Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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120,425 views|88,209 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
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25,488 views|16,293 comparisons
96% willing to recommend
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12,260 views|11,288 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jul 11, 2023

We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and SonicWall TZ based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

Features: Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer advanced features such as embedded machine learning, real-time attack prevention, and evasion blocking. SonicWall TZ stands out for its unified threat management, VPN capabilities, web security, simplicity, stability, and performance.

Palo Alto has the potential for enhancement in areas such as customization, machine learning capabilities, troubleshooting tools, documentation, VPN availability, and security functions. SonicWall TZ could benefit from improvements in throughput, DNS hosting, cloud management, user interface, integration, marketing, reporting, ports, and support.

Service and Support: Some customers appreciate the knowledgeable support team and prompt issue resolution provided by Palo Alto Networks. However, there are challenges in reaching support and problems with the ticketing system. SonicWall TZ's customer service is mixed. Some find technical support to be satisfactory, while others face delays and language barriers.

Ease of Deployment: Users find the initial setup for both Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and SonicWall TZ to be straightforward, easy, and intuitive. They do not require complex procedures and can be completed within a relatively short time frame. Training materials are readily available for Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, making it user-friendly.

Pricing: The cost of setting up Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is often seen as higher compared to other options, whereas opinions on the pricing of SonicWall TZ are varied. Some users perceive SonicWall TZ as a cost-effective choice for medium-sized businesses, while others believe it to be expensive and recommend improved pricing.

ROI: Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls provide a comprehensive solution that enhances productivity and diminishes the need for extra resources, ultimately leading to enhanced visibility, reporting, and protection. It effectively blocks malicious behavior and safeguards against data breaches, contributing to its value. SonicWall TZ has demonstrated a favorable return on investment through its efficient attack prevention capabilities, although upgrading to newer models is advisable for optimal performance.

Comparison Results: Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls emerges as the preferred choice over SonicWall TZ. Users find the initial setup of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls to be straightforward and user-friendly. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers advanced security features such as embedded machine learning, application identification, and DNS security, which are highly valued by users.

To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs. SonicWall TZ Report (Updated: March 2024).
769,599 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
"The virtual firewall feature is the most valuable. We have around 1,500 firewalls. We did not buy individual hardware, and the virtual firewalls made sense because we don't have to keep on buying the hardware. FortiGate is easier to use as compared to Checkpoint devices. It is user friendly and has a good UI. You don't need much expertise to work on this firewall. You don't need to worry much about DCLA, commands, and things like that.""The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere.""The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much.""Web filtering and two-factor authentication are great features.""Its administrative panel is very intuitive and simple. It is simpler than the other solutions that we had. As an administrator, we are always looking for the easiest solution to manage network policies. We are able to filter everything on our network and also use the VPN feature, which is important these days when people are working remotely during COVID.""The initial setup is straightforward.""The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful.""The security on offer is very good."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"I typically get involved with it when it comes to audit and compliance and having to gather evidence of those firewalls, routers, and rule sets. The evidence that I typically need is there.""The solution is scalable""Palo Alto NGFW provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities, which is very useful. This prevents us from having to go to a lot of different systems, and in some cases, many different systems in many different regions, because we are a global company with 60 remote offices around the world in 30 different countries. Its centralized platform is really what we look for in all services, whether it be security or otherwise.""The centralization capability is the most valuable feature of this solution as it enables us to monitor our systems efficiently.""It is very scalable.""I like the sandbox feature, and it's very good. It kills each malware deployment in the sense of signatures within five minutes. So, we can secure our network and infrastructure very well within the stipulated time. The WildFire functionality is very good because a few files are also getting blocked. It's critical as malware attacks are also getting ignored, and the logging is very well maintained in this firewall. The most valuable solutions in this field are application-based firewalls. That is the main criteria of the firewall and functionality. We can get all the logs related to this and each and every packet. I like that the firewall is working as an application. The application-based entity we have deployed is well maintained and working very well. We were able to find lots of vulnerabilities when we deployed it, but we could not disclose all. But there were vulnerabilities we could block by updating the firewall and taking actions on clientside machines. So, we got to know that we have lots of vulnerabilities inside the organization too, and we took lots of steps and resolved the number of vulnerabilities. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is an all-in-one solution. It provides every entity log, which is a very good functionality of this firewall. It gives every packet and aspect that the firewall is performing through its logs, and it does it very well. This firewall's unified platform helped eliminate multiple network security tools. If anyone uses P2P sites, cryptocurrency websites, or any illegal sites, we can block it easily. It gives us a proper alert for these kinds of sites, and it properly secures our network. Monitoring is the best thing we are doing here, and we can block this kind of vulnerability as soon as it comes to us.""The application control portion of the solution is its most valuable aspect.""The Unified Threat Management (UTM) module, which consists of the basic firewall and IPS services, is what the majority of our customers use in Palo Alto Firewall."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Pros →

