We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks PA-Series and SonicWall NSa based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."FortiGate's web and URL filtering are unlike any other firewall I've used. The functionality of URL filtering in those solutions is problematic because everything is encrypted, and firewalls can't break that encryption protocol. Fortinet has an SSL proxy, so the encryption is done before the packet ever leaves the FortiGate. The URL filter is definitely one of the most helpful features."
"Security, SD-WAN, and Streetscape are valuable features."
"The simplicity of the configuration and the stability of the product are most valuable. The VPN concentrator is very useful."
"This version is stable. I don't have any issues with this solution, in our environment, it works well."
"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."
"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."
"This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."
"The documentation is great."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
"The product's most valuable feature is web filtering."
"Comprehensive logging is essential for monitoring and analysis purposes. For remote users, the firewall can be configured as a VPN concentrator, with VPN policies defined within the firewall settings."
"The solution is easy to manage."
"App-ID is a really good feature."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The cloud-based aspect helps significantly. It integrates seamlessly with other Palo products like Prisma Cloud, offers robust VPN protection, and it's all in one convenient package."
"We use SonicWall NSa for authenticating MAC (media access control) ID from the PC."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the GUI pre-filtering and the ATP (advanced threat protection)."
"We like the features, but the main thing is from a commercial and cost perspective it is very good."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"The antivirus and items of that nature were quite helpful to have."
"It is able to fulfill my requirements. It protects our network environment. It has control over IPS, signatures, and it can also manage bandwidth and mapping. It is also stable and has good support."
"It has good reporting, the reporting is marvelous."
"It is a brilliant product. It is a Unified Threat Management (UTM) system. It has got about 11 security services that take care of your perimeter security. It takes care of any kind of cyber threats that could come in. It takes care of creating VPNs between two SonicWalls instantly and very easily. It has got spyware in it as well as a firewall. It has also got a gateway antivirus and an application firewall that can block things from outside."
"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."
"Monitoring and reporting could be better."
"The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better."
"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"The captive portal could be improved."
"The license renewal process, annual renewal price, and the web application firewall features should be improved."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved because it is an expensive solution."
"Compared to other vendors, the solution's community should be strong enough to solve the problems engineers face."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"The product's high prices are an area of concern where improvements are required."
"In future releases, maybe Palo Alto can enhance and enlarge their portfolio with SIEM solutions. They already have an endpoint protection solution, SOAR solution, that's fine. But when it comes to standalone IDS/IPS solution or email security solution, for example, we don't have any product in that category for Palo Alto."
"The solution's licensing price could be improved."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is complicated to configure compared to one of its competitors."
"The support provided by the solution is not that good."
"The stability is not there. The features are there, but they are not stable. They need to improve on this product because I feel that they have launched this product without much R&D."
"We still get phishing emails that manage to come through from time to time."
"SonicWall does not support DynDNS, yet this is an important feature for smaller companies that do not have a static IP address."
"The filter settings are confusing and overly complicated. The user interface can be improved."
"Competitors provide SSL encryption licenses for free, whereas SonicWall only provides two licenses by default, but you have to pay for the rest of the licenses."
"The reporting feature could be better because most of the companies want to have the analytics included, which is something that you have to buy separately."
"It would help us a lot of SonicWall sent us more information about the latest updates and things that are changing."
"Initially, it may be difficult for some people to learn and become acquainted with it."
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 28 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 19th in Firewalls with 80 reviews. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is rated 8.6, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series writes "Offers trained customer support, stability and ease of use ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is most compared with OPNsense, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Netgate pfSense. See our Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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