Sophos Firewall Reviews

We use the SRX from Juniper as the second firewall, and Sophos is useful as a first firewall facing the internet edge. We also use it as an SD-WAN, and we're going to use it as a load balancer instead of a BIG F5 load balancer. All of the things like web filtering and internal email filtering will be inside Sophos XG.

Sophos is a stable solution, and we haven't had any bugs or limitations.

The GUI and support could be better. I think there are other products that we are going to deploy instead of Sophos. We have already upgraded a month ago because the interfaces and support for Sophos are really weak. But other products like Juniper, Cisco, or FortiGate are better than Sophos. It's also complicated, and the end-user or client does not understand it.

The interfaces and the GUI design are not easy, and when you do something, unrelated things are in the same configuration site. There are different sites to visit to configure Sophos. This is even more than other products. Many features can be improved, especially the VPN and web filtering features.

We have been using Sophos XG for about five years.

Sophos XG is stable. 

Technical support could be better. I already opened a ticket three days ago, but they are not interested or have not cooperated with the end customer. But Juniper and Cisco are fast to respond compared to Sophos. Sophos is really complicated, and it's not fair to buy the annual support when they don't provide any support quickly when you request it.

The price is fair.

I would advise potential users not to use Sophos if they are not buying the appliance. They should use another product like FortiGate, Check Point, or Palo Alto.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Sophos XG a six.

We are using it for our VPN and firewall. It acts as our firewall for the external portal into our network.

It is very easy to configure and straightforward. The firewall rules are straightforward.

It works great out of the box. It has been working as advertised, and I haven't had any issues with it.

Its user interface is a little bit slow.

I have been using this solution for a couple of weeks.

It has been up and running for probably three weeks and hasn't had any issues. I didn't have a lot of time on it yet to make a good call about that, but so far, so good.

It scales for our purposes. We're a very small office. We have 25 users on the system. We're an engineering consulting company, so all remote users are accessing our network

It is being used quite heavily, and I don't see any need to increase its usage at all at this point.

I didn't have any direct interaction with Sophos. Their online documentation is very good. It is much better than Cisco.

It was a replacement for Cisco ASA Firewall. Our Cisco licensing had expired, and it was very expensive. Sophos XG is a lower-cost solution for the same thing. It was also easier to configure.

It was very simple. It took a couple of hours.

We had a partner, and they did the initial setup and walked us through it. Our experience was very good.

Its maintenance is very simple. You need less than one administrator for its maintenance.

I expect to see ROI in a year or two.

Its licensing cost is around 700 bucks a year or something like that. It is 100 bucks a month at the most. It seems to be standard licensing with no additional costs.

I would advise others to go through the Sophos demos. They are very good, and they walk you through configuration and use cases. Their online documentation is very helpful in not only configuring it but also selecting a proper model to deploy.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten for ease of use and cost.

We use this solution as a firewall, and for remote login during the lockdown period.

We have used Sophos client, which is connected to the firewall to help our users to log in remotely. 

We have always used firewalls, this is just a different one that we have deployed. It allowed our clients to log in remotely. 

It has also helped us with outbound and inbound account management.

We have used it to manage the usage of the sites and helping to control the internet usage during productive hours.

I like the dashboard, the interface, the management console, and the remote login.

I would like to explore network access control. I haven't seen that it is clearly deployed.

It might be something that is already in place, or if it is available on another device.

I would want the level of integration to have another device on your network that is also reliable.

I have been using Sophos XG for three years.

It's very stable. It has never given us any problems.

When there are power failures, we have to reboot the network.

We have not tested the scalability. Our users are below 100, and from the time that we got it, our number of users has not gone above that original 100.

From what I have read, it's scalable and we have plans to increase our usage. For example, we are not using the Intrusion section, which is an area that we want to use. 

We also plan to install the Sophos endpoint.

We are looking at integrating the two solutions and seeing how they work.

We have been using a different antivirus for our endpoints.

I haven't used technical support from Sophos. I have not required it. It's been easy for me to sort out myself.

Sophos was our first physical firewall device on our network.

Before that, we were using Linux-based open-source software firewalls.

The initial setup is straightforward. It is easy to install.

The price for the firewall is reasonable.

The endpoint, however, is expensive. The price is not very standard, considering where we are coming from.

We are considering Sophos endpoint and should have it next month.

I would recommend Sophos XGto others.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

We are using the solution as a firewall to protect all the computers in our financial organization, we did not have one before.

