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Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs SonicWall NSv comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
324
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
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall NSv
Ranking in Firewalls
30th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 PA-Series is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSv is 0.1%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Deminda Dilan - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Sumesh Panikkar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides effective threat prevention and helps improve security
We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution. If I use NSv 400, I can't upgrade to the next generation. We cannot upgrade the VM to the next generation. We have to rebuild a new VM and copy the configurations. We cannot upgrade straightaway. The solution must allow us to upgrade the same machine to a newer version without many changes.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."
"The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Some of the key features of the solution is that it has good reporting, you can receive many details from the connection, for example, clients and website information."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"The wireless control is helpful."
"Fortigate's most valuable feature is that it doesn't need a push policy when writing rules."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are remote access, web filtering, and IPS."
"The product's initial setup process was simple."
"The cloud-based aspect helps significantly. It integrates seamlessly with other Palo products like Prisma Cloud, offers robust VPN protection, and it's all in one convenient package."
"The solution provides good customer support."
"Palo Alto Networks firewalls offer single-mode panel processing with live scanning."
"The tool's most valuable feature is WildFire."
"App-ID is a really good feature."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"The product's most valuable feature is web filtering."
"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."
"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."
"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."
"For my small NFB banking services, when they are expanding their branches, I could incorporate a little bit easier."
"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."
"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."
"The security of this system is fantastic, including the IPS and IDS."
"Out of ten, I would rate the solution at an eight."
 

Cons

"One of the problems I was having was with user mapping, and it is an issue for which I have escalated tickets with Fortinet support."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"Fortinet FortiGate can be integrated with different platforms. They have integrations in place, but I can't say they're 100%."
"In the future, I would like to see improvements made to cloud-based management."
"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 UTM filtering needs improvement."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is expensive. We would like to see additional threat hunting features."
"There are constant updates for the operating system. It is a nice thing also, but it has its own disadvantages. Continuous updates are there. The users face issues like, how often do I need to update that? Within a period of five months, I'm updating it two or three times. It gives them a feeling that they are not confident about their product and have to update it so frequently."
"The UI definitely needs work. In my opinion, the UI could be simpler and more user-friendly for the average user."
"The support provided by the solution is not that good."
"Pricing flexibility could be an aspect worth considering, as it has been a concern for some of our clients."
"The product's gateway services can be improved."
"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."
"It has been brought to our attention by a few customers that they are dissatisfied with the fact that our virtualized service is only offered as a subscription option on the cloud. However, it is worth noting that many other similar services are also offered through a subscription model on the cloud and not through perpetual licensing. It is unclear why these customers would have an issue with this subscription service when so many others are utilizing similar methods."
"We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution."
"The engine provided initially was quite heavy, creating a trade-off between software and hardware-based threat management."
"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."
"There are limitations to bandwidth management."
"SonicWall NSV's initial setup is complicated and requires good knowledge."
"The price is a significant factor."
"I would like to see the reporting opened up and have several more opportunities for automatic reports."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."
"There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate."
"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."
"Its price is normal. If I compare it with other vendors, such as Palo Alto, it's normal. Palo Alto is expensive."
"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."
"Fortinet is competitive price-wise."
"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."
"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."
"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."
"The pricing is a bit on the higher side."
"The pricing is fair."
"This product has an affordable and reasonable price point."
"With Palo Alto, even when you enable all the modules, it still provides the exact throughput they advertise."
"The product is offered to users at high prices compared to the pricing model of the other vendors in the market."
"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."
"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."
"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."
"We are currently using the trial version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
13%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
23%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Government
7%
Legal 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 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 needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
The interface of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series should be made much more user-friendly.
What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?
The product helps improve our security.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSV?
The tool is moderately priced. We need to purchase an additional license for NSM. We can manage all the firewalls thr...
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?
The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I w...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
SonicWall Network Security Virtual
 

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
Information Not Available
Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. SonicWall NSv and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.