Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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

Palo Alto Networks WildFire
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
71
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall Capture Advanced ...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Palo Alto Networks WildFire is 7.6%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks WildFire7.6%
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection1.6%
Other90.8%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

RK
Engineer at Taalumgroup
Achieve effective threat prevention and seamless integration with powerful technical support
Integration with third-party products is possible. For example, connecting a mail gateway with Palo Alto Networks WildFire allows them to handle prevention. Palo Alto Networks WildFire is a cloud-based sandboxing solution. The firewall is connected to WildFire, and XDR performs sandboxing from the cloud. WildFire conducts malware scanning and emulation, then informs the firewall to block threats based on the response. It also generates reports regarding malware and other issues. The sandboxing process involves sending sample files to the cloud for scanning, checking file authenticity, certificates, and detecting malicious code. WildFire performs multiple checks and informs the XDR agent about file status. This automatic process occurs within minutes or seconds. For unknown or suspicious files, immediate blocking occurs while samples are sent to WildFire for identification. I rate Palo Alto Networks WildFire a 9 out of 10.
Mohamed Fouad - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
Advanced sandboxing has protected our environment and stops unknown threats in real time
The most capable feature of SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is the accurate verdict of the file, and I have used many other types of sandboxing, but using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is truly helpful for our organization. In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall. It is easy to set up and connect SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection with other solutions, as it can be integrated with many products, supporting real-time memory inspection, rapid signature deployment, broad file type support, and block until verdict capability, along with flexible configuration, while providing comprehensive reporting. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection supports sandbox evasion techniques, which is important since sophisticated malware increases the evasion capability to detect and deceive sandboxing environments. SonicWall employs deception techniques simulating user interaction or fake high volume targets to determine when custom malware can still potentially bypass detection through environment-aware code. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection positively impacts our organization by helping us stop advanced persistent threats, as we have defined our targeted adversaries and increased security for our organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The backup is the best feature."
"Being an application-based firewall, this is one of the critical focus factors along with the threat prevention services it provides."
"Whole team can use the firewall and understand it."
"I value the massive usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies."
"A good tool for file scanning and email threat detection, especially when it comes to attachments and communications."
"The most valuable features of this solution are sandbox capabilities."
"The most valuable features of the solution are user-friendliness, price, good security, and cloud-related options."
"Scalable ATP solution that's quick to set up. It demonstrates good performance and stability."
"In my experience, the best features SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection offers include accuracy for the submitted files, and one of the most valued features is its usability, as it is so usable and helpful to integrate with other solutions, making it a fantastic product overall."
"Provides good protection and security."
"The reporting that you get from it is the most valuable feature. You can see it via the appliance itself, and also via the MySonicWall account for the registered device. You are able to select the file if it's malicious, and you can select it in the reporting and see what triggered it, and things like that. I found that to be quite useful."
"It also has an easy configuration. The feedback that we get from our customers is that it's a good product."
"The ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) on scanning is the most valuable feature."
"We get alert messages whenever there is a new threat. We are notified at the firewall level that things are blocked, which keeps us in our comfort zone."
"I like this setup for a firewall. You can set things up very easily and you can automate items as well. It's a very robust firewall solution for enterprise as well as small businesses."
"They have a large database of commonly known things that they can catch automatically, then they have anything which is questionable go to the sandbox and be examined there before going into our network."
 

Cons

"The free version does not have real-time updates. It is slow."
"The cost of the solution is excessively high."
"Palo Alto doesn't do much to support the on-premise version. It wants too much self-support for the on-premise version of WildFire."
"Management and web filtering can be improved. There should also be better reporting, particularly around web filtering."
"In the future, I would like to see more automation in the reporting."
"The technical support response needs improvement."
"If Wi-Fi can be improved to offer real-time security profiling and updates, it can prevent traits unrelated to Wi-Fi."
"In the future, Palo Alto could reduce the time it takes to process the file."
"SonicWall should promote their roadmap and improve their marketing to customers."
"I would like to have better documentation before starting with deployment because the deployment is a bit complex."
"SonicWall had a recent layoff. This is a concern for us, because now we are missing the local presence from both the engineering and sales side."
"Could provide online training to allow customers to learn more about the product."
"SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment."
"Having an on-premise solution as well would be an option for some people, but they'll want to use a cloud solution for their sandboxing. Certain sites would want to keep all the checks done on an on-premise appliance. All the checking, rather than sending that up into a cloud engine."
"I would say the solution needs a much simpler user interface, but the functionality of the firewall is quite extensive. You need the user interface to be that way. However, if there was a way to make the user interface a little easier, that would be great."
"It does fare well against enterprise products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be better."
"Palo Alto Networks solutions are typically on the higher end of pricing, but considering the value and integration with our existing infrastructure, it is worth the investment."
"For the last three years, the price of Palo Alto in Vietnam has been very high."
"​More expensive than other firewalls.​"
"Palo Alto Networks WildFire is an expensive product."
"It's pretty expensive but with respect to value for money, it's okay."
"Pricing could be improved."
"This is an expensive product and the market for Palo Alto in Poland could be much bigger if the pricing was comparable to Fortinet."
"When you compare it with other solutions, they are cheaper and more economical."
"It's thirty dollars per user and we have 30 users."
"We get our value for our money."
"The best deal from SonicWall is to buy the HA pair. When you buy the initial one, you receive the second one at a significant discount. If there is an event and something happens to one firewall, then you have the second firewall to roll into. For the price, it's pretty to tough to beat and not a lot of other firewall vendors offer it. You battle for a discount on both. Where with SonicWall, if you buy one, the second one is at half price. It's pretty straightforward."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions are best for your needs.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting
Mar 11, 2015
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks
Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

How does Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks Wildfire?
The Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall is a very powerful and very complex piece of anti-viral software. When one considers that fact, it is all the more impressive that the setup is a fairly straightf...
Which is better - Wildfire or FortiGate?
FortiGate has a lot going for it and I consider it to be the best, most user-friendly firewall out there. What I like the most about it is that it has an attractive web dashboard with very easy nav...
How does Cisco ASA Firewall compare with Palo Alto's WildFire?
When looking to change our ASA Firewall, we looked into Palo Alto’s WildFire. It works especially in preventing advanced malware and zero-day exploits with real-time intelligence. The sandbox featu...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection needs to reconsider the pricing, especially in the cloud environment. The product is good overall, but the GUI needs to be more stable. I chose nine out...
What is your primary use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
My main use case for SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection is that it helps us with sandboxing for analyzing and inspecting unknown files and URLs. A quick specific example of how I've used ...
What advice do you have for others considering SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection?
I advise others looking into using SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection to consider that it is truly helpful and very important to have great sandboxing with advanced threat protection to s...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Novamedia, Nexon Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Samsonite, IOOF, Sinogrid, SanDisk Corporation
Wonder Cement, Foster Clark Products
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.