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Hillstone E-Series vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
39th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (20th)
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 Hillstone E-Series is 0.7%, 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
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls5.2%
Hillstone E-Series0.7%
Other94.1%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Nitin Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Five out of five ROI."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"IoT security is most valuable in the current version; Content IDs, DDoS protection, zone protection, and DLP are the most prominent features in Palo Alto Networks NG Firewall, and it is easier to configure than other solutions."
"Security is the biggest thing nowadays, including threat response, incident response, and root cause. We found that a lot of the logging and dashboard capabilities offered by Palo Alto fill the missing skill gap that you run up against. It makes it easier for our tier-two staff to get involved in some of the deeper root cause analysis. The dashboards, logs, and reports make it easier for our staff to dive right in and not get lost in what tools they should use. It's easy because they're all right there."
"The most valuable features are the power of the threat prevention and the WildFire service. Its strength comes from the huge number of sensors all over the world. The firewalls have a rich library of signatures."
"This solution not only provides better security than flat VLAN segments but allows easy movement through the lifecycle of the server."
"The Unified Threat Management (UTM) module, which consists of the basic firewall and IPS services, is what the majority of our customers use in Palo Alto Firewall."
"One of the most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is application symmetries."
"Their technical support is very good."
"The application awareness feature that recognizes application IDs and vulnerability protection are Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls' most valuable features."
 

Cons

"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"I would not recommend this solution."
"As part of our internet filtering, we integrate heavily with Active Directory, and we use security groups to separate staff into two groups: those who should have full access to the internet and those who should have limited access. It may be just the way the topology is for our domain controllers and that infrastructure, but at peak usage, there seems to be a delay in reading back against the security group to find out what group the user is in."
"The UI needs to be more user-friendly to attract novice users."
"The user interface is a bit clumsy and not very user-friendly."
"The only problem that I see with the Palo Alto NGFW being an all-in-one appliance is that because of the different features that are being put into a single appliance, the OS tends to be beefier. Over the eight years, we have seen that the number of features or analyses being put into the appliance itself has a tendency to slow down the appliance, especially at the time of bootup. So, any time we are doing maintenance work, the time required for the appliance to boot up and be fully functional again is significantly longer than eight years ago. They could find a way to make this all-in-one appliance faster."
"Its price can be improved. It is expensive."
"There are some options available in other firewall products that are not supported, so there is room for improvement in that regard."
"The price is expensive and should be reduced to make it more competitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls' price is expensive."
"The tool is expensive, especially considering all the necessary licenses for centrally managing firewalls. For medium-sized companies like ours, it's often not feasible within our budget constraints. We pay around €200k yearly for all our firewalls. Additionally, we received a quote of over €1 million per year for Prisma Access. There is a significant cost difference compared to other options, where it's around €200k per year."
"If someone doesn't have a security platform in their network, then the following licenses will be required: antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability, and Wildfire analysis. There are also licenses for GlobalProtect and support."
"The price is based on that selected package, with the lowest starting at $3,000 annually."
"The cost is quite high."
"You get what you pay for."
"This solution is quite expensive."
"Palo Alto is like Mercedes-Benz. It is quite expensive, but the price is definitely justified."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise57
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. Wh...
What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?
I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features which are available in the firewall.
What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?
Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I have not used any AI in the tool. I recommend the tool to others. I rate the tool ...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.