Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Symantec Advanced Threat Protection comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Palo Alto Networks WildFire and Symantec Advanced Threat Protection based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
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 of Palo Alto Networks WildFire are the good URL and file analysis that uses artificial intelligence. It has different interfaces, such as rest, SMTP protocol, and HTTPS. The Security incidents and event management are very good. Additionally, there are many file types that are supported and there is no limit to the number of files it can handle simultaneously. It integrates well with SIEM solutions.""It gives a more accurate assessment of a virus in terms of whether it's truly a virus, malware, or a false positive. We have some legacy software that could pop up as being something that is malware. WildFire goes through and inspects it, and then it comes back and lets us know if it's a false positive. Usually, when it finds out that it's not a virus, it lets us know that it's benign, and it can exclude it from that scan, which means I don't even have to worry about that one popping up anymore.""Intuitive threat prevention and analysis solution, with a machine learning feature. Scalable, stable, and protects against zero-day threats.""It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution.""Scalable ATP solution that's quick to set up. It demonstrates good performance and stability.""What I like about Palo Alto is that it is a complete product, with everything in it.""The analysis is very fast.""A good tool for file scanning and email threat detection, especially when it comes to attachments and communications."

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"What I like most about Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is its notification capability.""Technical support is very responsive. You just have to open a ticket. They respond in a timely manner. Their response is good. I'm satisfied.""You don't have to buy a separate email security platform. You can enable that using their endpoint, and I like that. You don't have to have two agents running on the same box.""The most valuable feature is Click-time URL protection.""Technical support has been helpful and responsive.""The incident management on the solution is very good. You get a lot of detailed information about an incident. You also get a lot of documentation in connection with the CVI or integration.""Real-time threat analysis is quick and takes action on threats immediately.""The Application Control code and the easy integration are valuable features."

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Cons
"There are certain changes that I was expecting in the previous version, and I hope that they are soon fixed. All of the problems that I have faced so far have been resolved.""When you contact support, there is no guarantee that they will be available to help you tackle the issue that you are facing.""The price could be better.""The initial setup was complex.""When comparing this solution to others it is not as good overall.""In the future, I would like to see more automation in the reporting.""The only complaint that we receive from our customers is in regards to the price.""In terms of what I'd like to see in the next release of Palo Alto Networks WildFire, each release is based on malware that has been identified. The key problem is an average of six months from the time malware is written to the time it's discovered and a signature is created for it. The only advice that I can give is for them to shorten that timeframe. I don't know how they would do it, but if they shorten that, for example, cut it in half, they'll make themselves more famous."

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"The product's support services need improvement.""The administration interface needs a lot of improvement. It should be UI based, and simple. They need to improve it. It's pretty much not that friendly compared to what we were using as Bitdefender before. It's okay but is improving, actually.""The security features need to be improved.""Entire threat protection is not available for the advanced features.""There are limits with respect to blocking files by hash value or blocking IP addresses, and these limits should be removed.""Scalability could be better.""There are some ‎features that would add value to this product. One of them would be a graphical presentation of threats that the system has encountered.""An improvement could be made on the reporting because then it would be easier to collect information and submit it for compliance."

More Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It IS a bit expensive, but I think you get what you pay for. Value is there."
  • "It's not particularly cheap, but it is absolutely worth it."
  • "The pricing and licensing option should be categorized for various countries such as for Bangladesh."
  • "It is expensive, a feature more accessible to enterprise class customers, but provides an enhanced possibility that Zero- or near-Zero-day threats may be identified and mitigated. The cost of the product weighed against the potential impact of even one successful crypto malware-type exploit may justify the expense."
  • "​More expensive than other firewalls.​"
  • "The pricing is OK, it is not too expensive."
  • "It is a reasonable price compared to other solutions on the market."
  • "It's pretty expensive but with respect to value for money, it's okay."
  • More Palo Alto Networks WildFire Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing is good. It is nice to have a great product at a fair price."
  • "The pricing of this solution is inexpensive and affordable."
  • "Symantec Advanced Threat Protection's pricing is comparable."
  • "Symantec Endpoint Protection has an average price."
  • More Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    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 the management options: How to add and rename objects. How to update a device. How to find log entries. Etc. Cisco ASA Fast Management Suite: The ASDM GUI is really fast. You do not have to wait for the next window if you click on a certain button. It simply appears directly. On the Palo, each entry to add, e.g., an application inside a security rule, takes a few seconds. Better “Preview CLI Commands”: I am always checking the CLI commands before I send them to the firewall. On the Cisco ASA, they are quite easy to understand. I know, Palo Alto also offers the “Preview Changes”, but it takes a bit more time to recognize all XML paths. Better CLI Commands at all: For Cisco admins it is very easy to parse a “show run” and to paste some commands into another device. This is not that easy on a Palo Alto firewall. First, you must change the config-output format, and second, you cannot simply paste many lines into another device, since the ordering of these lines is NOT correct by default. That is, it simply doesn’t work. ACL Hit Count: I like the hit counts per access list entry in the GUI. It quickly reveals which entries are used very often and which ones are never used. On the… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: 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… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer: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 feature… more »
    Top Answer:Symantec Endpoint Protection provides end-to-end protection. Along with antivirus protection, it has a lot of key areas, including intrusive prevention, firewall features, and application and device… more »
    Top Answer:Symantec Endpoint Protection has an average price. I rate its pricing a five out of ten. It depends on the number of user licenses purchased.
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    Learn More
    Overview

