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Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls 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
1st
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 K2-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
35th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...
Ranking in Firewalls
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
195
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.1%, up from 18.4% 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. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 4.1%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate20.1%
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls4.1%
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series0.1%
Other75.69999999999999%
Firewalls
 

Q&A Highlights

DL
Mar 23, 2021
 

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.
Krishnakumar M - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
AmjadKhan1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides inline protection with a unified view and anti-spyware capabilities
I would rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls ten out of ten because it is the best. Our disaster recovery site utilizes Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls. We are also in the process of upgrading the firewalls at our 365 sites in Pakistan to Palo Alto Networks firewalls. While budget firewalls may advertise comparable features, they often fall short of effectively detecting viruses, threats, and ransomware. In contrast, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, combined with Cortex XDR, provide comprehensive threat intelligence and detection capabilities, ensuring superior security coverage. I recommend conducting a proof of concept before selecting a firewall. This will allow you to evaluate different options and determine which best suits your needs. While Palo Alto offers robust firewall solutions, it's essential to compare them with other vendors to ensure you make an informed decision.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution revolves around SSL VPN."
"We've found the solution to be pretty stable."
"Initial setup is easy to configure."
"The most important feature, normally for small business customers, is link load balancing."
"It's inexpensive compared to some of the other technology out there."
"Fortinet FortiGate is among the best options in the market."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."
"The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."
"One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally."
"The application ID on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is able to understand the application traffic, and WildFire is also good."
"Everything I could possibly want has already been implanted in the new version."
"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is its management abilities. Additionally, the updates are very good."
"The most valuable feature is availability."
"Prevention of evasive threats is one of the best tools I've encountered."
"Palo Alto has an approach that makes the configuration easier not only for the customers but also for the IT help for the customers."
"This firewall is very good for our customers because they don't have to write their own rules for adding an application."
"The ease of updating the platform was valuable. We could easily update the OS and different modules within the platform. It was a fairly user-friendly and easy-to-use platform."
"The solution provides web security, application security, and network security."
"In my opinion, Palo Alto has consistently been one of the best firewalls for enterprise security."
"The user experience is good and the configuration is very easy."
"The centralization capability is the most valuable feature of this solution as it enables us to monitor our systems efficiently."
"The solution allows us to set parameters on where our users can go. We can block certain sites or ads if we want to."
"The scalability is very good."
"The best feature is the packet inspection; compared to solutions like Cisco and FortiGate, Palo Alto's packet inspection is much less CPU intensive, allowing it to detect threats embedded within packages more quickly and efficiently."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improvements made to the dashboard and UI, as well as to the reporting."
"We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."
"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"They need to improve their technical support."
"The feature which gives us a lot of pain is ASIC architecture."
"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."
"In the past six months, they took quite a long time to respond to the support tickets. I don't know if they are overwhelmed with too much activity, but for the last six months, the support has not been very good."
"Palo Alto releases a lot of bug fixes for their firewalls, which means it's necessary to do frequent upgrades. They should work on decreasing their bugs so that upgrades aren't needed so often."
"It would be nice if it could easily be integrated with Elasticsearch or Nagios."
"We had some issues with upgrading in the past. They could make the process easier."
"The password function of the solution could be improved. Additionally, some of the processes take too long to complete."
"The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive."
"The tool needs to improve integration with more products from other vendors. I would like the product to add threat intelligence features as well."
"Palo Alto doesn't have extended visibility to the end point in their firewalls."
"Sometimes there are interactions with support or the provider that are not ideal."
"We would like to see improvement in the web interface for this solution, so that it can handle updates without manual intervention to put the data in order."
"Support should be improved, wait times can be long."
