SonicWall Netextender has not helped with compliance, as it is not applicable for what I'm doing. I've put several feature requests in over the years and they've implemented them all, so it currently encapsulates everything I need. There's nothing I can think of that would make it better at this point.
Director of Information Technology at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Jun 12, 2025
I cannot think of specific areas that could be improved with the SonicWall Netextender. The main focus should be on continuous improvements to address any CVEs or vulnerabilities to ensure they're handled as quickly as possible.
Senior Network Security Engineer at ITCG SOlutions Pvt Ltd
Real User
Top 5
Jun 18, 2024
In the past, customers wanted an application that could run directly upon starting the PC, automatically connecting to the firewall. We were not able to do it in NetExtender. This was something customers wanted, but we couldn't provide due to NetExtender's limitations. I feel NetExtender might have rolled out this feature. In future releases, introductions of AI features would be really helpful. For example, we faced a situation where a customer wanted to allow Office 365 access without any kind of internet, just through the local internet. Office 365 has multiple dynamic IPs and URLs that can be updated daily, making it difficult to allow. If there were an AI-based solution that could bring those URLs and new IP addresses to the firewall and add them to the rule, that would be very helpful. That is just one scenario; there are multiple things AI could help with.
Network Security Architect at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 6, 2023
There is room for improvement in terms of some functionality provisioned. Basically, they can provide some additional functions related to SaaS and other aspects. SonicWall is not concentrating on those particular newer solutions. SonicWall was good earlier and went through an acquisition, but the newer generation solution is not receiving adequate focus.
The ease of setup needs improvement and they need to fix lag/connection issues. They need to rewrite the software to make it a usable product. There is no reason this product should be this slow. Technical support and software engineers need to listen to people who have been raising the issue instead of redirecting the blame to ISPs, traffic, and literally anything else other than their product. They should improve technical support and train technicians on how to listen to the client and troubleshoot issues. Most of my calls with technical support ended with the techician troubleshooting an issue and realizing 45 minutes to an hour later that couldn't be the issue after I had repeatedly told them the steps I had already taken.
From my experience with using it, we do have problems sometimes with the credentialing-saving parts of it. It resets sometimes, however, it still saves the ISP and the tunnel information and the port and everything. That's okay, for the most part. We just have to type our names in. Likely, the average user would have trouble deploying the solution, if they don't have a bit of IT experience. The Netextender application itself doesn't really look pretty, however, we can still use it. We don't care what it looks like. That said, if they did a cosmetic update, that would be fine. They don't have to. It wouldn't affect the usability.
If we could do licensed pooling across multiple devices, it would make it easier to build more resilience into the solution in terms of multiple internet providers. Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances. So, you end up having to do a lot of administrative work to recover if an internet provider goes down, and you cannot leverage it as easily into a DR solution.
SonicWall can be difficult for some people, but I don't find it difficult. Some companies provide a VPN client for free, but you have to pay for NetExtender.
Senior Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
May 17, 2021
I am rolling out the new Netextender because I am having some issues with the older version. If I update the client with the newer version, the issues will go away.
SonicWall Netextender provides affordable and stable VPN connections with a focus on secure access through features like multifactor authentication and integration with Microsoft services, ensuring reliable remote connectivity.SonicWall Netextender is a robust tool for managing VPN accounts securely while offering remote access integration with Microsoft solutions like Intune. It supports industries such as healthcare, education, and insurance, catering to remote work and hybrid arrangements....
SonicWall Netextender has not helped with compliance, as it is not applicable for what I'm doing. I've put several feature requests in over the years and they've implemented them all, so it currently encapsulates everything I need. There's nothing I can think of that would make it better at this point.
I cannot think of specific areas that could be improved with the SonicWall Netextender. The main focus should be on continuous improvements to address any CVEs or vulnerabilities to ensure they're handled as quickly as possible.
In the past, customers wanted an application that could run directly upon starting the PC, automatically connecting to the firewall. We were not able to do it in NetExtender. This was something customers wanted, but we couldn't provide due to NetExtender's limitations. I feel NetExtender might have rolled out this feature. In future releases, introductions of AI features would be really helpful. For example, we faced a situation where a customer wanted to allow Office 365 access without any kind of internet, just through the local internet. Office 365 has multiple dynamic IPs and URLs that can be updated daily, making it difficult to allow. If there were an AI-based solution that could bring those URLs and new IP addresses to the firewall and add them to the rule, that would be very helpful. That is just one scenario; there are multiple things AI could help with.
The product does not work well. A product that doesn’t work is not useful for the organization. SonicWall Netextender is not a good tool.
There is room for improvement in terms of some functionality provisioned. Basically, they can provide some additional functions related to SaaS and other aspects. SonicWall is not concentrating on those particular newer solutions. SonicWall was good earlier and went through an acquisition, but the newer generation solution is not receiving adequate focus.
The UI could be a little better. It's not too bad, but it could be improved.
The setup can be difficult sometimes.
The solution takes more bandwidth these days and it would be helpful if that was reduced.
The ease of setup needs improvement and they need to fix lag/connection issues. They need to rewrite the software to make it a usable product. There is no reason this product should be this slow. Technical support and software engineers need to listen to people who have been raising the issue instead of redirecting the blame to ISPs, traffic, and literally anything else other than their product. They should improve technical support and train technicians on how to listen to the client and troubleshoot issues. Most of my calls with technical support ended with the techician troubleshooting an issue and realizing 45 minutes to an hour later that couldn't be the issue after I had repeatedly told them the steps I had already taken.
From my experience with using it, we do have problems sometimes with the credentialing-saving parts of it. It resets sometimes, however, it still saves the ISP and the tunnel information and the port and everything. That's okay, for the most part. We just have to type our names in. Likely, the average user would have trouble deploying the solution, if they don't have a bit of IT experience. The Netextender application itself doesn't really look pretty, however, we can still use it. We don't care what it looks like. That said, if they did a cosmetic update, that would be fine. They don't have to. It wouldn't affect the usability.
If we could do licensed pooling across multiple devices, it would make it easier to build more resilience into the solution in terms of multiple internet providers. Right now, you have to load each license on to an appliance. You can't pool across multiple appliances. So, you end up having to do a lot of administrative work to recover if an internet provider goes down, and you cannot leverage it as easily into a DR solution.
SonicWall can be difficult for some people, but I don't find it difficult. Some companies provide a VPN client for free, but you have to pay for NetExtender.
I am rolling out the new Netextender because I am having some issues with the older version. If I update the client with the newer version, the issues will go away.