Generally, the solution is used as a perimeter-based firewall with a secondary firewall covering the servers.
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What is Palo Alto Networks K2-Series?
Designed to handle growing throughput needs due to increasing amounts of application-, user-, and device-generated data, the K2-Series offers amazing performance and threat prevention capabilities to stop advanced cyberattacks and secure mobile network infrastructure, subscribers, and services.
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Customers
State of North Dakota, SEGA, Alameda County Office of Education, Temple University, VERGE, CAMEPalo Alto Networks K2-Series Video
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Palo Alto Networks K2-Series Reviews
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Communications Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Stable with great deep inspection functionality and good scalability
Pros and Cons
- "As long as the solution is kept updated, it's pretty stable."
- "The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Benefit wise with the speed of deep packet inspection, we've found it will assist with a quicker resolution to a potential false-positive alert. You're able to drill down. It's a third to probably 75% faster than a lot of the other premier firewalls on inspections. Therefore, your root cause analysis will then come to a resolution quicker. It's all about speed.
What is most valuable?
The deep inspection functionality is great.
The solution scales well.
As long as the solution is kept updated, it's pretty stable.
The solution provides a lot of value to the client.
What needs improvement?
The licensing cost is a typical complaint with many clients. The solution is expensive.
In terms of automation, they could get better with it, especially with third-party integration. There are not too many products that will integrate with ease to the Palo Alto product set. They keep things locked down quite hard, which technically is also a benefit. That said, third-party integration definitely would be a benefit to us, as most of our implementations are two or even three different firewalls. Having third-party tools that integrate with all three or all two other products would be a benefit.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since it came out, about seven years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product has to be put into a relative context. If people keep it upgraded and maintained, there are generally no issues. If they let it fall behind and we have to do a catch-up or leapfrog versions then there could be other complexities.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. If a company puts in at the right requirements and they double it by 50%, which you should always do, then there is lots of headroom until the next refresh cycle.
Any type of company can leverage the solution, from smaller organizations to very large enterprises. The main difference is if there's a higher security environment, the solution requires more attention. However, it has the capability to handle any size of setup.
How are customer service and support?
I've never directly spoken with technical support and therefore cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is complex due to the fact that the salespeople from Palo Alto, or even from my firm will say, oh, we can just use this import wizard. However, that works to about a 60% level, and it does not do a complete import of Fortinet to Palo Alto or Cisco to a Palo Alto or Check Point to a Palo Alto.
That's where the complexity comes in. The customer thinks it's going to be easy. The salespeople said it's going to be easy. However, it really is not.
The time it takes to implement the solution is a hundred percent dependent upon the requirements of the solution. I've had firewalls taking six months to implement in a large retail environment and I've had also firewalls where you walk in and they give you just outbound requirements, and boom, it's up and out in two hours. That's why it really depends upon the complexity of the requirements.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the product is quite high.
I deal in list price. I don't get into discounting due to the fact that I do everything on a solution based on the list price. I have seen super heavy discounts from Palo Alto, however.
The licensing for Palo Alto is very straightforward. They include a lot in their base license. However, there may be features in there that are included and are buried in the base licensing cost that the customer will never use.
What other advice do I have?
We're partners with Palo Alto.
I'm dealing with all different versions of the solution and not necessarily just the most recent version. While most of what we work with is on-prem, many people are now moving to the cloud.
I would advise those considering the solution to ensure that they have a knowledgeable installer. That is critical. Most of ours that we take over are watched installs.
I rate the product at a nine out of ten. From a security/cost-benefit perspective, it's one of the best.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

Industrial Controls Advisor at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It's easy to centrally manage
Pros and Cons
- "One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally."
- "In the past, we've had trouble with Palo Alto's application filtering not getting it right. I would not be recommending layer 7 application filtering yet."
What is our primary use case?
We have eight VFDs. We have the bigger firewalls. I forget the model number but they're the bigger ones. We have smaller ones—the 220s— so we have a pretty good range of Palo Alto firewalls that we use in our company.
What is most valuable?
One of the most valuable features is Palo Alto's firewall management. We find it easier to manage the firewall centrally.
What needs improvement?
In the past, we've had trouble with Palo Alto's application filtering not getting it right. I would not be recommending layer 7 application filtering yet. That's the only hiccup with the product line. In terms of the features, I'd like to see, one of the bigger pieces missing from any firewall system is the ability to monitor and report. I don't think there are any firewalls doing this, but I'd like to see firewalls have the ability to do what Splunk is doing automatically. In other words, the ability to provide log analysis and monitoring from a visualization standpoint would be very beneficial to any firewall. That doesn't really exist today.
