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

Abhinandan Yadav

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.

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Tejas Jain

Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Has provided strong traffic visibility and efficient policy management for advanced network environments

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be improved, though I don't think of much. I'm unsure how widespread the adoption for K2-Series alone is. Looking at the base Palo Alto capabilities, they are going in the right direction. K2 specifically about its efficacy with all these 5G protocols, the GPRS tunneling protocol performed without many hiccups during testing. With AI, if there is a Precision AI bundle that you're planning on exploring, then that definitely needs a significant uplift because currently it doesn't work for all the known models. There are many false positives that need to be addressed. While it's still ahead of its competitors, on the AI security side, there is quite a room for improvement.

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Zsolt Jónás

System Administrator at NaxoNet

Advanced GUI and layered security have supported compliance and simplified intrusion prevention

I haven't had a task that I couldn't solve with Stormshield Network Security. The active-active high availability solution would be beneficial because currently, if you build a high availability solution with Stormshield Network Security, you have a main device and another one is a backup device. The HA can switch between them, but it would be good to have a master-master solution, not just a master-slave one. I could set a URL that I can call to update the DNS record. Currently, Stormshield Network Security devices support DynDNS, which is not a usual feature request from a server environment. I have my own solution instead of DynDNS because I don't prefer it, so I have my own service for that. However, the GUI does not support using a custom service instead of DynDNS. I had to solve it in the console on Stormshield Network Security device, but it would be much better if it was reachable on the GUI. I had to figure out a trick for the IPsec configuration. In the IPsec config, we have to provide the remote side's IP address, but it's always changing. This means that an office, for example a company that has an office but without a fixed IP address, cannot be used with IPsec VPN.

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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

"What I like about this solution is that it is simple to use, has less complications and is very straightforward."

"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."

"FortiGate protects and secures our clients' networks; the security is solid, it performs well, and I think they use some artificial intelligence, so I think it's excellent equipment."

"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."

"Fortinet FortiGate is one of the best firewalls in the market currently, with a lot of next generation firewall features embedded into it, including SD WAN, which is one of the best services for traffic steering, managing packet log jitter and latency for any applications, making it unbeatable in terms of pricing compared to other firewalls."

"FortiGate is on the cheaper end, and it offers good value."

"There are several benefits that Fortinet FortiGate brings to the table, and I cannot speak of only one or two as it is too extensive."

"The solution has a variety of excellent features."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Overall, this is a very good firewall and I would recommend it."

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

"We are happy with the solution and our return on investment has been extremely high."

"The technical support has been excellent; we are very satisfied with the level of service they provide, and it is one of the main selling features of the product because, compared to the competition, support is excellent across the board."

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

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

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

"I like the tool's WildFire feature."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pros

"Fortinet, Dell SonicWall and Check Point because these products offer a wide range of features that are not available with Netasq."

"I like how you can configure the rules. There is the task for the rules and a task for the network configuration. It also provides SMD filtering, and it can be integrated with the active directory for the users, their mission, and the VPN configuration. We are here in Sudan, and Stormshield didn't work in Sudan for more than a decade. Stormshield is a very strong firewall and very easy to configure and maintain. I am just working with the firewall solution, and we don't have any other solutions like endpoint solutions or something like that."

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

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

"Easily manageable in a variety of environments."

"Customer service is very good, because of their presales support helping me with initial setup I decided to go with NetASQ in the first place, and support after the sale has been equally good as well."

"A very robust product."

"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."

More Stormshield Network Security pros

Cons

"The solution has limited scalability."

"The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."

"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."

"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade, should be returned."

"There should be better customization in the IPS."

"The visibility of the network can be better. The GUI can be improved for better visibility of the network flow. Other solutions have better GUI in terms of network visibility."

"The IPS monitoring can be improved."

"They could continuously focus their improvements on network perimeter security, as that's what they're best at."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"With AI, if there is a Precision AI bundle that you're planning on exploring, then that definitely needs a significant uplift because currently it doesn't work for all the known models."

"In the past, we've had trouble with Palo Alto's application filtering not getting it right. I would not be recommending layer 7 application filtering yet."

"Its networking features could be better."

"They could improve by providing more features in the solution."

"The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive."

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

"There are a lot of bugs in this solution."

"The user interface could be improved. Right now, it's an aspect that is lacking."

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series cons

"A more user-friendly interface would be helpful."

"This is not a next-generation firewall."

"Stormshield Network Security is quite expensive."

"Not all the fields are activated yet and we were informed that it will take at least one month."

"An application firewall like other next generation firewalls have."

