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

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
591
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
32nd
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate16.0%
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series2.2%
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series0.4%
Other81.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Abhinandan Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
Unified security and sd-wan have improved uptime and cut wan costs for multi-site branches
Users report stability issues in certain versions, which requires regular updates. Real-world attacks have also highlighted the need for urgent patching of vulnerabilities.Fortinet FortiGate, while a powerful and feature-rich web firewall, could improve in areas like firmware stability, documentation, and ease of use. The learning curve can be steep for some users. For beginners, support quality can vary, and frequent updates with occasional vulnerabilities call for careful patch management. However, once Fortinet FortiGate is configured, it remains highly reliable and efficient. Customer support needs improvement, as I find it very slow, with reports from other users reflecting that customer support is inadequate.
Ahmed_Shalaby - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is an excellent product and works extremely well."
"It's very easy to configure."
"It's a good product that significantly enhances security and protects organizational data."
"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"
"It is one of my favorite solutions to work with, and I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example, even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."
"It's super reliable. I don't think I've ever had a reliability issue with it."
"The configuration possibilities that Fortinet FortiGate provides are extensive, and the task configuration activity is fast and efficient for me."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent."
"The app inspection is very helpful for network security."
"I would recommend the product, and tell people, "Go for it." It has not disappointed us for the purpose that we use it."
"What I like about the VM-Series is that you can launch them in a very short time."
"It helps in offering advanced protection against malware and anti-spyware, which is based on customer feedback stating the product has very good threat prevention capabilities."
"The most valuable feature is the Posture Assessment."
"In Palo Alto the most important feature is the App-ID."
"Overall, I give Palo Alto Networks VM-Series a rating of nine out of ten."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is very easy to use."
"We now know a lot more detail about what our users are doing on the network."
 

Cons

"Its reporting capabilities can be improved. It should have some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities and some degree of customization. The basic reporting that it currently has is not sufficient to create more usable reports. It needs some sort of out-of-the-box reporting. They try to make customers purchase FortiAnalyzer for this kind of reporting, which is an additional cost. Other firewall vendors, such as SonicWall and Sophos, provide this sort of reporting without any additional cost."
"The configuration option availability is not 100% from the website of the FortiGate web management site."
"We are providing VoIP and the IP licensing could improve in Fortinet FortiGate SWG."
"Small models (up to FG-90) are build on SoC (System on a Chip), so they need to be mounted in places with enough airflow and right temperature, otherwise they could hang, slow down traffic processing, but more often you just can't log in to the device's web-interface (reboot won't help you until it cools down)."
"The customization is a little bit difficult."
"They need faster serviceability and more security features."
"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."
"If you have the firmware version 6.4.3 and are using FortiLink in VLAN, it has trouble with tunneling networks for a wireless network; it won't give it a route to the internet."
"I'd like to see more IOPs features."
"Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive."
"In the next release, I would like to see better integration of multi-factor authentication vendors."
"On the cloud side, they need to come up with more HA solutions to support the multi-region."
"I would like to have automatic daily reporting, such as how many users have connected via SSL VPN."
"I would like to see a more thorough QA process. We have had some difficulties from bugs in releases."
"It can definitely improve on the performance."
"There could be dynamic DNS features similar to Fortinet in the product."
"There is no proper support channel to follow up on cases."
"The solution must improve Zero Trust integration and use cases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It cost us around $73,000 for three years."
"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."
"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."
"The tool's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive. Overall, I find it to be competitive in the market."
"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."
"The price, in comparison to other products is very cheap."
Information not available
"The product is cheaper than the on-premise version."
"I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series pricing an eight out of ten."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is notably cheaper than other firewall vendors, except Fortigate."
"Do not buy larges box if you do not need them. Rightsizing is a great task to do before​hand."
"The cost of this product varies from customer to customer and the relationship with IBM, including how many offerings from IBM are already being used."
"The VM series is licensed annually."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is an expensive product but the best one in the market."
"We found purchasing process the product on the AWS Marketplace to be very good."
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894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
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 Business367
Midsize Enterprise135
Large Enterprise193
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise24
 

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...
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...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Warren Rogers Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks CN-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.