PRTG Network Monitor vs. Sophos Firewall

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PRTG
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
PRTG Network Monitor is the flagship offering from German software company Paessler, for monitoring local and wide area networks (LANs & WANs), servers, websites, apps, and more.
$2,149
per year
Sophos Firewall
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Sophos XG Firewall provides comprehensive next-generation firewall protection powered by deep learning and Synchronized Security. Sophos Firewall supplies insights and exposes hidden user, application, and threat risks on the network, and say the product is differentiated by its ability to respond automatically to security incidents by isolating compromised systems, with Security Heartbeat™.N/A
Pricing
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Editions & Modules
PRTG 500
$2,149
per year
Hosted 500
$2,149
per year
PRTG 1,000
$3,899
per year
Hosted 1000
$3,899
per year
PRTG 2,500
$8,099
per year
Hosted 2500
$8,099
per year
PRTG 5,000
$14,199
per year
Hosted 5000
$14,199
per year
PRTG 10000
$17,899
per year
PRTG Enterprise
Custom Pricing
subscription license
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PRTGSophos Firewall
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Features
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
PRTG Network Monitor
7.6
66 Ratings
5% below category average
Sophos Firewall
-
Ratings
Automated network device discovery7.759 Ratings00 Ratings
Network monitoring9.565 Ratings00 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation7.756 Ratings00 Ratings
Alerts8.866 Ratings00 Ratings
Network capacity planning6.247 Ratings00 Ratings
Packet capture analysis6.933 Ratings00 Ratings
Network mapping6.446 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports6.756 Ratings00 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring7.448 Ratings00 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring9.063 Ratings00 Ratings
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
PRTG Network Monitor
-
Ratings
Sophos Firewall
9.1
14 Ratings
5% above category average
Identification Technologies00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Visualization Tools00 Ratings8.814 Ratings
Content Inspection00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Policy-based Controls00 Ratings9.214 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings9.113 Ratings
Firewall Management Console00 Ratings9.414 Ratings
Reporting and Logging00 Ratings8.814 Ratings
VPN00 Ratings8.814 Ratings
High Availability00 Ratings9.214 Ratings
Stateful Inspection00 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings9.511 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 9.3 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 9.3 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.2 out of 10
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User Ratings
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(67 ratings)
9.2
(14 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(6 ratings)
9.7
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(18 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PRTG Network MonitorSophos Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
Paessler
integrates seamlessly with Windows servers via WMI and PowerShell, providing deep insights into resource usage, performance metrics, and system health. It's excellent at tracking CPU, memory, disk space, and event logs, enabling rapid troubleshooting and proactive maintenance. PRTG Network Monitor also effectively monitors Fortigate devices, providing detailed data on firewall health, traffic patterns, bandwidth utilization, VPN status, and security alerts. This visibility helps detect and resolve network security issues promptly.
Read full review
Sophos
It is well-suited for small, medium, and large organizations looking for comprehensive cybersecurity protection. It will not only safeguard their network from cyberattacks but also provide them with many advanced features like deep packet inspection, centralized management, web filtering, application control, etc. in one place. It will help them optimize bandwidth and ensure continued connectivity.
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Pros
Paessler
  • Switch monitoring and finding out if there are communication issues or throughput alerts are reached
  • Big picture view of the whole infrastructure and what is functioning and what is not
  • Uptime tracking is great and lets us know for how long a device is down or overall uptime
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Sophos
  • Web filtering. This allows us to monitor web usage and block certain categories from being access at the perimeter.
  • Application Control. With application control we can block certain applications that get categorized from working accessing the Internet.
  • Synchronized Security. When utilizing the Sophos Endpoint product you can use Synchronized Security to minimize Lateral Movement in a network. If a machine is shows a Red status you can auto-isolate it and it is unable to communicate with anything else on the network.
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Cons
Paessler
  • Licensing on a per entity basis can be cumbersome for devices which have a ton of monitoring points like network switches\routers. Each sensor may count against a license, which could be a lot of you were monitoring every TX\RX of an SFP for example
  • A better method to easily template\copy monitors across devices
  • The navigation in the web GUI could be a little more straightforward in terms of the hierarchy
Read full review
Sophos
  • If using Endpoint security and the Firewall it would be nice to have an easier back and forth between the portals rather than have two separate tabs open. Especially if using more than one in multiple locations.
  • If dealing with different revisions options are moved around and sometimes in places that doesn't normally seem like they should be there.
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Likelihood to Renew
Paessler
I would renew it because the platform has brought us many technical and economic benefits that make the cost-benefit ratio very good. Additionally, to do so does not require large investments in training, licensing or infrastructure, and at the administration level, extensive knowledge is not required to be able to bear it.
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Sophos
No answers on this topic
Usability
Paessler
The tool is very intuitive to use and it is Windows-based (everybody knows how to use Windows) so it's easy to get into. Every time is setup in a hierarchy so if you have a good initial hierarchy design, it will really reduce administrative effort down the road.
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Sophos
Because this is a user-friendly interface, and anyone can use it there are multiple articles and guidelines available, it has advanced-level security features. they provide VPN solutions all the features are very practical, SSID MAC-based authentications web control, Firewall rules segregation of the rules and policies, On-premises Active directory single sign-on feature is also available.
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Support Rating
Paessler
PRTG does everything we need it to do and more. Ease of use, ease of management and maintenance and clarity of monitoring of hundreds of different types of device and service gives this a large advantage over other products on the market that I have tried. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a network monitoring product in their environment and even to people who don't know they need a solution yet!
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Sophos
As we are all addicted to graphics-oriented interfaces for all our life products. Easy to manage and access as a good way of using anything
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Implementation Rating
Paessler
It's very important that de project's teams have different member of the TI. We have learned too late the importa of Security Analyst at the design architecture moment. We have to rebuild part of the implementation for made this big mistake.
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Sophos
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Paessler
PRTG offers more versatility in monitoring when compared to the other solutions we tested. The other solutions were also limited as far as customization options, which made them less adaptable to our networks. When compared to Auvik, for instance, we prefer PRTG as it offers immediate notifications through the desktop client - not limited to email notifications as with Auvik. We also appreciate the fact that PRTG can be self/on-prem hosted vs Auvik's cloud model. This makes for an easier deployment and less firewall adjustments to allow traffic to cloud-hosted solutions.
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Sophos
I was a big fan of Cisco ASA products, but when I saw all of the security feature differences between both firewalls, I moved to Sophos devices. Its sandbox, IPS, and many more features are really advanced. Cisco does not provide features like this.
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Return on Investment
Paessler
  • The ability to analyze multiple pieces of information in one place, especially with historical data, has saved our IT department time and headaches. It would be so much more difficult to trace an issue without PRTG, just relying on event logs and an open task manager window.
  • The cost is not cheap, so it's an expense that hits the bottom line like everything else. Figure in hardware costs as well, ideally a server outside of your main environment.
  • I keep saying this, but the historical data piece is worth so much. There's really no good way to collect all of that information in one place without something like PRTG. And that definitely saves time and money in the long run.
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Sophos
  • True UTM device.
  • Very Active customer help for any help.
  • Easy license and cost effective.
  • Should [do] more work on logging and reporting.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Sophos Firewall Screenshots

Screenshot of Sophos Firewall v17.5 Control Center