We performed a comparison between Azure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, while Azure Firewall is certainly a solid option, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is equally good. Users of both products have been happy with the ROI results. What differentiates the two products is the stark difference in pricing, which may ultimately sway an organization’s purchasing decision.
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"The solution is scalable."
"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."
"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
"We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box."
"It is quite easy to handle."
"The initial installation is very straightforward."
"The solution is stable."
"Azure's cost-effectiveness is its major advantage."
"Microsoft's technical support is very good. They're quite knowledgable and responsive."
"The solution can autoscale."
"It's auto-scalable, which is a great feature."
"Network filtering is valuable. The scalability capability from the cloud-native service helps us a lot because it simplifies our day-to-day maintenance activity."
"Azure Firewall's feature that I have found most valuable is its scalability."
"The solution has many useful features. For example, the solution allows users to create virtual IP addresses."
"This is arguably the best security protection that you can buy."
"Security is the biggest thing nowadays, including threat response, incident response, and root cause. We found that a lot of the logging and dashboard capabilities offered by Palo Alto fill the missing skill gap that you run up against. It makes it easier for our tier-two staff to get involved in some of the deeper root cause analysis. The dashboards, logs, and reports make it easier for our staff to dive right in and not get lost in what tools they should use. It's easy because they're all right there."
"The technology's very good. We have had a lot of good experience with this solution."
"Palo Alto NGFW’s unified platform has helped our customers eliminate security holes. With a unified platform, customers can deploy the NG Firewall both in the data center edge, inside the data center, and in the product/public cloud environments. They have the same user interfaces and platform, so they can be maintained by a single unified platform called Panorama. Customers can use Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls in all the places where they need to protect their environments. This helps to decrease security holes."
"I like all the threat alerts and WildFire. I also like scanning because everything that comes into our network via customers is scanned. We're an electric company, so every one of the bills is scanned and emailed in and out of our network."
"The user ID, Wildfire, UI, and management configuration are all great features."
"You just need a web browser to manage it, unlike Cisco, which requires another management system."
"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves us time."
"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."
"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."
"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."
"I would like to see improvements in the product's application rules."
"There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"The solution doesn't offer the same capabilities of Fortinet. It should offer intrusion prevention and advance filtering. These are two very useful features offered on Fortinet that Azure lacks."
"Currently, it only supports IP addresses, so you have to be specific about the IPs that are in your environment."
"It would be nice to be able to create groupings for servers and offer groups of IP addresses."
"The solution should incorporate features similar to competitors like split tunneling."
"There are a number of things that need to be simplified, but it's mostly costs. It needs to be simplified because it's pretty expensive."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network. The problem is you have to plan ahead of time if you expect to use the firewall in the future so that you don't have to reconfigure your subnets or that specific IP range. Other than that, I don't any issues. I use it for basic configuration for a single application, so I really don't try to leverage it for multiple applications where I might find some complexity or challenges."
"Azure Firewall should have a free trial version for new users so that they can evaluate it before deploying it."
"It's a little heavy compared to a FortiGate or other firewalls."
"The user interface is a bit clumsy and not very user-friendly."
"Its stability can be better. Their technical response from the support side can also be better."
"The level of control and granularity in terms of rule customization could be enhanced. However, compared to our previous solution, Palo Alto provides much better drill-down capabilities."
"We would like to see the external dynamic list for this solution improved. The current version does not automatically block malicious IP addresses, which would be very useful."
"We have not taken Palo Alto's firewall management solution because it's too expensive and we don't feel it delivers significant value."
"There is a tradeoff between security and network performance, as security is always top-notch, but performance can sometimes lag and has room for improvement."
"The pricing could be improved upon."
"The pricing of the solution is quite high. It's one of the most expensive firewall solutions on the market."
More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Pricing and Cost Advice →
Azure Firewall is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 33 reviews while Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is ranked 6th in Firewalls with 161 reviews. Azure Firewall is rated 7.2, while Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Azure Firewall writes "Easy to use and configure but could be more robust". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls writes "We get reports back from WildFire on a minute-by-minute basis". Azure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Check Point NGFW and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is most compared with Check Point NGFW, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Azure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls report.
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