Abstract

Zyxel Networks commissioned Tolly to evaluate the Zyxel USG FLEX 100H against the SonicWall TZ270. The main focus of the project was to compare anti-malware efficacy, malicious URL detection, subscription pricing, and included security and management features in order to assess overall security value for small and midsize firewall deployments.  

The report tested the Zyxel USG FLEX 100H running VuOS-fw 2025-08-14 with the Gold Security UTM Bundle and the SonicWall TZ270 running SonicOS 7.2.0-7015 with the Advanced Protection Security Suite. For anti-malware testing, malware samples stored on a web server were downloaded by a client via HTTP GET through the device under test. Tolly determined whether samples were blocked by checking device logs and by comparing destination-file checksums against the original malware files. Across 6,426 malware samples collected from MalShare, URLhaus, and MalwareBazaar and filtered through VirusTotal, the Zyxel USG FLEX 100H blocked 5,902 samples, achieving an average anti-malware efficacy of 91.8%. The SonicWall TZ270 blocked 2,687 samples, for an average efficacy of 41.8%. Zyxel exceeded 87% efficacy on every test date.  

Tolly also evaluated malicious URL blocking using 2,712 URLs sourced from OpenPhish, URLhaus, and PhishTank, again filtered through VirusTotal. In this phase, the test client used the device under test as its DNS server, and engineers measured blocking by examining device logs and failed HTTP requests caused by DNS redirection and other security controls. Zyxel blocked 2,301 malicious URLs, achieving an average detection rate of 84.8%, while SonicWall blocked 736, for an average of 27.1%. Zyxel exceeded 74% on every test date in the URL evaluation.  

The report also compares subscription cost and feature coverage. Tolly states that Zyxel’s one-year Gold Security UTM Bundle street price was $224.99 and its two-year renewal was $399.99, versus $383 and $651 respectively for SonicWall’s Advanced Protection Security Suite. That represents about 58% lower cost for one year and 61% lower for two years. Both products included sandboxing, gateway AV, anti-spyware, intrusion detection, application firewall, content filtering, anti-spam, and DNS filtering. However, Zyxel additionally provided broader IP reputation filtering, free tech support, free lifetime firmware upgrades, 365-day alerting and reporting, and cloud management through Nebula Pro included with the license, whereas SonicWall required separate support and cloud-management licensing and provided only seven days of alerting history. Overall, the report presents the Zyxel USG FLEX 100H as delivering materially higher anti-malware and malicious-URL blocking efficacy, along with lower subscription cost and stronger included management value than the SonicWall TZ270 in the tested configuration.