"The product is easy to deploy.""The features that we have found most valuable in SonicWall TZ are the intrusion and brute force attack prevention.""It protects against intrusion while allowing needed access.""SonicWall TZ is a very cost-effective solution that provides good security.""I have found this solution to be easier to use when compared to other products, such as those offered by Cisco.""SonicWall TZ is a stable product.""We like the unified threat management for defense-in-depth. We can terminate our site-to-site and remote access VPNs with it.""The feature with SonicWall that I have found most valuable is that all the models have the same interface. We don't need to learn different interfaces in the smaller or bigger models."

More SonicWall TZ Pros →

Cons
"In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers.""Stability and technical support are the two major issues I have found with Fortinet.""I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security.""Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit.""Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure.""It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system.""The Web-filter in this solution is not very good.""If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"I'm thinking about a new feature. They have decryption. It's a good idea to use decryption on Palo Alto. It would be good if they had offloading of the traffic, and if they could decrypt the traffic and offload it. Like, for example, ASM on our site. We have an SSL decryption to offload the traffic. We could use that on Palo Alto.""The pricing of the solution is quite high. It's one of the most expensive firewall solutions on the market.""The customer-facing side needs to be improved in terms of the engagement and involvement of support staff.""The initial configuration is complicated to set up.""Having a better pricing model would make this product more competitive, and more affordable for our customers.""In Mexico, Palo Alto's discounts are significantly lower than Cisco's. They are also more expensive – about 15% or 20% – than Cisco, but their platforms are very similar.""The cloud could be improved. I would like to have more visibility of the vulnerabilities of the network as well.""The configuration part could be improved. It's very difficult to configure. It doesn't have a user-friendly interface. You have to know Palo Alto deeply to use it."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Cons →

"I would like to see a SonicWall integration with the DLP tool, this would be interesting. Data Loss Prevention integration.""The products' reporting can be improved.""It could be made more user friendly.""In general, the company needs to think contingently and integrate more security options.""The quality of tech support can vary.""I would like to see more integration with other platforms.""We have been facing issues with reporting.""We require centralized monitoring of the network features, which they have but they are not to the level that we require."

