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Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs SonicWall NSa 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Palo Alto Networks WildFire provides cost-effective, centralized threat management, reducing security costs and improving efficiency in high-threat environments.
Sentiment score
6.0
SonicWall NSa enhances efficiency and security, reducing costs for organizations, saving nearly ten lakh rupees annually.
The service generates a low rate of false positives, reducing the overhead of managing false positive events.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
We had budgeted about thirty lakhs, but after negotiating with SonicWall NSa, we saved almost ten lakh rupees in a year.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Palo Alto Networks WildFire's support is responsive and expert but varies in availability and response time, especially for smaller companies.
Sentiment score
8.5
SonicWall NSa customer support is praised for expertise but needs improvement in response times and accessibility.
There is a lack of SLA adherence, and third-party partners do not provide prompt responses.
Technical Superintendent at Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna
The service response times are aligned with standards, responding within a few hours based on the problem's criticality.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
The support is quite difficult to access promptly.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
SonicWall support is always available to help us on an immediate basis.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
SonicWall support is very helpful and responsive.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
The support from SonicWall was excellent.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Palo Alto Networks WildFire efficiently scales for diverse environments, supporting thousands of users while integrating well with security modules.
Sentiment score
6.7
SonicWall NSa provides scalable options for various company sizes, though some upgrades may be necessary to meet demands.
Palo Alto Networks WildFire is scalable, and I give it a nine for scalability.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
Wildfire is highly scalable.
Technical Superintendent at Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna
Regarding scalability, it's important to ascertain the customer's future requirements, as firewalls need to be sized according to their expected scalability, such as moving from 500 users today to more in the coming years.
CEO at Kapstone Technological Services LLP
SonicWall NSa is very supportive and capable of handling everything from smaller organizations to big enterprise-level organizations on a model-wise or configuration-wise basis.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
I would rate its scalability around eight out of ten, meaning there are no issues, and it is pretty easy to scale.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Palo Alto Networks WildFire is highly rated for reliability, seamless integration, and effective network security performance without disruptions.
Sentiment score
7.9
SonicWall NSa is stable and reliable, though some firmware and configuration issues require occasional technical support.
It performs filtering, malware blocking, and scanning.
Engineer at Taalumgroup
The solution is scalable and stable.
Technical Manager at PSR
Configuration changes have been made that have reduced that latency.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
The stability of SonicWall NSA is quite good.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

WildFire needs improvements in integration, user-friendliness, and pricing, along with better support, automation, and global availability.
SonicWall NSa faces challenges with its GUI, VPN, outdated technology, pricey nature, and support responsiveness, requiring enhancements.
The dashboard should provide better visibility, especially in showing how many files are sent to Wildfire and their findings.
Technical Superintendent at Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna
It is a very good product.
Engineer at Taalumgroup
The support could be improved, as it takes a while to get assistance from the vendors.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
SonicWall should increase the CPU level of that firewall.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
More details in the analytical tools offered would be appreciated since it is not yet mature.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There are some aspects of the dashboard configuration or customization that could be improved.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Setup Cost

Palo Alto WildFire offers advanced threat protection, appealing to enterprises despite its high cost, potentially deterring smaller organizations.
SonicWall NSa offers competitive pricing and value; however, advanced feature fees may challenge companies with tight IT budgets.
I would rate it an eight out of ten in terms of affordability.
Presale Engineer at Westcon-Comstor
SonicWall is much cheaper compared to Fortinet, particularly regarding renewal and licensing costs.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Valuable Features

Palo Alto Networks WildFire automates threat analysis, excels in sandboxing, and offers robust security with cloud-based, user-friendly features.
SonicWall NSa features VPN, deep inspection, user-friendly interface, threat protection, and scalable security for enhanced network protection.
Integrating Palo Alto Networks WildFire with various security protocols similar to a firewall has significantly improved the overall threat detection capabilities in our organization.
Content Specialist at PeerSpot
The most valuable feature of Wildfire is its sandboxing capability for examining suspicious files or locations.
Technical Superintendent at Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna
Real-time deep memory inspection is very helpful and has had a positive impact on our security posture.
Channel Account Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We were the only organization that remained secure with a zero infection rate.
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
SonicWall NSA's most valuable features are its SD-WAN and a system RTBI that blocks all attacks.
Product manger at Asbis Mediteranean
 

