We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks PA-Series and SonicWall NSa 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."The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."
"Their reliability and their policy of pre-shipping replacements when a unit has failed."
"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."
"FortiGate is on the cheaper end, and it offers good value."
"One of the valuable features is a standardized OS."
"I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."
"It enables our organization to become more productive. Also, it protects our NEtWare from viruses and malware."
"Palo Alto Networks firewalls offer single-mode panel processing with live scanning."
"I like the tool's security and web filtering features."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"It offers a seamless transition from one option to another, making it exceptionally versatile and user-friendly in an enterprise setting."
"The tool's most valuable feature is WildFire."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"It has its own logging system. You can go to monitoring and check the logs to see if a connection is getting blocked. You can use multiple types of logs to check if a file or a port is getting blocked or if there are any TCP resets from the source or destination. It's easy to troubleshoot with the monitoring and logging it provides."
"The reporting feature and application ID functionality within Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are incredibly valuable to us."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"Deep packet inspection and intelligent application control are the most valuable features. It is a very updated solution. It is very current as compared to other brands and vendors."
"What I like best about SonicWall NSa is the security it offers compared to other solutions in the market. Its reduction rate is also better than others."
"We have not found any vulnerabilities since implementing the solution."
"SD-WAN is a good feature."
"The technical support is very good."
"It is able to fulfill my requirements. It protects our network environment. It has control over IPS, signatures, and it can also manage bandwidth and mapping. It is also stable and has good support."
"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."
"The search tool needs improvement. It's very difficult to search for policies right now."
"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"They sometimes hide some features and if you want to enable them, you have to go in the CLI, enable the feature and configure it through the CLI. Customers, typically, like everything to be done by the GUI."
"We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution."
"In future releases, maybe Palo Alto can enhance and enlarge their portfolio with SIEM solutions. They already have an endpoint protection solution, SOAR solution, that's fine. But when it comes to standalone IDS/IPS solution or email security solution, for example, we don't have any product in that category for Palo Alto."
"I encountered a slight issue with the application portal, which was not functioning correctly."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"Compared to other vendors, the solution's community should be strong enough to solve the problems engineers face."
"The interface is complex."
"As we migrate fully into the cloud, additional features like capacity upgrading and improvements to hardware resources will be necessary, especially since our equipment consists of older-generation switches and routers."
"The solution's licensing price could be improved."
"The SD-WAN feature of Palo Alto Networks is not good compared to FortiGate."
"Having to deal with too many lower-level people in technical support means that it takes longer to resolve issues, so escalating support tickets should be faster."
"The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
"One issue with the solution is that no authorization or authentication features exist."
"They should consider upgrading the capabilities within the GUI."
"It only has a single power interface, which has limitations in terms of high availability."
"Competitors provide SSL encryption licenses for free, whereas SonicWall only provides two licenses by default, but you have to pay for the rest of the licenses."
"The reporting and monitoring are a bit complex and should be easier in SonicWall NSa because other firewalls I have experienced have been more simple, such as Palo Alto. We are able to receive a clear view of our network. As a general user with little experience, it would be difficult for them to handle."
"It's very hard to manage this box. You really need a lot of skills to operate the SonicWall. There is training and the like, but it's just hard to manage. Even if you have the knowledge, there are too many options. The menus are not very clear, where you should find the information."
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 28 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is rated 8.6, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series writes "Offers trained customer support, stability and ease of use ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is most compared with OPNsense, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Netgate pfSense. See our Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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