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Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Sophos Cloud Optix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
23rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (38th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (17th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (16th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (14th), Software Supply Chain Security (14th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (7th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (9th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (9th)
Sophos Cloud Optix
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
31st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Nuno-Santos - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has improved real-time threat detection and unified cloud protection through AI and automation
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is creating some confusion in terms of names because this is recent. They changed the names of the products and are now clarifying their offer. The family of the products is not easy to follow because it's very recent. Regarding the generative AI security tool, I know for sure it's Agentic. Based on my experience with Palo Alto, I can suggest what Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could make better or what additional functions could be added. This is the best tool in the market. It's not the time to tell what they could do better because it's a recent tool. The market is now adopting it. Our experience doesn't show that they need to do more.
Tanzeel Iqbal - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Architect at Testware ApS
Cloud posture has improved and security reports drive ongoing compliance and cost control
I really appreciate most aspects of Sophos Cloud Optix, especially that we can set it up on AWS marketplace without needing to host a new machine. We can use their trial version where we can monitor a small number of resources without any additional cost. Setting up Sophos Cloud Optix on AWS is not difficult at all, also because my team has experience with it, making it very easy and quick to set up a trial version that helps us see the initial posture of our security setup as we grow, and then they charge based on the cloud resources. Sophos Cloud Optix impacts us positively in many ways, particularly in security, which is an important part. It is not just about fixing everything without a clear picture of what we have done to improve security, as there must be a portal explaining our progress, which I really appreciate, and it helps us save time and in optimization for performance and cost. While I have not seen much for cost optimization as we have another great tool for it, Sophos Cloud Optix aids us to set up our infrastructure appropriately, making sure databases are in a private network, and if systems are wrongly set up, it helps us quickly mitigate those issues and provides a report indicating the problem. I am really impressed with the way Sophos Cloud Optix provides its features, so I am not sure about any specific improvements needed. I am really satisfied about the reports Sophos Cloud Optix generates, provided in a PDF format which is very useful for our recording purposes.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a technically strong product, and I rate it ten out of ten."
"I have seen several benefits from using Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks: It was easy to use and easy to migrate from the IBM platform."
"Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks has impacted our organization positively by keeping our machines secure and our team using the dashboard to find issues quickly."
"I have absolutely seen improvements in our incident close rates, with mean time to detect and respond reduced significantly, sometimes by at least forty to fifty percent."
"The AI and automation features in detecting and responding to high-risk threats are impressive; it's one of the best tools regarding AI technology and unifies security in one platform in real-time, improving vulnerability analysis, incident response, and compliance reporting."
"Sophos Cloud Optix impacts us positively in many ways, particularly in security, which is an important part, and it helps us save time and in optimization for performance and cost."
"The most valuable feature of Sophos Cloud Optix is the simple way to manage my devices on the network. Additionally, it is easy to navigate and has a user-friendly interface."
"DLP is a valuable feature that we use a lot for info audits."
"The most valuable feature for me would be the solution's endpoint protection."
"I find Cloud Optix to be a valuable solution since it provides a single, unified dashboard to monitor cloud assets, such as AWS and Azure."
"I find Cloud Optix to be a valuable solution since it provides a single, unified dashboard to monitor cloud assets, such as AWS and Azure."
 

Cons

"The pricing is high, making ROI challenging to justify, especially during transitions between solutions."
"Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is creating some confusion in terms of names because this is recent."
"Some aspects of the GUI can be confusing and make it difficult for me to find certain options or navigate where needed."
"Overall, I rate Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks as an eight out of ten. I think that it could improve on price, as I know that the Google solution has the best price, and this is one of the conditions."
"Sophos should enhance its AI-driven detection features and anomaly detection."
"There are times when the devices are at maximum capacity, and it takes a while before the device is updated. For example, if the device has a virus, and it's not aligned to connect to the network, even after you've scanned the device, and cleaned out the virus, once the management clears the system to allow it back on the network it takes some time. It can be frustrating when you have your line manager or in management affected trying to access the network."
"The dashboard and the process for applying policies could be more intuitive. Cloud Optix isn't that difficult once you get the hang of it, but the IT folks managing this want it to be more user-friendly."
"Sophos should enhance its AI-driven detection features and anomaly detection."
"The setup was a little bit complex."
"I have not connected with Sophos Cloud Optix customer support yet, but I had a bad experience when our AWS cloud got compromised, leading to many resources being provisioned, and while Sophos Cloud Optix identified those resources, the resulting bill from AWS was quite high due to the usage charges, which I tried to investigate with the Sophos team, though I am not sure if they assisted with the refund."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Regarding the pricing for Sophos Cloud Optix, I would say that it was a very good price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
8%
Media Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises. It is less affordable for startups or small-scale vendors.
What needs improvement with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
Regarding areas for improvement, the tool performs its functions well, but frequent name changes across Palo Alto Networks products can be frustrating for technical teams who must continually adapt...
What is your primary use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks serves as our primary tool for understanding our assets and performing API integration between our multi-cloud infrastructure, specifically AWS and Azure, to gain...
What needs improvement with Sophos Cloud Optix?
I believe there can be improvements in the logging mechanism, with more detailed information available about systems or network logs being beneficial.
What is your primary use case for Sophos Cloud Optix?
I use Sophos Cloud Optix most of the time to harden our AWS infrastructure or Azure infrastructure, and sometimes I use it to meet different types of compliance requirements such as SOC 2 and ISO 2...
What advice do you have for others considering Sophos Cloud Optix?
I have not integrated Sophos Cloud Optix with other tools, but I believe there are many integration options available. The learning curve for new users on my team with Sophos Cloud Optix is not muc...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Sophos Cloud Optix and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.