Firewalls are a critical component of any organization’s cybersecurity strategy. They act as a gateway between your internal network and the outside world, filtering traffic and blocking threats.
Two popular firewall solutions for businesses are Netgate and SonicWall. But which one is better suited for your needs?
In this comprehensive, we’ll compare Netgate and SonicWall across several key factors:
We’ll provide an unbiased look at how these two firewalls stack up against each other. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of which solution aligns better with your business requirements.
| Feature | Netgate | SonicWall |
| Base OS | FreeBSD, open source | Proprietary SonicOS |
| Management | Web GUI, CLI | Web GUI, cloud portal |
| IPS/IDS | Suricata built-in | Capture ATP subscription |
| Sandboxing | No built-in, add-on available | Multi-engine cloud sandboxing |
| VPN | IPsec, OpenVPN, L2TP | IPsec, SonicVPN, L2TP, SSL VPN |
| Traffic Shaping/QoS | Yes | Yes |
| High Availability | CARP/pfsync | Redundant interfaces |
| Firewall Price | Free (software), appliances $359+ | Appliances $600+ |
| Support Plans | $199/year Gold | $1,320/year Premium 24×7 |
First, let’s look at what each of these firewall solutions offers.
Netgate
Netgate focuses on open-source firewall software based on pfSense. The company offers pfSense appliances that come with the firewall software pre-installed and ready for configuration.
pfSense is built on FreeBSD and provides an extensive list of networking capabilities beyond just a stateful packet firewall. These include:
The firewall software itself is open-source and free to use. Netgate monetizes pfSense through paid support subscriptions and pre-configured hardware appliances. The company offers a range of appliances for small, medium, and large businesses.
SonicWall
SonicWall focuses exclusively on security appliances like firewalls, VPNs, email security, endpoint security, and more. Their firewall solution combines deep packet inspection, intrusion prevention, anti-malware, SSL decryption, and URL filtering into a single network security platform.
The SonicWall firewall operating system called SonicOS provides an intuitive web interface for configuring granular security policies and application-layer controls. But the firewall capabilities go well beyond basic port/address filtering.
SonicWall takes a software-as-a-service approach with many advanced security services offered via annual subscription. These include:
And with SonicWall Capture Labs, you get constantly updated threat intelligence and security signatures. SonicWall provides many all-in-one security appliances for small, mid-size, and large distributed networks.
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Now that we’ve introduced both solutions, let’s look at how they compare across several factors:
For most administrators, the firewall interface and ease of management plays a huge role in product selection.
Netgate’s pfSense software provides a clean web interface that will be familiar to users of traditional commercial firewalls. The dashboard gives you an overview of system status, traffic graphs, gateway status, and more.
The firewall rules are configured via an intuitive drag-and-drop interface under the Firewall > Rules menu. You can filter and search rules, as well as apply schedules and gateways.
However, being open-source-focused, the interface is more utilitarian versus user-friendly. Certain advanced configurations like VPNs and proxies require using the CLI, which has a learning curve.
SonicWall provides a more polished interface that aims to simplify complex tasks like application filtering, intrusion prevention, anti-virus controls, etc. The intuitive workflow and wizards make it easy for novice users to get up and running.
Navigation is straightforward across different policy sections like firewall, content filtering, app control, SSL decryption, etc. The management interface provides useful visualizations like geo maps, connection graphs, top threats detected, and more.
Overall, SonicWall delivers a more refined and user-friendly management interface compared to Netgate.
Both firewall solutions offer an extensive set of security controls and networking features. Let’s examine some of the key capabilities of each product.
Stateful Packet Inspection
This fundamental firewall capability examines network packets in the context of connections and tracks state to detect malicious activity. Both Netgate and SonicWall offer robust SPI firewalls to filter traffic based on source, destination, ports, flags, and other attributes.
Intrusion Prevention
Netgate integrates Suricata IDS/IPS engine into pfSense, allowing you to inspect traffic patterns and payloads for known threats and protocol anomalies.
SonicWall offers IPS, anti-malware, anti-spyware, and URL filtering capabilities through their multi-engine Capture Advanced Threat Protection service. The firewall can sandbox suspicious files and code in a cloud-based multi-engine environment.
Virtual Private Network
Netgate supports standard VPN protocols like IPsec, OpenVPN, and L2TP. SonicWall also includes support for these VPN technologies, along with advanced options like SonicWall’s proprietary SonicVPN solution.
Both firewalls provide the VPN capabilities expected in an enterprise-grade solution.
Traffic Shaping and Bandwidth Management
Netgate has powerful traffic shaping and QoS features to optimize network traffic and guarantee bandwidth for mission-critical applications. SonicWall also provides comprehensive application-level bandwidth management and traffic shaping tools.
High Availability
Netgate supports high availability with CARP and pfsync to deliver automatic failover with redundant firewalls. SonicWall also provides high availability clustering options to deploy multiple interconnected security appliances.
Reporting and Monitoring
Netgate offers logging, monitoring, and reporting to track network activity and security events. SonicWall Capture Security Center takes it a step further with extensive real-time monitoring, historical reporting, and analytics.
User Interface and Management
As discussed earlier, SonicWall provides a more refined web UI and management workflow compared to Netgate. But Netgate gives you direct access to the underlying FreeBSD OS for advanced command-line configuration.
Overall, both firewalls provide extensive networking and security capabilities on par with enterprise-grade solutions. SonicWall leads in some areas like cloud-based sandboxing, while Netgate offers open architecture and Linux power user appeal.
The ability to scale up the firewall solution to match your organization’s growth is crucial. Let’s see how Netgate and SonicWall compare when it comes to scaling the deployment.
