Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL] comparison

Palo Alto Networks and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 96% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...

Read 199 Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls reviews

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96% willing to recommend

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Read 34 WatchGuard XTM [EOL] reviews

90% willing to recommend

Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

WatchGuard XTM [EOL] and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are competing in the firewall technology space. While WatchGuard XTM [EOL] offers simple configurations and appeal to budget-conscious businesses, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls provide more advanced security features, making them preferable for enterprises prioritizing comprehensive protection despite higher costs.

Features: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] provides basic security features, ease of use in small environments, and straightforward rule configuration. It is known for robust VPN capabilities. Meanwhile, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer advanced threat prevention, application visibility, and cloud integration. These features emphasize Palo Alto’s focus on delivering a comprehensive security package with robust application control and detailed traffic visibility.

Room for Improvement: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] could enhance its feature set by integrating more advanced threat prevention tools and improving scalability for larger enterprises. Its application visibility and cloud integration also need enhancement. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, on the other hand, might improve in simplifying their deployment process and reducing the technical expertise required, as well as enhancing their initial cost-effectiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard XTM [EOL] is praised for its straightforward deployment, appealing to businesses seeking quick and simple implementations. It is suitable for administrators with varying experience levels, offering intuitive management interfaces. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer extensive support services, crucial for facilitating complex and large-scale deployments, despite requiring more technical know-how initially. Their customer service is comprehensive, helping users navigate through advanced configurations.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard XTM [EOL]'s lower cost attracts cost-sensitive organizations aiming for immediate savings. However, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls justify their higher prices through long-term security benefits and advanced features, leading to potentially higher ROI. Businesses prioritizing robust security over initial expenditures might find Palo Alto’s offerings more valuable despite their costly nature.

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Firewalls

July 2026

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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

Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

199

Ranking in other categories

Firewalls (5th)

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Nitin Yadav

Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.

Strong threat prevention has reduced phishing and malware while I monitor traffic in depth

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers application and user awareness, which allow me to control traffic based on threats. The product includes threat prevention, advanced threat prevention, and deep packet inspection that really helps prevent issues in our network. Deep packet inspection inspects full traffic content, even inside applications and encrypted sessions. Deep packet inspection makes a very practical difference day to day because it lets me see and control what is actually inside the traffic, not just the open port or IP. I have real visibility of which application is running instead of just seeing HTTPS. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls WildFire sandboxing is really good at detecting and blocking zero-day malware automatically, along with its GlobalProtect and DNS security features. Using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls positively impacts my organization by providing strong security, better visibility, faster response, and simplified operations. After deploying Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls in our network, it blocks malicious traffic and prevents compromises that occurred before Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. I can now block outside IPs to prevent issues. After Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls installation, I reduced 60 to 70 percent of malware and phishing attacks. Its threat prevention and DNS security features detect these attacks, block malicious domains, and reduce manual efforts for the security team.

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Generalm4545

General Manager- IT & Automation - Serum at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Protects from attack software and hacking but it doesn't provide the reports in a readable format

In my opinion, image clarity is very important, because I don't get the proper image product on reports. This means that functionality is not there. My engineer does not know how he can replace an order. We attach a log after any kind of keys using a utility instead. For the internet policies that we are implementing, the policy should be based on proper protocols. We use the default policies and there are a number of third-party protocols that appear here. Management with WatchGuard XTM means that out of policy is the problem from our side. In this way, we can not do effective services for people with this one. The policy definition with WatchGuard XTM is not proper for all use case requirements. I've got weekly business reports that I am expecting attachments with from WatchGuard XTM that display data for all kinds of consideration which should be required. Main User Functionality Level Order must adhere to using the admin functionality on the registry, or else our users publish their own name. Maybe these recommendations are irrelevant, but I say that the issue to improve most with WatchGuard XTM is the Main User Function.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A feature introduced by Palo Alto with the version 10-OS is embedded machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention. Machine learning analyzes the network traffic and detects if there is any usual traffic coming from outside to inside. Because of Palo Alto, organizations detect around 91% of malicious attacks using machine learning. The machine learning helps customers by implementing firewalls in critical and air gap areas so there is no need to integrate with the cloud sandbox."

"The performance of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is the most valuable feature."

"We found, based on the submissions, that Palo Alto seemed to be the one that had the most complete solution."

"By switching to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, we made use of the Panorama management tool to manage all our firewalls, making the management side much easier and providing visibility from their monitoring to see the traffic, which we were not able to do before with our previous firewall manufacturer."

"I like the navigation of the general Panorama solution. I can easily navigate around and get to the thing I need. I'm not wasting time trying to find something."

"In general, I appreciate the regular firewall function of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls."

"As long as you are comfortable with the price point, you are not going to make a mistake going this way."

"The solution is very stable."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pros

"We're really happy with WatchGuard."

"Simply, give this tool a try; it will generate great benefits in terms of the scalability and environment."

"Lots of enterprise-grade features in SMB firewall Cost-price performance is at its best"

"Today, however, with the 11.9.4 version, our environment is very stable."

"WatchGuard XTM2050A has enterprise class performance with the cost of an SMB class device."

"I like the hostwatch because I can see what traffic uses the most bandwidth and I can block that site."

"Monitoring of network activity is included in the box."

"I would recommend this product, as it is a very flexible one with probably the most intuitive configuration."

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] pros

Cons

"Finally, there are limitations to the hardware in the number of objects and policy we can create which is not the case with Check Point or FortiGate."

