Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs SonicWall NSSP comparison

Palo Alto Networks and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Palo Alto Networks is ranked #36 with an average rating of 8.7, while SonicWall is ranked #34 with an average rating of 9.0. Palo Alto Networks holds a 0.1% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 0.1% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and SonicWall NSSP are two leading firewall solutions. While Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is noted for its advanced capabilities, SonicWall NSSP offers cost-effective features, making the choice dependent on specific organizational needs.

Features: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is highly commended for its advanced threat prevention, deep visibility and inspection capabilities, and superior performance. SonicWall NSSP users appreciate its extensive feature set for threat management, secure mobile access, and high-speed performance.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest enhancements in Palo Alto Networks K2-Series around complexity in configuration, reporting capabilities, and ease of use. For SonicWall NSSP, feedback indicates a need for improvements in firmware stability, more intuitive management functions, and enhanced user documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series receives favorable reviews for its deployment experience, although the initial configuration can be time-consuming. SonicWall NSSP has a straightforward deployment process with faster initial setup times and solid customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is perceived as high-value with premium pricing, strong ROI due to its extensive security features. SonicWall NSSP is viewed as more cost-effective with a quicker return on investment due to lower upfront costs and comprehensive protection features.

To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall NSSP Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall NSSP

September 2025

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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 K2-Series is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall NSSP 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%
SonicWall NSSP	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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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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Winsley De Oliveira

Owner at ANOC

Long-term reliability and efficient customer support elevate user experience

The best features with the SonicWall NSSP firewall are safety and stability. The most defining aspect I can share is that if you try to find firmware, a pirate firmware for Fortinet on the internet, you're going to find it in Russia or elsewhere. However, try to find SonicWall NSSP firmware and you will never find it anywhere. Nobody shares it. I have my internal library for old and deactivated firewalls, but we don't share with anyone. This is very significant because anyone claiming to have hacked SonicWall NSSP firmware is incorrect. With Fortinet, it's different. It's a very nice product. For the customers and clients, it's transparent. We have rules, and they are very strict. Any bad sites or blocklist sites are blocked, and users don't complain. They are used to our controls. We have a standard package for our customers that's the same in every company. When customers buy it, they must accept it. If they don't accept the package we offer as a consulting company, we don't sell. It's a yes or no situation with no options. All our customers have the same scenario and configuration, with very minor exceptions.

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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

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate are that it does the job effectively and protects our environment."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."

"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 its simplicity, ease of installation, and ease of functionality."

"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."

"Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly and affordable."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include everything about networking, such as routing and VPNs."

"The primary feature I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is the ease of setup."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Palo Alto firewalls are scalable enough. We have about 110 employees in our company, and we are about to expand to 130."

"Palo Alto has an approach that makes the configuration easier not only for the customers but also for the IT help for the customers."

"Overall product rating: Nine out of ten."

"I like the tool's WildFire feature."

"The most valuable features are the intuitive user interface, ease of use, and reporting."

"The customer service and support are really good."

"We've found the solution offers us good stability."

"Prevention of evasive threats is one of the best tools I've encountered."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"SonicWall has helped us deliver security solutions effectively, particularly in threat prevention and content filtering."

"SonicWall NSSP is stable and scalable too."

"I like the filtering feature, which provides easy access. The SSL certification feature is also nice. The solution enhanced our security posture."

"The solution's pricing is good."

"The product's most valuable features are simplicity and comprehensive protection capabilities, including load balancing, IPS, antivirus, and web filtering."

"The VPN functionality is really good. Overall, the whole device is very easy to manage. The software that comes with it is also good."

"It has been delivering results efficiently. Its configurations and updates have been easy. It is also user-friendly."

Cons

"The main area needing improvement is the user-friendliness of FortiGate's integration with other Fortinet tools like FortiAuthenticator and VPN services."

"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."

"The issue with Fortinet FortiGate is the many security CVEs around; I have read there are probably multiple critical CVEs above 9.0 in Fortinet FortiGate products."

