Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

June 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

5.2

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall reduces costs and improves efficiency with centralized management, automation, and reduced workforce needs.

Sentiment score

6.5

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls deliver strong ROI through reduced risks, costs, and enhanced security features despite high initial costs.

Cybersecurity ROI could be $1 or $100 million, depending on the risk of data behind it.

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A

It is easy and offers different solutions for each solution type with small, mid, and large scale options available.

VikasTiwari

Senior Network Engineer at Anthology

I did see a return on investment with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, as mentioned by the efficiency improvements and the metrics related to how much I cut investigation time, the number of incidents, and the ease of making changes or pushing new configurations.

reviewer2774055

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Their user-friendly interface and Panorama central management, which provides a comprehensive overview, make them an ideal investment.

Jeelani Qadir

Technical Lead at Accenture

The solution helped reduce downtime, which is crucial in time-sensitive industries like manufacturing.

Venkatasubramanian Rajagopal

Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees

I have seen a return on investment as there are definitely clear cost reductions, resource savings, time savings, and improved risk detection.

Nitin Yadav

Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.8

Most customers find Forcepoint Firewall support helpful and reliable, despite occasional delays and logistical challenges.

Sentiment score

6.7

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with language barriers and emergency response times needing improvement.

Unlike Fortinet where you can escalate an issue and quickly get responses from the development team, Forcepoint's process seems slow and challenging.

Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A

TAC engineers are very experienced and troubleshoot issues within the expected timeframe with no problems.

VikasTiwari

Senior Network Engineer at Anthology

We have a point of contact from the account manager to the presales representative, and they connect with the technical support team, providing support in Indian time, so we do not have to worry about US or European time zones.

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

MANAGER SOLUTION CONSULTING at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Palo Alto's network support is excellent, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.

reviewer2173242

Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Their response time is within one hour.

AmjadKhan1

Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees

They offer fast and competent assistance.

Valentyn Lytvynov

IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.2

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers scalable integration, supporting diverse environments with ease in both on-premises and cloud deployments.

Sentiment score

6.8

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer scalability and customization, but hardware limitations and cost issues affect extensive scaling options.

I can have one management node similar to Palo Alto Panorama, with multiple nodes covering different sites, data centers, or zones.

reviewer2774055

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Even if you have some firewalls in the cluster, it is not necessary to have them on the same version.

Petr Pouzar

IT Consultant at M-COM s.r.o

In a country such as India with a large population, we often need to scale up or down depending on projects and requirements, and it is very much easy to do both ways.

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

MANAGER SOLUTION CONSULTING at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Cloud deployments benefit from auto-scaling, allowing for automatic adjustments to firewall capacity based on demand.

Jeelani Qadir

Technical Lead at Accenture

It is important to assess the infrastructure size before choosing a model.

Valentyn Lytvynov

IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are scalable and reliable.

Hrushikesh Pandit

Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Forcepoint Firewall is reliable with minor issues; high-availability setups reduce downtime, though complex deployments may face challenges.

Sentiment score

8.5

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are favored for their consistent stability and reliability, outperforming competitors in various scenarios.

It has many freezes for no reason.

Marcelo-Araujo

Cyber Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall should make some improvements because there is some instability with their software.

reviewer2320872

System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

With appropriately configured policies, these firewalls can provide robust network security.

Adam-Brenner

Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees

After the upgrade, we are experiencing performance issues.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

I have not experienced any outages or issues.

Valentyn Lytvynov

IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it

Room For Improvement

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall needs a user-friendly interface, better integration, improved support, and competitive pricing.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls need improved reporting, support, affordability, AI features, integration, scalability, and better-performing hardware.

Fast response and efficient handling of issues, similar to how Fortinet responds, would be great.

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A

AI improvements could be beneficial, as having AI capabilities has become an important checkmark feature.

reviewer2220669

CEO at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

I recommend that additional features be included in a single license to avoid the need for extra licensing costs.

Aamir Ejaz

Head of IT Department at Mana

When performance degrades due to full packet inspection, the solution should be to increase the computing power within the same firewall, not to recommend upgrading to a larger, more expensive model.

