Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series comparison

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117,316 views|85,923 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
Fortinet Logo
13,973 views|7,914 comparisons
98% willing to recommend
Palo Alto Networks Logo
1,026 views|125 comparisons
96% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiGate-VM and Palo Alto Networks K2-Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
Answer: Hi PaloAlto is better when working on app control feature and special virtual wire links. Execpt that specific point, Fortinet is above. Best Regards, Damien
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong.""It enables our organization to become more productive. Also, it protects our NEtWare from viruses and malware.""The most important features with FortiGate are the web filter and application controls. We can control our internet usage and use the web filter for application purposes.""The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much.""What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain.""The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE.""There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth.""The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."

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"It provides an ease of management and configuration as well.""The most valuable features of this solution are the integration within the environment, with centralized reporting.""It's almost perfect. It's very stable. We don't have many hardware issues.""The tool's most valuable feature is its ability to deploy it on live physical hardware. Specifically, when providing firewall services for clients, we can leverage such hardware appliances to support multiple customers on the same hardware.""Operations have been flawless.""The most valuable features are site-to-site connections and UTM.""The product's initial setup phase was easy.""It is easy to set up the solution."

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"I have found that Palo Alto Networks K2-Series has the best security. They are more user-friendly, older firewalls used to have to be configured using the command-line interface, but in this solution, it can be done in the GUI.""I have found the threat profile feature valuable.""The most valuable features are the virtualization of the firewall and the antivirus.""As long as the solution is kept updated, it's pretty stable.""The scalability of the product is quite high.""The company is inventive and always adds a lot of great features.""Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories""Palo Alto has an approach that makes the configuration easier not only for the customers but also for the IT help for the customers."

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Cons
"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure.""In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers.""I would like to see better pricing in the next release, as well as a simplification of the installation.""FortiLink is the interface on the firewall that allows you to extend switch management across all of your switches in the network. The problem with it is that you can't use multiple interfaces unless you set them up in a lag. Only then you can run them. So, it forces you to use a core type of switch to propagate that management out to the rest of the switches, and then it is running the case at 200. It leaves you with 18 ports on the firewall because it is also a layer-three router that could also be used as a switch, but as soon as you do that, you can't really use them. They could do a little bit more clean up in the way the stacking interface works. Some use cases and the documentation on the FortiLink checking interface are a little outdated. I can find stuff on version 5 or more, but it is hard to find information on some of the newer firmware. The biggest thing I would like to see is some improvement in the switch management feature. I would like to be able to relegate some of the ports, which are on the firewall itself, to act as a switch to take advantage of those ports. Some of these firewalls have clarity ports on them. If I can use those, it would mean that I need to buy two less switches, which saves time. I get why they don't, but I would still like to see it because it would save a little bit of space in the server rack.""One issue that I have had is that sometimes I need to monitor the traffic, so I need to filter it according to the user and which user is using it the most. I experience a bottleneck most of the time, particularly at the peak time when the number of contracts and users are at maximum.""The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing.""There are problems with the custom reporting of the unique traffic. The data is there, but it is too difficult for us to extract.""With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic."

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"With FortiGate, we sometimes encounter bugs in various operating systems.""The product is satisfactory. I haven't identified any features to improve, and based on the number of deployments I've handled with FortiGate-VM, there haven't been any complaints from the customer's side.""his is not a good solution for enterprises. It's better for smaller companies.""Capacity-wise, I think the solution's log storage area is something that needs to be increased since, by default, it stores logs for only seven days.""We have experience stability issues, when the product sizing is wrong or on configuration errors.""The operating system isn't stable, so it goes to memory counters every night.""The tool does not have a good name in the market, consisting of enterprise-class businesses, making it an area where the product lacks and needs to improve.""We have lost some information and we do not know how that happened through the solution. So that needs improvement."

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"Its networking features could be better.""It would be nice if it could easily be integrated with Elasticsearch or Nagios.""They could improve by providing more features in the solution.""The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive.""Palo Alto doesn't have extended visibility to the end point in their firewalls.""Higher levels of support are excellent but new users may need additional options.""The scalability of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is good. It is good for larger environments over smaller ones.""They should implement the features that the other firewalls have."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The pricing and licensing are not as expensive as its competitors."
  • "It is an expensive solution if you are migrating from an open source solution."
  • "If you are in a licensed solution, like Cisco or Palo Alto, it is cheaper. I do recommend using it with a license, because it is a security solution and it needs updates.​"
  • "​The basic pricing in Austria is OK, but asking for special offers, e.g., NPOs, NGOs, trade up, and/or trade in, is always useful.​"
  • "​It is on par with what you receive. It can be expensive upfront."
  • "It would be nice to have the ability to extend FortiGuard subscriptions at a reasonable yearly cost versus a bulk three year pricing.​"
  • "The price is expensive compared with other vendors, like Cisco and Huawei."
  • "The best part of Fortinet is the license is bundled together, so it is easy to use and apply."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate-VM Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."
  • "The price of this solution is too high."
  • "This solution is expensive compared to other, similar products."
  • "This is an expensive solution, although you will get value for the price."
  • "Pricing is a sensitive issue because the cost is high in this market."
  • "Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."
  • "It would be nice if they lowered their prices for small businesses."
  • "The price of the solution is expensive."
  • More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Donny Lee
    ABHILASH TH - PeerSpot reviewerABHILASH TH
    Reseller

    Hi,


    Both FT and PA have compelling features for large Enterprises. I would like to add a few good points about Fortinetwhich might be helpful ( from my 13 years of engagement with them as Distributor and Partner)


    Fortinet: 


    Have higher throughput; which comes with competitive rates


    Wide range of models to select to meet your requirement, without spending heavliy


    Outstanding customer support and very active customer care team


    Easly available skilled resources from the channel for deployment and post-implementation support 


    Regards


    Abhilash



    Alexander Denisenko - PeerSpot reviewerAlexander Denisenko
    User

    Hello. The question is what you are going to have as a result of application

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    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    FortiGate Virtual Appliance, FortiGate-VM
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    FortiGate Virtual Appliances allow you to mitigate blind spots by implementing critical security controls within your virtual infrastructure. They also allow you to rapidly provision security infrastructure whenever and wherever it is needed. FortiGate virtual appliances feature all of the security and networking services common to traditional hardware-based FortiGate appliances. With the addition of virtual appliances from Fortinet, you can deploy a mix of hardware and virtual appliances, operating together and managed from a common centralized management platform.

    Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.

    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    Security7 Networks, COOPENAE
    State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider14%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm38%
    Comms Service Provider23%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Transportation Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company26%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    Real Estate/Law Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business54%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise27%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise49%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiGate-VM is ranked 9th in Firewalls with 113 reviews while Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is ranked 28th in Firewalls with 29 reviews. Fortinet FortiGate-VM is rated 8.4, while Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate-VM writes "An easy-to-manage and configure tool that provides ample documentation to help with the setup phase". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series writes "Easy to implement and manage, and the documentation is good". Fortinet FortiGate-VM is most compared with Azure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Fortinet FortiOS, OPNsense and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. See our Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series report.

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    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.