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Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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

Palo Alto Networks VM-Series
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (13th)
SonicWall Capture Advanced ...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks VM-Series2.3%
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection1.6%
Other96.1%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

AV
Cyber security consultant at L&T Technology Services
Enhance cybersecurity for large enterprises using advanced threat management
An improvement could be the integration of security intelligence with Palo Alto cloud via APIs. This would allow IOCs, domains, and hash values to be automatically entered, reducing manual entry. Integration with CSIRT across all use levels would make it easier for administrators to stay updated on the blocked entities without manual intervention.
Mohamed Fouad - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
Advanced sandboxing has protected our environment and stops unknown threats in real time
The most capable feature of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is the accurate verdict of the file, and I have used many other types of sandboxing, but using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is truly helpful for our organization. In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall. It is easy to set up and connect SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection with other solutions, as it can be integrated with many products, supporting real-time memory inspection, rapid signature deployment, broad file type support, and block until verdict capability, along with flexible configuration, while providing comprehensive reporting. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection supports sandbox evasion techniques, which is important since sophisticated malware increases the evasion capability to detect and deceive sandboxing environments. SonicWall employs deception techniques simulating user interaction or fake high volume targets to determine when custom malware can still potentially bypass detection through environment-aware code. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection positively impacts our organization by helping us stop advanced persistent threats, as we have defined our targeted adversaries and increased security for our organization.

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 features are security and support."
"I have not actually called their support line, because we have a direct contact to a senior engineer in the company for any issues that we handle with them. I will say they are very responsive, and they do give you the information you need when you need it.​"
"App-ID and User-ID have repeatedly shown value in securing business critical systems."
"We use the product on our Azure network firewalls."
"It offers a single pane of glass for all the different types of installations."
"With the improved visibility we now have, the traffic is being properly monitored, which means that we are better able to manage it. These are improvements that we saw very quickly."
"It ensures that every interaction, pre and post-loan processing, undergoes a thorough inspection, leveraging VPN features and comprehensive security protocols."
"It is an easy-to-scale product."
"Provides good protection and security."
"In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall."
"The ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) on scanning is the most valuable feature."
"The reporting that you get from it is the most valuable feature. You can see it via the appliance itself, and also via the MySonicWall account for the registered device. You are able to select the file if it's malicious, and you can select it in the reporting and see what triggered it, and things like that. I found that to be quite useful."
"We use it for protection against viruses and ransomware attacks."
"The stability of the solution is good. We haven't had any breaches or crashes. It's been very stable for us."
"I like this setup for a firewall. You can set things up very easily and you can automate items as well. It's a very robust firewall solution for enterprise as well as small businesses."
"It also has an easy configuration. The feedback that we get from our customers is that it's a good product."
 

Cons

"There are some deficiencies in Palo Alto Networks VM-Series. Having those features missing, we are not proposing Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to all customers."
"The command-line interface is something that some people struggle with and I think that they should have an option to go straight to the GUI."
"We have ran into issues with Palo Alto’s limitations for resolving large IP lists from DNS lookups, as well as the antivirus interfering with App-ID."
"The product needs improvement in their Secure Access Service Edge."
"When managing the firewall, it involves a Strata Cloud web browser that requires improvement to enhance deployment ease and call center efficiency."
"On the cloud side, they need to come up with more HA solutions to support the multi-region."
"The interface is all Java-based. I would prefer an HTML5 interface."
"The solution must improve Zero Trust integration and use cases."
"SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment."
"SonicWall should promote their roadmap and improve their marketing to customers."
"I would say the solution needs a much simpler user interface, but the functionality of the firewall is quite extensive. You need the user interface to be that way. However, if there was a way to make the user interface a little easier, that would be great."
"We would like to get immediate alerts from the alerting system without using third-parties."
"If anything at all, it would be some very minor updates that need to be done, but in terms of changes, nothing comes to mind."
"It does fare well against enterprise products."
"The setup needs improvement. It needs to be made more user-friendly."
"SonicWall had a recent layoff. This is a concern for us, because now we are missing the local presence from both the engineering and sales side."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing and licensing of this product on AWS should be from $1.28/hr or $4,500.00/yr. Then, it would be a good price for the performance that it delivers."
"I know Palo Alto is not cheap. They have been telling me, the members of the finance team, it is not a cheap solution. It is a solution whose target is that no matter how big your organization is, small, medium, or large, it is about the maturity of your security team or infrastructure team whom you want to work with."
"Because I work for a university and the URL is for the institution, it's a free license for us."
"The product's most valuable feature is pricing."
"AWS is available as a AMI that you can purchase from the AWS Marketplace. Therefore, you need to purchase the licensing, since it is per AMI. Then, you deploy it on a regular EC2. Then, for on-premise, you can use both Palo Alto's software and hardware."
"There is a need to make payments toward a yearly subscription-based model in which you need to add modules that you want to use in your company."
"Based on the customer budget, they can choose from 12-month, 36-month, or 60-month licensing models."
"I rate Palo Alto Networks VM-Series pricing an eight out of ten."
"The best deal from SonicWall is to buy the HA pair. When you buy the initial one, you receive the second one at a significant discount. If there is an event and something happens to one firewall, then you have the second firewall to roll into. For the price, it's pretty to tough to beat and not a lot of other firewall vendors offer it. You battle for a discount on both. Where with SonicWall, if you buy one, the second one is at half price. It's pretty straightforward."
"When you compare it with other solutions, they are cheaper and more economical."
"It's thirty dollars per user and we have 30 users."
"We get our value for our money."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
 

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...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the overall cost is reasonable. Azure Firewall offers a solid threat awareness, can...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment. The product is good overall, but the GUI needs to be more stable. I chose nine out...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
My main use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is that it helps us with sandboxing for analyzing and inspecting unknown files and URLs. A quick specific example of how I've used ...
What advice do you have for others considering SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
I advise others looking into using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection to consider that it is truly helpful and very important to have great sandboxing with advanced threat protection to s...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Warren Rogers Associates
Wonder Cement, Foster Clark Products
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,986 professionals have used our research since 2012.