"We are not happy with Palo Alto at all. It would be better if they provided more support for the firewall. We have a few pending issues with the configuration for each application. We cannot deploy them yet due to some support-related problems in the firewall. We have deployed a few policies for DNS spoofing and DNS attacks, but we could only block a few IP addresses through the policy. That's DNS security, and we have configured a few policies for DNS spoofing and more. URL categorization and URL filtering are not yet adequately maintained. For example, if you created a few rules in the rule-based configuration and made some rules downstairs, you will lose some of them if you give access upstairs. It's not giving us a proper solution for which route it is using. We need to apply the application-based policies and URL filtering-based policies. It creates more issues because we are not getting good support from the team."
"People sometimes find it more expensive as compared to other solutions. There are also fewer training opportunities for Palo Alto than Cisco and other vendors."
"Interface could be improved visually and simplified."
"The only real drawback to this product is that it is expensive. But you get what you pay for and there is no way to put a price on top-notch security."
"It is a complete product, but the SSL inspection feature requires some improvements. We need to deploy certificates at each end point to completely work out the UTM solutions. If you enable SSL encryption, it is a tedious process. It takes a lot of time to deploy the certificates to all endpoints. Without SSL inspection, UTM features will not work properly. So, we are forced to enable this SSL inspection feature."
"Over the past one or two years, Palo Alto Networks has added a lot of features into the NG Firewall products. I think this is becoming more complicated for our customers. Therefore, we could use some best practices, best practice tools, and implementation guides for some of the complicated features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."
"Setup costs and pricing depends on many variables, but it's mostly affordable."
"We pay for the solution annually."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."
"It is very cost-effective. You get features similar to other firewalls, such as Palo Alto, but at a lower price."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."
"Products by the leader in the field are justifiably a bit more expensive compared to other vendors."
"Pricing is a sensitive issue because the cost is high in this market."
"This solution is expensive compared to other, similar products."
"The price of this solution is too high."
"It would be nice if they lowered their prices for small businesses."
"This product is designed for large companies. The price would not be suitable for a small or medium size company."
"When comparing Palo Alto Networks K2-Series with other solutions it is on the higher end of the price scale."
"On the lower end, it's likely to cost $15,000 for renovation and support."
"The cost of the license is platform-dependent. It would be nice if they standardized that across the board to make the license a flat fee instead of based on scale and the platform you're using. Functionality shouldn't change based on the platform or the amount of data going through it. It's the same functionality on there. That's one aspect customers often raise. The platform's price is what it is, but the ongoing cost of the annual license is hard for some customers to wrap their heads around."
"The price of the solution is on the higher side compared to competitors."
"You pay based on the kind of license you require, but comparatively, it is not very expensive."
"It can be quite expensive, but there's a good incentive for the three-year contracts. The part that is especially confusing is for the virtual environment. The credits or the licensing system can be very confusing."
"While Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls may be considered expensive, their quality justifies the cost."
"The pricing is straightforward with no hidden costs."
"It is a little bit expensive than other firewalls, but it is worth every penny. There are different licenses for the kinds of services you want to use. When we buy a new product, we go for a three-year subscription."
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Answers from the Community

DL
Mar 23, 2021
Mar 23, 2021
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 and such like, they have always been top of the pile there. The GUI is very good, and their product is very user-focused. Fortinet is good for scalability and predictable high throughput (ASICs in the...
2 out of 4 answers
AT
Mar 20, 2021
Hi, Both FT and PA have compelling features for large Enterprises. I would like to add a few good points about Fortinetwhich might be helpful ( from my 13 years of engagement with them as Distributor and Partner) Fortinet:  Have higher throughput; which comes with competitive rates Wide range of models to select to meet your requirement, without spending heavliy Outstanding customer support and very active customer care team Easly available skilled resources from the channel for deployment and post-implementation support  Regards Abhilash
LD
Mar 22, 2021
Hi PaloAlto is better when working on app control feature and special virtual wire links. Execpt that specific point, Fortinet is above. Best Regards, Damien
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Performing Arts
24%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business261
Midsize Enterprise99
Large Enterprise143
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business73
Midsize Enterprise56
Large Enterprise83
 

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 ...
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...
What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...
What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
We utilize advanced threat prevention features like web filtering and SSL decryption, which haven't caused any issues.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
 

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
State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME
SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.