Categories and Ranking

Palo Alto Networks WildFire
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st)
SonicWall NSa
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is designed for Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and holds a mindshare of 7.6%, down 11.9% compared to last year.
SonicWall NSa, on the other hand, focuses on Firewalls, holds 1.7% mindshare, up 1.6% since last year.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks WildFire7.6%
Microsoft Defender for Office 3659.7%
Proofpoint Email Protection7.1%
Other75.6%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SonicWall NSa1.7%
Fortinet FortiGate18.7%
OPNsense11.2%
Other68.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

RK
Engineer at Taalumgroup
Achieve effective threat prevention and seamless integration with powerful technical support
Integration with third-party products is possible. For example, connecting a mail gateway with Palo Alto Networks WildFire allows them to handle prevention. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a cloud-based sandboxing solution. The firewall is connected to WildFire, and XDR performs sandboxing from the cloud. WildFire conducts malware scanning and emulation, then informs the firewall to block threats based on the response. It also generates reports regarding malware and other issues. The sandboxing process involves sending sample files to the cloud for scanning, checking file authenticity, certificates, and detecting malicious code. WildFire performs multiple checks and informs the XDR agent about file status. This automatic process occurs within minutes or seconds. For unknown or suspicious files, immediate blocking occurs while samples are sent to WildFire for identification. I rate Palo Alto Networks WildFire a 9 out of 10.
Mahendra Basera - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Infra at Akara Capital
Automated breach prevention has protected critical workloads and keeps external attacks blocked
I am familiar with SonicWall TZ. I have done a POC of TZ but I have not worked extensively with it. I have worked with the 2600 firewall and then the 3600. These are the models which we have worked with.SonicWall NSa was an on-premises solution. The two firewalls which were in production, in the data center and on the LAN side, were both on-premises solutions. We had a pre-decided budget under which we would purchase the firewall. All parameters including security, high availability, and budget concerns were covered with SonicWall NSa being implemented at that time. SonicWall NSa is a user-friendly product that is easy to configure, and it is easy for network personnel and firewall administrators to work with. Even the L1 team captured and learned this firewall effectively, helping us resolve all parameters related to high availability firewalls within budget-friendly costs. I rate this review a nine out of ten.
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting
Mar 11, 2015
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

How does Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks Wildfire?
The Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one considers that fact, it is all the more impressive that the setup is a fairly straightf...
Which is better - Wildfire or FortiGate?
FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like the most about it is that it has an attractive web dashboard with very easy nav...
How does Cisco ASA Firewall compare with Palo Alto's WildFire?
When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advanced malware and zero-day exploits with real-time intelligence. The sandbox featu...
What do you like most about SonicWall NSa?
The product blocks access when I visit unrecognized websites.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSa?
I would rate the price of the product as seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with SonicWall NSa?
I have not really seen any problems with SonicWall NSa on the technical front, but the quality of support is not that good. The support is not up to the mark because the quality is lacking; however...
 

Also Known As

No data available
NSA 250M, NSA 2600, NSA 3600, NSA 4600, NSA 5600, Dell SonicWALL NSA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
Orange County Rescue Mission, First Source, Michaels & Taylor, Green Clinic Health System, Aspire Chiltern Skills and Enterprise Centre, UnitedStack, Faith Lutheran College Redlands, Celtic Manor Resort, Star Kay White, Air Works, Unimat Life, NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support (YHCS), Hutt City Council, Mato Grosso do Sul, Nspyre
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Proofpoint and others in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Updated: December 2025.
879,853 professionals have used our research since 2012.