We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for our gateway security.
System Engineer at DLP
Has good ID management and the configuration is easy
Pros and Cons
- "The user experience is good and the configuration is very easy."
- "Technical support can be faster at responding."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Embedded machine learning is important.
The user experience is good and the configuration is very easy.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls provide a unified platform that natively integrates security capabilities.
What is most valuable?
IDM is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The process of applying updates to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls has room for improvement.
The price also has room for improvement and the technical support could respond faster.
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
909,153 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We have 60 people that use the solution in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good but can sometimes be slow.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used WatchGuard XTM firewalls, but I switched to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because of their superior performance and features.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a good return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive compared to WatchGuard XTM firewalls.
What other advice do I have?
I give Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls a ten out of ten.
We have to perform regular updates for the solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Deputy Project Leader for CVE at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Saves our company time and resources, which equals money saved
Pros and Cons
- "Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves us time."
- "I would like more reporting and metrics in the solution."
What is our primary use case?
We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls mostly for firewalls.
How has it helped my organization?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves our company time and resources, which equals money.
What is most valuable?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls saves us time. The solution's firewalls have secured our company, and we don't have to worry about anything.
What needs improvement?
I would like more reporting and metrics in the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a very scalable solution.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because it saves us time. We haven't worried about any security issues and feel very protected with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is expensive but is worth the price.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, we did evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
We're fine with the firewall and not shopping around for a firewall.
The fact that it embeds machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention is invaluable to me.
Palo Alto NGFW provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities, which is invaluable to me.
It does a great job of securing data centers consistently across all workplaces, i.e., from the smallest office to the largest data centers, and we have zero complaints.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have helped us reduce about twenty extra hours a week of downtime in our organization.
I rate the value we receive from attending an RSA Conference a ten out of ten.
Attending RSAC will surely have an impact on our organization's cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year afterward.
Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
909,153 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Information Security Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Helps with audit and compliance, but it should be easier to gather evidence
Pros and Cons
- "I typically get involved with it when it comes to audit and compliance and having to gather evidence of those firewalls, routers, and rule sets. The evidence that I typically need is there."
- "I don't deal with it from a day-to-day perspective, but I can say that the evidence that I typically need is there, but sometimes, it's a task to actually get it and pull it out. They can make it easier to gather that evidence."
How has it helped my organization?
Solutions like firewalls and routers improve any company. If you don't have them, then I wouldn't be doing business with you.
Palo Alto has embedded machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention. That's big. We're embedding that type of security and information into every part of our corporate network as well as our products.
It has helped to reduce downtime in our organization. The savings are probably in single digits.
What is most valuable?
I typically get involved with it when it comes to audit and compliance and having to gather evidence of those firewalls, routers, and rule sets. The evidence that I typically need is there.
We got a lot of integrations into it, but I don't know if it integrates with all.
What needs improvement?
I don't deal with it from a day-to-day perspective, but I can say that the evidence that I typically need is there, but sometimes, it's a task to actually get it and pull it out. They can make it easier to gather that evidence. From our NetOps team's perspective also, they can make it easier to manage and constantly update those rule sets.
For how long have I used the solution?
I don't know for how long exactly we have been using this solution, but I've been aware that we've had them probably since about 2016 or 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. They are highly ranked within their space.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a good product for securing all types of workplaces. It's specifically good for data centers, which are all brick-and-mortar houses. Small businesses must also have it because they don't have the ability to have everything in a cloud or virtualized firewalls and other things like that.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't dealt with their support team.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its initial deployment.
What was our ROI?
I am able to gather some of the evidence and things that I need. Our NetOps team uses it heavily, and they love it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would assume that it's still within mid-range given its company structure and everything else. My guess is it's still okay.
What other advice do I have?
To someone at another company who says, “We are just looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall,” I would say that you just lost the customer because I'm not going to do business with somebody who is going for the cheapest. I'm always looking for a vendor or customer that has more input and cares about the security of their systems.
The value received from attending an RSA Conference includes prizes and other things, but on a personal level, I love the tech talks, knowing about a lot of industry changes, and different product solutions being showcased.
