSL decryption and HTTPS decryption. There should be filtering of SSL and HTTPS traffic.

Sophos XG consumes a lot of endpoint resources. It consumes a lot of RAM and CPU resources, and they should look into this.

I have been using this solution for two years.

It is stable.

Its scalability is fine. We have about 40 users. We don't have any plan to increase its usage at the moment. However, it depends on recruitments and other things. If required, my company would change my box to a bigger one for better processing speed.

Their technical support is okay. Sometimes, during the webinars, when I have some questions, they respond to them, but sometimes, I don't get any response.

I have worked with Check Point before. Check Point is very expensive. At this time, we are not thinking of switching to another solution. If we were switching, Cisco Firepower would have been an option, but my colleagues, who have good experience with such solutions, would prefer to stay with Sophos XG. Cisco Firepower is a little bit complicated to use. It is also expensive. Cisco and Check Point have different boxes for different things, whereas Sophos brings everything into one box.

It was straightforward.

Its price is fair. It is cheaper and way better than others.

I like this solution. I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

We are using Sophos XG for remote two-factor authentication. We manage the web and application access, as well as the traffic. We also used it for remote, site-to-site VPNs.

The most valuable feature is the remote VPN.

The multifactor authentication is helpful because whenever the user wants to connect to the firewall, they have to use the authenticator before they can access it.

The LAN traffic management features such as implicit denial are very good.

Technical support can be slow to respond, which is something that should be improved.

In the future, I would like to see the addition of artificial intelligence for identifying and controlling traffic.

We have been using Sophos XG for the past year.

This is a reliable solution.

This product is scalable. We have approximately 400 users, spread across different departments. As our production increases and we onboard more users, we will extend the use of Sophos XG.

The technical support team is good but sometimes, there is a large delay in answering the phones.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We had assistance from the vendor during the onboarding process when the system was being set up. They spotted a lot of things during the implementation, which helped.

We get a return on this investment because the inbuilt two-factor authentication means that we don't need to purchase a third-party tool for this security feature.

The price is good and licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis.

We evaluated Cisco Firepower but we found that Sophos XG was more efficient in terms of cost. As such, we implemented XG.

This is a product that I can recommend for organizations with a medium-level or large-level infrastructure.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.