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."The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."
"It's a firewall that secures our internal network. I have been using it since 2013, and I find that most of the features are advanced, and very user friendly."
"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."
"Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features."
"Anti-Spam web content filterinG."
"I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."
"I like that they have given me a solution at a fair price."
"We have found pretty much all the features of the solution to be valuable."
"It's open source."
"The most valuable feature is the Dual WAN in OPNSense, which offers advanced capabilities."
"What I like best about OPNsense is that, as a firewall, it's pretty good. I'm quite impressed with it. I had an excellent experience with OPNsense, which helped me achieve the targets I wanted."
"The DNS-level filtering is impressive for thwarting time scanners."
"The technical support is very good."
"The most valuable features in OPNsense are reporting and visibility."
"OPNsense could improve by making the configuration more web-based rather than shell or command-line-based."
"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."
"It offers a seamless transition from one option to another, making it exceptionally versatile and user-friendly in an enterprise setting."
"The solution is used for security and IoT security."
"It is a scalable solution."
"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."
"The solution is easy to manage."
"Comprehensive logging is essential for monitoring and analysis purposes. For remote users, the firewall can be configured as a VPN concentrator, with VPN policies defined within the firewall settings."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"Backup can be improved."
"They can do more tests before they release new versions because I would like to be more assured. We had some experiences where they release something new and great, but some of the old features are disabled or they don't work well, which impacts the product satisfaction. The manufacturer should be able to prove that everything works or not only that it might work. This is applicable to most of the other services, software, and hardware companies. They all should work on this. We cannot trust every new release, such as a beta release, on the first day. We wait for some comments on the forums and from other companies that we know. We always wait a few weeks before we use the updated version. They should also extend the VPN client application, especially for Linux versions. Currently, it has an application for Linux devices, but it doesn't work the way we want to connect to the VPN. They use only the old connection, not the new one. They have VPN client applications for Windows and Mac, but they can add more useful features to better manage the devices and monitor the current health of each device. Such features would be helpful for our company."
"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."
"It would be nice if backups could more easily migrate between different models."
"The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better."
"I don't really have anything negative to say as far as Fortinet firewalls are concerned. If anything, they can support a user a little bit better. They can stop being so time-sensitive about how much time the support call has taken, and they can help you do it yourself."
"It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."
"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"The support for OPNsense is good because we have documents available on the internet. The support could improve a little."
"They should improve IPEs for security in the future."
"There is room for improvement in SSL inspection."
"When using the solution at the beginning was difficult. There was a steep learning curve."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"There should be more technical documentation."
"There is room for improvement in streamlining this process for smoother transitions."
"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 pricing of the solution needs improvement."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is expensive. We would like to see additional threat hunting features."
"The technical support offered by Palo Alto is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"There are constant updates for the operating system. It is a nice thing also, but it has its own disadvantages. Continuous updates are there. The users face issues like, how often do I need to update that? Within a period of five months, I'm updating it two or three times. It gives them a feeling that they are not confident about their product and have to update it so frequently."
"The product's high prices are an area of concern where improvements are required."
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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