No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Fortinet FortiClient vs SonicWall SMA comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiClient
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (9th), Endpoint Compliance (1st)
SonicWall SMA
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Universal Access Gateways (2nd), SSL VPN (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiClient is 4.5%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SMA is 2.6%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiClient4.5%
SonicWall SMA2.6%
Other92.9%
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

KL
Senior Technical Manager at Flexaccel
Remote access has become seamless and secure while deployment remains simple for our users
Performance could be improved today. People are now moving toward SASE, which stands for Secure Access, Secure Edge Solution. Fortinet also has that offering, which would be easier since it operates through the cloud, acting as a first line of defense. When the user connects to the internet, they connect to the cloud first for posture assessment and monitoring before connecting to the outside world. The impact is significant because nowadays people are adopting SASE. During COVID time, many users were trying to connect back to their office, causing the performance or CPU utilization of the firewall to increase tremendously, which slowed down performance. I have not worked with endpoint telemetry in Fortinet FortiClient that could have been helpful for threat mitigation.
BA
Owner at ThinkEzIT
Security enhances through autonomous protection and strong support while multi-factor authentication secures access
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, as I haven't been looking at what they're releasing. We're a small shop, so we drop stuff in and manage it and do what we need to do to maintain it. If we run into an issue, we contact support. There's a learning curve, but it comes down to getting support to train you on the product, and then once you have the training you need, you're able to make the changes and updates that you need to.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the single pane of glass, single point of management."
"From my perspective as an end user, it's consistently stable, and I would rate the stability as a nine out of ten."
"The technical support from Fortinet and local vendors is good."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiClient is its performance."
"I use the tool to connect server to an ISP Data Center."
"The interface of Fortinet FortiClient is clean and easy to use."
"Our customers are generally looking for a solution that works well and they get it with FortiClient."
"I find it very easy to configure and also very stable."
"The management and the dashboard are the solution's most valuable features."
"The solution is reliable and has good overall performance."
"We are in Thailand and I'm very happy with the technical support."
"The product is extremely flexible, the program is easy to use, the performance is good, and the solution is very stable."
"The SonicWall SSL-VPN solution offers the best protection with the least effect on services."
"It is faster than other security options when using remote connections."
"SonicWall SMA has the most valuable feature of proprietary security technologies like Capture ATP."
"This solution has many options for remote desktop and access."
 

Cons

"The documentation of this product could be improved."
"The solution could be more secure. I would like to see more safety features."
"When we change our endpoint, we have to connect again, which means having to enter our credentials and permissions."
"Technical support is awful. Their online response time is not prompt. They should not respond after four or five days. Their support guys are not competent enough. Small issues are taking time."
"We do not use the solution every day and there are times when the new users have trouble reconnecting. The technology itself works but our users getting adopted to it is a major problem. Having the user adapt to the desktop landing page that it begins on is throwing them off a bit."
"Everybody else is doing AI, machine learning, self-healing, next-generation features. It needs more next-generation features. Everybody else is doing AI, machine learning, self-healing, next-generation features. It needs more next-generation features."
"It is not as reliable as I would like it to be. There are times when things don't work quite right."
"Sometimes users stay on the old version of FortiClient. When new releases are not compatible, I need to reinstall newer versions, which can be problematic."
"The only thing that they could try to improve is the support for enterprise customers. Normally enterprises and SMBs can create a ticket, but for enterprises, SonicWall SMA needs to provide a global view, and this is what's currently missing. It's not even a question of timing. It's a question of the global vision because currently, it's lacking. They concentrate on the topic, but not on the means and not on the global picture. In most cases, there's something wrong with the integration of SonicWall SMA with other products, so that could also be improved."
"This solution is very slow, and the competitors have much higher speeds."
"The product's technical support services could be improved."
"The product itself is very good, but Dell needs to work on product visibility in their advertising."
"There are some features that are available on Palo Alto or Cisco that don't exist. The solution could integrate better with other platforms."
"I'd like to see the product maybe polish keyboards in Bookmark."
"The solution has 2FA, it will generate a token and send it to an email, but multifactor authentication is not available. I would suggest that there should be MFA integration and provided with the appliance."
"This is an expensive solution and I think that the price could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free version of this product."
"I don't have the licensing schema for the VPN solution because we just purchased the VPN gateway."
"Anyone can download this product for free, but you have to have a FortiGate gateway that you are connecting to."
"Fortinet FortiClient comes free with the purchase of the FortiGate solution. There is a license required for this solution. You later can upgrade from the free version which will allow more endpoints. The cost of the license subscription is based on how many endpoints you require."
"The pricing is good because you get and end-to-end security solution in one package price."
"Licensing was free up to ten users and after that, it was pretty reasonable."
"The solution's scalability is inexpensive."
"Fortinet requires you to buy a lot of product in order for you to have proper protection."
"Our licenses are stackable and can be anywhere from five users to a million users."
"The cost of the licensing is based on the maximum number of concurrent users, and it costs a lot to add them."
"This solution is priced well and we currently have the maximum number of licenses allowed."
"All the costs are included in a bundled license."
"The platform has medium pricing."
"I don't know about the pricing of the SSL-VPN box. I know the SSL-VPN software is free. Global VPN client, by comparison, is licensed for around $150 or something like that. But the SSL-VPN software is free. It is already built-in with the box."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Infrastructure VPN solutions are best for your needs.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

How does Fortinet FortiClient compare with Open VPN Access Server?
Fortinet FortiClient is a feature-rich solution that is easy to use and deploy without sacrificing safety and security. It has a very fast connection rate and has a built-in VPN. With this solution...
What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiClient?
The solution is not cloud-based; it comes from the firewall itself.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SMA?
I haven't utilized the high availability and scalability features of SonicWall SMA yet because I've never had a need to. I don't know where they can focus their energy on continuous improvements, a...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall SMA?
I have experience with the SonicWall SMA; we have rolled it back into our stack. We use SonicWall SMA for all of our clients that need VPNs, including doctor's offices and lawyer offices. Our clien...
 

Also Known As

FortiClient
SonicWall Aventail, SonicWall SMA SSL-VPN, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
UnitedStack, Newport City Homes, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, PRIME aerostructures GmbH, Celtic Manor Resort
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiClient vs. SonicWall SMA and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.