RSAC definitely has an impact on our organization’s cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year. One of my main roles is vendor due diligence, so I come to RSA quite often, and I have conversations with many different sales engineers who can explain the security of their products because that's what I focus on during our onboarding process.
Overall, I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Network Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Supports Single Pass Architecture, stops any attack on the line, and saves time
Pros and Cons
- "I like all the threat alerts and WildFire. I also like scanning because everything that comes into our network via customers is scanned. We're an electric company, so every one of the bills is scanned and emailed in and out of our network."
- "I like the reports, but I wish the reporting was a little better. When I set up the automatic reports to come in, they're pretty basic. I would like them to be a little more advanced at the ACC monitoring and things like that. I still enjoy all the daily alerts that I get and all the daily PDFs and reports, but I just feel that it could expand upon the visualization of the reports."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for our edge firewalls and our east-west and north-south traffic for our firewalls. We have also deployed each firewall to every site for our Layer 3 connections back to our data center.
How has it helped my organization?
Since we've integrated it into our east-west traffic and north-south traffic, I feel that it has reduced the number of viruses or other things in our endpoints. I wish to expand it more all the way to our endpoint computers so that we have end-to-end firewall security through Palo Alto.
It provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities. This is very important to me because I'm in IT infrastructure. I take care of the entire operations network and everything that flows north and south, east and west, and inside and out of our data center. It's very important that we have Palo Alto to protect us.
It embeds machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention. When any packet comes through the network, everything is like a first pass. It goes through every single part of our network, and we don't have a delay in alerts or network security. It stops any attack on the line.
What is most valuable?
I like all the threat alerts and WildFire. I also like scanning because everything that comes into our network via customers is scanned. We're an electric company, so every one of the bills is scanned and emailed in and out of our network.
What needs improvement?
I like the reports, but I wish the reporting was a little better. When I set up the automatic reports to come in, they're pretty basic. I would like them to be a little more advanced at the ACC monitoring and things like that. I still enjoy all the daily alerts that I get and all the daily PDFs and reports, but I just feel that it could expand upon the visualization of the reports.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is great. They're not going anywhere. They're the industry leader.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It doesn't matter whether you are small or large, Palo Alto will fit your needs.
How are customer service and support?
I'm in Pacific Standard Time. During the day, I have great support, and after 5:30, I don't have great support. During my business hours, I would rate their support as a ten out of ten. I love Palo Alto's support. However, at night, when the sun changes and I go to a different area, it's not always the best at level 1. If the incident was like having a system down, the support would be better, but after hours or 5:30, I have a harder time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Cisco ASA. We switched because of its ease to use and the GUI. There is also Single Pass Architecture, which is related to the way a packet flows through our network. It doesn't have to go through one area into another area. It's all at one, and it just separates. It gives me the best visibility of our network and firewalls.
What was our ROI?
It has decreased the time of technicians in researching the vulnerabilities. We also do web filtering, so that helps. Web filtering has changed things because we used to use Websense, and it's night and day.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's very expensive. However, we usually use all of the subscriptions and threat alerts on any firewall that uses the internet. For each edge security endpoint, we use all subscriptions. Otherwise, we just utilize the threat alert, the antivirus, WildFire, etc.
What other advice do I have?
Palo Alto is the best firewall company. Whether you're a small company or a large company, it will fit your needs.
By attending this RSA Conference, I was hoping to find new security solutions. However, I seem to like my existing Palo Alto security solutions. In terms of the impact of the RSA Conference on our organization’s cybersecurity purchases, it depends on what we're looking for at the time of attending an RSA Conference. Right now, we're looking for something that I didn't really see here. We're looking for security, but this means we need a security operations center (SOC), whereas we're small. We just don't have that type of network. This is almost too much. However, that's why we have Palo Alto Networks.
I would rate it a nine out of ten. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Palo Alto is the best firewall security network that I could possibly purchase.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "Their Prisma log collection is pretty great. Our product collects the logs, and it definitely makes the configuration of log collection easier."