I have found the feature allowing you to manage everything from a centralized location beneficial.

I am using the Azure Active Directory in my company and it was complicated to integrate this solution with Azure. I had to use an internal VPN and had to do many configurations to get it operating. This process should be easier to implement.

I have been using the solution for the past six months.

The solution has been stable in my experience.

One of the main reason I chose this solution was great scalability. I have approximately 150 people using this solution in my company.

The technical support is very good. Two months ago we needed help with implementation and they helped us with the configuration of Azure and this solution. You are able to find everything in the documents for the solution, it comes with easy to follow information with photos.

I was using Cisco products before and we decided to switch to this solution because of Sophos Central and it is easier to manage. 

The setup was easy to manage for this solution.

It has taken us six months to implement the solution and I am still deploying my system. We used another company to help us do the deployment and maintenance is done by a team of three.

I paid for a license for the solution for three years costing approximately $11,000. Additionally, I received the Web Appliance fee for paying for the full license. 

All my experience with this solution has been good. I would recommend this to others and already have.

I rate Sophos XG a nine out of ten.

I'm using the solution mainly for its firewall application and to prevent intrusion in the system. The XG platform is very powerful from the perspective of identification and to prevent potential attacks on the system due to its the capacity to predict and to anticipate the potential damage on the system.

It's integrated inside the system, meaning that it can control all the endpoints in the system and talk with them and identify any potential situation. It can also isolate one area inside the system without compromising the entire system. This allows you to isolate the initial problem without involving the entire infrastructure. 

You have real-time control of all your infrastructure. It is integrated with the hardware and offers good performance alongside the hardware and by the firmware, and these work together to control the entire infrastructure.

The real-time control on offer is excellent.

We really appreciate that you can segment and quarantine certain sections of your system without having to shut down the entire operation.

The product has artificial intelligence that has the capability to quickly identify which could be the potential risk mainly for intrusions like ransomware or a new kind of typology of attacks that are in place right now. 

The idea is to mainly prevent the condition and not to manage the situation, as, if that happens, in many ways, it's already too late. It's to identify the condition that can help the company to prevent or mainly to reduce the risk of an intrusion. In that sense, its performance is excellent. 

The product is doing it job without affecting the system with a heavy load. The activity on offer is very light in terms of resources that are required by the system. It does not require a lot of resources in terms of memory, et cetera. There is no performance impact on the system. The customer doesn't detect its presence on the system when it's working, and yet they still get all of the great benefits of protection.

The solution has been quite stable. 

It's a product that is in continuous improvement and is following what the customer is asking. They are taking inputs and designing new releases specifically according to the client and their needs.

It's one of the best products on the market as it really understands where the market is moving and iterates based on the future. It's constantly improving. It does a great job at keeping confidentiality while guaranteeing security.

The solution doesn't just offer theoretical security, it really does offer very good, real-time security and delivers on its promise to the client.

There is no specific features request right now really. I see that all the features that Sophos is implementing and is proposing on the market follow exactly what the market is asking. It's difficult to identify something that is missing compared with what the market can ask as one of the most important things that Sophos does is have the capability to anticipate in a certain way what the market expects. As a leader on the market, they tend to have the solution just before the market is asking them for it. 

The solution could offer a bit more integration with other systems, with other platforms - just to be able to extend the capability and to interface with other kinds of platforms or systems that I can find on the market as it gives the possibility to improve the level of integration.

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's very reliable.

The solution is quite scalable. You have to consider that all Sophos products are scalable. This is one of the main characteristics of the system. It means that you can start with a base solution that is very simple and improve this step by step without losing what you have done in the past. It's scalable in the sense that you have a different layout that you can cover, however, you don't have to dismiss what you have done in the past. You have just to integrate. In this way, if you consider the cost of implementation for the company, it has the possibility to optimize the cost because the company has the possibility to appreciate the system initially, and then improve the system step by step without losing what has been done in the past.

This means the company has the possibility to distribute the cost if you're in a certain period of growth. Normally some companies start to say, "I want to guarantee to control to the outside with a certificate and give the possibility to access my data in a controlled way. After that, I want to extend the security on the email that is managed by the company. I want to encrypt the data on the server and so on." All these features can be approached in a step-by-step manner instead of all at once, and you can implement them on the system in different ways and at different times.

We normally have about 50 users and around five technicians.

