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Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Zscaler Internet Access comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Palo Alto Networks WildFire
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd)
Zscaler Internet Access
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Internet Security (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Palo Alto Networks WildFire and Zscaler Internet Access 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 13.2%, up 12.1% compared to last year.
Zscaler Internet Access, on the other hand, focuses on Secure Web Gateways (SWG), holds 15.5% mindshare, down 16.8% since last year.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
Secure Web Gateways (SWG)
 

Featured Reviews

Mario Lacroix - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 11, 2024
Provides seamless automation functionality and has a straightforward setup process
We use the product to enhance threat detection and response. We utilize it as part of a broader security ecosystem to monitor and block potential cyber threats. Our environment includes multiple financial clients and has tailored rules for specific needs, such as anti-fraud measures. The solution…
Bhaskar Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
May 27, 2024
It offers us a single point of control, but we've had some problems with performance
We use Zscaler as a secure internet proxy. All of the traffic is filtered through it. We have about 3,000 users at the organization.  All internet traffic goes through Zscaler, which protects the organization's IP, which isn't published publicly. Zscaler's cloud services filter and clear all…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like about Palo Alto is that it is a complete product, with everything in it."
"High availability with active-active and active-passive modes."
"WildFire has been instrumental in blocking a number of new threats, before common desktop anti-virus tools were able to detect them."
"The most valuable feature is the improved security that it offers."
"The scalability is acceptable."
"My primary use case for this solution is for a secure gateway."
"The solution handles DSD segregation and monitors the gateways"
"The most valuable feature of this solution is how it keeps up-to-date with viruses."
"The solution offers a distributed organization to master and to control all of the endpoints."
"SSL inspection is a valuable feature."
"The security is excellent."
"Zscaler Internet Access protects using data loss prevention. If you have a CASB exposing your cloud out into the network, then Zscaler Internet Access will go ahead and control that unknown cloud application in the CASB, protecting it. There is also data detection with exact data match. This improves the data coming into your cloud so you are protecting it."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is SWG traffic."
"The users are at different locations, and Zscaler helps us to put the organization's central security controls on these roaming users."
"Zscaler Internet Access has helped us reduce the time that we spend managing security policies by about four hours a week. We can use this time to focus on other things, especially the IT team."
"The best thing about Zscaler Internet Access is the website filtering. In the UAE it's quite an important feature because most of the malware comes through the SQL injection and through downloads from websites. Zscaler helps protect against that."
 

Cons

"Improving detection on non-Windows formats would be beneficial as there are many samples, such as Linux or ransomware for macOS."
"When comparing this solution to others it is not as good overall."
"They should make their user interface a little more user-friendly."
"The size of Palo Alto's cloud is big but it could be easier to use from a product management perspective."
"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."
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire should be more real-time in nature. The signature updates should happen in a minute or less than a minute to be a very good feature for the customer."
"The product's false positive logs could be more user-friendly to understand. They could provide examples of precious cases to learn."
"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."
"Zscaler should provide adjacent services, which would be complementary to their current offering that could to be more pragmatic for a customer. For example, if you take Akamai, you get multiple sets of services, all depending on the customer and the strategy and the complexity and the problems. In some areas, they are more varied in terms of coverage."
"The performance needs improvement. Some areas create performance issues and, depending on the use cases, require reconfiguration to perform again."
"Technical support could be better."
"I don't know whether it's Zscaler or not, however, sometimes I can't access my time management. I need to wait and try again a few hours later. Typically, if I let some time pass, I can access it again."
"Zscaler Internet Access needs to integrate more ISPs. It is good to have more than three ISPs."
"It needs better integration with other applications. It takes a fair amount of regular activity to apply the by-passes because it is very strict in its restrictions and frequently you have to go in and open things up to allow the workforce to work."
"One thing that they could improve is the ability to import rules from other platforms."
"The solution's pricing is on the higher side. It would be better if it could be lower."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's comparable to what the competition is. It is probably a little lesser than what the competition is because, as a state government, we go for whatever the lowest cost is."
"This is an expensive product and the market for Palo Alto in Poland could be much bigger if the pricing was comparable to Fortinet."
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire is an expensive product."
"The licensing fees are on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to the standard fees."
"Palo Alto Networks solutions are typically on the higher end of pricing, but considering the value and integration with our existing infrastructure, it is worth the investment."
"The pricing is OK, it is not too expensive."
"The solution is worth its price"
"Pricing could be improved."
"It is quite expensive. It does its job, but it is quite expensive for what we need."
"We have found the solution to be expensive."
"Zscaler is transparent about its pricing model."
"​Be aware that you will need to invest some time and money to adapt your environment for Zscaler (traffic redirection, software deployment, authentication, etc).​"
"Because it's a cloud solution, we pay on a yearly basis. It is affordable and includes tech support and all features."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"Roughly, we might spend $70,000 a month on the solution. We don't pay for anything beyond the standard licensing fee."
"The pricing is an issue. It is expensive compared to other firewalls on the market."
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Zscaler?
Cisco Umbrella and Zscaler Internet Access are two broad-spectrum Internet security solutions that I have tried. Zscaler Internet Access is a good option for carrying out multiple security functi...
Which is better, Zscaler internet access or Netsckope CASB?
We researched Netskope but ultimately chose Zscaler. Netskope is a cloud access security broker that helps identify and manage cloud applications, protecting your sensitive data from exfiltration....
 

Also Known As

No data available
ZIA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
Ulster-Greene ARC, BanRegio, HDFC, Ralcorp Holdings Inc., British American Tobacco, Med America Billing Services Inc., Lanco Group, Aquafil, Telefonica, Swisscom, Brigade Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.