Netgate’s pfSense software can be installed on commodity hardware, so you can scale up by upgrading to a more powerful CPU, adding memory, increasing storage, etc. However, Netgate also sells appliances that come pre-installed with pfSense for easy deployment. The entry-level Netgate appliance starts at $299 while the high-end Netgate 6100 base model starts at $4,995.
SonicWall offers an extensive range of physical and virtual appliances designed for networks from the small office to large enterprise. Entry-level desktop models start under $600. High-end models like the SonicWall NSsp 12800 can support over 5.4 million concurrent connections for heavily trafficked enterprise networks.
Both solutions also support high availability failover clustering for redundancy. Netgate uses CARP and pfsync, while SonicWall offers redundant interfaces across multiple appliances.
SonicWall’s Capture Security Center provides centralized management and monitoring for multiple distributed firewalls through a single pane of glass. Netgate’s pfSense does not have a centralized management server out of the box, but you can integrate third-party tools.
Overall, SonicWall likely provides an easier scaling path for the average business. With Netgate appliances, you are restricted to their hardware selection. SonicWall’s broad product portfolio gives you many sizing options.
Also Read: Comparison Among Gartner, Forrester And IDC.
Support coverage and training resources should be factored when choosing a critical security product like a firewall.
Netgate offers tiered support subscriptions:
SonicWall also provides multiple paid support tiers:
Both vendors offer knowledge bases, documentation, and communities for self-help.
However, SonicWall provides more training options including instructor-led classes, online training, and certifications. Netgate has a community-driven free training guide for pfSense but lacks SonicWall’s breadth of structured training.
If your staff requires rigorous training and certification, SonicWall has a clear advantage. Netgate’s open source model relies more on community-driven education.
Let’s examine how the costs stack up between these two solutions.
Netgate’s pfSense software is free and open source. You only pay for appliances, support subscriptions, or cloud-hosted instances. The Netgate SG-3100 appliance starts at $359 and the Gold support plan is $199 per year.
SonicWall appliance pricing depends on the model and capabilities. Entry-level TZ SOHO models start under $600 with the first year of Basic security services bundle included. The flagship NSsp 12800 firewall carries a list price of $18,785. SonicWall security services like Capture ATP incur yearly subscription fees.
In terms of value, both provide enterprise-level firewall features at reasonable prices for small/mid-size networks. Netgate gives you an incredibly robust firewall for free, but you need to buy an appliance and support. SonicWall’s subscription-based model spreads out the costs over time.
For large deployments, SonicWall likely provides better value as you scale. The breadth of appliances and centralized management capabilities are better suited for complex environments.
The most important criteria for any firewall is how effective it is at securing your network. This is challenging to evaluate conclusively, but we can compare core capabilities.
Netgate leverages pfSense’s strong open source community for constant feature development and bug fixes. The fact that the codebase is open invites continuous scrutiny and optimization from a global community.
However, SonicWall invests extensively in their Capture Labs threat research and monitoring 24/7. This gives them the benefit of proprietary telemetry data and rapid response to emerging threats seen across their massive installed base.
SonicWall’s cloud-based sandboxing and multi-engine AV approach complements on-box capabilities like IPS, anti-spyware, etc. Netgate relies more on Suricata for IPS/IDS and third-party packages integrated into pfSense for threat detection.
Both vendors build firewalls that excel at SPI, VPN, shaping, and other core capabilities. Overall effectiveness likely comes down to organizational size and in-house security expertise. For large companies with limited security resources, SonicWall’s cloud-based multi-engine may provide an advantage.
To summarize, let’s recap the main advantages and limitations of each firewall:
Netgate Pros
Netgate Cons
SonicWall Pros
SonicWall Cons
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SonicWall is considered one of the top enterprise firewall solutions on the market, especially for mid-size to large networks. It receives high ratings for its comprehensive features, ease of use, scalability, and cloud-based threat detection. But there are compelling open source firewall options like Netgate pfSense that should also be evaluated based on your needs.
There may not be an objectively “better” firewall than pfSense. As an open source firewall software, it packs an incredible array of features at no cost. Solutions like SonicWall provide advantages for larger organizations like centralized management, broad product line, and cloud-based threat intelligence. But pfSense remains highly competitive in core firewall capabilities while being transparent and cost-effective.
The pfSense software is open source with origins going back to the m0n0wall firewall project. There is an active open source community developing and maintaining pfSense. Netgate contributes to pfSense and offers supported pfSense appliances for sale, but they do not own the copyright or control the project.
Some of the key advantages of SonicWall firewalls over competitors like Netgate are:
More refined and intuitive management interface
Broader product portfolio for networks of any size
Centralized monitoring and reporting
Excellent training/certification resources
Cloud-based threat detection and sandboxing
Tightly integrated with their security subscription services
For organizations without strong network security expertise, SonicWall provides a powerful all-in-one solution that is easy to manage at scale.
In summary, both Netgate and SonicWall offer compelling enterprise-grade firewall solutions. Netgate pfSense excels on openness, transparency, and community-driven innovation. It’s a great choice for configurable network security at lower cost.
SonicWall provides exceptional ease of use, scaling options, cloud-based threat detection, and reporting. Their unified product portfolio is ideal for mid-size to large organizations with limited security expertise.
Carefully examine your current needs and growth trajectory when deciding between these two options. For complex deployments or novice security teams, SonicWall may be the better investment. But Netgate offers incredible functionality at little or no cost.
Analyze your requirements and risk profile. Weigh the pros and cons for both solutions. This will lead you towards the ideal firewall to protect your enterprise network.
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