Skip to content
Avanet

Sophos Firewall and endpoint protection for home users

Sophos Firewall Central Admin

Our business model of making Sophos products available online to everyone means we get a wide variety of requests every day. They range from small two-man operations, to large companies with multiple locations worldwide. Since virtually anyone can buy Sophos from us, home users are also frequent guests in our online store.

Although Sophos is primarily active in the business environment, it also offers plenty of functions for private households, some of which can even be used free of charge.

In this post, we’ll give a brief overview of which Sophos products are worth considering for home use and which ones are available free of charge.

Sophos Firewall for your home

Sophos firewalls are already excellent products. Of course, we work with them every day, so we are hardly neutral. 😅 But seriously: even though we are sometimes critical of Sophos and not completely satisfied with every detail, Sophos Firewalls are among the best on the market. They are popular for good reason, but unfortunately they are a little too expensive for many home users.

Many private users therefore look at the inexpensive XGS 87, which we still cannot really recommend for a living-room setup. The hardware price is not necessarily the problem; the annual license fees are.

Sophos has also been aware of this for several years and offers a “home version” of the Sophos Firewall for private use. Apart from a few small restrictions, which are not really significant, the home user can use the firewall completely free of charge. The restrictions will be discussed later.

With the free Home versions, you can protect your network with technologies such as anti-malware, web security, URL filtering, application control, IPS, VPN (SSLVPN and IPsec) and more.

Sophos Firewall Home Edition

Sophos Firewall Home Edition can be installed on different computers and in different environments. Here are some possible scenarios:

  1. Home network: Sophos Firewall Home Edition can be installed on a dedicated Intel-compatible computer with two network interfaces. This is ideal for protecting the home network and monitoring the Internet traffic of all devices in the household.
  2. Home office: For home offices that require a robust security solution, Sophos Firewall Home Edition can be installed on a suitable computer. This protects the network against threats and increases network security.
  3. Labs and test environments: IT professionals and enthusiasts can deploy Sophos Firewall Home Edition in lab or test environments to test different security configurations and try out new features without impacting the production network.
  4. Homelab: Tech enthusiasts running a Homelab can install Sophos Firewall Home Edition on a suitable computer to improve network management and security practices.

Requirements

To install Sophos Firewall Home Edition, you need:

  • Intel-compatible computer: The computer must be equipped with an Intel-compatible processor and have two network interfaces.
  • Dual network interfaces: The computer must have two network interfaces to properly manage network traffic.
  • Hardware restrictions: The Home Edition is limited to 4 cores and 6 GB RAM. The computer may have more resources, but Sophos Firewall Home Edition will not be able to use these additional resources.

Many of our customers simply order the Sophos XGS Firewall without a license, as some functions are already included free of charge in the basic version:

  • Create firewall rules
  • IPsec and SSL VPN for remote access
  • Site2Site IPsec connections
  • Sophos Wireless to manage all Sophos Access Points (APX Access Points only, AP6 is cloud only)
  • However, the Enhanced Support license is required for updates, although this is quite inexpensive.

These features are already sufficient for most private users. Functions such as IPS, WebFilter, Web Application Firewall or MTA, which require a license, are often not in demand at all.

Limitations of Sophos Firewall Home Edition

  • no Synchronized Security
  • No Sophos Zero-Day Protection
  • Community Support (Forum) only

Download Sophos Firewall Home Edition for free

The ISO for the installation can be downloaded from the Sophos website:

Sophos Endpoint Protection for home users: Sophos Home

In addition to a Sophos Firewall, good endpoint protection is also required for all computers in the home network that are operated with Windows or macOS.

Sophos Central is designed for the corporate sector and is therefore not necessarily priced for private households. Sophos has therefore developed the product “Sophos Home” for private users, which is technically based on Sophos Central.

Sophos Home is not free, but comes with the following security features:

  • Malware scans and removal
  • Threat detection with AI
  • Ransomware protection
  • Security Management
  • Web protection
  • Antivirus in real time
  • Child protection filter
  • Premium Support

Conclusion

As this overview shows, Sophos also provides solutions for private households that do not cost anything to use. Of course, the firewall still requires a one-time hardware investment. After that, however, you can use the software free of charge.

The only drawback in our view is the lack of support for “Sophos Firewall Home Edition” on a Sophos appliance. Sophos Firewall already provides many functions free of charge with the base license, but that is not enough for real enthusiasts. At the same time, getting their own hardware or running the firewall virtually is probably not a major hurdle for them.