Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs SonicWall TZ comparison

Palo Alto Networks and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Palo Alto Networks is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.5, while SonicWall is ranked #20 with an average rating of 9.0. Palo Alto Networks holds a 0.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

SonicWall TZ and Palo Alto Networks K2-Series compete in the network security solutions category. Palo Alto K2-Series has the upper hand due to its robust security features and advanced threat prevention capabilities, which appeal to users prioritizing top-tier security.

Features: SonicWall TZ is known for its intuitive management interface, ease of configuration, and efficient VPN capabilities. Users appreciate its competitive pricing for high availability. In contrast, Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is recognized for its superior security features, such as a strong Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and decryption capabilities, along with advanced application control and comprehensive threat prevention.

Room for Improvement: SonicWall TZ users note the need for better reporting, enhanced application detection, and improved support. The interface could be more intuitive, and customers desire better pricing for content filtering and VPN licenses. Palo Alto K2-Series faces criticism primarily for its high cost and complex user interface, with users requesting better system integration and expanded reporting features to make it more accessible to smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both SonicWall TZ and Palo Alto Networks K2-Series are primarily available as on-premises solutions. SonicWall TZ is often praised for its straightforward setup and ease of management post-deployment, though tech support has mixed reviews with noted delays. Palo Alto is seen as more complex during deployment but offers comprehensive documentation and knowledgeable support, gaining generally favorable customer service ratings despite high demand and occasional wait times.

Pricing and ROI: SonicWall TZ is regarded as budget-friendly for small to medium-sized businesses, offering a la carte pricing with substantial features and a high ROI for cybersecurity investments. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is seen as a premium solution with high costs, deterring smaller businesses. However, it is favored by those prioritizing advanced security capabilities, often delivering excellent ROI through its robust protection features.

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

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall TZ

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 SonicWall TZ is 2.9%, up from 2.2% 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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Rias Majeed

CTO at Exceed NetSec LLC

Robust VPN integration stands out despite needing enhanced vendor compatibility

The integrated VPN functionality is working well with the global VPN client, which is a fast client, though it comes at a cost. SonicWall TZ is functional depending on the service level taken by the user. For SMB segments, SonicWall performs well. Despite lacking certain features, it is still considered a good product. The appliance itself is functional and stable, offering integrated solutions.

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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

"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."

"The stability and scalability of this solution are satisfactory. Its SD-WAN, VPN, and URL filtering features are very useful."

"The security features that they have are quite good. On top of that, their licensing model is quite nice where they don't charge you anything for the SD-WAN functionality for the firewall."

"The management console is pretty simple, so anyone who understands networking can initially deploy the solution."

"Their proxy-based inspection is responsive and secure."

"Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."

"This solution made it very easy to manage our bandwidth."

"The technical support in our region is excellent."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Palo Alto has an approach that makes the configuration easier not only for the customers but also for the IT help for the customers."

"One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally."

"Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories"

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

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

"The most valuable feature is availability."

"Overall product rating: Nine out of ten."

"This firewall is very good for our customers because they don't have to write their own rules for adding an application."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"It does exactly what it says on the tin. It is good for protecting the business from being compromised. Its port protection is very good."

"The most common feature in the firewall, apart from that traditional firewall, would be the security services, like application control, URL filtering, Gateway Anti-Virus, and IPS protection. These are the essential features in the firewalls which I think, has to be enabled and properly used at every network infrastructure."

"The features that we have found most valuable in SonicWall TZ are the intrusion and brute force attack prevention."

"The scalability of SonicWall TZ is good and easy to add users."

"We like the unified threat management for defense-in-depth. We can terminate our site-to-site and remote access VPNs with it."

"Good VPN connection."

"We use the content filter quite a lot because it's an office setting. During working hours, we like to censor the sites users can visit so it increases productivity. Therefore, the content filter has been good for us."

"It is very stable with no issues. The firewall's been up for the past 35 days non-stop. It's performed great. It has performed as it should perform."

More SonicWall TZ pros

Cons

"Its price could be better."

"There are some cloud-based features that could be much more flexible than they currently are."

"There is one big configuration file with no separations for the unique VDOMs. Maybe they could separate individual VDOM configuration files with the root VDOM configuration file referencing the individual VDOM config files."

"With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support."

"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."

"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."

"The UTM filtering needs improvement."

"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The reporting functionality in GlobalProtect needs to be improved."

"In the past, we've had trouble with Palo Alto's application filtering not getting it right. I would not be recommending layer 7 application filtering yet."

"I would like to see the threat intelligence capability integrated with other vendors such as Cisco and Forcepoint."

"Threat prevention could use improvement."

"Threat prevention could use improvement. Not just in malware exploits and C2 traffic; enhancing web traffic protection would be a great upgrade."

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

"The product should get frequent updates allowing us to add new signatures."

"It would be really helpful to have dashboards that provide information on IOC blockings such as where and how many. It will also be good to know how many hashing files have been reported. It would also be nice to have easy access to this information. Otherwise, it's a painful, manual task."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"From a support perspective, if we're talking tech support I think Silver Partners, Gold Partners, Platinum, whatever level, should have a different number to call. End users can call tech support over at SonicWall if they've paid for support as part of their AGSS or whatever services they bought. The end-user can call, or we can call, however, I don't want to be calling the same line that an end user's calling. I don't want the same response time. I need a different level of expertise."

"Full monitoring obviously needs to be improved. We need full monitoring covered under the security licensing."

"The price could be better for us in Bolivia."

"I expect to see SD-WAN in the tool's next release. The product should implement a content filtering feature. You need to put an agent on the user's laptop device. It would enforce security policies and block sites even if they were off-site. You can block sites from network sites."

"I would like the solution to build in more redundancy. I"

"The reporting analytics could be improved, it is very unstable."

"We have experienced some issues with SonicWall TZ and they are lacking some advanced features other vendors have."

"We would like to improve the rules configuration in SonicWall TZ. Sometimes the rules don't work."

More SonicWall TZ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."

"When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost."

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

"Our licensing costs are on a yearly basis."

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."

"The price could be lower."

"It's an expensive solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

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

"This solution is expensive compared to other, similar products."

"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."

"The overall price of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be reduced."

"The pricing is expensive."

"Pricing is a sensitive issue because the cost is high in this market."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"The prices are expensive."

"The price could be better for us in Bolivia."

"There are a few features that are licensed and there should be more that are licensed. The price of the solution is midrange compared to others, I have not had anyone complain."

"Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."

"It is a bit expensive. We have to purchase the license and the reporting part separately, which makes it a bit pricey. This is the main reason why we have thought of moving to another firewall. It would be good if they combine both of these."

"It has a yearly subscription."

"The firewall with the servers costs about 80 pounds a month. We get the device, and it is replaced every two or three years."

"Licensing fees are on a monthly basis."

More SonicWall TZ 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

28%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Media Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

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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Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?

I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...

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What do you like most about SonicWall TZ?

The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?

The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required ...

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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

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 100% of the time

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Sophos XG vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 18% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 9% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

Meraki MX vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall TZ

Compared 6% of the time

More SonicWall TZ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

April 2025

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

SonicWall TZ

March 2025

Download SonicWall TZ product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Dell SonicWALL TZ

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

The secure, sophisticated SonicWALL TZ is widely deployed at small businesses, retail, government, remote sites and branch offices. It combines high-performance intrusion prevention, malware blocking, content/URL filtering and application control.

SonicWall

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

AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall TZ

April 2025

Free Report: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall TZ

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