I also currently use Cisco products alongside Sophos.

However, we did not previously use a solution that was different from Sophos.

The initial setup is not so complicated. The system is not complicated to understand and also in can be installed without a very high level of expertise. Of course, if you have this kind of expertise, you can obtain from the system the maximum performance that the system can do, however, it means that you are not obliged to be a guru to be able to use these kinds of products. You can use these kinds of products just as an IT manager inside the company without having or needing special knowledge. 

Otherwise, you can leave to Sophos with the capability of doing something like a close box. You are sure that Sophos is able to guarantee the level of security that you are expecting. You can have it be automatic, or you can choose to go more manual in its operations. For example, if you were a professional photographer, you'd probably like a manual experience, as it would allow you more leeway with your craft, and if you were an amateur, you 'ld likely prefer an automatic camera that handles the heavy lifting for you. Sophos, in that sense, is the same. If you want, you can configure single parameters, or you can leave it to Sophos to give you something out-of-the-box.

In any case, if you stay on the automatic configuration, you are guaranteed that the system can provide the correct level of service that you want. It means that it's not required to have an expert. That said, you need of course to have a minimum level of knowledge, as it's clear that you need to know what you are managing. Starting from that, you can obtain what you need without moving into an advanced configuration.

Typically, a configuration takes about half a day or so, if you go that route. It doesn't take long, as those who would handle it would know what they are doing.

We handled the implementation ourselves, in-house. We did not need the assistance of an implementor or consultant. I have enough knowledge on the solution to manage it myself.

I'm mainly a user. Sometimes I handle installations.

I'm using the latest version of the solution. I don't have the version number on-hand.

We do plan on continuing to use the solution. I've been quite please with it overall.

I would recommend the solution to others. It's worked quite well so far and really leads the market.

I would rate the solution at a ten out of ten.

We do not have a primary use case for this solution. We are using Sophos XG to configure wireless networks. Some of our clients have Sophos XG integrations and we are using the MAC filtering on it. 

We also use the Sophos XG antivirus, content filtering, and as a secure email gateway. 

We have a bundled license with an email security subscription. We also use the free Sophos XG VPN. 

What sets Sophos XG apart from other vendors is the solution's dual antivirus. We enabled the Security Heartbeat feature, which synchs endpoints with the network layer antivirus; they work as a single unit. If there is a virus attack from outside world, the firewall handles it. If a virus comes when the network layer is idle, the endpoint protection takes care of it, which is why we are using this solution in our office scenario.

The solution is not vulnerable and that is the most important aspect of it for me. We deployed the Sophos XG firewall on the Edge browser and everything that comes in from the outside world as a potential threat is handled by the firewall.

I'm satisfied with the user interface and the solution's security level. They have a sandboxing solution for zero-day threats and a real-time cloud solution with millions of tags. I think the number at this point is four million tags. This is a good features in Sophos XG; it provides more security against new attacks, which are generated every day.

I don't see any drawbacks to this solution at the moment. I know of other products that have more features and are more advanced stages, but ultimately, an organization's choice of software depends on its budget. If you have a small amount of money and you want to secure your network, Sophos XG can provide you with network security. Sophos ZG is a mid-range solution. There are solutions that are above it in terms of features on the market, but they cost more money. 

They could work on their technical support to make it more productive for the end customer. Some of my friends and colleagues have had unfavorable experiences with the tech support taking too long to close their ticket. However, I opened two cases this week and both have been resolved. 

I have been using Sophos XG for five years. 

My impressions of the solution's scalability is that it varies depending on the model or capability of the box. When we have clients that want to deploy a small box on 200 or 150 users, we suggest that they get a box that's better able to cater to problems and their traffic. If a customer has 35 or 50 users, we will propose just a small box.

We are facing some technical issues with Sophos XG right now. We have already escalated this issue with the Sophos technical support. They seem to be working on it.

We are satisfied with the technical support. They reply quickly to our queries, but sometimes take time upgrading their systems.

The initial setup was not complex. I was new to the solution when I deployed it and I didn't face any problems; it wasn't a hassle or challenging for me.

I did not evaluate any other options. 

This is a mature product. It has a good Gartner rating. It is best for the enterprise level, for the SMBs. Anyone can deploy according to the needs of their customers.

Sophos CG is cost-effective, which makes it really suitable for SMB. If you want basic security and more embedded features, go with Sophos XG. 

