We compared Prisma Access and AWS Direct Connect across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Features: Prisma Access stands out for its ease of use, advanced security features, and global performance. AWS Direct Connect is recognized for its top-notch security, speedy connectivity, smooth migration process, and intuitive interface.
Room for Improvement: Prisma Access could benefit from enhancements in error handling, latency, and integration with other cloud architectures. AWS Direct Connect could use more precise terminology in its documentation and improve the patching and upgrading process.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Prisma Access varied in complexity and duration based on the size and requirements of the organization. While some users found it straightforward, others mentioned the need for expertise and assistance. Setting up AWS Direct Connect is considered challenging, particularly when integrating with an existing data center, and it can take several months to fully set up. Initial training is required and usually lasts about a week.
Service and Support: Prisma Access's customer service has received mixed reviews. Some customers expressed a desire for better technical support, while others have had positive experiences with prompt responses and knowledgeable engineers. AWS Direct Connect's customer service has been criticized for its speed and could be improved.
Pricing: Prisma Access is a more expensive solution, but users say the price is justified by its quality and features. AWS Direct Connect is also expensive, as licenses are acquired on a monthly or yearly basis.
ROI: Prisma Access excels in identifying security concerns, seamlessly integrating with various products, and delivering instant value. The return on investment for AWS Direct Connect is influenced by factors such as use case and data transfer.
Comparison Results: Prisma Access provides enhanced security options, convenient user access, and worldwide performance, but some users said it was challenging to use or configure, and it is relatively expensive. AWS Direct Connect is highly secure, has fast connectivity, and is commended for its ease of migration and user-friendly interface. However, the solution could benefit from a simplified setup and improved documentation.
"It's an ideal gateway solution for small and medium businesses, i.e., around 300 devices can be easily handled."
"The solution has good performance."
"AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet."
"AWS Direct Connect is highly secure and much faster compared to normal network infrastructure."
"It is a highly scalable solution."
"It is a stable solution."
"Overall, the cost savings, ease of deployment, and better VPN user experience and performance are valuable."
"The tool's consolidation is pretty quick."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it offers stability and scalability while being a very secure product."
"The most valuable feature is the zero-trust part of this solution."
"The solution is not very complex and is easy to manage for people who may or may not have knowledge about Palo Alto Networks."
"Monitoring is the most valuable feature because we can easily monitor all kinds of stuff coming over the network. We can check the dashboard and work accordingly."
"Palo Alto Firewall is one of the best firewalls in the world."
"It's quite reliable and performs well for users."
"There must be a more easy-to-use GUI."
"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."
"It can be difficult to configure compared to cloud-based GUIs."
"Its terminologies are challenging to interpret."
"It would be good if we could connect AWS Direct Connect from different networks."
"I would like to see support for custom applications."
"Better integration with the MDM solution would be useful."
"The price can be reduced to make it more competitive."
"They can add some new characteristics. For example, when an incident triggers, they can automatically send a template for a particular match that is related to the policy. We don't have that right now. It is something to improve. There could be more automation for certain actions. For example, for a particular group, it can send an administrator alert to their manager. It was one of the concerns of our customers."
"Sometimes, we encountered a portal crash. When we told Palo Alto they said it might be the browser or cache, but I think they need to improve it on their side."
"We would like to see improvements in the licensing; currently, Palo Alto provides 500 to 1000 licenses for users, and we want to see 1500 to 2000 licenses for one version."
"When it comes to integration mechanisms, Prisma SaaS does not support reverse proxy type of integrations."
"We are using the SaaS offering. We use our applications for microservices. We use Twistlock to scan containers, and it displays these results in Prisma, which is a good feature because we can see vulnerabilities with respect to these containers. We can see everything in a very detailed manner. However, when you have different environments for a single application, such as DEV, QA, PROD, and TEST, all these environments run multiple containers, which can lead to a very high number of containers. In such a scenario, it shows you the alerts for all those containers that have vulnerabilities. If you show the results of all the containers that share the same image, it is not going to add any value. Therefore, they should narrow down the alerts based on a container. It should show information for a single container. Otherwise, the person who is looking at the results gets the impression that he has to fix all these issues. This is something that they can improve."
More Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks Pricing and Cost Advice →
AWS Direct Connect is ranked 12th in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN with 4 reviews while Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 5th in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN with 57 reviews. AWS Direct Connect is rated 8.8, while Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of AWS Direct Connect writes "Has low latency and provides good stability ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks writes "Integration with Palo Alto platforms such as Cortex Data Lake and Autofocus gives us visibility into our attack surface". AWS Direct Connect is most compared with AWS PrivateLink, Lumen MPLS IP VPN, Fortinet FortiClient, IBM Secure Gateway Service and Tailscale, whereas Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, Netskope , Cisco Umbrella, Zscaler Internet Access and Appgate SDP. See our AWS Direct Connect vs. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks report.
See our list of best Enterprise Infrastructure VPN vendors.
We monitor all Enterprise Infrastructure VPN 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.
