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Check Point SandBlast Network vs Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Symantec Advanced Threat Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Check Point SandBlast Network is 6.0%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks WildFire is 12.4%, up from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is 2.0%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

GaneshKhutwad - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides advanced threat prevention and utilizes geographic-based policies to mitigate attacks
Check Point offers three types of support: Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The level of support you receive should be based on the criticality of the issue, not solely on your client's support tier. While there are established support levels, I have experienced instances where the support provided was not categorized as Gold, Platinum, or Diamond but rather a standard support level. In such cases, the response times were slower, and getting support personnel on the call was more difficult.
AjayKumar17 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced cybersecurity with advanced sandboxing and effective in controlling DNS issues
Improvements are needed in the UI part. The dashboard should provide better visibility, especially in showing how many files are sent to Wildfire and their findings. This information should be integrated with the Dashboard so that system admins can see what is happening. Furthermore, technical support needs a lot of improvement, particularly in terms of responsiveness and adhering to service level agreements.
Dennis O'Reilly - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end antivirus protection and has good stability
Symantec Endpoint Protection provides end-to-end protection. Along with antivirus protection, it has a lot of key areas, including intrusive prevention, firewall features, and application and device control. It can integrate with other Broadcom solutions, such as Symantec Messaging Gateway and Symantec DLP. If you want to send an email, it gets scanned through endpoint protection and DLP. We get all Symantec functionality in a single pane.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Preventing zero-day threats and extracting potential threats from incoming files with Threat Extraction is the most valuable feature for us."
"Very few false positives are detected, which gives the confidence to raise flags when needed, ensuring the IT department is aware of threats and acting fast."
"One of its characteristics that we liked the most was its analysis and emulation of activities in the emails since it manages to review them and inspect them if they have an infected attachment."
"The forensics reports and the ability to sandbox malware are its most valuable features."
"It provides a high rate of catching the zero-day advanced threats."
"You do not need to risk your network by using the in-line sandbox."
"SandBlast has opened us up to a lot more opportunities where we can offer this service to clients, that way they don't have to go to a third-party to get this specific solution. It comes in the Check Point Infinity Package so it has helped us a lot."
"The Check Point SandBlast Network uses caching and static analysis to actually reduce the time it takes to scan and isolate the same file for incoming data compromises."
"The most valuable feature is the Automatic Verdict, to recognize whether something is a threat, or not."
"I absolutely recommend WildFire because it dramatically reduces response times against zero-day attacks."
"The most effective feature of WildFire for threat analysis is its collaboration with other security profiles on our Palo Alto firewall."
"A good tool for file scanning and email threat detection, especially when it comes to attachments and communications."
"For example, if a security Intel threat talks about an IOC. We can then go to our MSP and say, "Is there a signature for this particular type of malware that just came out?" And if they'll say yes, then we'll say, "Okay. Does it apply to these firewalls? And have we seen any hits on it?" There's absolutely value in it."
"I love the idea of Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It's more geared toward preventing malware. If someone's laptop or phone is malware-infected, the tool prevents it from uploading valuable corporate data outside the corporate network. That's what I love about Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It stops malware in its tracks."
"Remote access is excellent."
"The way that the solution quickly updates to adjust to threats is the solution's most valuable aspect. When there's a security attack, within five minutes, all Wildfire subscribers have access to updates so that all systems will be safe. Its threat prevention is way better than other vendor products."
"Technical support is very responsive. You just have to open a ticket. They respond in a timely manner. Their response is good. I'm satisfied."
"What I like most about Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is its notification capability."
"The most valuable feature is Click-time URL protection."
"Endpoint to network protects the line."
"All of the solution's features are quite valuable for us. We especially like the threat protection it provides."
"The incident management on the solution is very good. You get a lot of detailed information about an incident. You also get a lot of documentation in connection with the CVI or integration."
"Real-time threat analysis is quick and takes action on threats immediately."
"The most valuable feature is NetFlow threat protection."
 

