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Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series improved cybersecurity, efficiency, and cost savings through enhanced visibility, automation, and reduced incident response times.
Sentiment score
4.8
Zscaler Cloud Firewall enhances global security and efficiency with comprehensive features, delivering 60% savings in time and costs.
For CN-Series, there is no competitor which works the same way as Palo Alto does.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I have seen a return on investment with time saving and money saving.
Senior Devsecops Cloud Cybersecurity Specialist at CGI
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series support is praised for vendor responsiveness and expertise, though partner support is less reliable.
Sentiment score
5.5
Zscaler Cloud Firewall support is generally helpful and responsive but may sometimes lack adequacy for premium expectations.
I would rate tech support from Palo Alto Networks at around eight out of ten points because we had dedicated people assigned to us.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We get Gold support from them, and they are pretty good.
Design engineer at a construction company with 201-500 employees
I would rate the technical support for the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series from Palo Alto as nine out of ten points.
Director at MICROLOGIC NETWORKS PRIVATE LIMITED
The response and support are sometimes inadequate, which detracts from the overall experience of an otherwise impressive solution.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
The technical support from Zscaler was excellent.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series offers scalable, flexible solutions for organizations, excelling in network expansion and handling diverse environments.
Sentiment score
5.7
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers excellent scalability, supporting diverse organizations smoothly, with most users rating it between seven and ten.
Vertical scaling allows you to purchase more powerful devices with additional RAM, compute, and larger model form factors.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
In this case, Twingate will be very easy compared to Zscaler.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is praised for exceptional stability and dependability, with minor configuration and maintenance issues reported.
Sentiment score
7.2
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is highly rated for stability and reliability despite minor latency and GUI lag issues.
Palo Alto typically doesn't have many glitches.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There were some stability issues due to occasional latency and lags, particularly with the GUI and report generation.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Room For Improvement

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series needs better pricing, integration, usability, and AI to address user demands for support and scalability.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall needs deployment, support, features, UI, pricing, integration, and dashboard improvements for optimal performance and usability.
Enhancing web traffic protection would be a great upgrade.
enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
L1 engineers cannot work on the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series because it's too complex, which requires L2 and above level of engineers.
Director at MICROLOGIC NETWORKS PRIVATE LIMITED
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.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
For now, there is no dashboard or network management system available for Twingate.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
The reverse proxy feature for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is missing.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
I believe the integration of AI could improve the dashboard by making it more agile and effective in monitoring and predicting threats.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
 

Setup Cost

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is expensive, suitable for large enterprises, with straightforward licensing but requires frequent price negotiations.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall has subscription pricing influenced by user count and features, making it costlier than some competitors.
It's a little bit expensive.
enterprise architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The pricing for the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series solution is affordable.
Director at MICROLOGIC NETWORKS PRIVATE LIMITED
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is quite expensive compared to competitors.
Cyber Security Architect at Accenture
 

Valuable Features

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series provides advanced, scalable security with AI-driven features, strong threat prevention, and user-friendly management.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers comprehensive security with real-time inspection, customizable controls, and automatic features, eliminating hardware needs.
Overall, the K2-Series helps in much more protection, and dashboard compliances are being met.
Director at MICROLOGIC NETWORKS PRIVATE LIMITED
We had configured dynamic user groups and App-ID based policies, which makes it all Zero Trust.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Mainly, it is very easy to understand, and the logs are very good.
Design engineer at a construction company with 201-500 employees
It is really customized, a security policy that can be applied to the users so they can access only the resources I enable them.
IT Security at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants.
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
The best features that Zscaler Cloud Firewall offers are that it is AI powered and automated.
Senior Devsecops Cloud Cybersecurity Specialist at CGI
 

Categories and Ranking

Palo Alto Networks K2-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
36th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
38th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series0.4%
Zscaler Cloud Firewall1.0%
Other98.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Tejas Jain - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Carlos Snel - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Aquila ICT Solutions
Has streamlined secure deployments across large enterprises while offering reliable protection and intuitive management
The centralized management console, also referred to as the Zscaler dashboard, impacts the ability of my customers to respond to security incidents significantly. I see it as user-friendly, and clients are really happy with using it, which motivates them to keep using Zscaler Cloud Firewall because they enjoy the GUI. It's very intuitive, making it easy to navigate alerts and incidents. My clients rarely have questions about where to find specific information once Zscaler Cloud Firewall is running. The interface speaks for itself, requiring little to no additional training, which is a major plus. Advanced threat protection features in Zscaler Cloud Firewall are practically the key component that every customer wants. Unfortunately, it is an option and not included in the basic package. Clients need to pay for the next higher bundle to access it, but practically all clients I have dealt with want this feature 100%. Regarding visibility, I can confirm that Zscaler Cloud Firewall indeed includes a feature for application layer visibility embedded in the service. It provides visibility into what you're doing, which is especially interesting nowadays when discussing AI tools, as companies do not want their employees to copy-paste sensitive information into AI systems. We have seen cases such as Samsung's chip design where sensitive info got exposed. The visibility of applications, including cloud applications and AI tools, is significant for compliance with data policies, and you can also run reports and alerts on it.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

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 kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
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 for K2-Series alone is. Looking at the base Palo Alto capabilities, they are goi...
Which lesser known firewall product has the best chance at unseating the market leaders?
Netscope, Zscaler if they continue route they are on now. FIrewalls needs great deal of automation on each end, datacenter and endpoint. In between you have branch office. So blending EPP and firew...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was fine.
What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
I think Zscaler Cloud Firewall can be improved by adding more features. The needed improvements involve scalability, which is something I wish they would address.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAME
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks K2-Series vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.