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Fortinet FortiOS vs Palo Alto Networks CN-Series comparison

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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

Fortinet FortiOS
Ranking in Firewalls
18th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
35th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiOS is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiOS1.1%
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series0.5%
Other98.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Associate Director IT Operations at Procento
Single-pane management has simplified firewall control and has improved risk mitigation
I would not say that Fortinet FortiOS is not very scalable. Generally, what happens is that for enterprises, we hire consultants who do the capacity planning and sizing to determine what kind of firewalls to put in place. At the same time, it is not only the number of users; it also depends on the number of WAN links coming in and everything, because we have been using Fortinet for bandwidth shaping and many other bandwidth-related functions. They should improve their machine learning AI capabilities of Fortinet FortiOS because there is too much competition. Other players are also improving and making a lot of changes in their UI and overall operating system.
Ahmed_Shalaby - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cyber Security Engineer at Beta Information Technology
Application control excels and integration with monitoring system boosts efficiency
I am an integrator working with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series and Panorama. I have been involved with the implementation of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent. Application control is one of the most valuable features. Its monitoring capability…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The initial setup is straightforward, and it is very customer friendly."
"We have expanded the wireless access point and switches using Fortinet FortiOS."
"The most important feature of Fortinet FortiOS is the IPS."
"Fortinet FortiOS quickly provides many complex solutions when we deploy a simple firewall, so it's named one of the most customer-friendly OSs in the industry in Sri Lanka and globally."
"This is an easy means of setting up high-availabilty firewall protection."
"This is a user friendly solution and offers comprehensive integrations."
"Anytime I have thought of a possible feature I'd like added to the solution, it seems the developers are on the same page and it is available within a few months."
"We found the initial setup to be straightforward."
"The app inspection is very helpful for network security."
"The stability of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is excellent."
 

Cons

"Right now, all the features meet my requirements."
"The central management can improve in Fortinet FortiOS. It is sometimes difficult to manage all the devices."
"The reporting for this solution could be improved. It could also be more stable and offer better pricing."
"Sometimes, Fortinet FortiOS changes its CLI (command line interface) with new versions, which leads to internal incompatibility. When this happens, you need to update the configuration to match the new format, as the commands aren’t always the same. This can create some confusion and extra work because, unlike other vendors where the CLI commands remain primarily consistent with updates, Fortinet often changes the syntax between versions."
"Fortinet ends up being more expensive because of the pricing scheme."
"We are not very pleased with the support. It could be better."
"The reporting and monitoring could improve, they have a lot of limitations. The monitoring is not easy compared to the other firewall."
"In some specific products, Fortinet FortiOS faces memory issues, which can lead to unexpected downtimes."
"I'd like to see more IOPs features."
"Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing for FortiOS is good, with a security license included when we update the main license."
"We pay $100,000. That covers the cost of the hardware that we run the VN's on. That also includes any SGNA costs for the internal support tech."
"The price of Fortinet FortiOS is reasonable and it is paid annually. You are able to select the features that you want."
"We had a three-year license to use Fortinet FortiOS and we are going to renew it this year."
"The price of Fortinet FortiOS has been reasonable."
"The solution could have a better licensing model. It's a bit more expensive than other solutions. The annual subscription is very pricy in Fortinet. The cost could be reduced."
"The scalability of Fortinet FortiOS is good. However, central management is intuitive for the end-users. We had a lot of questions about central management, and sometimes they didn't use it and did their firewall management directly on FortiGate instead of using Fortinet FortiOS."
"Be sure to choose a licensing plan that leaves a little headroom so performance is not an issue."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
11%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise23
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiOS?
I rate the pricing for FortiOS as eight or nine out of ten. It is an affordable solution for us.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiOS?
I would not say that Fortinet FortiOS is not very scalable. Generally, what happens is that for enterprises, we hire consultants who do the capacity planning and sizing to determine what kind of fi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?
The pricing of Palo Alto Networks CN-Series is quite expensive, rating around eight on a scale of one to ten for cost.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?
Palo Alto Networks CN-Series could improve on its pricing as it is quite expensive. The SD-WAN implementation using Panorama needs enhancement because it involves a specific plugin and configuring ...
What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks CN-Series?
I am an integrator working with Palo Alto Networks CN-Series ( /products/palo-alto-networks-cn-series-reviews ) and Panorama. I have been involved with the implementation of Palo Alto Networks CN-S...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiOS vs. Palo Alto Networks CN-Series and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.