There also needs to be a real methodology to maintain rules. They have rule sets in there and different ways of showing it, but the presentation isn't great. It's not a great presentation of where you have duplicate rules in place that makes it easy to find. Then again, I would say that no firewall company really has good management abilities for that. This isn't to badmouth Palo Alto. It's just that these features don't exist. So as we talk about where threat modeling and cybersecurity need to go, there's no one vendor with the best solution. It'd be nice if it would come in one platform. In other words, you buy their product, and they have a platform that includes that functionality.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used Palo Alto for nearly five years now. We formerly used Check Point exclusively, but now we're using Palo for all of our perimeter security and our VPN connection coming in.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Capability-wise, I think Palo Alto firewalls can pretty much handle anything thrown at them.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't done a lot with tech support. But the guys that are doing it say that outside support from Palo Alto is really good.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Check Point and Palo Alto are very similar as far as the platform's concerned. On the low-end side, maybe for smaller solutions, Check Point firewalls seem to do just fine and are even a little better. Their low-end products are better as far as performance is concerned. At the high-end, they can't touch the Palo Altos. The Palo Altos seem to be significantly better at handling more load and they can service larger throughput in their environment. I would say Palo Alto, overall, has a better, more reliable product line.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Palo Alto firewalls an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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April 2023

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Cybersec Consultant at Freelance
Stable, easy to set up, and offers good visibility
Pros and Cons
- "We've found the solution offers us good stability."
- "I'd like to see more data protection on the system."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for protection, especially web protection.
How has it helped my organization?
It's great at protecting very important aspects of our company, particularly our servers.
What is most valuable?
We enjoy the amount of visibility we have in terms of security within our infrastructure.
The initial setup is very easy.
The product scales well.
We've found the solution offers us good stability.
Technical support is helpful and responsive.
The pricing is reasonable.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be improved. Right now, it's an aspect that is lacking. They should make it more user-friendly. There are too many options visible right now, which makes it confusing. They need to streamline and simplify it.
I'd like to see more data protection on the system. It needs a DLP, a Data Loss Prevention, system.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for just over five years. We've used it since 2015 or so.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. The performance is good. there are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is there if you need to expand it. It's good.
We have 100 or so users that are using Palo Alto in our organization at this time.
We do have plans to increase usage in the future. We're likely to scale it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical supports has been really good so far. They respond quickly to our requests. We're quite satisfied with the level of service.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. We found the implementation to be very easy in general. We didn't have any problems.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product can be expensive. It's not the cheapest option on the market.
However, I do find it to be less expensive than Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
We're a customer. We also work for other companies and help install the product.
The solution is perfect. I'd rate it at a ten out of ten.
Palo Alto is very affordable and very good overall. They respond quickly to our needs. Palo Alto detects a lot of cybersecurity threats, which has been great.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chef manager at Secure360
Premium-level firewall, quick support, and high performance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the performance which is above their competitors. The throughput they have delivered is good. When we used other solutions they failed the deployment when we were using different rules. They have a theory perform performance light and performance degradation. However, Palo Alto Networks K2-Series never fails in that scenario."
- "The scalability of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is good. It is good for larger environments over smaller ones."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Palo Alto Networks K2-Series to have security for one of the leading educational institutions.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the performance which is above their competitors. The throughput they have delivered is good. When we used other solutions they failed the deployment when we were using different rules. They have a theory perform performance light and performance degradation. However, Palo Alto Networks K2-Series never fails in that scenario.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Palo Alto Networks K2-Series for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is a stable solution. We were very happy with the recent signature updates and the performance. They are a premium-level firewall they have detection systems for protection which is amazing.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is good. It is good for larger environments over smaller ones.
How are customer service and support?
I have used the support from Palo Alto Networks K2-Series and the responses were quick. Their support was amazing.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Fortinet FortiGate and replaced it with Palo Alto. The performance of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is better than Fortinet FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series was straightforward. However, we have support from Palo Alto. There were some configurations that needed to be done for our firewall that required some advanced knowledge from a certified expert. Since we were using the help from Palo Alto the experience was good.
What about the implementation team?
We used the support from Palo Alto for the implementation of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series. They were very helpful.
What was our ROI?
We have received a return on investment from using Palo Alto Networks K2-Series. We are happy with the solution and our return on investment has been extremely high.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are on an annual license to use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Palo Alto Networks K2-Series a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Advisor to COO at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Stable and scalable overall but support is worse than most competitors
Pros and Cons
- "Palo Alto firewalls are scalable enough. We have about 110 employees in our company, and we are about to expand to 130."
- "If we have issues, they take anywhere from two days to a week to respond. I even wrote to their CEO because there was no response. When it comes to support, this is the worst company."
What is our primary use case?
I'm a telecom operator, so all of my IT and network management stuff is behind this firewall.
What needs improvement?
