Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs Sangfor NGAF comparison

Palo Alto Networks and Sangfor are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Palo Alto Networks is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.5, while Sangfor is ranked #19 with an average rating of 7.9. Palo Alto Networks holds a 0.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sangfor’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sangfor users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Sangfor NGAF and Palo Alto Networks K2-Series are competitors in the network security category. Sangfor NGAF appears to have an edge in terms of affordability and ease of use, while Palo Alto is preferred for its advanced security features.

Features: Sangfor NGAF is highlighted for its ease of use, strong virus database, and comprehensive reporting features. It provides a straightforward deployment process and integrates well with existing systems. Palo Alto K2-Series is recognized for its superior IPS, SSL decryption capabilities, and strong application and URL inspection features, along with excellent threat intelligence via WildFire.

Room for Improvement: Sangfor NGAF could benefit from better integration of consoles and enhanced real-time reporting. Improvements in feedback mechanisms and interface intuitiveness would also help. Palo Alto K2-Series could optimize its user experience, reduce pricing, and enhance management and third-party integration. More comprehensive reporting and frequent updates are desired by users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sangfor NGAF offers quick problem resolution with responsive 24/7 local support, though some regions report slower support. Its deployment process is flexible. Palo Alto K2-Series provides robust technical support and consistent service but faces challenges with its complex GUI during deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Sangfor NGAF is considered cost-effective with a high ROI compared to Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco, making it attractive for small to medium-sized enterprises. Despite its high cost, Palo Alto K2-Series is valued for its security capabilities, though concerns about accessibility for smaller enterprises persist.

To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

April 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is 0.0%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Krishnakumar M

enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

One of the best tools for the prevention of evasive threats

There is a feature called granular application controls, which I liked. Instead of relying on ports and IP addresses, they use AMP ID. This kind of solution is very good. Another valuable feature is the prevention of evasive threats, which is one of the best tools I've encountered. SSL decryption and app ID-based SSL decryption are also impressive, along with the integration with user ID. Identity-based policies ensuring only authorized users can access specific resources are excellent features. Normally, there is something called SIM or SCIM in IDA IDM, but this feature is provided on the box, which is exemplary.

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Zaid Farooqui

CIO at Indus Motor Company

Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support

We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."

"FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use."

"The price-to-performance ratio for using Fortinet FortiGate is always better compared to any other competitor, so they are rated better than the likes of Check Point or Palo Alto."

"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."

"The solution is stable."

"The features that prevent internet connections, the filtering are the most valuable because we did not have any internet protection before."

"FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is its management abilities. Additionally, the updates are very good."

"The application ID on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is able to understand the application traffic, and WildFire is also good."

"We've found the solution offers us good stability."

"Mainly, it is very easy to understand, and the logs are very good."

"This is a very reliable firewall and we have never had problems with it."

"I have found the threat profile feature valuable."

"The solution is reliable and scales well."

"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the performance which is above their competitors. The throughput they have delivered is good. When we used other solutions they failed the deployment when we were using different rules. They have a theory perform performance light and performance degradation. However, Palo Alto Networks K2-Series never fails in that scenario."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"Sangfor NGAF works accordingly with our customers. The solution has good performance, easy to use, and integrates well with the endpoints."

"The most valuable features are the WAN optimization, the internet access gateway (IAG), and the central console, which allows us to implement on their firewall."

"The level of support provided to local companies is good. They transform their application control and other settings according to that country."

"We've found the technical support to be helpful."

"You might try Sangfor if you are on a tight budget. The price is affordable, and Sangfor offers a lot of features. We don't have any complaints about Sangfor."

"In four steps one can configure the entire firewall."

"So far, the performance and reliability of the product have supported our company's critical network traffic."

"The VPN connectivity feature is really nice."

More Sangfor NGAF pros

Cons

"The initial setup and configuration are not intuitive and require training."

"The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer."

"The firewall engine is not so strong as of now, in my opinion... My second concern is that, while they have Zero-day vulnerability and anti-malware features, the threat engine needs to be strengthened, its efficiency can be increased."

"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."

"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."

"Its reporting and pricing need improvement."

"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."

"Their software support needs improvement. I would prefer to have better support for bug fixes. Sometimes, we open a ticket, and it is very difficult to get a solution. Specifically, we are not at all happy with their support for load balancing."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution's commitment time could be reduced as it often takes a lot of time to execute."

"I'd like to see more data protection on the system."

"Palo Alto has many other products. It would be nice for these products to be centralized under one tool"

"Palo Alto releases a lot of bug fixes for their firewalls, which means it's necessary to do frequent upgrades. They should work on decreasing their bugs so that upgrades aren't needed so often."

"If we have issues, they take anywhere from two days to a week to respond. I even wrote to their CEO because there was no response. When it comes to support, this is the worst company."

"It would be nice if it could easily be integrated with Elasticsearch or Nagios."

"Its networking features could be better."

"The technical support, and how they provide it to the client, needs to be improved."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"Lacks consistency in terms of filtering certain websites and applications."

"Sangfor could improve by providing better real-time reporting, as the current reports don't offer the level of detail we need, especially for runtime insights."

"The setup phase is quite complex."

"I believe that IAM and NGFW need to merge into a single box, instead of there being two separate box solutions."

"The solution has too many bugs and these slow down the implementation."

"The support for YouTube or the Internet is not enough."

"The solution should be able to work in a hybrid setup."

"The interface and user experience are horrible."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"As far as I'm aware, in our case, it's just a yearly pricing arrangement with no additional licensing costs."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is the lowest in the market."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is affordable. Most of our customers are on a three-year license to use the solution. All the features and support are included in the price."

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

"Its pricing is competitive with other solutions."

"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."

"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."

"It would be nice if they lowered their prices for small businesses."

"The price of this solution is too high."

"Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."

"Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is an expensive solution, the price could be reduced. They are more expensive than some of their competitors."

"The price of the solution is expensive."

"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"Sangfor is cheaper than competing vendors."

"In my opinion, the price of the tool is good in the Pakistani market. We can easily get discounts if needed."

"It is one of the cheapest tools in the market."

"Sangfor NGAF price is reasonable and there is an annual license. However, the maintenance cost can be a bit high."

"I rate the product price as one on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"It costs about 8 to 10 thousand dollars per year for 500 users, standard licensing fees included."

"The price could be more competitive."

"The solution has a TCO that is 32% to 50% less than Sophos, Fortinet, and SonicWall."

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

27%

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Media Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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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...

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What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

It is a stable solution.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

The pricing for the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series solution is affordable and there are no complaints about the licensing.

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What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?

I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?

The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.

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What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?

The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 100% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Competitors

Sophos XG vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 16% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 4% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 3% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

March 2025

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

March 2025

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.

Palo Alto Networks

Sangfor Next Generation Firewall (also known as NGAF) is a converged security solution providing protection against advanced threat, malware, viruses, ransomware and web-based attacks using integrated security features like firewall, IPS, anti-virus, anti-malware, APT, URL filtering, Cloud Sandbox, and WAF. As the world's first AI-enabled and fully integrated Next Generation Firewall & Web Application Firewall (WAF), NGAF offering the security visibility, real-time detection and response, simplified operation and maintenance and high-performance application layer security needed to operate an enterprise network in total security. Tested and proven to provide cutting-edge network security by ICSA Labs and endorsed by Gartner Inc., NGAF harnesses the power of Sangfor’s Neural-X threat intelligence and analytics platform and Engine Zero’s innovative malware detection to provide next-generation protection for today’s enterprise.

Sangfor

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

April 2025

Free Report: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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