Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Md Masud Parvez - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Assistant Director Information Technology at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
Well priced with good features but needs technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable and reliable."
  • "In Sophos, the user portal is not user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

Basically, we are using these products for our waste filtering, then application filtering and bandwidth management purpose.

How has it helped my organization?

The major benefit is that I can shape my bandwidth, basically. In Bangladesh, we do not have a lot of bandwidth management or bandwidth capacity. We have a limited capacity and we share the many people in this capacity. I can shape my bandwidth using this Sophos file, so everyone gets a minimum level of bandwidth. If the user is higher-end, then getting the lower end and the user has the minimum level or less than 1000 or 500, and they're getting better than that.

What is most valuable?

Sophos has a feature for user credentials, which means if users are not logging into the capital portal of Sophos, they're not using any internet. We can advertise some products and features using these portals for our university. Basically, I am working at a university, so the university's different features and the different departments are using this portal. If students see this advertisement and then after they log in to the credential in the capital portal and use the internet.

What needs improvement?

Sophos is good for a mid-level company, not a large-level one. If the user level is very large, Sophos is not capable of handling such a high level of users. It, therefore, needs to improve the devices so that they work in larger organizations and with a large number of users.

When we use the hardware level of the device, the RAM or other storage capacity is fixed. We could not change the memory or other capacity of this device. If we need some improvement in capacity, we get different types of problems. If RAM usage is too high or capacity moves higher, the Sophos device does not work properly.

Sophos has a number of additional features, however, the user graphical interface, the graphical interface when we are using CyberRoam, the user portal, or user interfaces, are so much smarter than Sophos. In Sophos, the user portal is not user-friendly. This needs to change, the UI.

Buyer's Guide
Sophos XGS
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Sophos XGS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've worked with the solution for the last four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. I'd rate the performance at 75%. Some improvements could be made. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 4,000 or 5,000 people that are connected in Sophos.

It is not easily scalable as it has fixed capabilities and that means C2 RAM is fixed. That makes it not easily scalable.

We use the product on a daily basis. 

How are customer service and support?

Sophos' technical support is not good. I have not been getting better support from their technical people. The response time needs to be better.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I am also using the Cisco Firepower model 4110.

The main difference is basically Sophos is not like a Firepower. Sophos we can call by the UTM device management. For security purposes, we are using a Cisco firewall for different types of attacks. For bandwidth management with filtering and other activities, just normal activities, we are using Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment is not complex, however, it's mid-level. You do need some experience. It depends on the device model. If we purchase the higher model, then the price or other investment is also more.

The deployment takes a maximum of one month. We do maintenance on the devices maybe once a year. 

What about the implementation team?

For the deployment process, the partner helped us deploy the devices and three people were working on the deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The initial price is high and we purchased a three-year licensing model. Every three years, after every three years, we need to renew Sophos. Everything is included under the license. 

The pricing is quite low, and we are quite happy with it.

What other advice do I have?

We're a customer and end-user.

We are using the hardware version of the product. It's the latest version. 

I'd rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Presales Consultant Information Security Services at Team Computers
Consultant
A good VPN solution that has valuable threat management, IPS and IDS features
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Sophos is the VPN solution. I also value their threat management, IPS IDS features and login features with single sign-on."
  • "Sophos XGS needs improvement with the threshold values. Other solutions have the capacity to handle more users."

What is our primary use case?

We use Sophos XGS in 15 locations with 15 firewalls for the XG. We dedicate one person to maintain the solution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Sophos is the VPN solution. I also value their threat management, IPS, IDS, and login features with single sign-on.

What needs improvement?

Sophos XGS needs improvement with the threshold values. Other solutions have the capacity to handle more users.

I would like to see virtualization security included in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Sophos XGS for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XGS is stable as long as the capacity is not exceeded, then it becomes slow.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability needs to be improved by increasing the threshold value. The bulk capacity can handle 300 users, if you have more users, it does not work well.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is okay. They are responsive but limited with knowledge and need to escalate to the upper levels. It takes time to resolve issues.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the solution was straightforward. It is easy to use and convenient.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license for Sophos XGS is for three years, paid on a yearly basis. Everything is included with the license; there are no additional fees.

What other advice do I have?

Sophos SGS is a nice solution. I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sophos XGS
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Sophos XGS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Bhanu Brahmaji - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Prospecta Technologies
Real User
Sophos XG firewall is the Best protection and security Management, authentication, hashing, and encryption; unfortunately updating policies can create a lag meshing with administrators' environment,
Pros and Cons
  • "There are good KCL rules and policies as well as NATing rules."
  • "There can be lag time when updating an operating policy."

What is our primary use case?

We use Sophos XGS for web security and web policies, it's our primary solution. authentication VPN site to site, SSL VPNs installations. Sophos Firewall designed its extreme protection IT Rules and policies security level Authentication is good sometimes it's tricky and very helpful. Sophos Firewall delivers advanced threat protection to instantly identify bots and other advanced threats while defending your network from today's sophisticated attacks. current live user activities diagnostics to generate logs and objectionable site restrictions, daily reports are a great solution for the work environment.