"It should have a better pricing plan. It is too expensive. It should also have a more granular view of the attack. I don't have FortiAnalyzer, and it is difficult for me to have a complete view when there is an attack on my server."

"We haven't tapped into most of the functionalities that Fortinet FortiGate offers because we're using it just for gateway security. One of the things that I would prefer is a more expansive use of their analyzer. They could do more work on FortiAnalyzer in terms of the data and the information coming from it."

"Its customer service could be better."

"The room for improvement is about the global delivery time period. Usually I need to wait for almost one month to deliver it overseas. So if you can shorten the deliver time it'd be great."

"The solution has many heightened points which we cannot get to without working on CLI."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The product should get frequent updates allowing us to add new signatures."

"I would like to see the threat intelligence capability integrated with other vendors such as Cisco and Forcepoint."

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

"They should implement the features that the other firewalls have."

"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."

"I cannot think of anything specific to improve at the moment."

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

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

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"The EDR and XDR capabilities of SonicWall need to be improved."

"The solution's stability and scalability also need improvement."

"The product needs improvement for phishing emails."

"No security product is foolproof against hackers, intruders, and other such things. As a security product, they have to keep pace in terms of protection from new hackers and intruders."

"The platform could benefit from an improved marketing strategy."

"The user interface, the GUI, could be improved."

"Its reporting functions can be improved. It has decent reporting, but you got to pay a lot more money for it. That's where it begins to fall apart. It comes with minimal zero reporting unless you buy some extra modules. With those extra modules, you can get all the data, but it takes a while to put together what you need for your customer. It is for technical people, but there is no executive summary of the reporting."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate pricing to be about four or five out of ten, it is reasonable."

"The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars."

"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."

"It's an expensive solution."

"It was pretty affordable. We did go a little bit above MSRP, but the service pack that was included was quite worth the additional costs. It is competitively priced compared to other major players in the market. It is significantly cheaper than Check Point, which is a primary competitor. Additionally, its pricing is comparable to that of Cisco's ASA and a few other vendors."

"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."

"There is a license required to use Fortinet FortiGate with all the features. It has to be updated with the threats on an ongoing basis for the signatures to prevent threats and a license is needed to receive those security updates."

"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"This is an expensive solution, although you will get value for the price."

"The pricing is expensive."

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

"This solution is expensive compared to other, similar products."

"If you compare K2-Series' quality with its price, I think it is reasonable."

"Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."

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

"The price of the solution is expensive."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"The setup costs and licensing are reasonable, and the solution provides good value for its features."

"For SonicWall NSSP high availability, active/passive, you need to buy one license, and so you get much more value for money."

"The pricing is cheap, and that's where, you know, the some of the organization goes for the SonicWall."

"You got to buy some VPN licenses, and there might be a $40 to $50 one-time license fee per current user. There are different layers. They have several different levels of event security software and depending on the model, it seems to come out to be $1 to $2 a day. So, if you bought a three-year license, it is going to be anywhere from $900 to $1800 depending on the bundle and model that you buy."

"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Performing Arts

24%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	2

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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.

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSSP?

The pricing and licensing of the SonicWall NSSP firewall is not too expensive, being comparable to competitors. The c...

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What needs improvement with SonicWall NSSP?

They need to conduct more marketing campaigns because here in Brazil, when people mention firewalls, Fortinet has mas...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SonicWall NSSP?

I have experience with SonicWall NSSP Firewall, having dealt with NSA firewalls throughout the last 30 years. We're s...

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Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 52% of the time

Juniper SRX Series Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Compared 48% of the time

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SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall NSSP

Compared 33% of the time

OPNsense vs SonicWall NSSP

Compared 22% of the time

More SonicWall NSSP Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

September 2025

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

September 2025

Download SonicWall NSSP product report

Also Known As

No data available

SonicWall Network Security Services Platform

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

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

The SonicWall Network Security services platform (NSsp) 12000 series takes a modern approach to threat detection and prevention by combining cloud intelligence with appliance-based protection in a scalable, high-speed platform.

SonicWall

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

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall NSSP

September 2025

Free Report: Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. SonicWall NSSP

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