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IRONSCALES vs Palo Alto Networks VM-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Businesses find IRONSCALES offers significant ROI by saving time, reducing intervention, and enhancing cybersecurity with minimal licensing costs.
Sentiment score
5.7
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series delivers strong ROI through enhanced security, rapid deployment, and significant time savings despite high pricing.
Customers can see data within a week, indicating a quick return on investment.
Senior Manager Technical Security at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
IRONSCALES customer service is praised for responsiveness, knowledgeable staff, and high satisfaction, despite minor delays.
Sentiment score
7.5
Customers appreciate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series support for responsiveness and expertise, despite occasional delays and high premium service costs.
Customer support for IRONSCALES is outstanding.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would rate their technical support as very good, as they respond promptly when my team opens a ticket.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The support quality could be improved.
Senior Manager Technical Security at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Resolving issues promptly.
Head of Sales at Omgea Exim Ltd
They are responsive and provide high-quality assistance.
Cyber security consultant at L&T Technology Services
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
IRONSCALES offers seamless scalability, easy integration, and cloud-based flexibility, supporting growing businesses without performance issues or maintenance burdens.
Sentiment score
7.4
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is scalable, easy to deploy, and suits businesses with positive feedback on flexibility and growth.
They are easy to upgrade, and with credit licensing, they scale effectively according to demand.
Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is scalable and can easily handle an increase in the number of users.
Cyber security consultant at L&T Technology Services
It is easy to use with an excellent graphical user interface and extensive documentation, which contributes to its high scalability.
Senior Security Consultant at Netsecurity.no
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
IRONSCALES is praised for its stability, reliability, minimal downtime, and improved performance, enhancing operational workflows for users.
Sentiment score
8.2
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is highly regarded for stability, reliable performance, and consistent uptime, despite minor navigation delays.
Hardware is generally very stable.
Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I have not experienced any major problems or downtime.
Senior IT Infrastructure Specialist at contemi
Perfection is unlikely as the dynamic nature of traffic and constant changes can result in occasional bugs despite regular updates.
Senior Security Consultant at Netsecurity.no
 

Room For Improvement

IRONSCALES needs better Google Suite integration, intuitive UI, enhanced features, multilingual support, and improved email detection accuracy.
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series needs UI updates, better platform integration, scalability, user-friendliness, and improved documentation for broader efficiency.
If there were clickable drill downs on specific users or specific correspondence to relate them to certain types of mails, that would be beneficial.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Having a more user-friendly UI would make it easier to identify features and options when using the tool.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Though this isn't problematic for our users, the content could be updated more frequently.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Integration with CSIRT across all use levels would make it easier for administrators to stay updated on the blocked entities without manual intervention.
Cyber security consultant at L&T Technology Services
Most customers go for partner-enabled support, which involves multiple layers, leading to delays.
Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Having those features missing, we are not proposing Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to all customers.
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Setup Cost

IRONSCALES offers valuable email security with high pricing, involving annual licensing and fees, considered worthwhile for phishing prevention.
Palo Alto VM-Series is costly but reliable, with complex licensing; AWS Marketplace offers scalable subscription options.
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Palo Alto is expensive in terms of pricing, particularly when comparing features to cost.
Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The cost involves purchasing through a vendor, which might mark up due to the supply chain.
Senior IT Infrastructure Specialist at contemi
Pricing for Palo Alto Networks is higher than other OEMs, but considering the robustness and features, it gains customer trust.
Head of Sales at Omgea Exim Ltd
 

Valuable Features

IRONSCALES enhances email security with AI detection, Microsoft 365 integration, user-friendly features, and mobile app incident management.
The VM-Series provides scalable, flexible security with advanced threat management, visibility, and integration features, enhancing network protection.
IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The best features of IRONSCALES are that most alerts are validated through AI, which reduces the fatigue of alerts that need to be worked on by the team handling the alerts investigation part.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
IRONSCALES excels at analyzing the intention, not just the content itself, but the sender's attempt to gain user attention.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
We use these tools to prevent all known and unknown threats using Palo Alto Networks' Wildfire and other data filtering tools to gather information, analyze traffic, manage malicious traffic, and offer visibility, control, and attack prevention.
Senior Manager Technical Security at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Palo Alto's robust threat intelligence supports new updates, and I can open cases directly with their Threat Intelligence team.
Security Technical Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The DNS security significantly enhances security through visibility and detection, allowing control over crucial traffic like DNS, which is often exploited by ransomware.
Senior Security Consultant at Netsecurity.no
 

Categories and Ranking

IRONSCALES
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
15th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (12th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (5th)
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of IRONSCALES is 2.8%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.4%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series2.4%
IRONSCALES2.8%
Other94.8%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2770017 - PeerSpot reviewer
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has improved threat analysis by providing clear email correspondence history and reporting tools
The best features IRONSCALES offers are the investigation tabs, headers, and correspondence history, which stand out the most for me. The investigation tabs are valuable for my work because reporting goes a long way in terms of playbooks and having a full investigation. The investigation tab knows exactly how to put the information in a way that makes it very easy for reports to get done fast. Security awareness training is a big part of IRONSCALES. The platform offers a broad spectrum in terms of what campaigns can be run for security awareness for users as well as reporting back on how users interact with their mails and understanding where the vulnerabilities lie. IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
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.
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894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IRONSCALES?
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
What needs improvement with IRONSCALES?
I would really prefer to drill down more on correspondence history. It provides detailed background information to actually understand what's going on. If there were clickable drill downs on specif...
What is your primary use case for IRONSCALES?
My main use case for IRONSCALES is the UI and the convenience of having detailed information available to me. A specific example of how I use the UI and detailed information in my day-to-day work i...
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...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allegheny Millwork, Ayrshire College, Nium, Orris, Paramount School District, Pres Les, PRT Staffing, Recovery Unplugged, Telit, WebHelp
Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about IRONSCALES vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.