Sophos Firewall Reviews

Sophos XG is of firewall security device for our data center or branch data center.

The security measures implemented in this system are robust, particularly at the network level. It includes effective web filtering capabilities to enhance security and protect against potential threats.

Everything is consolidated into a single box, offering comprehensive functionality, including Wi-Fi access and other features.

SD-WAN would benefit from further improvement, particularly in terms of incorporating optimization techniques that are not typically found in traditional firewalls. Nowadays, WAN optimization features are being integrated into many firewalls, and implementing similar capabilities in SD-WAN would enhance its performance and functionality.

The user interface of Sophos is very simple and good compared to Azure.

I have been working with Sophos XG for more than five years.

The stability of Sophos XG has been exceptional, and we have not encountered any issues. 

I would rate the stability of Sophos XG a ten out of ten.

Sophos XG is very scalable. I would rate the scalability of Sophos XG a nine out of ten.

Our network scalability is not extensive, but it does offer certain features such as the ability to create and utilize devices in an Active-Active configuration. Additionally, using devices with an active password is also supported, providing users with various facilities and features.

We have 1,500 users in our organization daily.

The technical support is good.

I would rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward. It was easy.

The total deployment time was ten days.

We had comprehensive documentation containing all the necessary details, including firewall configurations, host information, and corresponding IP addresses.

It was very easy to install it without any downtime.

We had a total of two people to deploy it.

Sophos XG is expenses. I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten as high.

After evaluating SonicWall and considering recommendations from colleagues, friends, and industry professionals, we found that Sophos received positive feedback. Additionally, our own hands-on experience and thorough examination confirmed that Sophos was a suitable choice. Therefore, based on these factors, we made the decision to proceed with Sophos for our requirements.

If Sophos XG meets your business requirements and fulfills your account needs, it is highly recommended to choose Sophos XG as your preferred solution.

I would rate Sophos XG an eight out of ten.

The product demonstrates excellent stability, accompanied by a user-friendly interface and reliable support services, including the availability of premium support options. However, there are certain features such as WAN optimization, load balancing, advanced techniques, and advanced web filtering that are currently not available. These features have become increasingly crucial in today's environment and are in high demand.

The primary use case is for cybersecurity strategies. Sophos XGS is used for its strong features like IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) and application control.

Threat intelligence of Sophos benefits by providing site intelligence and integration of AI helps with security.

Sophos offers strong features such as IPS and application control that are particularly valuable.

Some features need remuneration and there are performance improvements required.

I have used the solution for more than a year.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the stability as an eight out of ten.

I consider the scalability to be sufficient.

Support could be improved as they sometimes respond slowly and are not very knowledgeable. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the customer service at an eight.

Positive

The previous product used was FortiGate.

The deployment had some complexities.

I managed the deployment alone with some help.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pricing of Sophos XGS at an eight out of ten. Cost and pricing of the product were aspects I considered.

Only Fortinet was evaluated.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Sophos XGS changes every two years, so we must update our knowledge. We can only test it with real requirements or problems to find scalability and reliability. We can't find these in normal testing. We can see reviews based on Gartner reports, but sometimes, we really feel problems. It can create many issues, even compatibility problems with fiber modules. Only system integrators or installers find these problems.

I think Sophos technical support's immediate response is good compared to Fortinet's. If the technical engineer is good, they get the solution immediately. If not, it might take two days. For improvement, immediate response is required, whether by email, phone call, or WhatsApp. Sometimes, we can't wait three or four days for a solution. In urgent situations, we might use a spare Sophos device while waiting for support.

I recommend what my customer needs and what fulfills their requirements. I suggest products based on price, quality, scalability, and reliability. Customers now ask for specific features at a certain price, not product names. I'm a system integrator and face technical support problems before implementation. I need pre-sales tech reports. If the distributor and support are good, I'll support that product even if the price is high. Urgent deliveries can be a problem if distributors don't cooperate.

I don't blame any product; all are good nowadays. Cisco products have high prices and compatibility issues. Fortinet has easy power replacement, while the tool needs specific adapters. I rate Sophos XGS seven to eight out of ten. Some models are very good, others not so much. It depends on the project, market, price, and features needed.

Nowadays, we have to integrate everything. Most products support this at some level.