The solution is primarily used as a firewall with all the "next Generation" functionality. We sell this solution to our clients.

I prefer the solution to other Firewalls as it is very intuitive to manage.  

The product offers a more complete set of security functionality at one price . It differentiates more in objects to protect like web server protection or email protection.

Troubleshooting is easy with XG Firewall because of clear arrangement of troubleshooting features in GUI.  I like the ease of use.

The Base License includes already VPN, network protection and web protection functionality and you have a wireless controller on top. The data stream analysis and security features are built-in; these are the main features we need these days.

The user interface is very good. It's already quite simple and easy to use.

Recently, I've had a problem with updating firmware. Updates should be more stable . The last update I did was not successful and ended in a unusable device. Also the support case i opened for it could have been more effective.

I don't use all of the features and therefore it would be difficult to evaluate if anything is missing.

I've been dealing with the solution for around 12 months or so. It's been about a year at this point.

From the update side, the last update didn't run successfully and this is not good for us as the customer needs this device to access the internet. If this device is failing and it has no connection to the internet  it is a great problem for the customer.

It may be possible to implement a second device in a fail-over cluster and this would avoid such a problem as then if one device fails in the updating process, the other device could be take over, and so it would be not such a great problem. That said, in this scenario, you have to sell two devices. That would be the best way to ensure stability, however.

The scalability of the solution is limited according to sizing. You buy one device with specific performance parameters, which should be equivalent to the customer's needs, and this device is not able to customize to a higher level. If you need to grow, you must buy another device with higher parameters.

In our case, the customers we work with have small setups. They aren't large organizations. Sophos told us about a sizing guide in the future.

We are a reseller and  our first and only support case was not very effective. It should not be used as a guideline.

We also resell Cisco products.

The initial setup is not overly complex.  The process is straightforward. A company shouldn't run into problems but need a understanding of the device and the functions.

The deployment process depends on the requirements. A good planning is beneficial.

The pricing is good due to the fact that you get so much functionality from one overall solution. The base license covers all features you need to protect against threats from internet. Setting up the device basically is intuitive and there are a lot of help from internet community.

We are a reseller of both Cisco and Sophos.

We're using the latest version of the solution for our clients.

I'd rate the solution at an nine out of ten. We've  been satisfied with the product, however, there is still more they could do in testing updates.

We primarily use the solution as a comprehensive security device.

The VPN capabilities are quite good.

The solution is very good at web and application filtering.

It's quite a comprehensive security solution.

The performance the solution offers is excellent. Compared to the older solution, and especially on the cloud, it can reach very good performance. It depends on the licenses, of course. 

The graphical user interface is excellent. 

The intrusion protection module is very useful.

You can easily connect the solution to cloud management.

The stability has been excellent.

Technical support could be improved. They aren't as responsive as they could be.

It would be ideal if we could have a more populated and detailed knowledge base. Generally, the new features must be tested before applying them to the production side. I would like to see more case studies, more application notes, and so on.

We would like to see an improvement in mail management. When passing from FG Series to XG Series, some mail features have been lost. We would like to regain them.

We've used the solution for many years - before it was even Sophos. Sophos, some years ago, was Astaro AG. Sophos acquired Astaro AG. We have at least ten years of experience with the solution.

We've found the stability to be very good. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no glitches. The performance and reliability are excellent. 

Occasionally, we do have to do a debug, however, that's typical of all firewall solutions.

The scalability of the solution is very good overall. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.

We have about 200 people using the solution.

The reaction times of technical support are slow. They should be more responsive. We're not completely satisfied with the way they handle it.

In the past, I've had some experience with SonicWall, Fortinet, and with a Linux solution. However, compared to other solutions, we prefer Sophos.

It's better to be certified to install in a good manner. You need to understand what you are doing. Sophos offers the chance to certify at different levels. There are commercial levels and technical levels.

The time it takes to deploy depends on the complexity of the setup and environment. It can take a few hours or a few days. It can even take a week if the architecture is very advanced.

Generally, you need to be an engineer to handle maintenance. We have three people at our office that can handle implementation and setup as well as maintenance.

You need a license to use the solution. We offer the license as a box license, or we can offer a license like an MSP, as a service provider. We often acquire the licenses and we give them to our customers as an MSP.

We are an authorized partner for Sophos.

We're using the latest version of the solution.

I'd recommend the solution, especially over, for example, Cisco. 

I'd rate the solution ten out often. It's really worked well for us.