Index › Network and edge › Firewalls › Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall

Next-generation firewalls · October 2026 Edition

Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall

Fourteen of fourteen models named Fortinet FortiGate first on the direct prompt; one named Sophos Firewall. Both were named by all fourteen models and Fortinet FortiGate carries 68 labels and Sophos Firewall 35, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Fortinet FortiGate

endorsed leader

Named in four categories this edition.

Sophos Firewall

accepted challenger

Named in one category this edition.

First-choice share73%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.

Negative rate10%3%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.

Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.

Labels6835A count; the two differ.

The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Fortinet FortiGate reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW · Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Secure Firewall · Sophos Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the next-generation firewalls page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.

Fortinet FortiGateFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSophos Firewall

Direct141

Paraphrase100

Comparative70

Budget-constrained101

Scale-constrained40

Negative107 against Fortinet FortiGate · 1 against Sophos Firewall

Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos Firewall were named in the same answer eighty-four times, of the 203 answers naming Fortinet FortiGate and the 94 naming Sophos Firewall. In those answers Sophos Firewall took the first choice nine times and Fortinet FortiGate fifty.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos Firewall stood in it.

Model	Direct	Paraphrase	Comparative	Budget-constrained	Scale-constrained	Negative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B

Fortinet FortiGate

Sophos Firewall

first choice

named as an alternative

argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Fortinet FortiGate on the left and Sophos Firewall on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Fortinet FortiGate and Sophos Firewall stood in it.

Both were the first choice

1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.

GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall

Fortinet FortiGate first, Sophos Firewall an alternative

13 of 14 modelsSophos Firewall was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.

Claude Haiku 4.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

GPT-5.4 miniFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW

Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall

Perplexity SonarFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall

Grok 4.1 FastFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox

Mistral SmallFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall

DeepSeek V4 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Sophos Firewall

Llama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewalls, Palo Alto Networks' PA-Series

Qwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Harmony Edge / Infinity, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Kimi K2Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall NSa Series, Sophos XG, WatchGuard Firebox

MiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall

GPT-6 LunaFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW

Muse Glimmer 30BFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall Gen 7, Sophos Firewall

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.

Small business

Fortinet FortiGate leads by thirty-nine points.

Fortinet FortiGate#1 of 8

Sophos Firewall#2 of 8

The full small business standing →

Mid-marketThe figures above

Fortinet FortiGate leads by sixty-nine points.

Fortinet FortiGate#1 of 8

Sophos Firewall#2 of 8

The full mid-market standing →

Enterprise

Fortinet FortiGate leads by thirty-seven points.

Fortinet FortiGate#1 of 5

Sophos Firewall#5 of 5

The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Fortinet FortiGate

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.

“"20+ CVEs on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — among the highest for any firewall vendor"; Caution rating” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative

“Avoid: SonicWall ..., Fortinet (due to high CVE count)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative

“Fortinet FortiGate/FortiOS deployments where SSL-VPN or other exposed services remain enabled without tight patching and monitoring” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative

“Fortinet FortiGate: Top-rated for value, performance, scalability (Gartner Customers' Choice 5x). Great for mid-market; integrated Fabric ecosystem.” Grok 4.1 Fast · scale prompt · first choice

“For most enterprises the shortlist starts with Fortinet FortiGate (best price-performance) and Palo Alto Networks (deepest application control).” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice

“Most mid-market B2B companies will find Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos Firewall to be the best fit, with Fortinet offering the best value” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice

What the models said about Sophos Firewall

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.

“Avoid SMB UTMs (Sophos, Barracuda) if you have a high-throughput environment” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative

“The best next-generation firewall for a company with a limited budget is Untangle NG Firewall (Arista) or Sophos Firewall.” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice

“Most mid-market B2B companies will find Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos Firewall to be the best fit” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice

“consolidates IPS, web filtering, application control, VPN, and sandboxing into a single appliance, suitable for mid-sized organizations and SMBs” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · alternative

Also compared

Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Secure Firewall Sophos Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW Sophos Firewall vs Cisco Secure Firewall All six head-to-head pages and the full firewalls standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.