Hillstone CloudEdge vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

Hillstone Networks and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #52, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.9. Hillstone Networks holds a 0.2% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Palo Alto Networks’s 5.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hillstone Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Hillstone CloudEdge and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls compete in the network security space. Hillstone CloudEdge is recognized for its cost-effectiveness, while Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is known for its comprehensive features justifying its price.

Features: Hillstone CloudEdge offers multi-cloud support, AI-powered threat intelligence, and adaptability. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls provides application visibility, granular control, and extensive threat prevention capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hillstone CloudEdge allows straightforward, flexible deployment ideal for diverse IT environments with accessible customer service. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers a comprehensive deployment model with dedicated support and in-depth technical guidance, though perceived as complex and slower.

Pricing and ROI: Hillstone CloudEdge is known for competitive setup costs and favorable ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls requires a higher initial investment but delivers substantial ROI through its extensive security capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

April 2026

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 17.2%, down from 21.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 5.2%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	17.2%
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls	5.2%
Hillstone CloudEdge	0.2%
Other	77.4%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches

Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.

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Albert-Wang

Technical Consultant at SiS Technologies

Comprehensive cloud security with robust threat protection and VPN capabilities

Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud. This solution has a unified OS system for security products, ensuring that the virtual firewall has similar features to the on-premise solutions. Important features include a VPN, VTech VPN, SSL VPN, QoS, antivirus, threat protection, and sandbox capabilities.

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Abhinandan Yadav

Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd

Advanced visibility has transformed security policies and provides proactive threat prevention

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are powerful, but there are areas for improvement that could enhance their effectiveness, such as cost and licensing models. One of the main challenges we face is the high cost, especially for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), with licensing for features such as threat prevention, URL filtering, and WildFire being quite expensive. Additionally, centralized management with Panorama is a dependency for managing multiple firewalls, leading to added costs and complexity, and the built-in centralized management features could be made more user-friendly. Moreover, the learning curve associated with the initial setup and advanced configuration including NAT, decryption, and routing can be complex for new users, and enhancements in logging and reporting could also improve the user experience. There are a few more areas where improvements could streamline operations, such as optimizing commit times. Sometimes committing changes takes a noticeable amount of time, particularly for larger configurations, so a faster commit option would significantly help during urgent troubleshooting. Easier policy troubleshooting is necessary as well. Even though logs are detailed, finding the exact rule match and issue can still be time-consuming in complex environments, so having automated policy simulation and a recommendation tool would expedite troubleshooting. Additionally, better default templates and best practices for SMB data centers and branch offices would speed up deployment and reduce errors. Enhancing integration visibility through a unified dashboard would simplify monitoring, and improving the firmware upgrade process to allow for a more seamless zero downtime upgrade would also enhance operations, as upgrades are stable but typically require careful planning and downtime.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiGate firewalls pay for themselves."

"One of the most valuable features of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is the ease of usability it offers."

"We've actually replaced 30 or more Cisco routers that were doing these VPN connections, and we replaced them with the FortiGates in order to provide Point-to-Point connectivity."

"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has a stateless balance proposition"

"My primary use is for border protection for connectivity out onto the Internet, and this product has performed exceptionally well."

"I haven't configured or experienced any stability issues."

"ROI is very high, it has hands-down the best price/performance/features ratio in the market."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."

"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."

"Hillstone CloudEdge is compatible with all the mainstream public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Alibaba Cloud."

"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."

"With App-ID, we can identify exact traffic. Even if someone tries to fool the firewall with a different port number, or with the correct port number, Palo Alto is able to identify what kind of traffic it is."

"There are plenty of features available in this solution, such as attack blocker and spam blocker, and it is very robust and in-depth."

"We prefer Palo Alto Networks for our parameter security because of these features."

"We standardized on the product and got rid of several other types of firewalls from different vendors."

"The first time I came across these firewalls, what surprised me the most was their web user interface. It is complete and gives you a lot of information. You can do 80% of the things related to your network and firewall through the web UI. In some of the other devices, the UI is not as complete. App-ID is also very valuable in customer networks. When you're seeing a lot of traffic in your network, you can see in your web UI which users have the applications that are consuming the most bandwidth. You have a broad context, which is very good."

"The solution is very stable."

"It is a little bit expensive than other firewalls, but it is worth every penny."

"We have a lot of confidence in this solution."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pros

Cons

"It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."

"In our environment, we need multiple virtual firewalls to facilitate end users and customers. Fortinet doesn't provide that but they really should include that feature."

"It is complicated to manage different kinds of on-premise boxes."

"If I had any criticism that I would give FortiGate, it would be that they need to stop changing their logging format. Every time we do a firmware upgrade, it is a massive issue on the SIM. Parsers have to be rebuilt. Even the FortiGate guys came in and said that they don't play well in the sandbox."

