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Palo Alto Networks CN-Series vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
411
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
30th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall TZ
Ranking in Firewalls
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.8%, up from 17.8% 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 SonicWall TZ is 2.9%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ahmed_Shalaby - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Subhadip Pakrashi - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides reliable performance with strong features and simplicity
SonicWall TZ is user-friendly, admin-friendly, and a beautiful product. I have been selling SonicWall since 2007 without any issues. SonicWall has been working on it excellently. They are up to date, and their research team is good, making the box feature-rich. Based out of India, I have had some issues with their faulty channel policy. It's a very good product, an awesome product for those who want to use SonicWall TZ. You can bet on it, but check out the channel policies in India. They should check out the channels in the channel business. It's just a precaution, nothing more than that. Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."
"Valuable features include the Web Application Firewall, and it even has DLP (data leak prevention)."
"It is stable and easy to use. There are a lot of good resources available on the web."
"The solution can scale well."
"Good load balancing feature."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."
"The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent."
"The app inspection is very helpful for network security."
"The most valuable feature is content filtering and app control."
"The advanced gateway security features such as web filter, application control filter, IPS, ideas, gateway antivirus, anti-spyware, and botnet filter are valuable."
"There is no review content provided to evaluate."
"We like the unified threat management for defense-in-depth. We can terminate our site-to-site and remote access VPNs with it."
"SonicWall TZ is very user-friendly and has network MAC binding. Additionally, the firewall works well."
"SonicWall TZ is a very cost-effective solution that provides good security."
"For SMB segments, SonicWall performs well."
"The technical support is prompt, often resolving issues quickly through remote sessions."
 

Cons

"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."
"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."
"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."
"The solution could be more evenly structured."
"I use the FortiGate 60D model and realized the 300Mbps bandwidth limitation. Because it is a product that offers many services, I think it could have greater bandwidth capacity."
"I think that the infrastructure for the VPN could be improved. The way that it is bundled also made it difficult to use and sell as it is too expensive."
"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."
"In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked."
"I'd like to see more IOPs features."
"Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive."
"We would like to improve the rules configuration in SonicWall TZ. Sometimes the rules don't work."
"It would be good if Analyzer would be part of the stock license, so even if a layperson is getting the device, he or she doesn't forgets about ordering the Analyzer because it's already there."
"There can be an improvement in analysis and reporting. We need enhancement on the reporting side."
"The monitoring is a little bit confusing."
"I would like the solution to build in more redundancy. I"
"It needs more robust self-help documentation along with examples and things to watch out for."
"The market seems to be going to a cloud-supported, new generation of firewall products. I think that's probably going to be important to us, the next time around."
"If the operation increases and the bandwidth consumption increases, it does not perform as per the expectations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is quite good. I don't have a public site, such as in Azure, where I can see the pricing. I always have to go through the distributor, and that could take some time to get the real price for each appliance."
"Cost-wise, there is not much difference from Sophos, but feature-wise, we get more features."
"It's an expensive solution."
"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."
"The licensing cost is at the intermediate level."
"The pricing for the product is alright."
"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."
"The beauty is the price performance ratio is great with FortiGate. It provides all the features we needed and the price is comparable with others' firewalls. The price is quite competitive with the firewalls with similar features."
Information not available
"The price is fair for the solution for the quality you receive."
"It is highly priced and has a slow performance compared to other firewalls."
"SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."
"Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."
"The firewall with the servers costs about 80 pounds a month. We get the device, and it is replaced every two or three years."
"The license that we purchased is good for three years."
"The price is fair."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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...
Would you choose Fortinet Fortigate or Sonicwall TZ?
I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with simila...
What do you like most about SonicWall TZ?
The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall TZ?
The price is normal. It is a nominal cost for an SMB TZ used for SMB businesses. However, more licenses are required ...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
Dell SonicWALL TZ
 

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
AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks CN-Series vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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