- "Everything has been great. More machine learning would be something great to see, but I don't know if it's a priority for Palo Alto."
What is our primary use case?
We're partners. Essentially, we take all the Palo Alto firewall policy information and all the device information, and we put it on a single pane of glass for them.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities. This communication between security devices or security platforms is pretty important.
It helps to reduce downtime in our organization, but I don't have the metrics.
What is most valuable?
Their Prisma log collection is pretty great. Our product collects the logs, and it definitely makes the configuration of log collection easier.
What needs improvement?
Everything has been great. More machine learning would be something great to see, but I don't know if it's a priority for Palo Alto.
For how long have I used the solution?
We're partners with Palo Alto. We've been partnering with them for about ten years for their firewalls.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's pretty scalable. Palo Alto does a great job across the board from small businesses to large enterprise solutions.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had direct communication with their support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've worked with different firewall solutions such as Check Point, Cisco, ACI, and Fortinet, but Palo Alto is definitely among the ones that I like to work with.
What was our ROI?
Overall, it provides a wide range of features for securing an environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You get what you pay for.
What other advice do I have?
The RSA Conference is great. You get to see a wide range of products all in one place. In terms of security, this is the place to be. It has been a great experience.
I believe attending the RSA Conference has an impact on our organization’s cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year afterward. It gives us a good forecast as to where the industry is going and what's to come so that we can be better prepared to partner with all different vendors.
To a colleague at another company who says, “We are just looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall,” I would say that Palo Alto is definitely not the cheapest. It's one of those things where you prefer quality.
Overall, I'd rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Head of Engineering at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has a user-friendly dashboard and a more complete IPS
Pros and Cons
- "Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls' IPS is more complete and is very good. This is a user-friendly solution that is easy to install, and it provides the best protection."
- "Palo Alto needs to improve their training. They do not invest in their partners. I have been a partner for seven years, and it is very expensive for me to certify my engineers."
What is our primary use case?
We have clients in the government and supermarkets, for example, who use this firewall for integration with EDR, NDR, CN, and IPS.
What is most valuable?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls' IPS is more complete and is very good. This is a user-friendly solution that is easy to install, and it provides the best protection.
It's very important that Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls embed machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention because all components are moving laterally these days. We need tools that follow the zero-trust model.
These firewalls have helped reduce downtime in our organization as well.
What needs improvement?
Palo Alto needs to improve their training. They do not invest in their partners. I have been a partner for seven years, and it is very expensive for me to certify my engineers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with these firewalls for almost seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The firewalls are very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Palo Alto's scalability is not as good as that of Check Point. With Check Point, I can integrate the firewall with other products.
How are customer service and support?
We do not have technical support in Brazil, so I would rate it a two out of ten. However, Palo Alto's technical support in the US is good, and I would give them a rating of eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with Check Point, but it's very difficult to configure. Palo Alto is much easier to configure, and the dashboard is very user-friendly as well.
How was the initial setup?
Because I have worked with Palo Alto for seven years, the initial setup is very easy for me. However, new engineers may find the configuration difficult.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are very expensive compared to other firewalls such as Fortinet. As a result, Palo Alto is losing some of its market share.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls an eight out of ten because it's a good product.
I like attending RSA conferences because it gives me the opportunity to see what competitors are doing and what is new on the market.
Attending RSAC does have an impact on our cyber security purchases, but I would like to see manufacturers offer more training, certifications, labs, and demos at RSAC.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Program Manager, Cybersecurity at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides good security and visibility, and integrates well with our SIEM
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is advanced URL filtering. Its prevention capabilities and DNS security are also valuable. It pinpoints any suspicious activities and also prevents the users from doing certain things."
- "Palo Alto should improve their support. It's sometimes difficult to get the right technician or engineer to fix the problem as soon as possible."
What is our primary use case?
We use Palo Alto as our perimeter firewall. We also use the GlobalProtect VPN solution.
How has it helped my organization?
It gives visibility into different threats. There is a wide range of threats that can be identified.
