Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs Stormshield Network Security comparison

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Stormshield Network Security

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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

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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Benjamin

Network Engineer at ACS2I

The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats

The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed.

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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

"I rate this solution a nine out of ten."

"The overall features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are good."

"Generally, every aspect of it being a next-generation firewall provides good value."

"Fortinet FortiGate is considered the best in the European market for security reasons."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."

"The solution effectively blocks unwanted traffic."

"It is easy to set up."

"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

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

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

"Mainly, it is very easy to understand, and the logs are very good."

"Simple integrations with the domain controllers and other inventories"

"Overall, this is a very simple and very effective firewall, and I am satisfied with it."

"The most valuable features are the virtualization of the firewall and the antivirus."

"One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally."

"The solution is reliable and scales well."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"Our organization's main concern is stability, and this is a stable solution."

"The scalability of the solution is good."

"I like that it works fine. Stormshield is a very good solution."

"The solution has improved my organization because I can see what traffic is happening and I can use it to block and prevent attacks."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page."

"The most valuable features are the IPS, the firewall function, and the price."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its dashboard, which helps you manage different aspects of a single page. The intrusion detection system helps our organization by automatically detecting and responding to potential threats. It operates similarly to Darktrace, which detects and responds automatically based on the security rules you apply. Initially, you configure everything to block, and then you can whitelist specific items as needed."

"Ease of use is the best feature of the product."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."

"Their technical support could be improved a little bit in terms of responsiveness."

"The user interface of the Fortinet FortiGate management console could be more intuitive and user-friendly, and the log analysis and reporting features could be enhanced to provide more flexibility and customizable insights."

"There is an area for improvement in vulnerability management."

"There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available."

"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution."

"The product has to be upgraded every few weeks."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Its networking features could be better."

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

"The graphical user interface is a little complex and difficult to manage. L1 engineers cannot work on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series because it's too complex, which requires L2 and above level of engineers."

"The reporting functionality in GlobalProtect needs to be improved."

"When it comes to renewing the solution, they tend to try to jack up the pricing."

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

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

"The solution needs a series of OS changes."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"The SD card could be more secure."

"Improvement is needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer."

"The product must improve its pricing."

"The filtering configuration could be better. We have some difficulties with the filtering configuration and the filter extension. It's not that easy. It's not that straightforward. In the next release, I would like to see a reporting system. Stormshield doesn't have any tutorials on how to do the configuration and things like that. They just have documentation on the website. If you want to configure, for example, Cisco or Fortinet, you can find tutorials on YouTube. They show you how to configure the features, and so on. In Stormshield, there is nothing on social media or the internet on how to configure different things. The lack of documentation or the lack of material makes it difficult for others to adopt this solution."

"The biggest issue was their support department was not able to help us, then everything stops. This is a no-go area for me."

"With Stormshield, there are difficulties joining things, and it can be complex depending on the architecture."

"Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"It could be better if it were more user-friendly. It's too complicated for us to use it. The price could be better as well."

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be lower."

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."

"It is an inexpensive solution."

"The pricing is fair."

"In terms of the market, it's not a cheap product, but it's cost-effective."

"They need to be competitive with other solutions."

"The price is fine."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

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

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

"It would be nice if they lowered their prices for small businesses."

"We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series."

"Palo Alto firewalls are very expensive."

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

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

"The pricing is expensive."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"We chose Stormshield for its price, as the Azure firewall was too expensive."

"For mid-sized companies, they sell their appliances for good prices."

"The pricing could be better."

"The price of this solution and the price of support are ok."

"The SN200 series costs between $500 USD and $600 USD per year, whereas the SN700 series costs approximately $1,000 annually."

"I think the price is good."

"We bought a three-year license, and we renew it whenever it expires. The price could be better. It's always very expensive."

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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

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

18%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

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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 advice do you have for others considering Stormshield Network Security?

The tool is like a firewall and works well. I don't have any issue with it. I rate it an eight out of ten.

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2025

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series

Download Palo Alto Networks K2-Series product report

Stormshield Network Security

Download Stormshield Network Security product report

Also Known As

No data available

NETASQ Firewalls

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

NETASQ's integrated intrusion prevention engine uses protocol conformity analysis, application filtering and antivirus analysis to inspect authorized traffic flows and strengthen application security. NETASQ enables you to establish and configure user-based security policies, giving you greater control over which network resources each user is authorized to access.

Stormshield

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

ACESUR group, Ministry of Education Oman, Anios Laboratories, Zain, DLM Location

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Stormshield Network Security