Palo Alto K2-Series firewalls could use some technical improvements, like main and standby, as well as FTU and STU support. In addition, they should upgrade the CPU, and there are so many other things that I cannot think of off the top of my head.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Palo Alto firewalls for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Product-wise, it's stable, but it takes too long to switch between main and standby — maybe 10 to 12 seconds — and sometimes my traffic cuts out, yes. Also, the CPU processing power is not so good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Palo Alto firewalls are scalable enough. We have about 110 employees in our company, and we are about to expand to 130.
How are customer service and support?
Most firewall companies offer similar products, like Fortinet, etc., but Palo Alto support is not as good as its competitors. Palo Alto is almost zero. If we have issues, they take anywhere from two days to a week to respond. I even wrote to their CEO because there was no response. When it comes to support, this is the worst company.
How was the initial setup?
We have no idea how complicated the setup is. An agent from Palo Alto did all that and then conducted some training. And if we need something, we have to call the agent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is high, but we've already purchased these two boxes, so we have to continue using them for some time. Unfortunately, the salesperson we worked with isn't a Diamond-level agent, so he couldn't give us good discounts. But maybe a lower price is possible.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Palo Alto K2-Series Firewall six out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at One Cloud
Easy to configure, helpful support, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the configuration, it is very clear."
- "It is recommended that the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series be implemented step by step for the Panorama. Sometimes we can't overwrite the configurations because it fails."
What is our primary use case?
We use Palo Alto Networks K2-Series in projects as a firewall.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is the configuration, it is very clear.
What needs improvement?
It is recommended that the Palo Alto Networks K2-Series be implemented step by step for the Panorama. Sometimes we can't overwrite the configurations because it fails.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Palo Alto Networks K2-Series for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found Palo Alto Networks K2-Series to be scalable.
Our clients have many users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The premier support from Palo Alto Networks K2-Series is good. We can open a ticket if we have an issue in our department.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have previously used Fortinet FortiGate. We switched to Palo Alto Networks K2-Series because we can receive more information.
How was the initial setup?
The installation of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series was simple. There are a lot of technical documents that can be used for assistance.
What about the implementation team?
We used an integrator for the deployment of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series.
We have two engineers that do the maintenance and support of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
One of the benefits is we can use some of the features from Palo Alto Networks K2-Series for free. If we want more features we have to pay. There is a license to use the solution and it is paid annually.
The overall price of Palo Alto Networks K2-Series could be reduced.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Palo Alto Networks K2-Series an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior President and Zonal Business Head at YES BANK
Provides readily available skilled engineers and is stable
Pros and Cons
- "I have found the threat profile feature valuable."
- "It would be really helpful to have dashboards that provide information on IOC blockings such as where and how many. It will also be good to know how many hashing files have been reported. It would also be nice to have easy access to this information. Otherwise, it's a painful, manual task."
What is most valuable?
I have found the threat profile feature valuable.
What needs improvement?
It would be really helpful to have dashboards that provide information on IOC blockings such as where and how many. It will also be good to know how many hashing files have been reported. It would also be nice to have easy access to this information. Otherwise, it's a painful, manual task.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Because we are using the hardware, we are not able to scale. On the VM, it is scalable, but we have got stuck on some areas. Therefore, scalability is an issue.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good. I would give them a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The previous solution, Check Point firewall, is having lots of issues. The main reason is that capacity planning was not sized properly. We are also not receiving the type of support we want. Because of these reasons, we switched to Palo Alto Networks K2-Series.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward only because Palo Alto professionals helped us with it. Without the professional service, it would have been a little bit complex.
What about the implementation team?
We used Palo Alto Professional Service for help with deployment.
What other advice do I have?
Nowadays, all of the firewalls provide everything. Palo Alto may cost a bit more, but it provides skilled engineers who are readily available. Deployment is easy as well, in comparison. I would rate this solution at eight on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Security Presales Architect at BARQ Systems
It's quite a nice product, I find the ease of use and reliability the most valuable features
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of the product is quite high."
- "The product should get frequent updates allowing us to add new signatures."
What is our primary use case?
I use Palo Alto as an Intrusion Prevention System, and as a normal firewall to block and allow IPs and ports. I use it for file analysis and sandboxing as well.
What is most valuable?
I find the ease of use and reliability the most valuable features of the solution.
What needs improvement?
The product should get frequent updates allowing us to add new signatures. This is my only concern.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of the product ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the product is quite high. I would like to give it a ten. At the moment, I have around 15-16 colleagues using the solution. They are all working in the technical, presale, and IT departments.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In my current company, we have just invested in Palo Alto. We have used other solutions as well. We decided to switch to Palo Alto based on the reports and the experiences of the people who termed it as a very good product.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward and required just one person for deployment. It took a week to complete the process. I would rate it nine out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate the product seven out of ten for pricing.
What other advice do I have?
It's quite a nice product. It's worth the purchase. I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Feb 26, 2023
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