SonicWall Network Security Manager vs TNSR
SonicWall Network Security Manager
sonicwall.comTNSR
netgate.comSide by side
| Figure | SonicWall Network Security Manager | TNSR |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $83.25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Firewall Software | 8.1 (#24) | 8.7 (#11) |
| Founded | 1991 | 2004 |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Headquarters | Milpitas, California, USA | Austin, Texas, United States |
| Intended users | NSM is aimed at security teams managing distributed firewall environments, with multi-tenant management for multiple customers or locations. | Netgate identifies businesses, ISPs, internet telephone providers, hosting providers, managed service providers, and SaaS providers as potential users. |
| Support | SonicWall provides a support portal with knowledge base, technical documentation, community resources, and video tutorials. | Netgate says TNSR subscriptions include 24x7 TAC support, and its overview describes access to support veterans, professional services, and training. |
Plans
SonicWall Network Security Manager
- Centralized management and alertingFree
TNSR
- TNSR AWS/Azure proof of conceptFree
- TNSR Software Subscription - Renewal$999 a year
- TNSR softwarePrice not published
In their own words
SonicWall Network Security Manager
SonicWall Network Security Manager (NSM) centralizes management of SonicWall firewalls, with reporting and analytics for teams overseeing distributed environments. It surfaces risks and misconfigurations and provides real-time visibility into firewall activity. Credential Auditor checks firewall passwords and keys against publicly known breached-credential databases; Configuration Auditor compares settings with best practices, and encrypted backups preserve configurations. Teams can remediate passwords and TOTP keys across firewall fleets in one action. Advanced search supports multi-column queries, logical operators, saved searches, and custom reports.
NSM is offered as a cloud service or as an on-premises console deployable on KVM, ESXi, Hyper-V, and Azure. NSM Cloud is delivered through SonicWall Unified Management and can correlate events across the SonicWall ecosystem using SAMI. On-premises subscriptions are available for 1, 3, or 5 years; the base license covers configuration management for up to five firewalls, without reporting or analytics. Reporting and analytics retention varies by license. Centralized management and alerting is free, included with SonicWall firewall support; reporting, logging, analytics, and forensics may require a security suite or add-on.
TNSR
TNSR is a software router and VPN concentrator for high-speed routing and VPN workloads. Netgate says its Vector Packet Processing can scale from 1 to 1000 Gbps and beyond on commercial off-the-shelf hardware. Routing options include BGP, OSPF, static and dynamic routing, policy-based routing, carrier-grade NAT, and equal-cost multipath. For VPNs, it supports routed site-to-site IPsec and WireGuard, with IKEv1 and IKEv2. Administrators can manage TNSR through a CLI, RESTCONF API, or NETCONF. Monitoring options include SNMP and a Prometheus exporter for dataplane statistics. Security features listed include access control lists, packet filtering, password or key authentication, RADIUS, and role-based access control. Netgate offers cloud deployments through AWS and Azure marketplaces, as well as its 6100, 8200, and 8300 appliance systems. Subscriptions include 24x7 TAC support. TNSR has firewall capabilities, but Netgate does not position it as a firewall and warns it may lack features customers expect from pfSense Plus.