NetWitness Platform vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series comparison

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NetWitness Logo
1,183 views|721 comparisons
74% willing to recommend
Palo Alto Networks Logo
7,471 views|4,810 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between NetWitness Platform and Palo Alto Networks VM-Series based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Log Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed NetWitness Platform vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Report (Updated: September 2022).
768,415 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It's fully scalable. There is no limit. Of course, the license limits per day the number of terabytes. In my opinion, it's very flexible.""The most valuable features are the threat prediction and network forensics.""NetWitness Platform is valuable for creating rules that the solution must detect.""I can have enterprise security, email security, next generation firewall security log, HIDS and NIDS logs, etc. all on the same dashboard. It makes it easy to pinpoint or correlate our server to this. I can find out if there is lateral movement. This is the biggest advantage of this solution.""The most valuable features are its ingestion of logs and raising of alerts based on those logs.""The most valuable feature is the security that it provides.""In my opinion, the solution's most valuable feature is its capacity to monitor network traffic, logs from devices within the network, and network captures. This capability extends beyond logs to include full network capturing.""The software is scalable to whatever is required, and you can also put a lot of resources in the cloud."

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"With the improved visibility we now have, the traffic is being properly monitored, which means that we are better able to manage it. These are improvements that we saw very quickly.""The solution strengthens our IT posture.""Centralized management is valuable because it allows us to configure settings in one location and apply them across all three locations.""It has excellent scalability.""It allows us to see all our traffic to properly secure it and only allow what is needed through the firewall.""In AWS, Palo Alto provides us a better view than flow logs for network traffic.""Using Palo Alto Networks Panorama, we were able to deploy a single point of management and visualization of the firewall infrastructure in cloud, on-premise and integrated with Azure to automate scale up. Its security features, i.e. anti-malware, threat prevention, URL Filtering, VPN, and antivirus are the most valuable. The ID-User integrated with AD and 2FA features are also very useful to provide secure access to servers and some users in the company. ""It is reliable and the support is very good."

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Cons
"Log aggregation is an issue with this solution because there are a huge number of alerts in a single instance.""Nowadays, their support is a little subpar compared to other solutions. I rate RSA support six out of 10.""There is no support for this product in this country, so problems have to be resolved through global technical teams.""The user interface is a little bit difficult for new users and it needs to be improved.""The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms.""The multi-tenant capabilities are lagging compared to IBM QRadar.""Lots of competing products have vulnerability protection built into their products, and this solution would be improved by including that support.""RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets can improve the threat level aspect, it is lacking compared to other solutions. Whenever any hacking activity or any other threat factor occurred they used to provide the coverages very fast when comparing RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets. I heard the other three solutions, from a discussion with my team members who had experience in other solutions, they used to say that. Whenever any issues happened across the globe RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets are a little bit slow improving those detection mechanisms."

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"It would be good if the common features work consistently in physical and virtual environments. There was an integration issue in the virtual deployment where it didn't report the interface counters, and we had to upgrade to the latest version, whereas the same thing has been working in the physical deployment for ages now. It seems that it was because of Azure. We were using VMware before, and we didn't have any such issues. We do see such small issues where we expect things to work, but they don't because of some incompatibilities. There also seems to be a limitation on how to do high availability in a virtualized environment. All features should be consistently available in physical and virtual environments. It is not always easy to integrate Palo Alto in the network management system. We would like to be able to compare two network management systems. They can maybe allow monitoring an interface through the GUI to create a reference or do a baseline check about whether your network monitoring system is actually giving you the correct traffic figures. You need traffic figures to be able to recognize the trends and plan the capacity.""There are some delays that I have observed when my company communicates with Palo Alto's support engineers.""The command-line interface is something that some people struggle with and I think that they should have an option to go straight to the GUI.""There's room for improvement in terms of integration with the load balancer. It isn't like Fortinet, which has a load balancer built into its firewall. It is effortless to integrate within the load balancer-plus-firewall solution.""It can definitely improve on the performance.""The interface is all Java-based. I would prefer an HTML5 interface.""The one issue that I didn't like is that the SNMP integration with interfaces didn't record the interface counters.""Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is a complex product to work with."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."
  • "The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."
  • "It is cheap."
  • "The licenses are good but the cost is very expensive."
  • "This is a pricey solution; it's not cheap."
  • "We have a perpetual license, so the total cost of ownership is not very expensive. It's a good investment."
  • "Many clients are not able to purchase the packet capability because there is a huge amount of data, and the cost depends on the number of EPS (Events per second), as well as the number of gigabytes of data per day."
  • "Our license is for one year."
  • More NetWitness Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "For what you get, it does do what it says. It is a good value for an enterprise firewall.​"
  • "​The licensing is pretty much like everyone else."
  • "When you have a client compare box against box, a lot of times Palo Alto is a bit more expensive, but its network firewalls have a very rich ratio."
  • "Do not buy larges box if you do not need them. Rightsizing is a great task to do before​hand."
  • "I know Palo Alto is not cheap. They have been telling me, the members of the finance team, it is not a cheap solution. It is a solution whose target is that no matter how big your organization is, small, medium, or large, it is about the maturity of your security team or infrastructure team whom you want to work with."
  • "It is a little bit of crazy if you compare it to Vanguard, Sophos, or even Cisco. The newest version of Cisco, the Next-Generation Firewall of Cisco, is less expensive than Palo Alto. It is more comparable to Check Point."
  • "For licensing, It depends how they want to use the firewall. The firewall can be used only for IPS purposes. If you only want that firewall IPSs, you will only need a license that is called threat prevention. That license, threat prevention, includes vulnerabilities, antivirus signatures and one additional measure (that I can't remember), but it includes three measures and security updates."
  • "The box, if you do not want to buy the threat prevention license in the box, you can buy it only with the support license. It is for the support of the hardware. It works like a simple firewall. It integrates what it calls user IDs and application IDs. If you do not buy any other license, only the firewall, Palo Alto will also help you improve a lot of your security."
  • More Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Vinod Shankar
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
    Top Answer:The product price was reasonable for my region and the market.
    Top Answer:From an improvement perspective, the NetWitness Platform needs to release new features and improve in areas like log correlation. The tool needs to have easier integrations with the cloud. Building a… more »
    Top Answer:In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most PA is good at app control, web filtering and… more »
    Top Answer:Both products are very stable and easily scalable The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the overall cost is reasonable. Azure Firewall offers a solid threat awareness, can… more »
    Top Answer:The technical support for the solution is very good.
    Ranking
    20th
    out of 95 in Log Management
    Views
    1,183
    Comparisons
    721
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    458
    Rating
    7.2
    10th
    out of 59 in Firewalls
    Views
    7,471
    Comparisons
    4,810
    Reviews
    21
    Average Words per Review
    547
    Rating
    8.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    RSA Security Analytics
    Learn More
    NetWitness
    Video Not Available
    Overview