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a highly effective cloud-based advanced threat protection (ATP) solution that organizations in a wide variety of fields trust to help them keep safe from digital threats. It is designed to enable businesses to confront even the most evasive threats and resolve them. It combines many techniques to maximize the level of threat protection available to users.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy WildFire include:

    Proactive real-time threat prevention. Organizations that utilize WildFire can take a proactive approach to their network security. Wildfire’s security scanning software is supported by powerful automation that enables it to run 180 times faster than other similar solutions. It also leverages machine learning to spot and address two times more malware monthly than its competitors. Users can solve issues as they arise, which prevents them from suffering severe harm.

    A holistic approach to security. WildFire leverages many of the security features and characteristics that can be found in some of the most effective security solutions in a way that provides users with a powerful protective blanket. It combines such things as machine learning, dynamic and static analysis, and a custom-built analysis environment, and enables users to cover many different potential avenues of attack. In this way, organizations can easily detect and prevent even the most sophisticated threats from harming them.

    Reduce overhead costs. Using WildFire cuts the expenses that a business incurs. Its architecture is based in the cloud and, as a result, users do not have to purchase hardware to run it. Additionally, those users do not have to pay anything more than a product subscription fee. They can scale it up as they wish and incur no additional costs.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire Features

    Some of the many features WildFire offers include:

    Third-party integrations. WildFire gives users access to integrations that can enable them to combine Wildfire’s security suite with outside tools. If an organization thinks that they are missing something, they can easily use Wildfire’s third-party integrations to bolster their capabilities. These integrations can connect to many different types of tools, like security information or event management systems.

    URL filtering. Organizations can use a URL filtering feature to safeguard themselves against known threats. When this feature is active, it will scan for traffic coming from specific URLs that are known to be malicious. This keeps them one step ahead of those threats that they know about.

    Deep analytics. Wildfire comes with the ability to provide users with a detailed analysis of any threat that it finds across all of their network environments. It gives users insight into everything from their natures to the actions that they have performed.

    Reviews from Real Users

    WildFire is a solution that stands out when compared to its primary competitors. Two major advantages that it offers are the high speeds at which it can analyze network traffic for threats and the accuracy with which it can pick out genuine threats from false positives.

    Ahmad Z., the principal consultant at Securelytics, writes, “The analysis is very fast. The intermittent is a millisecond and has a speedy response time.”

    Christopher B., the senior systems administrator at a government agency, says, “It gives a more accurate assessment of a virus in terms of whether it's truly a virus, malware, or a false positive. We have some legacy software that could pop up as being something that is malware. WildFire goes through and inspects it, and then it comes back and lets us know if it's a false positive. Usually, when it finds out that it's not a virus, it lets us know that it's benign, and it can exclude it from that scan, which means I don't even have to worry about that one popping up anymore.”

    Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is a single unified solution that uncovers, prioritizes, and remediates advanced attacks. The product fuses intelligence from endpoint, network, and email control points, as well as Symantec’s massive global sensor network, to stop threats that evade individual security products. It leverages your existing Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Email Security.cloud investments, so it does not require the deployment of any new agents. You can deploy a new installation of Symantec Advanced Threat Protection and start to discover suspicious activity in under an hour. Using the proven technology in Symantec Insight reputation based detection, Symantec SONAR behavioral analysis with the new Symantec Cynic sandbox and file analysis platform, Symantec Advanced Threat Protection provides better detection and prioritization than other vendors, allowing security analysts to “zero in” on just those specific security events of importance.

    Sample Customers
    Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
    ECI
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Government12%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    University13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization69%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Computer Software Company3%
    Manufacturing Company3%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise62%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise52%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business7%
    Midsize Enterprise73%
    Large Enterprise20%
    Buyer's Guide
    Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 3rd in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 58 reviews while Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is ranked 18th in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 14 reviews. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is rated 8.4, while Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "Good technical support and provides automatic analysis that saves us time in filtering email". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Advanced Threat Protection writes "Provides end-to-end antivirus protection and has good stability ". Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate, Proofpoint Email Protection, Juniper SRX Series Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Trellix Network Detection and Response, Check Point SandBlast Network, Fortinet FortiSandbox and Arbor DDoS. See our Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection report.

    See our list of best Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) vendors.

    We monitor all Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.