Cisco Meraki MX vs. SonicWall NSA Series

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 8.8 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 8.7 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
85 Ratings
10% below category average
SonicWall NSA Series
7.1
4 Ratings
18% below category average
Identification Technologies8.081 Ratings5.04 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.482 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Content Inspection7.381 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Policy-based Controls7.379 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP7.071 Ratings4.03 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.783 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.285 Ratings7.04 Ratings
VPN8.181 Ratings9.04 Ratings
High Availability8.481 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.076 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Proxy Server7.044 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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
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
8.1
(114 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(15 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(81 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki MXSonicWall NSA Series
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Small office, small business, medium business even larger enterprise can work on Cisco Meraki MX if they can sacrifice some of the functionality that Cisco Meraki MX can not provide. To enhance security, I would advise combining with cloud delivered firewall.
Read full review
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 management is the best. I'm an old-fashioned networking guy, so I'm used to going to the site itself and connecting. For example, a console cable and start and start configuring. Now since the management is so easy on Meraki I can configure everything from the headquarters from where I sit in Israel and then just go to the site and connect and basically, it's plug and play. After I configure everything from my office in Israel, I can just go to the site for a few hours, and connect everything. Just the magic happens.
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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.
Read full review
Cons
Cisco
  • Map and floor plan area is clunky.
  • The way you need to segment devices by network causes you to need to go to different dropdowns to see everything at a single site. They have improved this and now allow you to add firewall, switches and wireless to create a single site, but still a bit clunky.
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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.
Read full review
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
Read full review
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
Read full review
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.
Read full review
SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
Overall, for a new network admin or a non-IT person, the Cisco Meraki MX is much easier to configure for a single site than the Cisco ASA Firewalls. ASA can be quicker for those with a background in Cisco command line OS.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco
The Cisco Meraki MX is basically a good product, but not perfect. If you compare the Cisco Meraki MX with a Fortigate or Cisco Firepower, you quickly realize that this system can do less than the reference product. The Cisco Meraki MX can be used in small environments, but in large environments you have to check carefully whether it really makes sense to use it.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • VPN tunnel between locations has been up 99% of the time in the 7 years that I have used the Cisco Meraki MXs in my current position. That does not include ISP issues because, in my mind, that shouldn't dictate the performance of the Cisco Meraki MXs.
  • Sometimes we get phishing emails with malicious links in them. We are able to block the URLs on our network using the Cisco Meraki MXs, and the appliance configuration sets in less than a minute. Blocking that link for anyone over VPN or on the LAN.
  • The interface is really simple and configuration is a breeze, which makes deploying a new Cisco Meraki MX really fast and easy. Replacing an Cisco Meraki MX is even easier, Just remove the old and add the new and all the configuration stays for the new appliance to use. Saves so much time and money.
  • The biggest thing is we have not had really any issues with any of our Cisco Meraki MXs going down in the past 7 years. The reliability with these devices are amazing.
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SonicWall
  • Was affordable, allowing for advanced routing and security.
  • Enabled us to build VPNs without purchasing additional services
  • Was simple enough to manage in house without external support.
Read full review
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