TrustRadius

APF Software Firewall vs. SonicWall NSA Series

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
APF Software Firewall
Score 0.0 out of 10
N/A
Advanced Policy Firewall (APF) is a free and open-source iptables(netfilter) based firewall system designed around the Internet 's deployed servers and the unique needs of custom deployed Linux installations. The configuration of APF is designed to be informative and present the user with an easy to follow process, from top to bottom of the configuration file.N/A
SonicWall NSA Series
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
The SonicWall NSA Series is the company's mid-range next generation firewall (NGFW).N/A
Pricing
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Considered Both Products
APF Software Firewall

No answer on this topic

SonicWall NSA Series
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose SonicWall NSA Series
Palo Alto appears to have a better product portfolio that allows you to have everything integrated and therefore, have a single pane of glass. However, Palo Alto is much more expensive than SonicWall NSA Series, so it was hard for us to justify the higher price.
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose SonicWall NSA Series
The SonicWall NSA is a lot more fluid and much less clunky than a Watchguard firewall. The Watchguard is ok for a small business-- you can buy them at retail outlets. But as you can see above, this model of Watchguard Firebox has been discontinued. The NSA classes are a …
GJ
Geoff Johnson
Network System Administrator
Chose SonicWall NSA Series
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 …
KM
Kenny McGarrity
IT Infrastructure Manager
Chose SonicWall NSA Series
SonicWall NSA series interface is way better than either Watchguard or Checkpoint. Even though people want to dismiss SonicWall NSA, they have the advanced features of its competitors, but with the easy interface. With all things being equal, I consider Palo Alto Networks to be …
Mike Narumiya | TrustRadius Reviewer
Mike Narumiya
President, Principal
Chose SonicWall NSA Series
Looked at a variety of offerings from Cisco. For larger organizations, a good route to go. For smaller that need just a little bit more than residential equipment, or even to have the some solid performance and configurations (smaller businesses) Sonicwall is a great way to …
Features
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
APF Software Firewall
-
Ratings
SonicWall NSA Series
8.3
Ratings
4% below category average
Identification Technologies00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Visualization Tools00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Content Inspection00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Firewall Management Console00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
VPN00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
High Availability00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Stateful Inspection00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.9 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 10.0 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Likelihood to Recommend
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
APF Software FirewallSonicWall NSA Series
Likelihood to Recommend
No answers on this topic
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.
GJ
Geoff Johnson
Network System Administrator
Read full review
Pros
No answers on this topic
  • 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.
KM
Kenny McGarrity
IT Infrastructure Manager
Read full review
Cons
No answers on this topic
  • Ideal with smaller businesses. Would have to examine for more complex needs of larger businesses.
  • Scalability might be an issue for super large organizations.
Mike Narumiya | TrustRadius Reviewer
Mike Narumiya
President, Principal
Read full review
Usability
No answers on this topic
The usability takes a bit of training, like any firewall, but I've found that showing even Tier 1 helpdesk how to do basic things has been easy. We have entry-level IT technicians performing white-listing, IP entries, VPN access and LDAP functions, to name a few tasks. The menus in the GUI are pretty straight forward.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
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.
KM
Kenny McGarrity
IT Infrastructure Manager
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
No answers on this topic
The SonicWall NSA is a lot more fluid and much less clunky than a Watchguard firewall. The Watchguard is ok for a small business-- you can buy them at retail outlets. But as you can see above, this model of Watchguard Firebox has been discontinued. The NSA classes are a more high-end and functional business-class firewall.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
Return on Investment
No answers on this topic
  • It is a firewall appliance at an affordable price compared to other firewall vendors.
  • It is reliable and thus, allows our business to operate without any hiccups.
Verified User
Anonymous
Read full review
ScreenShots