"Technical support is an area that could be improved."

"The biggest thing that needs to be improved with them is their training. I took a training class for the 8.0 build, then I took it again for the 9.0 and 10 builds. They add new features every time that they do a new major release, but the training doesn't keep up. It is the same basic training that probably was with the 3.0 build, and they just change the screenshots. I would love to see them do some more work since they have all these bells and whistles, but we don't know how to use those features on a large scale."

"I would like them to improve their GUI interface, making it more user-friendly."

"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls don't provide a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities. It's missing some features for geofencing and understanding locations."

"The scalability is not so good because if you want to upgrade, you have to change the service completely."

"The price could be more friendly, which would be good for Palo Alto and us. If the price were a little lower, then it would be a viable option for mid-level businesses, who may not be able to deploy at the current price point."

"Annually, the licensing costs are too much."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls cons

"The support is poor and lazy."

"The initial setup is neither simple nor complex. If you know the base in networking and how the firewall works, you will be able to figure it out."

"Sometimes the local firebox management tool is flaky."

"Initially WatchGuard assured us regarding endpoint security, but we are not sure that the product provides endpoint security features to its full extent."

"The VPN errors are not helpful when troubleshooting."

"We had some problems of instability with older versions of the software."

"I’m not in favor having to setup security proxy settings instead of just turning them on like you do with the SonicWALL enhanced OS."

"Expensive Requires client-server application to use some advanced features"

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Palo Alto is a more expensive firewall solution than others."

"This is an expensive product, which is why some of our customers don't adopt it."

"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive."

"It can be quite expensive, but there's a good incentive for the three-year contracts. The part that is especially confusing is for the virtual environment. The credits or the licensing system can be very confusing."

"This solution is quite expensive."

"The tool is expensive, especially considering all the necessary licenses for centrally managing firewalls. For medium-sized companies like ours, it's often not feasible within our budget constraints. We pay around €200k yearly for all our firewalls. Additionally, we received a quote of over €1 million per year for Prisma Access. There is a significant cost difference compared to other options, where it's around €200k per year."

"The cost of the license is platform-dependent. It would be nice if they standardized that across the board to make the license a flat fee instead of based on scale and the platform you're using. Functionality shouldn't change based on the platform or the amount of data going through it. It's the same functionality on there. That's one aspect customers often raise. The platform's price is what it is, but the ongoing cost of the annual license is hard for some customers to wrap their heads around."

"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive."

More Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls pricing and cost advice

"Like all other manufacturers, there are a lot of features and different pricing. The best is to talk to a representative."

"Get at least a maintenance contract for the updates and take a larger WatchGuard than you need. A WatchGuard creates new ways to secure your network."

"The licensing and renewal is very expensive."

"It costs less than the SO works and others (like SonicWall, Cisco, and Barracuda) without increasing so much CPU use."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

15%

Marketing Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	77
Midsize Enterprise	57
Large Enterprise	87

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include int...

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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...

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Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat signatures and updates. I also appreciate that I can just import addresses and URL...

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Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 12% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

Compared 5% of the time

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Fortinet FortiGate vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 22% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 18% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 11% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

More WatchGuard XTM [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls

July 2026

Download Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard XTM [EOL]

July 2026

Download WatchGuard XTM [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls deliver advanced threat protection with machine learning, enhancing security through real-time attack prevention. Known for application visibility and a user-friendly interface, they offer robust network protection and flexibility in rule creation.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are designed to secure environments with features like GlobalProtect VPN, WildFire malware detection, and unified platform integration. Their strong firewall capabilities and high-performance throughput make them suitable for perimeter and data center protection, VPN configurations, application control, and network segmentation. Users consistently highlight the ease of managing network security policies and integrating third-party tools, ensuring a comprehensive protection strategy. While enhancements in support, training resources, and configuration simplicity are needed, these firewalls are integral for securing both on-prem and cloud environments, aligning with platforms like Azure and AWS.

What are the key features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Application Visibility: Provides insight into network traffic for better control.
Threat Prevention: Uses machine learning for real-time attack prevention.
GlobalProtect VPN: Secures remote access efficiently.
WildFire Malware Detection: Detects and prevents advanced threats.
Unified Platform Integration: Enhances network security through seamless integration with other tools.

What benefits should be evaluated when considering Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?

Flexibility in Rule Creation: Allows customized security policies to meet specific needs.
High-Performance Throughput: Ensures efficient network operations under high load.
Comprehensive Policy Management: Simplifies overseeing and adjusting security policies.
Robust Endpoint Security: Protects endpoints against sophisticated threats.
Seamless Integration: Works well with third-party tools for a comprehensive solution.

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are commonly implemented across industries for securing LAN environments, URL filtering, and ensuring Zero Trust security. They secure both on-premises and cloud infrastructures, often becoming integral parts of security frameworks within enterprises. Leveraging these firewalls in conjunction with Azure or AWS enhances the overall network protection strategies employed by organizations.

Palo Alto Networks

Small businesses need big security, too, and the WatchGuard XTM Series firewall/VPN appliances deliver that strong protection, but without the hefty price tag. Enterprise-grade security includes full HTTPS content inspection, VoIP support, and optional security subscriptions like Application Control and Intrusion Prevention Service.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments

AVG, Cyren, Kaspersky Lab, Lastline, NCP engineering, Trend Micro, Websense

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