How has it helped my organization?

With the increase in cybersecurity threats, this solution has helped us at an organizational level. We have always been hit by someone at the end of our desk or hidden somewhere ex:- spoofing attacks, a man in the middle attacks, and ransomware new era of cybersecurity pain full concept, Mail spoof attacks, all these have to improve DMZ and secure the firewall policies and server-client Antivirus solutions. Daily monitoring manually or trusted third-party vendors monitoring tools. finally, we are worried about how strong we are at the cybersecurity level.

What is most valuable?

This is a great solution for security, authentication, hashing, and encryption level. Sophos is good at ACL rules, Port forwarding, SDWAN route policies, IT Rules and policies as well as Natting rules. It's a reliable product to secure web securities. whenever we want we switch to the ports securely Heartbeat monitoring live user activities is great to execute on a production level. Bandwidth control sometimes referred to as traffic shaping is one of the best firewall features. Link aggregation and SD-WAN (Software-defined Wide Area Network) are great features for businesses that need multiple links to the internet. thank you

What needs improvement?

There are occasional issues when we update an operating firmware there's some lag time. Updating requires us to reboot the firewall, in this scenario 24/7 organization will be the most effective. In addition, I'd like to see more focus on customer support calls we were waiting for hours to connect with them. In some cases, Sophos's team is extraordinarily helpful to solve any issues in the firewall. Sophos needs to focus on customer support through a chatbot or call management quickly so we can find some help on the client side. Thank you

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable despite having to restart when we update. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable and we're able to handle all the pressure in our organization. We have over 100 VPNs and it all works well, Authentications, port forwarding, and all kind of security levels are much appreciated. 

How are customer service and support?

Customer support needs to be improved. They're very helpful once you get them on the line but sometimes take up to an hour before we can speak to someone who can fix a problem. when a problem occurs at the production level we freeze and everything goes blank so a faster customer support call is much more appreciated.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is complex. Sophos has some features like rules and policies, NATing, and PATing so deployment might take more time than if we were using an alternate solution. Deployment can take up to two weeks because every policy and VPN requires checking and that takes time. I've been working for the past 10+ years experience in network engineering and firewall configuration so we deployed in-house but we contacted Sophos for assistance when we needed it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The Sophos or any kind of firewall is worthy to buy when we have dedicated servers and switches to implementation.

What other advice do I have?

There are some very good features in this firewall and also some areas that need improving. I rate this product seven out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1449147 - PeerSpot reviewer
RSSI at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable, simple initial setup, but lacking features
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is straightforward."
  • "Sophos XGS could improve by having a Network Access Control(NAC). This feature is a basic function in other firewalls and should be added, such as Palo Alto."

What is our primary use case?

I use Sophos XGS as an alternative gateway and we are using all the new generation firewall functionalities, such as EPS and antivirus.

How has it helped my organization?

We are using the WAF functionalities of Sophos XGS which has helped the organization.

What needs improvement?

Sophos XGS could improve by having a Network Access Control(NAC). This feature is a basic function in other firewalls and should be added, such as Palo Alto.

The SD-WAN functionality should be reviewed because there are some devices that don't work well. For example, in Palo Alto, the SD-WAN functionality is more efficient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Sophos XGS for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sophos XGS is a stable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support from Sophos XGS is good. We reach out to them if there is a serious problem. We have opened approximately four tickets with them.

I rate the support for Sophos XGS a two out of five.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used many other solutions, such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco. Sophos XGS rates are at the bottom of the list compared to many solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

I would rate the initial setup of Sophos XGS three out of five.

What about the implementation team?

We have a team of three or four people who administer Sophos XGS.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Once you pay for the Sophos XGS hardware there is no license required. There are additional costs if you want the support. We have purchased support for three years.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sophos XGS a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Vikram_Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at HCLTech
Real User
Top 20
Enhances network security and has good threat intelligence capabilities, but doesn't notify users about downtime or errors
Pros and Cons
  • "The threat intelligence capabilities of the tool are good."
  • "I do not get notifications regarding ISP downtime."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution as an antivirus gateway and internet gateway.

What is most valuable?

All the features are effective in enhancing our network security. I am satisfied with the product. The threat intelligence capabilities of the tool are good. It has contributed to reducing our overall security costs by approximately 90%.

What needs improvement?

I do not get notifications regarding ISP downtime. It would be better if I could get notifications related to the critical errors occurring in Sophos. The product is difficult to use. The administrators must be notified of the errors occurring in the firewall through emails or messages. It will help organizations take proactive measures instead of taking action after the incident happens.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one and a half years.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is weak. The support team is not responsive. The support people do not follow up or call us back.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

How was the initial setup?

The implementation is not difficult. The service providers help install and implement the firewall in our network.

What other advice do I have?

