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Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Symantec Web Isolation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Palo Alto Networks WildFire
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st)
Symantec Web Isolation
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (63rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Palo Alto Networks WildFire and Symantec Web Isolation aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is designed for Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and holds a mindshare of 7.5%, down 11.8% compared to last year.
Symantec Web Isolation, on the other hand, focuses on Anti-Malware Tools, holds 0.6% mindshare, up 0.1% since last year.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks WildFire7.5%
Microsoft Defender for Office 3658.3%
Proofpoint Email Protection5.9%
Other78.3%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Symantec Web Isolation0.6%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint8.1%
F-Secure Total3.9%
Other87.4%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

RK
Engineer at Taalumgroup
Achieve effective threat prevention and seamless integration with powerful technical support
Integration with third-party products is possible. For example, connecting a mail gateway with Palo Alto Networks WildFire allows them to handle prevention. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a cloud-based sandboxing solution. The firewall is connected to WildFire, and XDR performs sandboxing from the cloud. WildFire conducts malware scanning and emulation, then informs the firewall to block threats based on the response. It also generates reports regarding malware and other issues. The sandboxing process involves sending sample files to the cloud for scanning, checking file authenticity, certificates, and detecting malicious code. WildFire performs multiple checks and informs the XDR agent about file status. This automatic process occurs within minutes or seconds. For unknown or suspicious files, immediate blocking occurs while samples are sent to WildFire for identification. I rate Palo Alto Networks WildFire a 9 out of 10.
VamsiMohan - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Huber
User-friendly, reliable, and good support
We use Symantec Web Isolation for real-time health checking, vulnerability alerts, and threat analysis The most valuable feature of Symantec Web Isolation is the user-friendliness of the solution. Symantec Web Isolation could improve by reducing licensing costs. I have been using Symantec Web…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Their technical support is outstanding and top-notch."
"There are multiple features like management, intrusion prevention (IPS), URL filtering, anti-spam, and antivirus."
"What I like about Palo Alto is that it is a complete product, with everything in it."
"I love the idea of Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It's more geared toward preventing malware. If someone's laptop or phone is malware-infected, the tool prevents it from uploading valuable corporate data outside the corporate network. That's what I love about Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It stops malware in its tracks."
"The cloud-based services are a nice feature."
"The way that the solution quickly updates to adjust to threats is the solution's most valuable aspect. When there's a security attack, within five minutes, all Wildfire subscribers have access to updates so that all systems will be safe. Its threat prevention is way better than other vendor products."
"It is stable and pretty much scalable."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten since we never faced any issues."
"The most valuable feature of Symantec Web Isolation is the user-friendliness of the solution."
 

Cons

"Our main concern is that everything has to be synced with the WildFire Cloud and has to be checked through the subscription."
"The integration is almost not easy because it depends on the vendor."
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire could improve by adding support for manual submission of suspicious files and URLs. Additionally, it would be an advantage to add rule-based analysis. Currently, it uses only static and AI. We need to be able to analyze archive files."
"In the future, Palo Alto could reduce the time it takes to process the file."
"It's not really their problem, it's a problem across the board. There will always be problems with interrupted traffic. We have to set it up where we're playing a middle man game where we're stripping it out, looking at it, and then putting it back together and sending it on its way. That requires CPU cycles. And there's some overhead with that."
"Many years back an update caused an issue with the firewall. However, Palo Alto not only informed us of said issue, they also sent an update that fixed the issue before I even had time to log in to determine if the issue affected our services."
"The only problem with this solution is the cost. It's expensive."
"The configuration should be made a little bit easier. I understand why it is as it is, but there should be a way to make it easier from the user side."
"Symantec Web Isolation could improve by reducing licensing costs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think they should lower the price of this solution"
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire is quite expensive, and this is what puts people off."
"The solution is a bit expensive. You pay for security."
"It's pretty expensive but with respect to value for money, it's okay."
"We are on an annual subscription. When we purchased the firewall, we had activated this solutions license for a minimum of one year. The price of the solution is fair."
"It is expensive, a feature more accessible to enterprise class customers, but provides an enhanced possibility that Zero- or near-Zero-day threats may be identified and mitigated. The cost of the product weighed against the potential impact of even one successful crypto malware-type exploit may justify the expense."
"The price is expensive but is reasonable considering overall functionality."
"​More expensive than other firewalls.​"
"The licensing cost of Symantec Web Isolation is high."
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting
Mar 11, 2015
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise29
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks Wildfire?
The Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one considers that fact, it is all the more impressive that the setup is a fairly straightf...
Which is better - Wildfire or FortiGate?
FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like the most about it is that it has an attractive web dashboard with very easy nav...
How does Cisco ASA Firewall compare with Palo Alto's WildFire?
When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advanced malware and zero-day exploits with real-time intelligence. The sandbox featu...
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Also Known As

No data available
Fireglass
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
Jefferies
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Proofpoint and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: January 2026.
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