Hillstone E-Series vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series comparison

Hillstone E-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

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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 July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

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Krishnakumar M

enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

One of the best tools for the prevention of evasive threats

There is a feature called granular application controls, which I liked. Instead of relying on ports and IP addresses, they use AMP ID. This kind of solution is very good. Another valuable feature is the prevention of evasive threats, which is one of the best tools I've encountered. SSL decryption and app ID-based SSL decryption are also impressive, along with the integration with user ID. Identity-based policies ensuring only authorized users can access specific resources are excellent features. Normally, there is something called SIM or SCIM in IDA IDM, but this feature is provided on the box, which is exemplary.

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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

"We have found it to be very reliable and that's why our teams and various users in our company use it as our main firewall every day."

"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."

"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls."

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution 10 out of 10."

"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."

"The ability to set up remote systems is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature is the policy routing and application control."

"Fortinet FortiGate is the best option on the market when it comes to firewalls."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."

"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"Five out of five ROI."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."

"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients a secure connectivity."

More Hillstone E-Series pros

"I have found that Palo Alto Networks K2-Series has the best security. They are more user-friendly, older firewalls used to have to be configured using the command-line interface, but in this solution, it can be done in the GUI."

"Prevention of evasive threats is one of the best tools I've encountered."

"Everything I could possibly want has already been implanted in the new version."

"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is its management abilities. Additionally, the updates are very good."

"The most valuable features are the virtualization of the firewall and the antivirus."

"Palo Alto firewalls are scalable enough. We have about 110 employees in our company, and we are about to expand to 130."

"Palo Alto has better and finer controls than, say, Cisco or Check Point."

"Mainly, it is very easy to understand, and the logs are very good."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

Cons

"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."

"I need user-behavior analytics, to find threat scenarios from inside the organization, insider attacks. That would be very helpful for us. In addition, I would like next-generation features for small and medium businesses. These businesses require UTM, all in one product. Fortinet must include it."

"There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision."

"One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."

"I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."

"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."

"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."

"The current usage reporting is very basic."

"The tool only had some memory-related problems."

"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."

"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."

"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."

"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."

"The tool needs to improve its price."

More Hillstone E-Series cons

"They should implement the features that the other firewalls have."

"I'd like to see more data protection on the system."

"Higher levels of support are excellent but new users may need additional options."

"The reporting functionality in GlobalProtect needs to be improved."

"It would be nice if it could easily be integrated with Elasticsearch or Nagios."

"The technical support, and how they provide it to the client, needs to be improved."

"Palo Alto releases a lot of bug fixes for their firewalls, which means it's necessary to do frequent upgrades. They should work on decreasing their bugs so that upgrades aren't needed so often."

"I would like to see the threat intelligence capability integrated with other vendors such as Cisco and Forcepoint."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiGate is cost-efficient. Palo Alto is expensive, but Fortinet FortiGate is not."

"Fortinet is competitive price-wise."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."

"The cost of Fortinet FortiGate is competitive and not expensive compared to other enterprise- grade solutions. On average, the license cost per year is around seventy percent of the firewall's purchase price."

"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."

"It's an expensive solution."

"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."

"If the price of the license in Fortinet FortiGate was less expensive it would be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."

"When comparing Palo Alto Networks K2-Series with other solutions it is on the higher end of the price scale."

"We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series."

"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."

"Pricing is a sensitive issue because the cost is high in this market."

"The pricing is expensive."

"The overall price of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be reduced."

"This is an expensive solution, although you will get value for the price."

"The price of this solution is too high."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Computer Software Company

18%

Performing Arts

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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...

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 ...

What do you like most about Hillstone E-Series?

The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hillstone E-Series?

Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low.

What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the fire...

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...

What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

It is a stable solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

The pricing for the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series solution is affordable and there are no complaints about the licensing.

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

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SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

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Hillstone A-Series vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 16% of the time

Sophos XG vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 8% of the time

OpenVPN Access Server vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 7% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 6% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Firewalls

Download Hillstone E-Series product report

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

June 2025

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

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Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Hillstone E-Series is a comprehensive network security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats. It offers a range of features including a firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), virtual private network (VPN), and application control.

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, E-Series can detect and prevent sophisticated attacks, ensuring the security of critical data and systems. It also provides granular control over applications, allowing organizations to enforce policies and optimize network performance.

E-Series is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized management console. It offers high-performance throughput and scalability, making it suitable for small businesses to large enterprises. With its robust security features and ease of use, Hillstone E-Series is an ideal choice for organizations looking to enhance their network security posture.

Hillstone Networks

Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.

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

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO

State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME

Hillstone E-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series