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"The technical support that Fortinet provides is not satisfactory. When we call Fortinet technical support, it takes too much time to connect with them."

"The product's data guard feature should support a USB port when the internet connection is unavailable."

"I believe there is room for improvement in machine learning and AI in Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see more automation regarding AI and machine learning in Fortinet FortiGate."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution needs more granular level reporting on system usage."

"There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance."

"Its price can be better."

"Understanding the flow and application of securities can be complex, requiring navigation across different sections."

"People sometimes find it more expensive as compared to other solutions. There are also fewer training opportunities for Palo Alto than Cisco and other vendors."

"I think they need to have a proper hardware version for a smaller enterprise. We had to go to a very high-end version which is very expensive. If we chose the lower-end version, it would not meet our goals. A middle-end is missing in its portfolio."

"The reports it provides are not helpful."

"Configurations related to different operating systems can be complex, and we have encountered issues with Linux systems."

"The areas that need to improve are network protection and user identification."

"The analysis of the ITS ID by Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls could be improved."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform offers a reasonable price point compared to its competitors."

"The price of FortiGate is good."

"Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"If the customer is looking for SD-WAN, it comes free with FortiGate."

"Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."

"The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"Definitely look into a multi-year license, as opposed to a single-year. That will definitely be more beneficial in terms of cost... Palo Alto is definitely not the cheapest, but if you scale it the right way it will be very comparable to what's out there."

"It has a yearly subscription."

"After the hardware and software are procured, it is the AMC support that has to be renewed yearly."

"Its price should be improved."

"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive."

"The tool's pricing is similar to that of Cisco. It's a security appliance; the cost depends on your network topology and specific requirements. The suitability of NG firewalls should be chosen based on your network and what you need. If a colleague from a different company asked for the cheapest and fastest firewall, I suggest they consider options like Sophos. Sophos took over Cyberoam, which was previously a leader in NG firewalls"

"You get what you pay for."

"Don't buy a device with more power than you really need, because licensing depends on the cost of the box you have."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	365
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	191

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	75
Midsize Enterprise	56
Large Enterprise	85

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 a...

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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...

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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 ...

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What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?

There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. M...

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What is your primary use case for Hillstone CloudEdge?

Our primary use case is to provide cloud-based security solutions for customers using public cloud platforms. We dist...

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What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone CloudEdge?

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

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What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...

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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...

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Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 29% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 26% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 13% of the time

KerioControl vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 12% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Hillstone CloudEdge

Compared 10% of the time

More Hillstone CloudEdge Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 13% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 10% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 4% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

March 2026

Download Hillstone CloudEdge product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

March 2026

Download Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall

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

Hillstone Virtual Next-Generation Firewall, CloudEdge, embedded with the Hillstone Networks StoneOS operation system, is deployed as a virtual machine, and provides advanced security services for applications and users in any virtualized environment. It provides comprehensive security features including granular application identification and control, VPN, intrusion prevention, anti-virus, attack defense and cloud-sandbox to fully keep a business secure and operational. It provides price- performance solutions for both public and private cloud customers, and can be rapidly provisioned and deployed at scale.

Hillstone Networks

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls deliver advanced threat protection with machine learning, enhancing security through real-time attack prevention. Known for application visibility and a user-friendly interface, they offer robust network protection and flexibility in rule creation.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are designed to secure environments with features like GlobalProtect VPN, WildFire malware detection, and unified platform integration. Their strong firewall capabilities and high-performance throughput make them suitable for perimeter and data center protection, VPN configurations, application control, and network segmentation. Users consistently highlight the ease of managing network security policies and integrating third-party tools, ensuring a comprehensive protection strategy. While enhancements in support, training resources, and configuration simplicity are needed, these firewalls are integral for securing both on-prem and cloud environments, aligning with platforms like Azure and AWS.

What are the key features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Application Visibility: Provides insight into network traffic for better control.
Threat Prevention: Uses machine learning for real-time attack prevention.
GlobalProtect VPN: Secures remote access efficiently.
WildFire Malware Detection: Detects and prevents advanced threats.
Unified Platform Integration: Enhances network security through seamless integration with other tools.

What benefits should be evaluated when considering Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Flexibility in Rule Creation: Allows customized security policies to meet specific needs.
High-Performance Throughput: Ensures efficient network operations under high load.
Comprehensive Policy Management: Simplifies overseeing and adjusting security policies.
Robust Endpoint Security: Protects endpoints against sophisticated threats.
Seamless Integration: Works well with third-party tools for a comprehensive solution.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are commonly implemented across industries for securing LAN environments, URL filtering, and ensuring Zero Trust security. They secure both on-premises and cloud infrastructures, often becoming integral parts of security frameworks within enterprises. Leveraging these firewalls in conjunction with Azure or AWS enhances the overall network protection strategies employed by organizations.

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

LinkTime

SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

April 2026

Free Report: Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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