We performed a comparison between OPNsense and Palo Alto Networks PA-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."FortiGate firewalls are user-friendly, and I like the security profiling features."
"We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box."
"The solution is extremely reliable."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"Overall, the pricing of the solution is very good. The product offers good value."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"It is very flexible to use."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a scalable solution."
"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."
"It is a very good solution. I like the dashboard. I can see what is going on and manage it as I like it."
"I feel that its valuable features are that it is simple and free."
"We have found pretty much all the features of the solution to be valuable."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"It's more secure and more reliable."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"The most valuable features of OPNsense are the GUI and frequent updates."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"It is stable when you set up something and put it into production. Once it works, you don't have other tasks or actions to perform."
"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 most effective features for threat prevention in the PA-Series are its integration with Cortex and the use of machine learning AI for advanced threat detection."
"A valuable feature that we can consider is the deployment time, which is significantly reduced, almost 90% faster compared to other solutions. This leads to quicker deployment and less downtime."
"It offers application-based policy enforcement. Palo Alto Networks firewalls help us recognize protocol anomalies, contrasting with other vendors that may require policies based on port numbers. With Palo Alto Networks, the port number isn't a constraint because their devices handle protocol traffic at Layer 7, allowing for accurate identification of protocol usage and port numbers. They can identify which protocol actually uses which port."
"I like the tool's security and web filtering features."
"The solution provides good customer support."
"The debugging and troubleshooting has room for improvement."
"I use the FortiGate 60D model and realized the 300Mbps bandwidth limitation. Because it is a product that offers many services, I think it could have greater bandwidth capacity."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"The feature which gives us a lot of pain is ASIC architecture."
"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."
"We had a minor problem where there was a major system upgrade on the hardware platfrom and the Mac client was not available as soon as it might have been. The PC client was available immediately, but we had to wait a month or so, before there was a mac client. I was slightly irritated that it was not ready on time, but it was eventually resolved."
"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."
"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"There are some add-ons that need enhancements to make management easier for users, especially the reporting features. Some reports don't show the level of detail I'm looking for, and I've had trouble installing certain add-ons, especially for Internet bandwidth shaping within my company."
"OPNsense could improve by making the configuration more web-based rather than shell or command-line-based."
"While they do have paid options that actually gives better features, for most of the clients, if they tend to take a paid option will instead opt for Fortinet."
"The reporting part could be better."
"In terms of improvement, the performance could be enhanced."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"OPNsense showed me some problems when using it in different environments. The problem is integration with a virtual server."
"The product's high prices are an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The support provided by the solution is not that good."
"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 pricing of the solution needs improvement."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"There seem to be some issues with TAC (Technical Assistance Center) or Palo Alto support. Anytime you open a case, a level one engineer joins, and then you have to escalate it to level two or three. The support system has changed in the past few years, and that's something they need to look into."
"The web interface is slow."
"The solution's licensing price could be improved."
OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews while Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 28 reviews. OPNsense is rated 8.4, while Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series writes "Offers trained customer support, stability and ease of use ". OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire, whereas Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is most compared with SonicWall NSa, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox. See our OPNsense vs. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series report.
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