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Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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 PA-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.0%, up from 16.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 0.7%, down from 1.0% 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…
Deminda Dilan - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 26, 2024
Good for enterprise-level businesses and offers many features like URL filtering and antivirus capabilities
Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7. Currently, I don't think it's available. If they can improve that, it would be better. We wouldn't need to purchase a separate WAF solution because they already have advanced URL filtering. But I don't think that advanced URL filtering has the same features as a dedicated WAF, like F5 or other solutions. That is an area for improvement. If they can improve the WAF feature, customers won't have to buy a separate WAF solution. They could do it with the same Palo Alto firewall, perhaps through a subscription-based model. So the web application firewall feature has to be improved.
AshwaniTyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 16, 2024
Advanced protection and good integration capabilities with good reliability
We use Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to offer services to our customers as a managed security service provider. We provide solutions and services to our customers across the globe. For example, if I want to host a firewall in the cloud or somewhere where the physical appliance is not a possibility…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is very, very easy to use."
"FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"The most important features of Fortinet FortiGate are the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and firewall control applications."
"It's very easy to set up, it's very easy to make policies and, for an organization, that means you don't need IT expert in firewalls. You just need to have somebody who knows a little bit of IT, and that's it. With other products, you need someone with a "Masters" degree in firewalls."
"Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs. We have scaled already from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers."
"It's great for capturing the traffic and troubleshooting it."
"It is very flexible to use."
"The direct profiles is a valuable feature."
"The tool's most valuable feature is WildFire."
"Palo Alto has predefined applications that you can control at the application level."
"App-ID is a really good feature."
"It is scalable. But that depends on what model you are using."
"The solution has a three-layer architecture, and it helps customers to deploy the solution quickly."
"Comprehensive logging is essential for monitoring and analysis purposes. For remote users, the firewall can be configured as a VPN concentrator, with VPN policies defined within the firewall settings."
"The solution is robust."
"We now know a lot more detail about what our users are doing on the network."
"The most effective features for threat prevention are application-based prevention and WildFire. These features cover various threats, such as ransomware, malware, etc. They provide real-time visibility. By applying appropriate policies, threats can be blocked."
"It ensures that every interaction, pre and post-loan processing, undergoes a thorough inspection, leveraging VPN features and comprehensive security protocols."
"We have reduced the number of configuration lines by 90%. We need fewer number of admins right now because of it."
"They now know the details about their network traffic that they did not know before: Applications that they are using and some application they did not know they were using."
"Using Palo Alto Networks Panorama, we were able to deploy a single point of management and visualization of the firewall infrastructure in cloud, on-premise and integrated with Azure to automate scale up. Its security features, i.e. anti-malware, threat prevention, URL Filtering, VPN, and antivirus are the most valuable. The ID-User integrated with AD and 2FA features are also very useful to provide secure access to servers and some users in the company. "
"We can monitor the traffic manually and detect threats. Additionally, we can block different IP addresses and URLs."
"It allows us to see all our traffic to properly secure it and only allow what is needed through the firewall."
 

Cons

"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"A lack of integration between our data centers."
"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."
"Palo Alto has a feature called WildFire Analysis that is unavailable in FortiGate. WildFire is better than a sandbox because it can address zero-day threats and vulnerabilities. It can immediately identify zero-day threats from the cloud."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data."
"The initial setup is complex."
"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."
"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."
"I encountered a slight issue with the application portal, which was not functioning correctly."
"With Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, I find that the support team takes a long time to resolve the issues that a user may face during the use of the product."
"Currently, they are not protected with any data security when they work from home or outside the network. They surf the Internet directly and should implement a proxy or firewall to monitor the data between the endpoint and the internet."
"Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved because it is an expensive solution."
"The interface is complex."
"There is room for improvement in streamlining this process for smoother transitions."
"The technical support offered by Palo Alto is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The web interface is very slow, and it needs to be faster."
"We have run into some issues with scaling and limitations associated with some of the configurations."
"The disadvantage with Palo Alto is that they don't have a cloud-based solution that includes a secure web gateway."
"In the next release, I would like to see better integration of multi-factor authentication vendors."
"The product could provide protection above Layer 3, which gets into the application layer and provides better visibility into those aspects of application security."
"The current licensing model can be a sore point as we're paying for features we're not fully utilizing."
"It would be helpful if we had a direct number for the support manager or the supporting engineer. That would be better than having to email every time because there would be less wait."
"Its web interface is a bit outdated, and it needs to be updated. They can also improve the NAT functionality. We have had issues with the NAT setup."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not a very costly product if you compare it with other products. The return on investment is also good. If you compare the return of investment and money that you are spending on this product with Palo Alto, Cisco, Check Point, and other solutions, the investment is very less. We are happy with this solution. The optional licenses are there, and you can choose which one you want and which one to avoid."
"The price depends on the size of the company. From the beginning, you just want to know the internet bandwidths, speed, and the number of users to be able to offer the right product and model. They have a lot of products in FortiGate according to the size of the company, like 200D and 300D."
"The Indian market is different than the European and American markets. When you compare they need to be a bit more aggressive on pricing."
"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"
"Fortinet FortiGate is expensive."
"It was probably about $2,500 per firewall. It was all included. It included support, services, threat management software, and 24/7 FortiCare on it. Cisco products are more expensive."
"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."
"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."
"Palo Alto’s pricing is way higher than any other solution provider."
"While other firewalls may come with a higher cost, when you consider the cost in relation to the services and features that Palo Alto offers, it is clear that Palo Alto is delivering excellent value."
"From my perspective, managing the price is important, especially because we're a small business. For larger organizations like Barclays, we provide our requirements to the client, and they place the order on BigFix. It's their responsibility to consider their budget and make decisions accordingly. We appreciate the features we get, but the cost-sharing still depends on the client."
"The product is expensive."
"From my perspective, managing the price is important, especially because we're a small business. For larger organizations like Barclays, we provide our requirements to the client, and they place the order on BigFix. It's their responsibility to consider their budget and make decisions accordingly. We appreciate the features we get, but the cost-sharing still depends on the client."
"The pricing is fair."
"The solution's pricing is high compared to that of Cisco and Fortinet."
"Price-wise, Palo Alto offers high-price products."
"The solution is expensive. I rate its pricing a three out of ten."
"The cost of this product varies from customer to customer and the relationship with IBM, including how many offerings from IBM are already being used."
"For licensing, It depends how they want to use the firewall. The firewall can be used only for IPS purposes. If you only want that firewall IPSs, you will only need a license that is called threat prevention. That license, threat prevention, includes vulnerabilities, antivirus signatures and one additional measure (that I can't remember), but it includes three measures and security updates."
"The pricing and licensing of this product on AWS should be from $1.28/hr or $4,500.00/yr. Then, it would be a good price for the performance that it delivers."
"The price of this solution is very high for some parts of Africa, which makes it a challenge."
"We found purchasing process the product on the AWS Marketplace to be very good."
"One of the factors for selecting Palo Alto was they had flexible pricing. They had a pay-as-you-go model. Comparable to other products, such as Check Point, the price point was definitely a plus."
"Initially, pricing was high. Later on, we were able to negotiate the pricing and get something that fits our budget."
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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
21%
Manufacturing Company
12%
University
12%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
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?
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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...
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 do you like most about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
The reporting feature and application ID functionality within Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are incredibly valuable to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
It's not cheap. In Sri Lanka, it's expensive compared to other firewalls. But considering the features and the potent...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7. Currently, I don't think it's available....
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...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
No data available
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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
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Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
813,161 professionals have used our research since 2012.