My company has normal web-based policies to restrict websites and allow certain legitimate websites. My company also has site-to-site VPNs and SSL VPNs, along with firewalls.

The most valuable feature of Sophos XG for our company's cybersecurity defense strategy stems from a mixture of all of the product's capabilities, which includes areas like web protection and VPN that are important when it comes to cybersecurity.

I would like the product to improve so that it can provide advanced SD-WAN, which can allow users to deal with infinite connections along with seamless bandwidth utilization.

In the product, the area revolving around SD-WAN has certain shortcomings where improvements are required.

It would be great if I could monitor a particular traffic from a network with Sophos XG.

I have been using Sophos XG for around a year and a half. I am a customer of the tool.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight to nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven to eight out of ten.

There are around 200 users of the product in my company.

The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

I have experience with Fortinet.

Sophos and Fortinet provide good features. Interface-wise and usage-wise, Fortinet is good. Fortinet provides a simple interface, while it is an area that is a bit complex in Sophos. Feature-wise, Sophos and Fortinet are similar.

I rate the product's initial setup phase at six or seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on-premises.

The solution can be deployed in a day.

The product is expensive. I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price.

Sophos XG has the ability to provide good reports.

I rate the tool an eight to nine out of ten.

We typically use Sophos XGS for things like (UTM, acting as a proxy, managing routing, and for point-to-point connections.

The most valuable features of Sophos XGS for me are XGS IPS, SD-WAN, VPN setup, email protection, and integration with endpoint security.

Areas for improvement in Sophos XGS include better balance when handling high availability configurations, smoother firmware upgrades without the need for turning off devices, and simplified configuration after firmware updates.

In the next release of Sophos XGS, I would like to see improvements in log searching within the interface and more functionality available without needing to go to the command line, especially for troubleshooting purposes.

I have been working with Sophos XGS for five years.

Sophos XGS is stable and resilient, even in environments with power fluctuations and instability.

Scalability with Sophos XGS is generally good, but there can be frustrations with switches when setting up VPNs. I would rate the scalability as a four out of ten.

I believe the scalability of Sophos XGS can be improved, especially when compared to competitors like Palo Alto and Check Point. While it is a good product, there is room for enhancement to compete better in scalability challenges.

I would rate the technical support as a seven out of ten.

Neutral

Before Sophos XGS, I used Check Point, Palo Alto, and Cisco data solutions. I switched to Sophos because it is more affordable.

The initial setup of Sophos XGS is generally simple, especially for basic internet access with default features, but more complex configurations may have some difficulties. Overall, it is quick and stable.

It took less than an hour and a half to deploy Sophos XGS initially, including setting up internet access and basic firewall rules. However, migrating from older versions to the new setup took longer due to compatibility issues with the old settings.

Sophos XGS is quite affordable.

Overall, I would rate Sophos XGS as a seven out of ten. I would recommend it to others.

I use Sophos XG in my company as a firewall for my company's network. The product is used to manage the internet access received through routers for our company's network.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the routing functionality provided by the product is very easy for our company to use in our network since it provides for the movement of packets from one device to the other devices in our network, making it an area which works really fine for us.

I want an increase in the ability of the product to block and delete the websites and applications that don't work fine for our company. The tool ends up blocking another website that I need when I only want it to block a particular website or application. I can't use the product's application control feature, making it a disadvantage of the solution where improvements are required.

I have been using Sophos XG since around 2019, making it five years. I use Sophos Firewall Home Edition.

It is a very stable solution. In my company, we have had a reason to restart the product for a long time since the services offered by the tool have been fine enough for our organization.

The product was installed in our company in 2019 when we had around 15 employees. I don't see any issues with the product, considering the increase in the number of devices over the years in our company.

Sophos Firewall Home Edition doesn't provide technical support.

Sometimes, my company needs to rely on pfSense to deal with the area of backup. My company prefers pfSense to save data.

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

I use Sophos Firewall Home Edition, which is available for free.

I haven't used the VPN capabilities provided by the product since my company already has a VPN-based solution in our environment.

The application control feature of the product is very good. My company doesn't use the application control feature for now since there was an increase in the blocking and deletion of applications when it was used.