"Improvement is also needed in terms of the technical support of the manufacturer, they're not very responsive when it comes to technical support."

"This solution has a big problem with web filtering and it needs to be improved."

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

More Stormshield Network Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall."

"The platform offers a reasonable price point compared to its competitors."

"The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range."

"FortiGate SWG is a cost-effective solution well-suited for organisations of all sizes."

"The license is yearly. We pay for the top end. It's called 360."

"The pricing of the solution is very competitive."

"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It is an expensive solution."

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

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

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

"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 this solution is too high."

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

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

More Palo Alto Networks K2-Series pricing and cost advice

"I think the price is good."

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

"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."

"The pricing could be better."

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Performing Arts

17%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Marketing Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	367
Midsize Enterprise	135
Large Enterprise	193

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	13

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

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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...

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?

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be improved, though I don't think of much. I'm unsure how widespread the adoption ...

What needs improvement with Stormshield Network Security?

I haven't had a task that I couldn't solve with Stormshield Network Security. The active-active high availability sol...

What is your primary use case for Stormshield Network Security?

I already use Stormshield Network Security, and I am now looking for a new solution. I am already working with Storms...

What advice do you have for others considering Stormshield Network Security?

The pricing is increasing, and I would say it is a bit expensive. Palo Alto and others are much more expensive, but S...

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Fortinet FortiGate

May 2026

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

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

NETASQ Firewalls

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series offers deep inspection, scalability, stability, and advanced security technology with easy configuration. Appreciated for its virtualization and strong DNS security, it provides a robust solution for diverse industries seeking comprehensive protection.

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is recognized for its powerful capabilities in threat detection and prevention. Its features include WildFire, intuitive interface, and granular controls. The system supports strong IPS and SSL decryption while offering easy management and visibility solutions. Zero Trust segmentation and App-ID form the backbone of its advanced threat prevention strategy. While the initial setup is user-friendly, Panorama enhances management ease. Criticism mainly revolves around high costs, a complex interface, and desires for better third-party integration and automation. Continuous updates are required to address bugs, and there's room for improvement in reporting and threat intelligence to better user experience. Scalability and addition of certain competitive features are other areas needing enhancement.

What Are the Key Features of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?

Deep Inspection: Offers comprehensive scanning for threats.
Scalability and Stability: Ensures reliability across large networks.
Advanced Technology: Incorporates state-of-the-art security methods.
Virtualization: Provides virtual environment support.
Strong DNS Security: Protects against DNS-based threats.
WildFire: Enhances threat detection capabilities.
Intuitive Interface: Simplifies administration and management.
Granular Controls: Allows detailed policy configurations.
Powerful IPS: Effective intrusion prevention mechanism.
SSL Decryption: Manages encrypted traffic without compromising security.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Consider?

Improved Security: Offers robust protection for network environments.
Reduced Management Complexity: Simplifies system oversight through intuitive tools.
Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Delivers timely updates to counteract evolving threats.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly links with existing Palo Alto products.

Organizations across banking, telecom, and educational sectors frequently deploy Palo Alto Networks K2-Series for its next-generation firewall capabilities, securing perimeter and data center operations. It is integrated with other Palo Alto solutions, serving as a versatile defense mechanism, enabling secure web and internet connectivity.

Palo Alto Networks

Stormshield Network Security offers comprehensive protection with features like backup inspection, scalable interface, and load balancing, suitable for network security management.

Stormshield Network Security is designed for organizations requiring reliable IT infrastructure protection, providing firewall capabilities, intrusion detection, and application control. Users find VPN support, URL filtering, and UTM functions beneficial for network management. Models like SN200 and SN910 are used globally in clustered configurations, addressing different demands. Challenges include pricing, interface friendliness, filtering configurations, and technical support.

What are the key features of Stormshield Network Security?

Backup Inspection: Enhances reliability and recovery options.
Antivirus Controls: Provides robust virus protection.
Intrusion Detection: Alerts on potential threats.
Load Balancing: Distributes network traffic efficiently.
URL Filtering: Blocks malicious websites for safe browsing.

What benefits should users seek in reviews?

Scalability: Adapts to each organization's growing needs.
Reliability: Supports clustered configurations for uptime.
Management Ease: Intuitive dashboard aids network oversight.
Performance: High throughput with efficient clustering.

Stormshield Network Security is widely implemented in industries needing IT infrastructure protection, like finance or healthcare. Organizations deploy it in data centers or branch offices, benefiting from features ensuring safety and performance. The tool supports environments that demand high security levels and robust network monitoring.

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