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Check Point SandBlast Network vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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

Check Point SandBlast Network
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Check Point SandBlast Network is 5.7%, up from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

GaneshKhutwad - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides advanced threat prevention and utilizes geographic-based policies to mitigate attacks
Check Point offers three types of support: Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. The level of support you receive should be based on the criticality of the issue, not solely on your client's support tier. While there are established support levels, I have experienced instances where the support provided was not categorized as Gold, Platinum, or Diamond but rather a standard support level. In such cases, the response times were slower, and getting support personnel on the call was more difficult.
AshwaniTyagi - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced protection and good integration capabilities with good reliability
We use Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to offer services to our customers as a managed security service provider. We provide solutions and services to our customers across the globe. For example, if I want to host a firewall in the cloud or somewhere where the physical appliance is not a possibility…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides a high rate of catching the zero-day advanced threats."
"Check Point has enabled us to detect a lot of threats and prevented a lot of threats from entering our environments. It has kept us safe."
"The product gives us advanced protection, including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies and services."
"Preventing zero-day threats and extracting potential threats from incoming files with Threat Extraction is the most valuable feature for us."
"The Check Point SandBlast Network uses caching and static analysis to actually reduce the time it takes to scan and isolate the same file for incoming data compromises."
"It enables my IT system to apply threat detection intelligence and diffuse the endpoint and potential threat attacks and phishing attacks onto the system in the most proactive and secure manner."
"Threat Emulation gives networks the necessary protection against unknown threats in files that are attached to emails. The Threat Emulation engine picks up malware at the exploit phase before it enters the network. It quickly quarantines and runs the files in a virtual sandbox, which imitates a standard operating system, to discover malicious behavior before hackers can apply evasion techniques to bypass the sandbox."
"You do not need to risk your network by using the in-line sandbox."
"The solution enables organizations to enforce policies."
"The most effective features for threat prevention are application-based prevention and WildFire. These features cover various threats, such as ransomware, malware, etc. They provide real-time visibility. By applying appropriate policies, threats can be blocked."
"It offers a single pane of glass for all the different types of installations."
"Overall, I give Palo Alto Networks VM-Series a rating of nine out of ten."
"Palo Alto is easy to use. The UI is very easy to understand and does not require any certification or highly skilled technician to handle the firewall. It is very user-friendly and straightforward out of the box."
"The Palo Alto VM-Series is nice because I can move the firewalls easily."
"The solution strengthens our IT posture."
"It helps in offering advanced protection against malware and anti-spyware, which is based on customer feedback stating the product has very good threat prevention capabilities."
 

Cons

"Today, we have it as part of a solution or a package. However, we'd like there to be a way where we can have the solution's features available to us in a cheaper way in the future."
"Many Important controls are only available in CLI & very very complicated. All tecli command features should available on GUI so that it will become easy for normal users to monitor & control queue."
"The technical support could use some work, but it's okay. It's a little bit of a tedious process to get through."
"The cost is a little bit high-end, and you need to get precise performance metrics in order to get the correct size. Improvements are required in both areas of the tool."
"I imagine there will be improvements in later versions. There are hotfixes that come out all the time."
"They need to improve the GUI interface."
"There should be some improvement in the solution's stability and scalability."
"Using it in the beginning was difficult because I had never used anything similar. In terms of navigating the UI, it was all not too bad, but there is definitely a learning curve."
"We don't know how it will scale once we start putting more load on it."
"We have ran into issues with Palo Alto’s limitations for resolving large IP lists from DNS lookups, as well as the antivirus interfering with App-ID."
"I find it difficult to reach technical support at Palo Alto Networks. Most customers go for partner-enabled support, which involves multiple layers, leading to delays."
"There could be dynamic DNS features similar to Fortinet in the product."
"The command-line interface is something that some people struggle with and I think that they should have an option to go straight to the GUI."
"There is no proper support channel to follow up on cases."
"It would be good if the common features work consistently in physical and virtual environments. There was an integration issue in the virtual deployment where it didn't report the interface counters, and we had to upgrade to the latest version, whereas the same thing has been working in the physical deployment for ages now. It seems that it was because of Azure. We were using VMware before, and we didn't have any such issues. We do see such small issues where we expect things to work, but they don't because of some incompatibilities. There also seems to be a limitation on how to do high availability in a virtualized environment. All features should be consistently available in physical and virtual environments. It is not always easy to integrate Palo Alto in the network management system. We would like to be able to compare two network management systems. They can maybe allow monitoring an interface through the GUI to create a reference or do a baseline check about whether your network monitoring system is actually giving you the correct traffic figures. You need traffic figures to be able to recognize the trends and plan the capacity."
"The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series was somewhat challenging, requiring extensive documentation review. I rate it a six out of ten for ease."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is quite effective, not excessively high. On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest price, I rate the pricing a nine."
"We would like to try the Threat Extraction blade, but you need to buy a license. Check Point is expensive. I would like to buy things, but I would need the funding."
"Choosing the correct set of licenses is essential because, without the additional software blade licenses, the Check Point gateways are just a stateful firewall."
"We have seen ROI."
"The cost of Check Point SandBlast Network is annually, and there is only a standard license."
"The cost is not significantly high and it can be negotiated during any purchase of NGFW."
"The product's cost is high."
"I think the overall cost for introducing Check Point with SandBlast was reasonable and competitive in the market."
"When you have a client compare box against box, a lot of times Palo Alto is a bit more expensive, but its network firewalls have a very rich ratio."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is the most expensive tool among competitors"
"Purchasing on the AWS Marketplace was simple, effective, and easy."
"It is a little bit of crazy if you compare it to Vanguard, Sophos, or even Cisco. The newest version of Cisco, the Next-Generation Firewall of Cisco, is less expensive than Palo Alto. It is more comparable to Check Point."
"Palo Alto is more expensive than other products."
"Do not buy larges box if you do not need them. Rightsizing is a great task to do before​hand."
"The pricing and licensing of this product on AWS for a three-year commitment is a great deal, if you can plan that far ahead."
"Based on the customer budget, they can choose from 12-month, 36-month, or 60-month licensing models."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point SandBlast Network?
The solution can detect and prevent attacks that may be encrypted.
What needs improvement with Check Point SandBlast Network?
The cost is a little bit high-end, and you need to get precise performance metrics in order to get the correct size. Improvements are required in both areas of the tool.
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the overall cost is reasonable. Azure Firewall offers a solid threat awareness, can...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edenred, State Transport Leasing Company (STLC), Edel AG, Laurenty, Conseil Départemental du Val de Marne, Koch Media
Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point SandBlast Network vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.