The integration of the product into our company's infrastructure did not have any impact on our network performance. In general, the product is a bit buggy when it comes to the area of its impact on network performance.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

We encounter difficulties while navigating through certain features and functionalities of the product. The GUI could be much more transparent.

We have been using Sophos XG for two years. At present, we use the latest version.

I rate the product’s stability an eight out of ten.

We have around 15 to 20 customers using Sophos XG. It is suitable for larger companies. We have around 200 technical engineers in our organization managing it. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

The technical support team is friendly and supportive in terms of technical assistance.

Positive

We are working with CheckPoint, SonicWall, and FortiGate.

The deployment method involves navigating through several pages, such as selecting the country and configuring LAN and WAN ports, before reaching the manual configuration stage. Instead, simplifying the process by allowing users to log in directly to the dashboard and initiate configuration without additional prompts could be helpful. The implementation time depends on specific firewall requirements.

The product is more expensive than SonicWall. Our customers compare devices for office compatibility, such as Sophos XG 4100 and SonicWall NSA 2300, and question license cost disparities.

I rate the pricing a six out of ten.

The product’s new variant allows for faster processing of data packets from LAN to WAN, surpassing the capabilities of an 8G firewall. It provides threat prevention features, including WAF, IPS, and AV. We have configured SSL VPN capabilities for different branches, which have been working efficiently. For our minimalistic usage, it has been performing well in transferring data from on-premise devices. It helps us generate detailed reports on the dashboard. The product’s integration with Sophos Central enhances security architecture by enabling centralized management under a single dashboard.

We recommend Sophos XG as a priority as it is much more reliable and has efficient technical assistance. It is much easier for configuration, web filtering, or web extension than one of its competitors.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

I use Sophos XG for network security and VPN policies. It is crucial for safeguarding data, enforcing user access controls, and ensuring secure communication. The firewall features, like application control and intrusion prevention, provide a strong defense against cyber threats. With centralized management, setting up and monitoring policies becomes easy, and the VPN capabilities ensure secure remote access for our team.

What I like about Sophos XG is its versatility in tailoring security features to our specific needs. In our environment where certain services are only needed part-time, the flexibility to deploy services selectively is valuable. The comprehensive protection, from firewall to market inspection and routing, ensures a robust defense. I particularly like the visibility it provides into network traffic, allowing us to identify and address issues efficiently.

While Sophos XG has been reliable for remote troubleshooting sessions, it would be beneficial if the platform provided more flexible support for a variety of devices. The user interface is intuitive for those familiar with it, but improving accessibility and user guidance could be beneficial for newcomers. Additionally, although the features are comprehensive, fair pricing and more flexibility with device compatibility could make it even more appealing in the market.

I have been working with Sophos XG for two years.

It is quite stable.

I would give it a ten out of ten for scalability. We have approximately 100 users.

Tech support for Sophos XG is great. They are professional, respond quickly, and help resolve issues effectively.

Previously, I have used Fortinet and SonicWall.

The initial setup of Sophos XG is not complex, especially with familiarity and experience. As you work with it over time, it becomes more straightforward, and mastery comes with continuous use. Deployment depends on specific organizational needs, but in general, it involves configuring the connection between the internet and the local network, setting up VLANs, and defining firewall rules. For me, as a consultant, the process varies based on different client scenarios. Sophos XG simplifies the deployment process, and once configured, it efficiently manages network access for different user categories.

I have done both in-house deployments and collaborated with integrators based on the client's preference. As a consultant, I assess the needs, design the setup, and can either guide the in-house team through the deployment or handle it myself. The process involves configuring the live site for optimal security, and in some cases, I work remotely on existing setups. Sophos XG's flexibility makes it feasible for both in-house and external experts to manage the deployment effectively.

The payment structure can depend on the reseller or partner. Typically, it involves getting the device first, and then the licensing is managed, often in US dollars, through the partner or reseller. The process ensures proper handling and support through authorized channels.

I would recommend Sophos XG for anyone looking to build robust IT systems. It is ideal if you have a clear vision of your IT infrastructure and want a solution that can seamlessly integrate and enhance security. The flexibility to tailor it to specific needs makes Sophos XG a valuable choice for building a reliable and secure network. Overall, I would rate it as a ten out of ten.