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Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs SonicWall NSa comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 29, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
316
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...
Ranking in Firewalls
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
180
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSa
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.8%, up from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 3.3%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSa is 1.5%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 25, 2024
Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support
We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability. The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in…
Simon Webster - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 16, 2022
We get reports back from WildFire on a minute-by-minute basis
The biggest thing that needs to be improved with them is their training. I took a training class for the 8.0 build, then I took it again for the 9.0 and 10 builds. They add new features every time that they do a new major release, but the training doesn't keep up. It is the same basic training that probably was with the 3.0 build, and they just change the screenshots. I would love to see them do some more work since they have all these bells and whistles, but we don't know how to use those features on a large scale. I know this little section here about the firewall, but I know there is a huge amount that still could be done with it. I am not touching enough of it because I just don't know how. It seems like the more I learn about it, the more I learn that there is to learn
Swapnil Kulkarni - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 29, 2024
Good user interface, quick configuration modules but faced hardware issues
I use it for security purposes. To secure our network from outside the network. It is our gateway security solution where we can identify and filter out all the networks that come from outside of our network.  SonicWall NSa 3600 model has a very good user interface, and with its quick…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."
"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
"The security fabric is excellent."
"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"The ease of updating the platform was valuable. We could easily update the OS and different modules within the platform. It was a fairly user-friendly and easy-to-use platform."
"One of the simple features I like about Palo Alto firewalls is that it's extremely easy to find out what's happening in the network. The reporting is phenomenal, and it's easy to find which threats have been detected and what traffic is going through the box. When a customer notices something is wrong, you can quickly check the amount of traffic going through the firewall around that time. If there is anything out of the ordinary, you can decide it needs to be investigated further."
"The most significant benefit is threat protection. Anti-malware uses signatures, so dynamic analyzers like WildFire are the best way to protect the company. It is a firewall based on application control, user ID, and security policy. We can use it based on user and application ID without a stateless firewall or TCPIP ports."
"The technical support is great."
"Palo Alto offers better Layer 7 protection than competing solutions by Cisco and Fortinet. I also like the VPN client more. The interface is simple, so administrators can deploy and configure it much faster than other firewalls"
"The most valuable features include the different security zones and the ability to identify applications not only by port numbers but by the applications themselves... And with the single-pass architecture, it provides a good trade-off between security and network performance. It provides good security and good network throughput."
"One of the best firewalls on the market."
"There are many valuable features within the solution. This includes security, a user-friendly firewall, antivirus, and global protection."
"Easy to scale solution that provides advanced threat protection. Their technical support is very good, very knowledgeable, and easy to reach."
"We have not found any vulnerabilities since implementing the solution."
"Support has improved dramatically since their separation from Dell."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"The solution can scale."
"The ease of configuration is excellent."
"I like this solution because we are focused on VPN and have many brands that need to link a VPN and have security, like ransomware, spyware, and basic protection."
"It has good reporting, the reporting is marvelous."
 

Cons

"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."
"The solution is very expensive."
"You do need some IT knowledge in order to effectively work with the solution."
"Backup can be improved."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"FortiGate is really good. We have been using it for quite some time. Initially, when we started off, we had around 70 plus devices of FortiGate, but then Check Point and Palo Alto took over the place. From the product perspective, there are no issues, but from the account perspective, we have had issues. Fortinet's presence in our company is very less. I don't see any Fortinet account managers talking to us, and that presence has diluted in the last two and a half or three years. We have close to 1,500 firewalls. Out of these, 60% of firewalls are from Palo Alto, and a few firewalls are from Check Point. FortiGate firewalls are very less now. It is not because of the product; it is because of the relationship. I don't think they had a good relationship with us, and there was some kind of disconnect for a very long time. The relationship between their accounts team and my leadership team seems to be the reason for phasing out FortiGate."
"The scalability could be better."
"FortiOS is not simple."
"I believe it would be beneficial if the solution could integrate with Google Chrome, especially for students who use Chromebooks. However, as far as I know, the solution currently does not support Google Chrome."
"When you delete and add a new rule, because of the one hundred rule limit, if the new rule has an ID that is greater than one hundred, even though you have fewer than that, it will not work."
"I think automation and machine learning can be improved to make bulk configurations simpler, easier, and faster"
"The only downside of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, in my opinion, is the relatively higher price compared to Cisco FortiGate. This is especially noticeable when deploying basic configurations and considering the cost of licenses."
"Overall it is good. It is reliable and easy to understand. However, the monitoring feature could be improved."
"The user interface is a bit clumsy and not very user-friendly."
"The cost has room for improvement."
"Support should be improved, wait times can be long."
"The thing main thing is that there's no user admin and in other firewalls, we can enable the scalable features, but SonicWall doesn't have that feature."
"The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break)."
"This product is unable to secure access to endpoints for our external employees."
"I would like U.S.-based technical support."
"I feel that the SSL VPN client software needs a lot of improvement."
"SonicWall needs to work on SD-WAN."
"The problem primarily with SonicWall is it's a Unix box. And it's all software, all the activities, blocking, censoring, everything has to happen in the software. If you start hitting the box with a lot of sessions it slows down and that's not what I expect from a firewall."
"The product has a lot of bugs, actually. We are facing some issues with this product. The DPI SSL feature which is there, it is not working properly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate when compared to other solutions is high. However, my knowledge of the price is from third parties and I am not sure how accurate it is. I typically work in the technical area of my organization."
"The price is fine."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"I do not have first-hand experience with the rice of Fortinet FortiGate, but I have heard the price was reasonable."
"The pricing is flexible."
"The price is highly competitive when compared to other brands that offer similar functionality."
"Work through partners for the best pricing."
"It's an expensive product."
"You pay based on the kind of license you require, but comparatively, it is not very expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"The tool's pricing is similar to that of Cisco. It's a security appliance; the cost depends on your network topology and specific requirements. The suitability of NG firewalls should be chosen based on your network and what you need. If a colleague from a different company asked for the cheapest and fastest firewall, I suggest they consider options like Sophos. Sophos took over Cyberoam, which was previously a leader in NG firewalls"
"It's too expensive."
"It is expensive."
"I would assume that it's still within mid-range given its company structure and everything else. My guess is it's still okay."
"Pricing is yearly, but it depends. You could pay on a yearly basis, or every three years. If you want to add a device or two, there would be an additional cost. Also, if you want to do an assessment, or other similar add-on, you have to pay accordingly for the additional service."
"The price of SonicWall NSa is expensive."
"Considering the market, I believe that the price of this solution is great."
"SonicWall NSa has two types of license. The advanced license is a bit expensive when compared to the comprehensive license, but when you compare the advanced license to the licensing cost of other brands or competitors, it is expensive."
"The pricing is lower and better than other products."
"They do have the option to purchase yearly, or two years, and three years renewal."
"Normally, when we buy any product, we buy it with a five-year service built into it. Later on, depending on the growth of the organization, we go for a new one or an upgrade."
"The pricing and value are good."
"You need their analyzer to properly generate reports. This is an expensive, licensed feature, with a complex application or appliance back-end."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

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...
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...
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 ...
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 Firew...
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...
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 si...
What do you like most about SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
Pricing is reasonable. I would rate it seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
Certain features like SD-WAN are sometimes confusing to configure. One important feature that should be provided by d...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
 

Overview

 

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
SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs. SonicWall NSa and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.