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Palo Alto Networks VM-Series vs VMRay comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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)
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (13th)
VMRay
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
29th
Average Rating
5.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is 2.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMRay is 1.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

RonnieYazdani - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly CLI and efficient dashboard streamline operations with robust security features
I find Palo Alto Networks VM-Series easy to deploy, and none of my customers have had significant complaints. My customers have high certifications provided by Palo Alto Networks. The friendly dashboard and the ability to easily command and use the CLI make Palo Alto Networks VM-Series a better product. It offers robust solutions, making it valuable to my customers.
GC
Has a valuable IP tracing feature, but is an expensive solution
We use this solution for authorization and more on the false positive verification IP tracing is the most valuable feature. The technical support needs improvement.  I have been using VMRay for two and a half years. The technical support team is not good.  Negative The initial setup is…

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 the VM-Series is that you can launch them in a very short time."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is easy to maintain...From a security point of view, I find Palo Alto Networks VM-Series to be a better product compared to the other solutions in the market."
"I like the UI. Most things are accessible from the user interface and it is quite user-friendly. With respect to both VM-based firewalls and physical firewalls, it's easy to create updates."
"The product provides more visibility into our traffic."
"The VM-Series reports how much bandwidth a particular IP is using. You don't need to regularly log into a website, like a Cisco command, to see what kind of ACL it's getting. There isn't an ACL use portal event. You can go there and see how much my ACL has been getting me."
"In AWS, Palo Alto provides us a better view than flow logs for network traffic."
"We use the product on our Azure network firewalls."
"The feature that I have found the most useful is that it meets all our requirements technically."
"IP tracing is the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"We feel that the setup was complex. So, we asked the tech team about the setup process. They explained how to deploy it in the right way, which made it very simple."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is a complex product to work with."
"When managing the firewall, it involves a Strata Cloud web browser that requires improvement to enhance deployment ease and call center efficiency."
"The performance of VM instances has some limitations in terms of threshold and throughput compared to appliances."
"I find it difficult to reach technical support at Palo Alto Networks. Most customers go for partner-enabled support, which involves multiple layers, leading to delays."
"AWS doesn't integrate well with third-party firewalls."
"The web interface is very slow, and it needs to be faster."
"We don't know how it will scale once we start putting more load on it."
"The technical support needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Because I work for a university and the URL is for the institution, it's a free license for us."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is an expensive product but the best one in the market."
"It is an expensive product."
"Palo Alto can be as much as two times the price of competing products that have twice the capabilities."
"The product is costly but provides all essential security features. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"Palo Alto Networks VM-Series is notably cheaper than other firewall vendors, except Fortigate."
"We found purchasing process the product on the AWS Marketplace to be very good."
"​The licensing is pretty much like everyone else."
"The solution is overly priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 VMRay?
The technical support needs improvement.
What is your primary use case for VMRay?
We use this solution for authorization and more on the false positive verification.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Warren Rogers Associates
National Bank of Canada, Carbon Black, Cloudmark, Cyberint, Expel, G Data Advanced Analytics, Jisc
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Fortinet and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.