Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs pfSense

Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 1st in Advanced Threat Protection with 6 reviews vs pfSense which is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 19 reviews. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "It crashes too frequently for a few boxes, but they have the best tech junkies I have worked with". The top reviewer of pfSense writes "Users can work offsite through the VPN. ". Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco ASA and Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls. pfSense is most compared with Sophos UTM, Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco ASA. See our Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs pfSense report.

Palo Alto Networks WildFire

pfSense

17903

Palo Alto Networks WildFire

Based on 6 reviews.

22829

pfSense

Based on 19 reviews.

Most Helpful Review

LuisFuentes

Senior Systems Administrator/Network Engineer at a retailer

Provides credential-based attack prevention.

* Much more visibility during an attack lifecycle; found a lot of infected hosts and vulnerabilities.

CMEDRANO

student at a university

Creation of certificates and the facility to administer services are valuable features

The use and results may vary according to the objectives of the institutions. In the case of city councils, I have taken the maximum advantage,... Read more »

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Quotes From Members Comparing Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs pfSense

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros
Installing this product as a datacenter firewall for segregation and segmentation, and also configuring policies between zones has improved my organization.With this product, we receive the best monitoring and reports.Detailed reporting on analysis of content. The inspections are easily applied to security policy profiles and profile groups, and may be assigned on a per-rule basis.High availability with active-active and active-passive modes.WildFire has been instrumental in blocking a number of new threats, before common desktop anti-virus tools were able to detect them.Whole team can use the firewall and understand it. Read more »	Creation of certificates and the facility to administer services are valuable features.It is a good firewall with good performance.Centralized administration with multiple services, which allows for execution in several important functionalities of information security.The gain in performance and security from configuring the VPN connections was significant.It is a stable solution.Improved service performance and availability through redundancy.An incomparable stability is achieved with other firewall systems.Firewall system for small, medium, and large data networks. It allows you to provide security to your environment: DMZ networks, LAN, WAN, etc. Read more »
Cons
The VPN and decryption need improvement.The provide a medium level of technical support.The data analytical system for deployment needs to improve.The GUI is better in 8.0, but I still feel it lacks the fast response most of us desire. Logs are much quicker. Read more »	It requires more attention to provide a better alternative for open source to small government or educational institutions with reduced budgets in terms of technology.Needs services on additional features, such as managing inventory and generating reports.My only observation is about the quality of the IPSec logs, which are difficult to interpret and are poor in filters.Improve analysis of logs and dashboards (control panel) with improved alert functionality.It should integrate with LDAP, Active Directory, etc, to improve the way in which the traces and connections of each IP, or user connected through the firewall, are shown.Reporting and real-time monitoring, since I'm used to Watchguard's reporting features, it would be nice to have an embedded solution for reporting.The GUI. There are TONS of plugins for pfSense, as such, if a user wants to add quite a bit of functionality, the GUI will feel a little congested.Network monitoring and device inventory could use some improvements. I'm using SpiceWorks for this because it never really worked in pfSense. Read more »

Pricing and Cost Advice

More expensive than other firewalls.It is expensive, a feature more accessible to enterprise class customers, but provides an enhanced possibility that Zero- or near-Zero-day threats may be identified and mitigated. The cost of the product weighed against the potential impact of even one successful crypto malware-type exploit may justify the expense.The pricing and licensing option should be categorized for various countries such as for Bangladesh.It's not particularly cheap, but it is absolutely worth it.It IS a bit expensive, but I think you get what you pay for. Value is there.

It works quite well for an open source product.If you need to buy hardware onto which to install PfSense, go with their boxes on their website, they are great.It's open source (and free - as in beer and speech), but also has commercial support.Spend at least $300 or more on a good pfSense box. Use a hard drive, and not a USB flash drive for pfSense storage.Unless they have specific requirements that demand a particular device, I always suggest pfSense specifically because of the absence of pricing and licensing.PFSENSE turns out to be very economical, the license is free and for little money you get very good support

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Ranking
RANKING	1st out of 26 In Advanced Threat Protection Views 63,901 Comparisons 49,357 Reviews 6 Followers 4,302 Avg. Rating 9.2	4th out of 41 In Firewalls Views 60,552 Comparisons 44,733 Reviews 19 Followers 3,635 Avg. Rating 8.6
Top Comparisons
Top Comparisons	Fortinet FortiGate vs. Palo Alto Networks WildFire Compared 33% of the time. Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks WildFire Compared 15% of the time. Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls vs. Palo Alto Networks WildFire Compared 9% of the time. See more Palo Alto Networks WildFire competitors »	Sophos UTM vs. pfSense Compared 32% of the time. Fortinet FortiGate vs. pfSense Compared 17% of the time. Cisco ASA vs. pfSense Compared 9% of the time. See more pfSense competitors »

Website/Video
Website/Video	Palo Alto Networks	pfSense
Overview
Overview	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.
OFFER
Learn more about Palo Alto Networks WildFire Learn More	Learn more about pfSense Learn More
Sample Customers
Sample Customers	Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation	Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Top Industries
Top Industries	VISITORS READING REVIEWS Financial Services Firm 18% Manufacturing Company 10% Comms Service Provider 9% Government 6%	REVIEWERS Comms Service Provider 17% University 17% Construction Company 11% Healthcare Company 11% VISITORS READING REVIEWS Comms Service Provider 16% Manufacturing Company 9% Financial Services Firm 7% Non Tech Company 6%
Company Size
Company Size	REVIEWERS Small Business 64% Midsize Enterprise 18% Large Enterprise 18% VISITORS READING REVIEWS Small Business 24% Midsize Enterprise 29% Large Enterprise 47%	REVIEWERS Small Business 67% Midsize Enterprise 21% Large Enterprise 13% VISITORS READING REVIEWS Small Business 38% Midsize Enterprise 39% Large Enterprise 24%

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