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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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 T-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
42nd
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
36th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series0.4%
Hillstone T-Series0.5%
Other99.1%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Is stable and has a user-friendly dashboard and a good interface
We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good We cannot secure a specific IP class with this firewall. Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the…
Tejas Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has provided strong traffic visibility and efficient policy management for advanced network environments
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be improved, though I don't think of much. I'm unsure how widespread the adoption for K2-Series alone is. Looking at the base Palo Alto capabilities, they are going in the right direction. K2 specifically about its efficacy with all these 5G protocols, the GPRS tunneling protocol performed without many hiccups during testing. With AI, if there is a Precision AI bundle that you're planning on exploring, then that definitely needs a significant uplift because currently it doesn't work for all the known models. There are many false positives that need to be addressed. While it's still ahead of its competitors, on the AI security side, there is quite a room for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."
"The only firewall able to monitor traffic from a CCTV network. Can detect unauthorized devices plugged into the network, which standard firewalls can't do."
"It has been stable so far."
"Hillstone supports IOT setup and detecting intrusions from IOT or CCTV connectivity, and with this solution, we can also detect unauthorized devices plugged into the CCTV network and sound the alarm to the administrator."
"We found some limitations with Fortinet FortiGate, and we are satisfied with Hillstone T-Series right now."
"K2-Series' best features include its scalability, which is the best on the market, and its continuous development of new technologies and features."
"One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally."
"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is its management abilities, and additionally, the updates are very good."
"Everything I could possibly want has already been implanted in the new version."
"We've found the solution offers us good stability."
"Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories"
"The company is inventive and always adds a lot of great features."
"Overall product rating: Nine out of ten."
 

Cons

"Another loophole with Hillstone T-Series is that when we connect through WiFi and turn our hot spot on, all who connect through the hotspot get all the functions, and the security does not work."
"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."
"Licensing is not cheap, but there are customers who will buy because they understand that this has a cost involved and they will cater their budget for that."
"Licensing is not cheap."
"The solution's commitment time could be reduced as it often takes a lot of time to execute."
"In terms of what needs improvement, Palo Alto is lacking abilities that other firewalls can do."
"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."
"It would be really helpful to have dashboards that provide information on IOC blockings such as where and how many. It will also be good to know how many hashing files have been reported. It would also be nice to have easy access to this information. Otherwise, it's a painful, manual task."
"Threat prevention could use improvement. Not just in malware exploits and C2 traffic; enhancing web traffic protection would be a great upgrade."
"When it comes to support, this is the worst company."
"In the past, we've had trouble with Palo Alto's application filtering not getting it right. I would not be recommending layer 7 application filtering yet."
"The tool needs to improve integration with more products from other vendors. I would like the product to add threat intelligence features as well."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We got a much cheaper price than that provided by Fortinet right now."
"On a scale from one to ten, with one being low and ten being high price, I would rate the price of Hillstone T-Series at three. There are no additional costs other than renewal costs."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series."
"Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."
"The pricing is expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
"This is an expensive solution, although you will get value for the price."
"The price of this solution is too high."
"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Construction Company
15%
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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...
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.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be improved, though I don't think of much. I'm unsure how widespread the adoption for K2-Series alone is. Looking at the base Palo Alto capabilities, they are goi...
 

Also Known As

Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Córdoba
State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone T-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.