Hillstone T-Series vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

Hillstone Networks and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Hillstone Networks is ranked #42, 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 4.6% mindshare. Additionally, 66% 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 T-Series and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are competitors in network security, both offering protection against cyber threats. Hillstone T-Series is often chosen for its cost-effectiveness and customer support, while Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is seen as superior due to advanced capabilities, justifying its higher price.

Features: Hillstone T-Series provides intuitive management, integrated threat intelligence, and cost-efficient scalability. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls stands out with its comprehensive threat prevention, extensive logging, and cloud integration capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hillstone T-Series is simple to deploy with effective support, ensuring smooth implementation. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, with more complex deployment due to its extensive features, offers thorough support resources and documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Hillstone T-Series has a lower upfront cost with solid ROI, appealing for budget-conscious buyers. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, higher in price, offers long-term value that aligns with its advanced capabilities, making it a justified investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Hillstone T-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Hillstone T-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

December 2025

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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 January 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.8%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone T-Series is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 4.6%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.8%
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls	4.6%
Hillstone T-Series	0.2%
Other	76.4%

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

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…

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Sven-Verbeke

Solution Architect // Network Consultant at Group S

Network security has improved and allows detailed user-based control over encrypted traffic

Bandwidth usage is not something we use much, but it depends on the SD-WAN plugin because the application load balancing is based on the SD-WAN product. That functionality does not work as it should, although the App-ID is working very well. SD-WAN functionality is working, but when you compare it with other products on the market, it is very limited. Palo Alto also has ION devices, and ION devices together with Prisma Access or Strata Cloud Manager now are more the way to go than using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls on-premises. At the moment I have some issues, but the issues are more related to the general way of working of many vendors. They implement new things very fast and it is not always bug-free. With new releases, sometimes you still have some issues. This is the main concern. If you look back five or maybe ten years ago, the products were more stable and you had more decent releases, but that is something in general for many vendors. Palo Alto is also a factor with that. They want to bring new features to the market too fast. Features are a concern because all vendors try to compete against each other. If one vendor comes out with a new feature, then other vendors do the same. Sometimes they want to be the first on the market with it, and that sometimes introduces bugs or issues with the product.

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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

"It's an easy solution to set up."

"The most helpful features of FortiGate include its firewall policy, specifically the user-based policy, which I find to be quite beneficial in managing our network security effectively."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is value for money. It is very easy to deploy and scale. It saves us costs and increases bandwidth throughput."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the analytics."

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

"The product has an inbuilt IPS software. We can configure it to block specific anonymous attacks that are happening."

"Our security improved from being able to put in rules and close off unwanted traffic."

"It is pretty straightforward to manage and has robust capabilities. I appreciate that Fortinet FortiGate can be a central controller for other Fortinet products, such as switches and access points."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"It has been stable so far."

"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."

"We installed Hillstone T-Series after a ransomware attack. The dashboard and user interface are very good."

"The most valuable features are application inspection and sandboxing. Application inspection decides where traffic is transmitted. If I have a perimeter report for a particular service, then other services or malicious services cannot use an open port. In this way, application inspection is doing a fantastic job. We also have a very good sandbox with almost no rate limit. It will inspect any file that comes in and goes out in a dedicated patch to identify malware. Therefore, these two things help me to protect our organization from any bad actors."

"The fact that I can perform several security functions in one device at wire speed is a valuable feature. I don't have to slow down my business transactions, and I don't have to inconvenience my users with 16 different solutions. I can have it all in one box, and it protects my organization at wire speed."

"The most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are DNS sync calls, enabled security features, and Wildfire."

"I like to install Palo Alto mainly on the data center side to have visibility into all VLANs. That gives full visibility into the core."

"The App-ID feature is the coolest feature because you don't need to open a new port. Apps are directly linked to the port. It provides one of the best ways to lock down the additional port switch."

"The configuration is quite simple to understand."

"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are the best in the field in terms of usability and coverage."

"The application control portion of the solution is its most valuable aspect."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pros

Cons

"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."

"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."

"If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."

"Someone without certification and experience with other firewalls might find it a bit more challenging to grasp the FortiGate format and its platform layout."

"Areas of improvement for Fortinet FortiGate include the need for more training and certification, especially when dealing with distributors globally, which presents challenges in product availability and delivery timelines."

"With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."

"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."

"The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Licensing is not cheap."

"They have a very good technical support team, but I think there are some communication issues due to language differences."

"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."

"I wish that the Palos had better system logging for the hardware itself."

"The whole performance takes a long time. It takes a long time to configure."

"Its stability can be better. Their technical response from the support side can also be better."

"The reports it provides are not helpful."

"The cloud could be improved. I would like to have more visibility of the vulnerabilities of the network as well."

"In the future, I would like to see more OTP features."

"In terms of what could be improved, comparatively the price is very high. That would be the one thing."

"The scalability of the firewalls could be improved."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Setup cost may be not so low, as you expect, because it depends on different factors, but TCO for 5 years may pleasantly surprise you."

"It's very affordable."

"We just pay a flat monthly fee to the vendor for the support."

"Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

"I would rate pricing to be about four or five out of ten, it is reasonable."

"It could be more competitive and cost-effective."

"The Fortinet FortiGate security features cost approximately $1,500 a year. The firewall itself doesn't have a recurring cost. It's the security features on top of that that you pay for."

More Fortinet FortiGate 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."

"Pricing is yearly, but it depends. You could pay on a yearly basis, or every three years. If you want to add a device or two, there would be an additional cost. Also, if you want to do an assessment, or other similar add-on, you have to pay accordingly for the additional service."

"The pricing is straightforward with no hidden costs."

"This is an expensive product, which is why some of our customers don't adopt it."

"The price could be better. Pricing is very different compared to WatchGuard, which costs around 60 lakhs, and FortiGate, which costs approximately 40 lakhs. Palo Alto Networks costs about a crore which is very high pricing. We bought this firewall, and our organization did not want to pay so much. We spent around one crore rupees which is not within our budget at all, and we are unhappy with them."

"The product is expensive compared to competing products but uses a similar type of pricing model based on hardware, software and maintenance."

"Its price is quite high but is justified for the features and capabilities provided, although I would prefer a lower price."

"It's pretty good."

"I don't know about the price of the platform or the license fees, as the finance department deals with that. I only bill for the materials involved in the design."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	74
Midsize Enterprise	56
Large Enterprise	85

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 34% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 26% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Hillstone T-Series

Compared 12% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 18% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 12% of the time

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

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 7% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

January 2026

Download Hillstone T-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

January 2026

Download Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Hillstone T-Series Intelligent Next-Generation Firewalls, Hillstone iNGFW

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’s T-Series intelligent Next-Generation Firewall (iNGFW) uses three key technologies to detect advanced attacks and provide continuous threat defense for today’s networks. First, it uses statistical clustering to detect unknown malware, leveraging the patented Hillstone Advanced Threat Detection engine (ATD). Second, it uses behavioral analytics to detect anomalous network behavior, which is based on the Hillstone Abnormal Behavior Detection engine (ABD). Finally, it leverages the Hillstone threat correlation analysis engine to correlate threat events detected by disparate engines – including ATD, ABD, Sandbox and other traditional signature-based threat detection technologies – along with context information to identify advanced threats.

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

University of Córdoba

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 T-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

December 2025

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