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Hillstone CloudEdge vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series 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

Hillstone CloudEdge
Ranking in Firewalls
47th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone CloudEdge is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series2.6%
Hillstone CloudEdge0.4%
Other97.0%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Albert-Wang - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MuhammadNadeem - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Has supported urgent deployments and enabled inline threat protection but pricing and features could be more flexible
I am not using Palo Alto Networks VM-Series mostly, but based on my experience, there are some deficiencies in Palo Alto Networks VM-Series. Having those features missing, we are not proposing Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to all customers. However, for urgency and for some solutions that customers need for some of their other sites and subdivisions, we are providing the same.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would recommend this product to any business that wants to protect its cloud environment, cloud server, or on-premises virtual servers."
"The solution is very easy to download and configure. The initial setup was very easy. The technical support is very good."
"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."
"The most valuable features are security and support."
"The VM series has an advantage over the physical version because we are able to change the sources that the machine has, such as the amount of available RAM."
"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."
"It has excellent scalability."
"In AWS, Palo Alto provides us a better view than flow logs for network traffic."
"The VM-Series scalability is fast and easy to implement, improving our security posture as our Azure network grows."
"The interface with Panorama makes it very easy to use."
"With Palo Alto VM-Series, we are capable through a single point of management and visualization both in infrastructure and on premises and in the cloud, allowing us to improve the speed to create new rules and speed up the resolution of problems by having a holistic vision of our firewall infrastructure."
 

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."
"The product could provide protection above Layer 3, which gets into the application layer and provides better visibility into those aspects of application security."
"The reporting part of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"If additional web application firewall capabilities could be integrated into the existing firewall, it would negate the need for additional products."
"The disadvantage with Palo Alto is that they don't have a cloud-based solution that includes a secure web gateway."
"In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the endpoints and the firewalls."
"At the beginning of the implementation, we had some difficulties with the scripts, but Palo Alto Networks support together with a local partner finally fixed it."
"Integrative capabilities with other solutions should also be addressed."
"There is work to be done on the integration side, as AWS doesn't integrate well with third-party firewalls."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is a little bit expensive compared to other vendors."
"The product is cheaper than the on-premise version."
"We found purchasing process the product on the AWS Marketplace to be very good."
"We used BYOL, because of the cost to own."
"The VM series is licensed annually."
"Some parts of purchasing through AWS Marketplace are good, such as this product was easy to find and launch. Some of the other parts could be clearer in the AWS Marketplace, e.g., how to properly do an annual subscription."
"The pricing and licensing of this product on AWS should be from $1.28/hr or $4,500.00/yr. Then, it would be a good price for the performance that it delivers."
"Palo Alto can be as much as two times the price of competing products that have twice the capabilities."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Hillstone CloudEdge?
There is room for improvement in AI features, particularly for zero-day attacks and providing maintenance guidance. More AI features would be beneficial.
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 distribute Hillstone CloudEdge and work with its various solutions to ensure securit...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks VM-Series?
The pricing is more on the expensive side, but it is justified due to its functionality, reliability, and throughput, even with all features enabled. In comparison to FortiGate ( /products/fortinet...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LinkTime
Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone CloudEdge vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.