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.
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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 Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Pricing and Cost Advice →
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.
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