I will recommend the product to others. However, I would not recommend it to organizations that do not have technical people who deal with networks. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Saad Qaiser - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager (Network Design) at Comstar - Information Systems Associates Ltd.
Real User
Top 5
Great for web filtering and load balancing but needs better marketing
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is very simple."
  • "I would like to see them in third-party evaluation reports like Gartner, Magic Quadrant, or Forrester to make it easier for us to show our customers that Sophos is a leader in the market."

What is our primary use case?

The best use case of Sophos XGS is for customers who use CMGs that manage the gateway of Microsoft, which was made obsolete years ago. Clients want to replace their proxy with some solution, and Sophos is one of the best bets.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution is good for web filtering. It's also possible to use it as a load balancer and a destination firewall and site-to-site channeling. Remote users can gain access via Sophos. It solves for a variety of uses that the client needs. 

What is most valuable?

In our market, they offer a web filter SSL VPN and they are very useful for the customer.

The initial setup is very simple. 

It's stable and reliable. 

We can scale the product.

What needs improvement?

Some firewall names like Palo Alto and FortiGate are very famous for security. People find them very secure. While Sophos is fairly secure, they aren't known for their security, and it's not an obvious selling point. Unfortunately, on Gartner, Magic Quadrant, and Forrester, Sophos doesn't have a good presence. They need to get better at marketing their abilities and expanding what they can do.

I would like to see them in third-party evaluation reports like Gartner, Magic Quadrant, or Forrester to make it easier for us to show our customers that Sophos is a leader in the market. It will be easier for us to sell them. Our market depends on what products are currently in Gartner and Forrester, and these platforms. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been working with the solution for five to six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. 

We have more than 100 clients on Sophos. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good and above average. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to set up the solution. It's not a complex process. 

While it depends on the magnitude of the customer's environment, normally the deployment only takes a day or two.

What about the implementation team?

We do not require any outside assistance. We can handle the setup ourselves. 

If the client needs us to, we can deploy the solution for them. Since we sell the solution, we have a good understanding of the process. We have been doing implementations for years. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is moderate. It's not overly expensive. They offer good licensing. 

What other advice do I have?

We are using and selling the solution. We are deploying it for different customers.

When the customer wants to buy an appliance, definitely it's an on-prem solution. However, when it comes to an endpoint or a firewall as a service, they offer cloud solutions as well.

I'd recommend the solution to others. 

I would rate the solution seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer1346640 - PeerSpot reviewer
CIO at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Good performance and reporting with a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "It's much faster than the previous firewall, so you can do the work faster."
  • "They need intelligent reporting, not just your simple, standard reports."

What is our primary use case?

We are primarily using the product for firewall issues, including protecting the network and so on.

How has it helped my organization?

It's much faster than the previous firewall, so you can do the work faster. There are no delays in the internet and network.

What is most valuable?

The performance is better than the other product that we've had. 

Reporting-wise, it's quite good. IPS detection and ATP is getting better and faster.

We have found the initial setup to be quite straightforward. 

The solution is stable.

It can scale well.

What needs improvement?

The reporting could always be improved upon. They need intelligent reporting, not just your simple, standard reports. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for the past three months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable, reliable product. The performance is good. It's fast. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product can scale very well. It's not a problem if a company needs to expand. There are different sizes of products. It's a good idea to pick a larger size if you expect to scale. 

We have around 150 users on the solution at this point. They cover different roles from admins to front and back office.

How are customer service and support?

We have a third-party provider that is giving us support. We don't communicate with Sophos directly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used WatchGuard. That was at a previous company. When I moved here, the organization already had Sophos. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple and very straightforward. Since it was also migration in our case,  we had to do testing and so on. It took one week to deploy it.

We only need one person to handle the deployment and maintenance process. 

What about the implementation team?

We had a third-party assist us during the implementation process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We renew the license every three years. We get better pricing that way. There are no other expenses beyond the standard pricing. That said, there are additional subscription modules you might need. However, you pick them at the beginning, and it depends if you need them or not.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options. We already had the setup, and we didn't want to make any big changes.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a customer and end-user. 

I've currently using the latest version of the solution. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Wally Lee - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President | Head of Information Systems & Manufacturing Engineering at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
A low-cost solution, customer service response time can be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use and configure, once you know how to apply the policies."
  • "The customer service response time can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The solution provides firewall protection.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use and configure, once you know how to apply the policies.

What needs improvement?

The customer service response time can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am currently using the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. I have not had any problems with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service response time is slow and could use improvement.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward if you know how to do iOS.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost is around $50 per endpoint, and there is a one-time purchase fee for the firewalls of $2,500, plus services. It is roughly around $4,000.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I am currently evaluating CrowdStrike. I like it better.

What other advice do I have?

I give this solution seven out of ten.

If you are looking for a low-cost solution, cheaper than Cisco I recommend this solution. You should also look at Fortinet.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos XGS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: September 2025
Product Categories
Firewalls
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sophos XGS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.