Cons

"They need to improve the GUI interface."
"In Check Point SandBlast, improvement has to be made with respect to the GUI."
"There should be some customized price reductions in the offered packages."
"SandBlast takes longer than FortiSandbox to complete a scan."
"I would like to see these solutions being easier to manage from mobile applications - from either iOS or Android - including other operating systems that appear in the future."
"The initial setup was complex because of the lack of information from the consultant."
"I imagine there will be improvements in later versions. There are hotfixes that come out all the time."
"The Threat Emulation software blade significantly affects the performance of the NGFWs, we have a significant increase in the CPU and memory consumption."
"The only problem with this solution is the cost. It's expensive."
"Palo Alto doesn't do much to support the on-premise version. It wants too much self-support for the on-premise version of WildFire."
"Many years back an update caused an issue with the firewall. However, Palo Alto not only informed us of said issue, they also sent an update that fixed the issue before I even had time to log in to determine if the issue affected our services."
"I don't think it needs to improve anything, except maybe the speed to deploy the changes."
"The product's false positive logs could be more user-friendly to understand. They could provide examples of precious cases to learn."
"When comparing this solution to others it is not as good overall."
"It's not really their problem, it's a problem across the board. There will always be problems with interrupted traffic. We have to set it up where we're playing a middle man game where we're stripping it out, looking at it, and then putting it back together and sending it on its way. That requires CPU cycles. And there's some overhead with that."
"The product integration with third-party systems need improvement."
"The support has dropped down to a five out of ten."
"The administration interface needs a lot of improvement. It should be UI based, and simple. They need to improve it. It's pretty much not that friendly compared to what we were using as Bitdefender before. It's okay but is improving, actually."
"The support for new OSs and older OSs could be a little tighter. They need to be more upfront about what protection services they're going to provide on new OSs. I haven't seen the Windows 11 version out yet. It is either already released in Beta, or the Beta will be released soon. There could be a little bit more advanced updates on what they're doing to help protect Windows 11 environments. They can let us know in advance so that we know it is going to be protected. We can't roll out the new OS without putting end-point protection on it. So, they should tell us what is their support model for that, and what are they doing to protect Windows 11. They're not telling me, and that's a criticism. The same issue is applicable to all the other antivirus tools. It is not just Symantec; all of them have this problem."
"There are limits with respect to blocking files by hash value or blocking IP addresses, and these limits should be removed."
"The product's support services need improvement."
"It's a strange situation where the infrastructure of the consumer or customer is behind some kind of firewall and they have always used some kind of customized proxy. In this situation, the ATP has a very tough time to pass the information to the cloud and back. To fix, it requires a more elaborate and complex configuration for that particular case."
"Symantec appliances need improvement. The whole appliance environment is a robust system and it needs a massive amount of storage space. If you have to increase or speed up the background storage it's a pretty complicated process. The scalability and sizing is critical, and if you do it wrong you run into issues pretty quickly."
"An improvement could be made on the reporting because then it would be easier to collect information and submit it for compliance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's cost is high."
"I think the overall cost for introducing Check Point with SandBlast was reasonable and competitive in the market."
"We have seen ROI."
"We would like to try the Threat Extraction blade, but you need to buy a license. Check Point is expensive. I would like to buy things, but I would need the funding."
"Choosing the correct set of licenses is essential because, without the additional software blade licenses, the Check Point gateways are just a stateful firewall."
"The cost is not significantly high and it can be negotiated during any purchase of NGFW."
"The pricing is quite effective, not excessively high. On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest price, I rate the pricing a nine."
"The cost of Check Point SandBlast Network is annually, and there is only a standard license."
"I think they should lower the price of this solution"
"The pricing is OK, it is not too expensive."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"It depends on the features. Additional features cost additional money as well."
"The solution is worth its price"
"This is an expensive product and the market for Palo Alto in Poland could be much bigger if the pricing was comparable to Fortinet."
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a product with a high price."
"For the last three years, the price of Palo Alto in Vietnam has been very high."
"The pricing of this solution is inexpensive and affordable."
"The price is quite expensive."
"Pricing is good. It is nice to have a great product at a fair price."
"Symantec Advanced Threat Protection's pricing is comparable."
"Symantec Endpoint Protection has an average price."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 11, 2015
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
13%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
78%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Computer Software Company
2%
Manufacturing Company
2%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point SandBlast Network?
The solution can detect and prevent attacks that may be encrypted.
What needs improvement with Check Point SandBlast Network?
The cost is a little bit high-end, and you need to get precise performance metrics in order to get the correct size. ...
How does Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks Wildfire?
The Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one conside...
Which is better - Wildfire or FortiGate?
FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like...
How does Cisco ASA Firewall compare with Palo Alto's WildFire?
When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advan...
What do you like most about Symantec Advanced Threat Protection?
Symantec Endpoint Protection provides end-to-end protection. Along with antivirus protection, it has a lot of key are...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Advanced Threat Protection?
The price is quite expensive because a different entity has taken over the company.
What needs improvement with Symantec Advanced Threat Protection?
One area for improvement could be the pricing model. Future releases could further enhance integration capabilities w...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edenred, State Transport Leasing Company (STLC), Edel AG, Laurenty, Conseil Départemental du Val de Marne, Koch Media
Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
ECI
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: February 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.