More SonicWall TZ Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Annually, the licensing costs are too much."
  • "Pricing is yearly, but it depends. You could pay on a yearly basis, or every three years. If you want to add a device or two, there would be an additional cost. Also, if you want to do an assessment, or other similar add-on, you have to pay accordingly for the additional service."
  • "It will be worth your time to hire a contractor to set it up and configure it for you, especially if you are not very knowledgeable with PA firewalls."
  • "Don't buy a device with more power than you really need, because licensing depends on the cost of the box you have."
  • "The licensing is annual, and there aren't any additional fees on top of that."
  • "The price of this product should be reduced."
  • "The pricing is competitive in the market."
  • "This is an expensive product, which is why some of our customers don't adopt it."
  • More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Getting licenses in our country, Ghana, is not easy. Though, once we have them, adding them is quick (about a day)."
  • "SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."
  • "The pricing was a factor for us, and we felt that the price was good."
  • "The product pricing is relatively good, compared to other products, including the licenses."
  • "Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."
  • "License renewals come in around $35,000 to $45,000."
  • "The price is high compared to some other solutions."
  • "Its pricing is okay as compared to other solutions."
  • More SonicWall TZ Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Top Answer:In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it… more »
    Top Answer:Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat… more »
    Top Answer:I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
    Dell SonicWALL TZ
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are next-generation firewalls used for security to protect networks from threats and attacks. It is used for perimeter security, data center protection, and managing secure access to environments. Users highlight the NGFW's effectiveness in providing comprehensive security without impacting network performance. Users appreciate its ease of use, particularly in setup and ongoing management, making it a favored choice for businesses looking to secure their cloud environments.

    The firewall provides application control, malware protection, scalability, stability, user-friendly interface, threat hunt capabilities, application visibility and awareness, URL filtering, traffic monitoring, machine learning for attack prevention, a unified platform for all security capabilities, DNS security, VPN, and embedded machine learning. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is easy to manage, reliable, and balances security and network performance well. It also provides complete visibility through logs and alerting.

    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Features

    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Secure Application Enablement (App-ID, User-ID, Content-ID)
    • Malware Detection and Prevention (threat prevention service, buffer overflows and port scans, anti-malware capabilities, command-and-control protection, and WildFire)
    • DNS Security (URL filtering, predict and block malicious domains, signature-based protection, extensible cloud-based architecture)
    • Panorama Security Management (including graphical views and analytics, manage rules and dynamic updates, customizable application command center (ACC), log collection mode, physical or virtual appliance)
    • Threat Intelligence (high-fidelity threat intelligence, priority alerts, automatic extraction and sharing of prevention indicators, native integration with Palo Alto Networks products)

    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Dedicated management interface for managing and initial configuration of the device
    • Regular threat signatures and updates
    • Import addresses and URL objects from the external server
    • Configure and manage with REST API integration
    • Great throughput and connection speed is fair even in high traffic load
    • Deep visibility into the network activity through Application and Command Control
    • Easy to manage and very user friendly

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls users.

    A Solutions Architect at a communications service provider says, “The product stability and level of security are second to none in the industry. We value the security of our client's infrastructure so these features are valuable to us. An example of a very valuable feature behind Palo Alto is the application-aware identifiers that help the firewall know what its users are trying to do. It can block specific activities instead of just blocking categories. For example, you can block an application, or all unknown applications.”

    PeerSpot user Gerry H., CyberSecurity Network Engineer at a university, mentions that the solution has a “Nice user interface, good support, is stable, and has extensive logging capabilities.” He also adds, “Wildfire has been a very good feature. This solution provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities, which is 100% important to us. This is a great feature.”

    Eric S., Network Analyst at a recreational facilities/services company, states, "With its single pane of glass, it makes monitoring and troubleshooting a bit more homogeneous. We are not looking at multiple platforms and monitoring management tools. It is more efficient from that perspective. It is more of a common monitoring and control system for multiple aspects of what used to be different systems. It provides efficiency and time savings."

    The secure, sophisticated SonicWALL TZ is widely deployed at small businesses, retail, government, remote sites and branch offices. It combines high-performance intrusion prevention, malware blocking, content/URL filtering and application control.
    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
    AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Educational Organization9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Construction Company12%
    Healthcare Company12%
    Non Profit7%
    Computer Software Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business43%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs. SonicWall TZ
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is ranked 6th in Firewalls with 162 reviews while SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is rated 8.6, while SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls writes "We get reports back from WildFire on a minute-by-minute basis". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is most compared with Check Point NGFW, Azure Firewall, Meraki MX, Sophos XG and Netgate pfSense, whereas SonicWall TZ is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, SonicWall NSa and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs. SonicWall TZ report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls 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.