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Check Point Quantum Force vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
581
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Check Point Quantum Force
Ranking in Firewalls
34th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Abnet Tsegaye Belay - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has strengthened perimeter security through AI-driven protection and unified management
I have noticed some limitations with Check Point Quantum Force. There is a limitation in integrating with existing infrastructure, such as orchestration and logging, specifically with VPNs. VPNs are hard and sophisticated to deploy on this firewall. However, it is improving currently. Some performance aspects need higher resources. If you do not give it higher resources, it will slow down your network. It is a trade-off - if you have higher resources, you will have good performance. The complexity of configuring a VPN needs to be improved because we need to go back and forth to configure VPNs. It has to be simpler to understand.
Kevin Burgess - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Network Engineering Technical Lead at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has provided strong edge protection and advanced threat visibility while reducing manual effort
Some of the best features of this firewall are flexibility, overall depth of security analysis, and ease of use. I use application-based traffic classification. It has helped reduce my attack surface considerably; it's much better than simply doing a port-based analysis. The usefulness of machine learning algorithms in identifying threats with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is mostly behind the scenes; we subscribe to the threat analysis, so we don't see too much. It does perform some in-depth analysis, but most of the machine learning features operate on the back end, more than what we would see. Integrated threat intelligence has empowered my organization to adapt to threats by taking a lot of the burden off us; there's just no way we would see the same breadth of knowledge that a vendor or manufacturer would have. They're gathering data from all over the world, and we're going to see what we get hit with, but now we're seeing what everybody else is getting hit with.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"From the firewall perspective, the rules and policies are very sufficient and easy to use."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The tool's most valuable feature is IPS. In my experience, I haven't encountered any issues with integration. It easily integrates with the FortiGate solution. However, verifying through documentation and assessing their support is necessary."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"FortiGate is a great solution, although initially, it faced challenges in the Brazilian market due to lower brand recognition than Cisco. However, explaining and demonstrating its product format and offerings has proven easy. The cost-effectiveness and better features of FortiGate have made some clients skeptical. We set up a trial period, and they eventually opted for it. Many clients were convinced it was great after experiencing the solution's capabilities firsthand."
"Fortinet FortiGate serves as the first line of defense, it is robust and easy to configure, and I haven't seen any breaches happening when configured properly based on best practices."
"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."
"It's very similar to a Cisco firewall, yet less expensive."
"The security features and layered security features are better compared to others."
"In performance and threat prevention, it has benefited my cybersecurity strategy."
"The outcomes from Check Point Quantum Force firewall gave us the ability to be fit and secure from the cyber world."
"The most valuable features I find in Check Point Quantum Force are the security policy features, including all security features that are provided by firewall, IPS/IDS."
"The direct profiles is a valuable feature."
"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."
"Palo Alto Networks firewalls offer single-mode panel processing with live scanning."
"The best features of the Palo Alto Networks PA-Series firewall include Global protector VPN workings, and content filtering is easy to manage and operate."
"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."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most effective features for threat prevention in the PA-Series are its integration with Cortex and the use of machine learning AI for advanced threat detection."
"Palo Alto blocks the new threats better than other tools."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve the integration."
"Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues."
"There should be more testing before releasing software since it can be a little buggy sometimes when new features come out after updates."
"Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
"The prevention mechanisms and implementation are not easy."
"Bandwidth usage in reporting could be improved for Fortinet FortiGate."
"To improve Fortinet FortiGate, I think they need to improve the software and make updates more quickly, rather than taking a long time to update the software or firmware."
"We'd like more management across other integrations."
"Check Point Quantum Force does not have strong local support. We are based in India, and Check Point Quantum Force does not have extensive local support in our region."
"The complexity of configuring a VPN needs to be improved because we need to go back and forth to configure VPNs."
"I see good competition which is less expensive."
"I have observed weaknesses in Check Point Quantum Force, particularly when configuring tunnels from any point product to a peer, which has very complex configuration requirements."
"Utilizing these features as a unified solution can require additional setup, particularly when incorporating Panorama for centralized management, which may involve extra costs."
"Pricing flexibility could be an aspect worth considering, as it has been a concern for some of our clients."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is expensive. We would like to see additional threat hunting features."
"Currently, they are not protected with any data security when they work from home or outside the network. They surf the Internet directly and should implement a proxy or firewall to monitor the data between the endpoint and the internet."
"Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7."
"With Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, I find that the support team takes a long time to resolve the issues that a user may face during the use of the product."
"There is room for improvement in streamlining this process for smoother transitions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair."
"Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."
"The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."
"Fortinet prices are around $600 for the small 40F model, and for licenses, the simplest option is about $300 for a year. They sell licenses that can last for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years."
"If we have an older version, the support costs get quite high."
"It is around $50,000 per month."
"It is not expensive as compared to Cisco."
"I would rate pricing to be about four or five out of ten, it is reasonable."
Information not available
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series's price is much higher than other firewall brands."
"Palo Alto is more expensive than FortiGate."
"It is a very expensive solution."
"With Palo Alto, even when you enable all the modules, it still provides the exact throughput they advertise."
"While other firewalls may come with a higher cost, when you consider the cost in relation to the services and features that Palo Alto offers, it is clear that Palo Alto is delivering excellent value."
"Palo Alto’s pricing is way higher than any other solution provider."
"The pricing is fair."
"Price-wise, Palo Alto offers high-price products."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise189
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
 

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As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point Quantum Force?
In terms of pricing, setup cost, and licensing, many users and clients say that the pricing is high. The license stru...
What needs improvement with Check Point Quantum Force?
I have observed weaknesses in Check Point Quantum Force, particularly when configuring tunnels from any point product...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Quantum Force?
I am currently working with Fortinet Firewall, Fortinet Switch, Fortinet Authenticator, FortiNet Net, Fortinet Authen...
What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
The reporting feature and application ID functionality within Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are incredibly valuable to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
Regarding value for money, we brought this Palo Alto Networks PA-Series firewall last month, and we have taken up to ...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
The areas that could be improved with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series include price. My experience with the price of the...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
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No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
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Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Quantum Force vs. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.