Venkatasubramanian Rajagopal

Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Further integration into a unified system could improve usability.

Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls lack built-in multi-factor authentication, requiring the purchase of a third-party tool to implement this essential security feature.

AmjadKhan1

Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Setup Cost

Forcepoint's pricing is competitive, especially in Asia, with variable licensing terms and additional costs for extra features.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are costly but valued for premium security, offering better value with multi-year licenses.

The costs can be high since additional features require separate licenses.

Aamir Ejaz

Head of IT Department at Mana

In terms of price, I would say Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not expensive.

MANAGER SOLUTION CONSULTING at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

In terms of pricing, I would place Forcepoint in the middle when compared to other firewalls like Fortinet and Palo Alto.

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls come at a premium, exceeding the cost of most competitors by 45 percent.

AmjadKhan1

Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees

Colleagues looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall can still use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because they are affordable.

Senthil Kumar Manian

Director at Zuci Systems

Valuable Features

Forcepoint NGFW offers robust security, easy integration, advanced protection, and versatile deployment with centralized management for seamless connectivity.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer robust, user-friendly security with advanced AI, threat prevention, and centralized management features.

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall has impacted my organization positively by making it very easy to work and offering a more competitive price compared to other vendors.

Marcelo-Araujo

Cyber Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall has positively impacted my organization by providing always-on perimeter security.

reviewer2783121

Responsabile System and Security at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Strong network segmentation is my favorite feature that Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers.

reviewer2774055

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

The most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are DNS sync calls, enabled security features, and Wildfire.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report

Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Threat Vault allows us access to a comprehensive threat database, enabling us to get detailed information on threats and how to mitigate them.

Hrushikesh Pandit

Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is Cortex Data Lake.

Adam-Brenner

Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees

Categories and Ranking

Forcepoint Next Generation ...

Ranking in Firewalls

25th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), WAN Edge (11th)

Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...

Ranking in Firewalls

6th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

199

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 5.2%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls	5.2%
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall	1.0%
Other	93.8%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Unified security management has improved traffic control and simplified remote workforce access

MANAGER SOLUTION CONSULTING at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall does help in vulnerability identification and response by providing a single unified console through which I am able to monitor and manage infrastructure. The URL filtering capability of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall helps in blocking malicious sites. We have to take care of both known threats and unknown threats. The firewall takes care of known threats, and we protect ourselves from unknown threats such as malicious code and malware that we cannot create firewall rules for. With these routing capabilities and policies, only whitelisted things get processed or passed. The biggest advantages of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, especially as a partner, service provider, and integrator, are that it is very easy to integrate these APIs with our solution, and most of the features I am getting in the clientless mode. Even with the client mode, it is easy to integrate with our client, allowing the customer to get a single client to address all the features of the firewall as well as the GTNA perspective. The flexibility of deployment, especially for the government and defense sectors, is that they want an on-premises solution, while the rest of the PSUs or enterprise segment are comfortable with the cloud offering, which is the SaaS offering and the way to go in the future.

Read full review

Nitin Yadav

Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.

Strong threat prevention has reduced phishing and malware while I monitor traffic in depth

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers application and user awareness, which allow me to control traffic based on threats. The product includes threat prevention, advanced threat prevention, and deep packet inspection that really helps prevent issues in our network. Deep packet inspection inspects full traffic content, even inside applications and encrypted sessions. Deep packet inspection makes a very practical difference day to day because it lets me see and control what is actually inside the traffic, not just the open port or IP. I have real visibility of which application is running instead of just seeing HTTPS. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls WildFire sandboxing is really good at detecting and blocking zero-day malware automatically, along with its GlobalProtect and DNS security features. Using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls positively impacts my organization by providing strong security, better visibility, faster response, and simplified operations. After deploying Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls in our network, it blocks malicious traffic and prevents compromises that occurred before Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. I can now block outside IPs to prevent issues. After Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls installation, I reduced 60 to 70 percent of malware and phishing attacks. Its threat prevention and DNS security features detect these attacks, block malicious domains, and reduce manual efforts for the security team.

