Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention comparison

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

5.9

Fortinet FortiGate offers a high ROI through enhanced productivity, efficiency, security, cost savings, and simplified management.

Sentiment score

5.7

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention offers financial benefits and high user satisfaction despite its cost, boosting revenues, especially in Italy.

The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.

Bart Homblé

BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks

It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.

Bernard Samontanes

Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems

When investing in cybersecurity with Fortinet FortiGate 200, which costs more than $10,000, companies that are growing directly can expect ROI within 1.5 to 3 years.

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

It offers insights into security threats, despite the inability to quantify its impact in numbers.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.5

Fortinet FortiGate's 24/7 support is generally well-rated but needs improvement in response speed for urgent issues.

Sentiment score

5.9

Palo Alto Networks' support is praised for expertise but faces inconsistent response times and communication challenges with third-party facilitation.

The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.

Alexandre Menezes

IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

AnishKumar

NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd

As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

I rate technical support from Palo Alto as eight out of ten.

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

I have proof of this rating - when I escalate a case, I receive a reply from TAC support after two days.

Nasir Akbar

Presales Engineer at SAUDI PARAMOUNT COMPUTER SYSTEMS

Overall, I find the technical support from Palo Alto Networks quite good, although getting a hold of the TAC can be challenging and sometimes requires long phone calls.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

Fortinet FortiGate is praised for scalability and adaptability across enterprises, though some users face cloud scaling and upgrade challenges.

Sentiment score

7.7

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is scalable, adaptable, and efficient, though cost may constrain its broad deployment.

They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.

Ian Manton

IT Manager at Daltons Limited

The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.

reviewer2667480

Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.

FatmaSamy

General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is scalable and works well wherever enforcement points exist.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Fortinet FortiGate offers reliable and consistent performance, with quick resolution for occasional bugs, ensuring minimal downtime and high availability.

Sentiment score

7.7

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is praised for its superior stability and performance, though requires careful version selection.

We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.

Ricardo Biggs

Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees

I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

AnishKumar

NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd

Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.

Juan Frias

CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

Proper sizing of the firewall models ensures that the system does not experience crippling performance issues.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate users face high costs, integration and stability issues, sluggish support, and need improvements in usability and security features.

Palo Alto Networks needs improvements in email filtering, setup ease, user experience, support services, and enhanced security features.

It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.

Pravin Mandlik

Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

It is how quickly each of these companies adapts to that and brings in more value to the customer.

GireeshRamamurthy

Principal Consultant at Epitome Infotech Solutions (P) Ltd

The main area for improvement in Fortinet FortiGate is the firmware versions, as we face uncertainties regarding upgrades and frequent bugs that require self-fixing of problems.

reviewer1929939

Senior Manager IT at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

Palo Alto needs to focus on how to bring that technology to end users and how easy it is to use, especially in a hybrid environment where users work from various locations.

Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The behavioral detection capabilities could be expanded to address all threats at the perimeter, reducing the reliance on endpoint detection and response systems.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate is cost-effective with a good feature set, ideal for mid to large enterprises, though complex licensing.

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is costly but valued for strong threat detection, with pricing challenging for smaller businesses.

It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.

NilsPaley

IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1

It is about 20% cheaper.

MithatBulut

Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX

The advantages of Fortinet FortiGate over its competitors include good pricing and meeting our requirements at a lower cost.

Rizki Arya Indracahya

Information Technology Infrastructure Section Head at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention requires an add-on license and is considered expensive compared to competitors like Cisco AMP and FortiGate firewalls.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate offers robust security, ease of use, and integration, with cost-effectiveness and reliable support, enhancing network efficiency.

Palo Alto Networks excels in threat prevention with features like sandboxing, machine learning, and user-friendly design, enhancing efficiency.

They put in a thing called the FortiCookbook, which is very easy to read with real-life scenarios that make networking tasks like joining networks very straightforward.

Ian Manton

IT Manager at Daltons Limited

The firewall and VPN features are the most valuable in protecting our customers' networks.

reviewer890418

Sales & Support at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

The most valuable feature is the deep inspection for traffic, which is capable of identifying zero-day attacks.

Martins Zipp

Consultant at SKYE AS

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

As traditional signature-based mechanisms become less effective due to the evolving nature of attacks, this solution's focus on behavioral analysis is crucial.

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

We are satisfied with the analytic capabilities of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention, especially the reporting features available in the Palo Alto portal in terms of their application visibility interface, which is very good for us to get visibility on all critical applications and the associated users, as well as the risks associated with every category of traffic.

For more quotes and insights, download the Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

592

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)

Palo Alto Networks Advanced...

Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 9.6%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is 4.5%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	9.6%
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention	4.5%
Other	85.9%

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

Joseph Koomson

IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana

Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.

Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.

Read full review

Advanced protection enables us to confidently secure against evolving threats

Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Palo Alto Networks can improve Advanced Threat Prevention by catering to the growing adoption of AI and agentic tooling. The Threat Protection modules should have the necessary intelligence to protect against those types of threats, as AI will be there to do a human job; this is an evolving area. From an Advanced Threat Protection perspective, the technology associated with Palo Alto Networks, such as their sandboxing environment, is quite good. However, Palo Alto needs to focus on how to bring that technology to end users and how easy it is to use, especially in a hybrid environment where users work from various locations. While Palo Alto excels in certain setups, they need to improve the user experience in distributed working conditions.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) solutions are best for your needs.

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902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	369
Midsize Enterprise	139
Large Enterprise	195

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...

What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention requires an add-on license and is considered expensive compared to competitors like Cisco AMP and FortiGate ( /products/fortinet-fortigate-reviews ) fi...

What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Darktrace vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 11% of the time

Vectra AI vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 8% of the time

TrendAI Tipping Point vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 8% of the time

Huawei Network Intelligent Protection vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 4% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Download Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention product report

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention provides comprehensive security with application control, real-time threat detection, and seamless integration with cloud services. Known for its high performance and ease of use, it addresses diverse security challenges for modern organizations.

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention integrates machine learning, behavioral analysis, anti-malware protection, and WildFire sandboxing to deliver proactive defense against threats. Its features include advanced firewall capabilities, comprehensive bandwidth management, and robust reporting. Integration with cloud-based URL filtering enhances organizational security efforts. While the tool offers significant protection, areas like pricing, ease of use, false positive management, and documentation clarity require improvement. Expanding AI capabilities and optimizing support will enhance threat prevention and user experience.

What are the most important features?

Application Control: Provides precise control over applications to reduce risks and ensure compliance.
Real-Time Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates threats instantly for proactive security.
Machine Learning: Enhances threat prediction and detection by analyzing patterns.
WildFire Sandboxing: Offers advanced malware analysis and prevention.
Cloud-Based URL Filtering: Enhances network security by filtering web traffic.

What benefits should users look for?

High Performance: Ensures efficient threat interception with minimal latency.
Ease of Use: Offers a user-friendly experience with intuitive interfaces.
Comprehensive Security: Provides thorough protection through multi-layered security features.
Effective Reporting: Delivers detailed insights for better decision-making.

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is implemented across industries for server protection and LAN/WAN traffic security, providing solutions for network testing and application control. Organizations benefit from features like GlobalProtect VPN, anti-spyware, and vulnerability protections, ensuring security through efficient deployment both on-premises and in the cloud.

Palo Alto Networks

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

University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, SkiStar AB, TRI-AD, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia

Fortinet FortiGate vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention