Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs Sangfor NGAF comparison

Palo Alto Networks and Sangfor are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Palo Alto Networks is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.6, while Sangfor is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.1. Palo Alto Networks holds a 1.0% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sangfor’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Sangfor users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Sangfor NGAF and Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are competitors in the network security category. Sangfor NGAF holds the edge in cost-effectiveness and ease of management, while Palo Alto Networks PA-Series has superior threat prevention and scalability.

Features: Sangfor NGAF is acclaimed for its web application firewall, application control, and reliable virus update database. Its deployment simplicity and robust local support further enhance its appeal. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series shines with WildFire for advanced threat prevention, application-based policy enforcement, and strong integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Sangfor NGAF requires improvements in web interface stability, reporting, logging features, and integration with third-party solutions. Better hybrid environment functionality and competitive pricing are also crucial areas. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series could improve technical support and interface simplicity. Frequent updates challenge users, and lower-cost options could widen accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Sangfor NGAF and Palo Alto Networks PA-Series offer versatile deployment options, covering on-premises and hybrid configurations. Sangfor excels in responsive local support in regions like Pakistan. Palo Alto's strong technical support and comprehensive documentation might require dedicated staff due to complexity.

Pricing and ROI: Sangfor NGAF is positioned as more affordable, showing significant ROI especially for smaller businesses. Its competitive pricing is a key draw. Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is costly but justified by extensive features and capabilities, offering value for large enterprises with high-level security needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

December 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.8%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor NGAF is 1.1%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.8%
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series	1.0%
Sangfor NGAF	1.1%
Other	79.1%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Kevin Burgess

Global Network Engineering Technical Lead at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Has provided strong edge protection and advanced threat visibility while reducing manual effort

Some of the best features of this firewall are flexibility, overall depth of security analysis, and ease of use. I use application-based traffic classification. It has helped reduce my attack surface considerably; it's much better than simply doing a port-based analysis. The usefulness of machine learning algorithms in identifying threats with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is mostly behind the scenes; we subscribe to the threat analysis, so we don't see too much. It does perform some in-depth analysis, but most of the machine learning features operate on the back end, more than what we would see. 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. They're gathering data from all over the world, and we're going to see what we get hit with, but now we're seeing what everybody else is getting hit with.

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Zaid Farooqui

CIO at Indus Motor Company

Enhanced threat detection with integrated security features and good support

We are using application firewalling, WAF, and SD-WAN. The capabilities are mostly within the box. For example, you will get web application firewall WAF as part and parcel of this. SD-WAN is also bundled. It integrates with their SIEM and SOAR solutions very nicely. Lastly, the pricing point is very cost-efficient as well.

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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

"FortiGate NGF is simple compared to other firewalls. It is easy to use and you don't need any training. Any person with basic firewall knowledge can use it."

"We use a southern institution that's audited for IT security and the reporting that automatically comes off the unit makes it much easier to meet compliance standards and makes it easier as far as the amount of time that has to be spent to compile that information. If you get your reporting set up correctly when you initially set it up, you just select the one you want and hit print. The auditing trail on it is the best feature."

"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."

"It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."

"Provides good VPN capabilities."

"Customers keep on improving their licenses. The solution remains scalable and flexible. On-premises deployments may have some limitations. However, cloud deployments offer a high degree of flexibility."

"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."

"FortiGate IPS is really easy to use. I don't have any problems with this."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is that it is highly customizable."

"Palo Alto has predefined applications that you can control at the application level."

"It offers application-based policy enforcement. Palo Alto Networks firewalls help us recognize protocol anomalies, contrasting with other vendors that may require policies based on port numbers. With Palo Alto Networks, the port number isn't a constraint because their devices handle protocol traffic at Layer 7, allowing for accurate identification of protocol usage and port numbers. They can identify which protocol actually uses which port."

"A valuable feature that we can consider is the deployment time, which is significantly reduced. It is almost 90% faster compared to other solutions."

"I rate the stability as ten out of ten."

"I like the tool's security and web filtering features."

"It is stable when you set up something and put it into production. Once it works, you don't have other tasks or actions to perform."

"The solution provides good customer support."

More Palo Alto Networks PA-Series pros

"In our hospital, Sangfor NGAF works well for us in terms of ensuring confidentiality and availability, which are crucial in the healthcare industry."

"The capabilities are mostly within the box."

"SSL VPN is the best feature."

"It seems to be a durable, stable product."

"Sangfor has the best capabilities for securing connections, securing web browsers, securing servers, and general threat protection."

"Sangfor NGAF works accordingly with our customers. The solution has good performance, easy to use, and integrates well with the endpoints."

"The most valuable feature of Sangfor NGAF is its integration."

"The VPN connectivity feature is really nice."

More Sangfor NGAF pros

Cons

"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."

"The system can slow down when inspections are carried out."

"We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber."

"One area for improvement is the IPS engine."

"It is somewhat expensive compared to other solutions such as Sophos."

"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."

"I would like to see the licensing aspect improved because there is a feature we were yearning to use, the bandwidth monitoring feature, but it's licensed separately."

"Fortinet needs more memory to save the log files. We need it to save the logs on the hardware and not in the cloud. I know this feature is available in FortiCloud, but if we need this log locally, it is not available."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The initial setup of Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is very complicated."

"In future releases, maybe Palo Alto can enhance and enlarge their portfolio with SIEM solutions. They already have an endpoint protection solution, SOAR solution, that's fine. But when it comes to standalone IDS/IPS solution or email security solution, for example, we don't have any product in that category for Palo Alto."

"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."

"The technical support offered by Palo Alto is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"Palo Alto can improve the web application firewall (WAF) feature at layer 7."

"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is complicated to configure compared to one of its competitors."

"Pricing flexibility could be an aspect worth considering, as it has been a concern for some of our clients."

"Compared to other vendors, the solution's community should be strong enough to solve the problems engineers face."

More Palo Alto Networks PA-Series cons

"The support for YouTube or the Internet is not enough."

"The tool is expensive."

"I would be happy if Sangfor developed a firewall designed specifically for home use, as well as for small businesses such as clinics and so on. A household version of the Sangfor firewall for your personal computer or laptop would be ideal, in my opinion."

"The solution should be able to work in a hybrid setup."

"Scalability for any network device is not very easy in terms of vertical scalability."

"There is room for improvement in dependency on certain infrastructure, like the DNS dependency on the current DNS server that the company has. It should be standalone. It should not depend on any other DNS server."

"I believe that IAM and NGFW need to merge into a single box, instead of there being two separate box solutions."

"The GUI needs to be improved, lacks logic in some areas."

More Sangfor NGAF cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Easy to understand licensing requirements."

"It is a cost-effective solution that meets the user's needs."

"I'll rate FortiGate's pricing a five out of ten since it is moderately priced."

"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."

"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."

"Licensing is usually on a three-year period."

"Its price is affordable and lesser than Cisco. Cisco is expensive. In terms of licensing, there is only one issue. If a customer's license has expired a month ago and they do the renewal after one month, Fortinet renews the license from the start of the previous month. The activation of the product is done from the previous month, not from the date of renewal. The customers usually shout and complain that because they are paying today, the renewal should start from today. The support contract renewals or licensing should be renewed from the date of renewal, but Fortinet starts from the day it had expired. It is a loss for customers. They might have had some problems because of which they did not take the license one month before. Fortinet should work on this. Cisco doesn't do this. Cisco always starts from the day they apply for the license."

"I think that the pricing is fair."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is fair."

"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."

"Palo Alto Networks PA-Series's price is much higher than other firewall brands."

"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 cost varies depending on the device model, with entry-level firewalls priced around $1,300 to $1,500, while higher-end models can reach prices of several hundred thousand dollars."

"The product is offered to users at high prices compared to the pricing model of the other vendors in the market."

"Price-wise, Palo Alto offers high-price products."

"This product has an affordable and reasonable price point."

More Palo Alto Networks PA-Series pricing and cost advice

"The price could be more competitive."

"We purchased one year technical support and return to factory support, and we also purchased one-year technical support services. So those were additional."

"For over 2000 users, the cost is around 5000 to 6000 USD. If you want a web application firewall, you have to purchase an additional license for it."

"Price-wise, I would not consider Sangfor NGAF to be a cheap product. It is an expensive firewall solution, though not as expensive as something like Palo Alto, which is costly. However, the higher price point is justifiable given the feature set the tool provides that other firewalls may not offer in a single dedicated appliance."

"The product is very cost-effective compared to other brands or vendors."

"When it comes to the price of firewall solutions, Sangfor NGAF takes the cake."

"For four to five physical appliances for a licensed firewall, it costs approximately $4,000."