Read full review

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903,182 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	77
Midsize Enterprise	57
Large Enterprise	87

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

In terms of price, I would say Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not expensive. It is very much comparable to other vendors, and pricing is not a problem, especially for the Asian market, with...

What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

The negative side of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is that the ZTNA part is missing. For that, we have to integrate a third-party component with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall to complet...

What is your primary use case for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

The major use cases for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall are in government turnkey projects where we require a lot of traffic coming from the public domain. That is why we are putting these fire...

What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include int...

Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls

In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...

Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat signatures and updates. I also appreciate that I can just import addresses and URL...

Fortinet FortiGate vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Comparisons

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

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Cisco Meraki MX vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 14% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

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Product Reports

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall

July 2026

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall report

Download Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall product report

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

June 2026

Download Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls product report

Also Known As

Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform

Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall

Overview

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers robust network protection with features like URL filtering and advanced threat protection, ensuring comprehensive security and operational efficiency across various infrastructures.

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall integrates URL filtering and advanced threat protection, including intrusion prevention and DDoS prevention. The centralized management console provides application awareness, strong network segmentation, and SD-WAN capabilities. Its graphical interface enhances user experience, while efficient technical support and seamless integration offer stability and scalability. Companies use it for perimeter security, VPNs, and threat prevention, optimizing performance in diverse sectors.

What are the key features of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?

URL Filtering: Provides robust protection against malicious sites.
Advanced Threat Protection: Includes IPS and DDoS prevention.
Centralized Management: Simplifies control across multiple devices.
Application Awareness: Enhances security policies.
Network Segmentation: Ensures strong internal security structures.
SD-WAN Capabilities: Optimizes wide area network configurations.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating?

Operational Efficiency: Streamlined management with a centralized console.
Enhanced Security: Comprehensive threat protection and VPN solutions.
Scalability: Easily adapts to infrastructure growth.
Integration: Seamlessly works with existing architectures.

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is widely implemented in sectors including finance, education, and government, offering security for data centers and managing remote access with IPsec VPN tunnels, SSL VPNs, and site-to-site connectivity. Companies appreciate its use for Unified Threat Management and automatic optimization, ensuring data security and efficient network performance.

Forcepoint

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls deliver advanced threat protection with machine learning, enhancing security through real-time attack prevention. Known for application visibility and a user-friendly interface, they offer robust network protection and flexibility in rule creation.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are designed to secure environments with features like GlobalProtect VPN, WildFire malware detection, and unified platform integration. Their strong firewall capabilities and high-performance throughput make them suitable for perimeter and data center protection, VPN configurations, application control, and network segmentation. Users consistently highlight the ease of managing network security policies and integrating third-party tools, ensuring a comprehensive protection strategy. While enhancements in support, training resources, and configuration simplicity are needed, these firewalls are integral for securing both on-prem and cloud environments, aligning with platforms like Azure and AWS.

What are the key features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Application Visibility: Provides insight into network traffic for better control.
Threat Prevention: Uses machine learning for real-time attack prevention.
GlobalProtect VPN: Secures remote access efficiently.
WildFire Malware Detection: Detects and prevents advanced threats.
Unified Platform Integration: Enhances network security through seamless integration with other tools.

What benefits should be evaluated when considering Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Flexibility in Rule Creation: Allows customized security policies to meet specific needs.
High-Performance Throughput: Ensures efficient network operations under high load.
Comprehensive Policy Management: Simplifies overseeing and adjusting security policies.
Robust Endpoint Security: Protects endpoints against sophisticated threats.
Seamless Integration: Works well with third-party tools for a comprehensive solution.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are commonly implemented across industries for securing LAN environments, URL filtering, and ensuring Zero Trust security. They secure both on-premises and cloud infrastructures, often becoming integral parts of security frameworks within enterprises. Leveraging these firewalls in conjunction with Azure or AWS enhances the overall network protection strategies employed by organizations.

Palo Alto Networks

Sample Customers

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments