Palo Alto Networks CN-Series vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series comparison

Palo Alto Networks CN-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 October 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.4%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is 0.1%, up from 0.0% 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 Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	20.4%
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series	0.1%
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series	0.1%
Other	79.4%

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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Ahmed_Shalaby

Senior Cyber Security Engineer at Beta Information Technology

Application control excels and integration with monitoring system boosts efficiency

I am an integrator working with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series and Panorama. I have been involved with the implementation of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent. Application control is one of the most valuable features. Its monitoring capability…

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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 use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."

"Its usability is good. We can easily navigate the system, and we have a very good user experience."

"FortiGate NGF is simple compared to other firewalls. It is easy to use and you don't need any training. Any person with basic firewall knowledge can use it."

"The main benefit I have seen from using Fortinet FortiGate is the protection it offers because I can see threats that come through in real-time, and if they are blocked, I can see that."

"The most useful features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are you can create a virtual firewall within it, most other firewalls do not have this feature. You are able to manage your network and have network segmentation within your firewall. Additionally, you can create virtual switches within the firewall and have policy management, such as firewall and access policy."

"Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market."

"The Fortinet FortiGate IPS has a good interface and integration."

"The reporting and monitoring are very good."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The app inspection is very helpful for network security."

"The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent."

"The application ID on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is able to understand the application traffic, and WildFire is also good."

"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."

"As long as the solution is kept updated, it's pretty stable."

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

"The solution offers effective security features such as HIDS (Host-based Intrusion Detection System) in global products."

"This firewall is very good for our customers because they don't have to write their own rules for adding an application."

"Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories"

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

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

Cons

"What could be improved in Fortinet FortiGate SWG is its pricing because it's a bit higher. If it's cheaper, my company could pitch it to customers and engage with customers better about it. What I'd like to see in the next release of Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an improvement in its dashboard or GUI. I'd like it to be more user-friendly."

"The solution's stability should be improved because it is extremely unstable."

"Improvements for Fortinet FortiGate could be made by making it easier to implement on networks and simpler to add users and accounts that utilize this solution. That's basically the only challenge that I see."

"The user interface could be improved."

"The solution should allow more user-friendly integrations or deployment"

"Palo Alto has a feature called WildFire Analysis that is unavailable in FortiGate. WildFire is better than a sandbox because it can address zero-day threats and vulnerabilities. It can immediately identify zero-day threats from the cloud."

"It is quite new for us, and we need to go more in-depth into the monitoring tools. It provides different features that we need to do what we want. So far, it is okay for us. In terms of improvement, in the future, they can provide a faster implementation of features. Some of the features are first available in other solutions. Fortinet sometimes takes a little bit longer than other solutions, such as Check Point, to implement new features."

"Its pricing can be better."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive."

"I'd like to see more IOPs features."

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

"Threat prevention could use improvement. Not just in malware exploits and C2 traffic; enhancing web traffic protection would be a great upgrade."

"The password function of the solution could be improved. Additionally, some of the processes take too long to complete."

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

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

"The tool needs to improve integration with more products from other vendors. I would like the product to add threat intelligence features as well."

"They could improve by providing more features in the solution."

"Sometimes there are interactions with support or the provider that are not ideal."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

"It's an expensive solution."

"I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle."

"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."

"It has a competitive price."

"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."

"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."

"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"It is an expensive solution."

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

"Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."

"Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."

"This product is designed for large companies. The price would not be suitable for a small or medium size company."

"The pricing is expensive."

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

"Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is an expensive solution, the price could be reduced. They are more expensive than some of their competitors."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Performing Arts

24%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	13

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

The pricing of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is quite expensive, rating around eight on a scale of one to ten for cost.

What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?

Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive. The SD-WAN implementation using P...

What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?

I am an integrator working with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series ( /products/palo-alto-networks-cn-series-reviews ) and P...

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 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?

The graphical user interface is a little complex and difficult to manage. L1 engineers cannot work on the Palo Alto N...

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

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Compared 4% of the time

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Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs Palo Alto Networks CN-Series

Compared 100% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 52% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Firewalls

Download Palo Alto Networks CN-Series product report

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Palo Alto Networks CN-Series offers advanced container security and micro-segmentation for Kubernetes environments, known for robust threat prevention, ease of deployment, and seamless integration with existing security infrastructure.

Palo Alto Networks CN-Series enables application-level visibility and control, providing comprehensive protection for dynamic workloads. Its scalable architecture suits modern cloud-native applications, making it a top choice for securing containerized environments and microservices. Users appreciate its automated policy creation, granular micro-segmentation, and enhanced container security. Although it offers great features, users suggest improvement in integration with other security tools, better scalability for larger environments, and enhanced documentation. Performance in high-traffic scenarios and intuitive configuration processes are areas for potential enhancement, along with improved customer support.

What are the key features of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?

Advanced Threat Protection: Addresses and mitigates security threats efficiently.
Seamless Kubernetes Integration: Integrates easily within Kubernetes environments.
Comprehensive Visibility: Offers visibility across multi-cloud environments.
Automated Policy Creation: Simplifies the policy creation process.
Granular Micro-segmentation: Provides detailed network traffic segmentation.
Enhanced Container Security: Strengthens security measures for containerized applications.
Ease of Deployment: Simplifies overall deployment process.
Scalability: Adapts to growing needs of cloud-native applications.

What benefits or ROI can users expect from Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?

Increased Security: Effective protection against sophisticated threats.
Improved Operational Efficiency: Streamlined deployment and policy management.
Greater Visibility: Enhanced insight into network traffic and potential vulnerabilities.
Cost Savings: Reduced costs through automation and integration of security processes.
Enhanced Compliance: Helps meet regulatory requirements with strong security controls.

Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is implemented across diverse industries including finance, healthcare, and technology. In financial institutions, it addresses stringent security and compliance requirements. In healthcare, it ensures patient data protection within dynamic cloud environments. In tech, it supports innovative cloud-native applications with robust security measures.

Palo Alto 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

Information Not Available

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

Palo Alto Networks CN-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks K2-Series