"If you know you have around 200+ computer users on your network, then the Sangfor NGAF 5200-F-I model would be the minimum recommended model for that amount of users. This model includes modules for packet filtering, deep packet inspection, malware scanning, DSCP filtration, and many other features."

More Sangfor NGAF pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?

The reporting feature and application ID functionality within Palo Alto Networks PA-Series are incredibly valuable to...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?

Regarding value for money, we brought this Palo Alto Networks PA-Series firewall last month, and we have taken up to ...

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What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series?

The areas that could be improved with Palo Alto Networks PA-Series include price. My experience with the price of the...

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What do you like most about Sangfor NGAF?

I think Sangfor NGAF is more valuable than Cisco products because of its simplicity and ease of management. If I comp...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor NGAF?

The licensing cost is quite high compared to other available firewalls in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sangfor NGAF?

The cost of licensing is very high compared to other firewalls available here. There should be improvements in hardwa...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

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Sophos Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Compared 12% of the time

OPNsense vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Compared 10% of the time

Juniper SRX Series Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

Compared 6% of the time

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Sophos Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 6% of the time

H3C SecPath Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Sangfor NGAF

Compared 5% of the time

More Sangfor NGAF Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series

January 2026

Download Palo Alto Networks PA-Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Sangfor NGAF

January 2026

Download Sangfor NGAF product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Sangfor NGAF Firewall Platform

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is essential for firewall implementation, perimeter defense, securing infrastructure boundaries, web filtering, VPN, and threat prevention. Organizations deploy it for secure cloud connections, internet security, and managing network devices.

Companies trust Palo Alto Networks PA-Series to protect corporate networks from external threats, control traffic between networks, and meet regulatory compliance. Integrating well with applications, it offers centralized management and advanced security features such as IDS, IPS, and GlobalProtect. It ensures stable performance, application-based policy enforcement, and decryption of SSL traffic while providing efficient resource usage and comprehensive logging.

What are the key features?

Stability: Reliable performance for continuous protection.
App-ID: Application-based policy enforcement.
URL Filtering: Prevents access to malicious websites.
Security Controls: Comprehensive threat prevention mechanisms.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies management and operations.
Efficient Resource Usage: Optimized for minimal resource consumption.
Reporting: Detailed logs and analytics for better insights.
Antivirus: Protects against malware and viruses.
WildFire: Advanced threat prevention with machine learning AI.
Protocol Anomaly Detection: Identifies unusual network behavior.
SSL Decryption: Ensures secure traffic inspection.
Encryption: Safeguards sensitive data.
VPN Capabilities: Secure remote access for users.
Active Directory Integration: Streamlines user authentication.
Quality of Service (QoS): Manages network traffic efficiently.

What benefits should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security: Superior threat prevention and detection.
Centralized Management: Streamlined control of network devices.
Regulatory Compliance: Assists in meeting legal requirements.
Operational Efficiency: Reduced resource usage and downtime.
Comprehensive Reporting: Complete visibility into network activities.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands.
User Accessibility: Simplifies secure access for remote employees.

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series is implemented across industries like healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. In healthcare, it ensures patient data protection and compliance with HIPAA. Financial institutions utilize it to secure transactions and meet regulatory standards. Retailers benefit from protecting customer information and securing online payments. Manufacturing companies deploy it to safeguard intellectual property and control plant floor operations.

Palo Alto Networks

Sangfor Next Generation Firewall (also known as NGAF) is a converged security solution providing protection against advanced threat, malware, viruses, ransomware and web-based attacks using integrated security features like firewall, IPS, anti-virus, anti-malware, APT, URL filtering, Cloud Sandbox, and WAF. As the world's first AI-enabled and fully integrated Next Generation Firewall & Web Application Firewall (WAF), NGAF offering the security visibility, real-time detection and response, simplified operation and maintenance and high-performance application layer security needed to operate an enterprise network in total security. Tested and proven to provide cutting-edge network security by ICSA Labs and endorsed by Gartner Inc., NGAF harnesses the power of Sangfor’s Neural-X threat intelligence and analytics platform and Engine Zero’s innovative malware detection to provide next-generation protection for today’s enterprise.

Sangfor

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Information Not Available

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Indonesia), Lawson, Inc. (Philippines), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), TEK Automotive (Italy), etc.

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

December 2025

Free Report: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF

Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks PA-Series vs. Sangfor NGAF and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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