Cisco Meraki MX vs. SonicWall NSA Series

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls is a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. Meraki is managed via the cloud, and provides core firewall services, including site-to-site VPN, plus network monitoring.
$595
per appliance
SonicWall NSA Series
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
The SonicWall NSA Series is the company's mid-range next generation firewall (NGFW).N/A
Pricing
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Editions & Modules
MX64
$595
per appliance
MX67
$695
per appliance
MX68
$995
per appliance
MX84
$1,995
per appliance
MX100
$4,995
per appliance
MX250
$9,995
per appliance
MX450
$19,995
per appliance
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Considered Both Products
Cisco Meraki MX
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Meraki MX is a different product targeted at different markets, not exactly a UTM / NGFW. Centralized management and a single pane of glass add a lot of value. Again there are sites where no MX can replace a PA due to the configuration requirements and performance …
SonicWall NSA Series

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Meraki MX
7.7
63 Ratings
10% below category average
SonicWall NSA Series
7.8
3 Ratings
9% below category average
Identification Technologies7.960 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.160 Ratings7.03 Ratings
Content Inspection7.460 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Policy-based Controls7.359 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP7.552 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.761 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.363 Ratings5.03 Ratings
VPN7.560 Ratings10.03 Ratings
High Availability8.159 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.255 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Proxy Server7.834 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Small Businesses
WatchGuard Network Security
WatchGuard Network Security
Score 9.2 out of 10
WatchGuard Network Security
WatchGuard Network Security
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Cisco Firepower 4100 Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(90 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(22 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(56 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
So most use cases, this product fits. There aren't that many situations where it doesn't, and I've put it inside of banks. I've used it inside of schools, I've used it at normal businesses, big, bigger, and or small, but very small use cases where it has not, and we could not lead with it was at some banks. They did require NetOver VPN when communicating with higher-fed entities. If in the future Meraki could include NetOver VPN, then this would just be an auto-include for most of our deployments.
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SonicWall
SonicWall NSA is best suited for small to mid-size companies or small to medium K-12 school districts. It's less appropriate for larger businesses and schools. This is due to their ease of use and well-rounded feature set but lacks in advanced configuration, performance, and reliability.
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Pros
Cisco
  • The appliances are very, very easy to use. You could set one up for basic use with minimal documentation.
  • Intuitive menus in the Meraki Dashboard make traversing your options and finding what you need very easy.
  • Good support options and a healthy knowledge base with well-written guides.
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SonicWall
  • Relatively inexpensive compared to some of the higher-end products, like Palo Alto Networks.
  • Easy to set up, as the SonicWall NSA interface is consistent across all models.
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Cons
Cisco
  • Firewall Policies
  • Hardware Performance Statistics
  • IPS Performance + Efficacy
  • Limited port counts when leveraging network templates on higher end units.
  • No options for HTTPS decrypt or encrypt visibility
  • No EIGRP Routing
  • No ability to clear ARP table / release DHCP leases through GUI
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SonicWall
  • Ideal with smaller businesses. Would have to examine for more complex needs of larger businesses.
  • Scalability might be an issue for super large organizations.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
As we have it in place now, we will continue to keep it at our remote sites. Future expansion is something we are reviewing, and may well start with some of the larger switches as they seem to offer good performance and management at a reasonable price. Wireless is also something we're investing in and their devices are great for that.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Usability
Cisco
The Cisco Meraki MX series is very easy to use. Setting up user VPN access, site to site VPN to tie multiple locations together and managing all your devices. You can even download the latest firmware and install without ever leaving the dashboard. Meraki is the very definition of easy to use
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
I haven't ever had a bad experience with Meraki support. On the few occasions where I wasn't understanding the UI or needed some clarification about what a setting actually would do, I contacted them and they were very quickly able to provide help. Returns are simple and fast, too. We had to return a defective device one time and they shipped the replacement before we had even un-racked the one that was faulty. Unlike many other vendors, they didn't ask use to a do long list of scripted diagnostics, they just took my word for it that the device was broken and sent out a replacement immediately
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SonicWall
Most of the time, calling SonicWall NSA Support, you get an expert who can help resolve your issues. RMAs are pretty easy once they determine there is an issue with the hardware. Support is available 24x7, which makes emergency calls easy. The only downside is the support engineers may have thick accents; however, their expertise more than makes up for any language barriers.
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Implementation Rating
Cisco
Good product and simple to use.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
I have used Sonicwall and Meraki, and they are very similar and functional, but they go about it in different ways. Meraki is a little more user-friendly with less of a learning curve, but it comes at a little steeper price. I do like the online dashboard of Meraki better, though.
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SonicWall
We compared the FortiGate to Sonicwall and continued with Sonicwall as we were a mid-size school where the Sonicwall was performing adequately, and the learning curve was steep to switch platforms. The Sonicwall offered everything the FortiGate did, and was not as costly, both in the appliance and in licensing.
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Scalability
Cisco
Every network we create will allow us to automatically be attached in the mesh network. The ability for the automatic VPN connections is very convenient and allow us to focus on other configuration points without having to worry about if the VPN will work or not. The GUI showing the VPN is kind of confusing, but as long as it has direct connection to the other Meraki MX units, it will be up.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Network hardware needs to function 100% of the time with no one really ever thinking about it - it just needs to work. Cisco delivers here.
  • The Cisco Meraki MX products are fast and reliable helping productivity.
  • Cisco's support is solid and helpful.
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SonicWall
  • Saved money on implementation and administration staff.
  • Covered the sophisticated needs of many organizations.
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ScreenShots