Compare Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. pfSense
 | Umesh Wadhwa CEO at E-DIRECT CLOUD SOLUTIONS SP. Z O.O. |
 | Zelalem Gedefie Senior System Administrator at Debre Markos University |
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks, RSA, Check Point and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: June 2021.
521,817 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
"They have many different options with Palo Alto WildFire and the set-up is quick. If you have all the details in hand, it does not take more than 15 minutes to deploy a firewall."
"The most valuable feature is the Automatic Verdict, to recognize whether something is a threat, or not."
"The way that the solution quickly updates to adjust to threats is the solution's most valuable aspect. When there's a security attack, within five minutes, all Wildfire subscribers have access to updates so that all systems will be safe. Its threat prevention is way better than other vendor products."
"Using WildFire has reduced the number of viruses and the amount of malware that comes into our system, which means that I don't have to rely on the end-users to identify it."
"The most valuable feature for us is the VPN."
"For example, if a security Intel threat talks about an IOC. We can then go to our MSP and say, "Is there a signature for this particular type of malware that just came out?" And if they'll say yes, then we'll say, "Okay. Does it apply to these firewalls? And have we seen any hits on it?" There's absolutely value in it."
"The technical support is good."
"The most valuable feature is the improved security that it offers."
"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."
"The most valuable features are the VPN and the capture photo."
"The solution is very robust."
"Good basic firewall features."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The initial setup was simple and fast."
"The documentation is very good."
"At our peak time, we have reached more than 5,000 concurrent connections."
Cons
"There are certain changes that I was expecting in the previous version, and I hope that they are soon fixed. All of the problems that I have faced so far have been resolved."
"I would like to see them continue on their developmental roadmap for the product."
"The size of Palo Alto's cloud is big but it could be easier to use from a product management perspective."
"It would be nice if there was an easier way to install and deploy it, such as through the inclusion of wizards."
"When you contact support, there is no guarantee that they will be available to help you tackle the issue that you are facing."
"It's not really their problem, it's a problem across the board. There will always be problems with interrupted traffic. We have to set it up where we're playing a middle man game where we're stripping it out, looking at it, and then putting it back together and sending it on its way. That requires CPU cycles. And there's some overhead with that."
"The deployment model could be better."
"The price of WildFire should be reduced in order to make it more affordable for our customers."
"I would like to see different graphs available in the reporting."
"If a user doesn't have a large amount of experience in Linux systems, they will have problems using this solution. Users need to be highly skilled in troubleshooting competency. Users who do not have such skills will find the product difficult to use."
"The solution requires a lot of administration."
"Layer 7 advanced firewall features are not included in the solution."
"As an open-source solution, there are so many loopholes happening within the product. By design, no one is taking ownership of it, and that is worrisome to me."
"ClamAV AntiVirus can cause some crashes. That service should be improved."
"The technical support needs to be improved."
"It needs to be more secure."
"The licensing fees are on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to the standard fees."
"We pay between $3,000 and $4,000 CAD ($2,200 - $3,000 USD) per year to maintain this solution."
"This solution is very pricey and it depends on the package that you implement."
"I think they should lower the price of this solution"
"The pricing is highly expensive."
"This is an expensive product and the market for Palo Alto in Poland could be much bigger if the pricing was comparable to Fortinet."
"The price is a bit higher than the other products such as TrendMicro, or FireEye."
"Pricing could be improved."
"This solution provides enterprise-level features at a fraction of the cost of an enterprise firewall."
"It is an open source firewall."
"We are using the open-source version, not the commercial one."
"It has almost zero cost, and it is open to us. It runs on a small appliance just for a couple of 100 bucks, and I've never had an appliance burn out on me yet."
"It is open source."
"I spent a couple of $1,000 on hardware, and the OS was free. A comparable firewall would cost me probably 20 grand. It saved a lot of money."
"I like the fact that it is open-source."
"pfSense is open-source, but the support is something that the customer pays for."
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Top Answer: The solution is completely integrated with all the other Palo Alto products. I think that it is the best part for endpoint protection. The firewall features include URL and DNS filtering, threat… more »
Top Answer: We are on an annual subscription. When we purchased the firewall, we had activated this solutions license for a minimum of one year. The price of the solution is fair.
Top Answer: The threat intelligence that we receiving in the reporting was not as expected. We were expecting more. Additionally, we should be able to whitelist a specific file based on a variety of attributes… more »
Top Answer: You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I recommend PFSense. This software solutions can be installed on youf own hardware or you… more »
Top Answer: I mostly like all of it. Whatever we use is valuable.
Top Answer: Currently, we don't pay for a license.
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8.6
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Average Words per Review
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Rating
8.5
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Netgate
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WildFire™ cloud-based threat analysis service is the industry’s most advanced analysis and prevention engine for highly evasive zero-day exploits and malware. The cloud-based service employs a unique multi-technique approach combining dynamic and static analysis, innovative machine learning techniques, and a groundbreaking bare metal analysis environment to detect and prevent even the most evasive threats.
Providing comprehensive network security solutions for the enterprise, large business and SOHO, pfSense solutions bring together the most advanced technology available to make protecting your network easier than ever before. Our products are built on the most reliable platforms and are engineered to provide the highest levels of performance, stability and confidence.
Learn more about Palo Alto Networks WildFire
Learn more about pfSense
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Comms Service Provider20%
Government20%
Retailer13%
Financial Services Firm7%
Comms Service Provider26%
Computer Software Company23%
Government6%
Energy/Utilities Company4%
Comms Service Provider11%
University11%
Construction Company8%
Marketing Services Firm8%
Comms Service Provider42%
Computer Software Company15%
Government6%
Media Company5%
Small Business50%
Midsize Enterprise11%
Large Enterprise39%
Small Business18%
Midsize Enterprise11%
Large Enterprise70%
Small Business72%
Midsize Enterprise16%
Large Enterprise13%
Small Business58%
Midsize Enterprise11%
Large Enterprise30%
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks, RSA, Check Point and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: June 2021.
521,817 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 1st in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 14 reviews while pfSense is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 40 reviews. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is rated 8.6, while pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "Good technical support and provides automatic analysis that saves us time in filtering email". On the other hand, the top reviewer of pfSense writes "Feature-rich, well documented, and there is good support available online". Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall, Cisco ASA Firewall, Proofpoint Email Protection and Check Point SandBlast Network, whereas pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Fortinet FortiGate, Sophos UTM and Untangle NG Firewall.
See our list of .
We monitor all Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) 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.