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Hillstone E-Series vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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

Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
40th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (24th)
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is 1.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series1.1%
Hillstone E-Series0.9%
Other98.0%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.
Rohit Ghorpade - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Network Engineer at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Identity-based perimeter control has improved security and supports reliable remote access
Currently, we are working with vendors such as Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Cisco, Check Point, and Citrix. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is a better firewall. Deep packet inspection and threat prevention basically comply with whatever traffic is incoming and outgoing through the firewall. I do not think anything improvement is required. The thing is that Palo Alto Networks PA-Series works mostly on a license-based model. If you want to utilize any feature, you have to purchase the license. For example, URL filtering requires a license purchase. It simplifies the implementation because LDAP server profile can be integrated. Basically, that simplifies the implementation of access rule or security policy.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"Comprehensive logging is essential for monitoring and analysis purposes. For remote users, the firewall can be configured as a VPN concentrator, with VPN policies defined within the firewall settings."
"Integrated threat intelligence has empowered my organization to adapt to threats by taking a lot of the burden off us; there's just no way we would see the same breadth of knowledge that a vendor or manufacturer would have."
"The solution provides good customer support."
"Palo Alto has predefined applications that you can control at the application level."
"It is scalable. But that depends on what model you are using."
"It offers a seamless transition from one option to another, making it exceptionally versatile and user-friendly in an enterprise setting."
"The tool's most valuable feature is WildFire."
"App-ID is a really good feature."
 

Cons

"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The tool only had some memory-related problems."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"The product must provide multiple threat detection features."
"Licenses are too costly. As I compare with Check Point or other OEM, the licenses are too much more costly and they should work on bundled licenses."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series should improve its price. It should also include a feature similar to Sophos' Security Heartbeat."
"The pricing of the solution needs improvement."
"I had opened a case before with the tool because I could not create a wildcard for the security address. We can create wildcards for security addresses in Fortinet, but this feature doesn't exist in the product."
"The product's gateway services can be improved."
"There are no AI integrations in the Palo Alto Networks PA-Series firewall. I would like to see something in the future, but as of now, it is not required."
"There seem to be some issues with TAC (Technical Assistance Center) or Palo Alto support. Anytime you open a case, a level one engineer joins, and then you have to escalate it to level two or three. The support system has changed in the past few years, and that's something they need to look into."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series's price is much higher than other firewall brands."
"With Palo Alto, even when you enable all the modules, it still provides the exact throughput they advertise."
"From my perspective, managing the price is important, especially because we're a small business. For larger organizations like Barclays, we provide our requirements to the client, and they place the order on BigFix. It's their responsibility to consider their budget and make decisions accordingly. We appreciate the features we get, but the cost-sharing still depends on the client."
"The tool's pricing was reasonable when we bought the product. We pay around 60,000 dollars per year."
"Palo Alto’s pricing is way higher than any other solution provider."
"The solution's pricing is high compared to that of Cisco and Fortinet."
"From my perspective, managing the price is important, especially because we're a small business. For larger organizations like Barclays, we provide our requirements to the client, and they place the order on BigFix. It's their responsibility to consider their budget and make decisions accordingly. We appreciate the features we get, but the cost-sharing still depends on the client."
"The prices are pretty high, definitely on the upper end."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
If we look at the features, then the price is good, but they do charge for the GlobalProtect VPNs. Overall, the pricing is good, but if they included GlobalProtect, it would be more valuable.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
There is room for improvement in Palo Alto Networks PA-Series in the areas where they can minimize applications and implement features that can be useful for us.
What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?
I am using Palo Alto Networks PA-Series to ensure protection and cybersecurity by preventing and implementing network security features to safeguard networks against threats and malware. I have to ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Hillstone E-Series vs. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.