    NetWitness Platform is an evolved SIEM and threat detection and response solution that functions as a single, unified platform for ALL your security data. It features an advanced analyst workbench for triaging alerts and incidents, and it orchestrates security operations programs end to end. In short: NetWitness Platform is all you need to run an intelligent SOC.

    Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is a highly effective advanced threat protection (ATP) solution and firewall that can be hosted on cloud computing technologies designed by many different companies. It decreases the amount of time that it will take administrators to respond to threats. Users that deploy VM-series have 70% less downtime than those who use similar firewalls. Neither protection nor efficiency are concerns when this next-generation firewall is in play.

    VM-Series is being deployed to protect both public and private cloud environments. This level of flexibility empowers organizations to run the environment or environments that best meet their needs without worrying that they are going to be exposed to digital threats due to the environment that they choose.

    In the public cloud, users of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series can automate their deployment and dynamically scale up their environment while experiencing a consistent level of protection. This dynamic scalability means that they also integrate their security into their DevOps workflows so that their security can keep up with their activities and requirements. Users of private cloud environments can set up security policies that can be automated to be provisioned as the need arises. Organizations don’t need to slow down when they deploy VM-Series because it makes the task of defending them so simple that they can set their defenses and forget that they are even there.

    Users gain a deep level of visibility when they deploy Palo Alto Networks VM-Series. App-ID technology enables organizations to see their network traffic on the application level and spot threats that might be trying to sneak in through vulnerable points in their defenses. It also leverages Palo Alto Networks WildFire and advanced threat protection to block the threats before they can escalate.

      Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Features:

      • Central management system - It has a central management system that enables users to set up and control their security operations from one location. Users don’t need to search for the tools that they need. This system allows for security consistency and complete control without requiring businesses to spend large periods of time to do so.
      • Blacklisting and whitelisting - Organizations can utilize blacklisting and whitelisting tools to ensure that their network traffic only contains the type of traffic that they want to be present. These tools make it possible for them to set specific web traffic sources as being either undesirable and thus blocked from entering their network or desirable and thus allowed to enter. 
      • Automation feature - The product’s automation feature can automate many critical functions that users would otherwise have to handle manually. Security policy updates are an example of a function that users can automate.

      Reviews from Real Users:

      Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is a solution that stands out when compared to other similar solutions. Two major advantages that it offers are its ability to protect users without degrading the efficiency with which their networks perform and its centralized management system. 

      Jason H., the director of information technology at Tavoca Inc, writes, “There is no noticeable trade-off between security and network performance. In fact, so far, we've not seen any negative network performance with it. We're very impressed in that regard.”

      An information technology manager at a tech services company says, “We use Palo Alto’s Panorama centralized management system. We have an on-prem firewall where Panorama is very good for pulling logs in from the cloud so we can see what is going on. It gives us visibility into that as well as shows us what attacks are coming in. Palo Alto’s Panorama centralized management system simplifies our security posture based on our requirements. Instead of manually pulling logs, then generating them into readable formats, it gives us the console in a readable format to view.”

      Sample Customers
      Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
      Warren Rogers Associates
      Top Industries
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm24%
      Computer Software Company24%
      Comms Service Provider24%
      Manufacturing Company10%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Financial Services Firm15%
      Computer Software Company15%
      Government10%
      Insurance Company6%
      REVIEWERS
      Computer Software Company23%
      Manufacturing Company17%
      Financial Services Firm13%
      Government10%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company15%
      Financial Services Firm11%
      Manufacturing Company7%
      Government6%
      Company Size
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business26%
      Midsize Enterprise17%
      Large Enterprise57%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business22%
      Midsize Enterprise10%
      Large Enterprise67%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business40%
      Midsize Enterprise26%
      Large Enterprise33%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business23%
      Midsize Enterprise15%
      Large Enterprise61%
      Buyer's Guide
      NetWitness Platform vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
      September 2022
      Find out what your peers are saying about NetWitness Platform vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2022.
      768,415 professionals have used our research since 2012.

      NetWitness Platform is ranked 20th in Log Management with 36 reviews while Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is ranked 10th in Firewalls with 52 reviews. NetWitness Platform is rated 7.4, while Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of NetWitness Platform writes "Can find out if there is lateral movement, but integration and workflow need improvement". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series writes "Many features are optimized for troubleshooting real-time scenarios, saving a lot of time". NetWitness Platform is most compared with Splunk Enterprise Security, RSA enVision, IBM Security QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel and Cisco Secure Network Analytics, whereas Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is most compared with Azure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco Secure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. See our NetWitness Platform vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series report.

      We monitor all Log Management 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.