We collect logs from Palo Alto into our Rapid7 SIEM solution. It's pretty well integrated. This integration is important because we don't necessarily want a solution from the same vendor. I know Palo Alto has Cortex for collection. Being open to other vendors in order to ingest the data or logs is a great thing.
Palo Alto has embedded machine learning in the core of the firewall to provide inline, real-time attack prevention, which is important because AI is the future. All cybersecurity companies are going to start using it. It's definitely a good thing. We just need to make sure that there's still the human component because AI can still fail.
Palo Alto has a wide range of different appliances or virtual machines. It can be installed anywhere from a small branch to a data center. It helps to secure small businesses to large enterprises.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is advanced URL filtering. Its prevention capabilities and DNS security are also valuable. It pinpoints any suspicious activities and also prevents the users from doing certain things. For example, DNS security prevents users from reaching certain websites, so it's really interesting.
What needs improvement?
Palo Alto should improve their support. It's sometimes difficult to get the right technician or engineer to fix the problem as soon as possible.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Palo Alto for at least five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
They're pretty robust. They also have Unit 42, which is their threat intelligence team. They make you feel safer because they can identify the threats and then implement protection from those into their firewall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is pretty good on the virtual side. Because the virtual environment licensing model is based on credit, if you don't wanna use UI protection tomorrow, you can get rid of it and use those credits for another product or another license.
How are customer service and support?
Because of the pandemic, there's a lot of turnover and the quality of the support technicians is not great. I hope they will improve. I would rate their support a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I didn't use any other solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
It was straightforward. They have great documentation. We use Palo Alto in the Azure environment, and their Azure documentation is one of the best documentation I've ever seen. It's very detailed. It can be confusing sometimes because there's a lot of information, but it's definitely good. They're good at documenting, and their knowledge base is really interesting for troubleshooting. There's a lot of useful information.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed it ourselves. We didn't use any company to deploy it.
What was our ROI?
It's hard to tell. It's preventing attacks, but I don't have any specific case where I can say whether a particular attack would not have been blocked by another vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't evaluate any other options.
What other advice do I have?
As a result of my experience with Palo Alto NGFW, to a colleague at another company who says, “We are just looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall,” I would say that the cheapest and fastest means there is a potential risk of breach. Even though Palo Alto is quite expensive, it definitely makes you feel secure. The configuration of the appliances or virtual machines is pretty straightforward, so you don't need to be highly trained in order to be the administrator of the platform.
It's important to attend an RSA Conference even if you're already a customer. That's because you might not be necessarily aware of the new products, so going to an RSA Conference can help you identify new solutions that may be valuable for your company.
Attending an RSA Conference will have an impact on our organization’s cybersecurity purchases made throughout the year afterward. There are a lot of different vendors that I've found, and I will probably get in touch soon.
Overall, I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
M&B at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Good protection, easy to install, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of the solution is the network protection."
- "The support could be improved. Palo Alto does not have a support team located in Bangladesh, and their support team operates from another location. Therefore, when we raise a ticket, it takes some time for them to respond, which can be problematic for us."
What is our primary use case?
I am a customer of Palo Alto Networks. If any issue arises, I raise a ticket with Palo Alto.
How has it helped my organization?
We are currently using Palo Alto in our national data center, which is a large Tier Three data center. As all communication is now going through APIs, it would be beneficial to improve Palo Alto by adding an API scanner in the future.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the network protection.
We decided to use Palo Alto because they are the leader in the market.
Palo Alto does provide a unified platform that natively integrates all security capabilities.
These days, DDoS attacks are becoming more frequent, especially in external data centers. Therefore, we need to enhance the DDoS attack block list and update patches in our national data center.
What needs improvement?
The API scanner could be improved.
The support could be improved.
Palo Alto does not have a support team located in Bangladesh, and their support team operates from another location. Therefore, when we raise a ticket, it takes some time for them to respond, which can be problematic for us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Since we have definitely used Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, it's not possible to compare them with any other product.
The stability of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The current solution is satisfactory, but we require more scalability from Palo Alto.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good.
I would rate the technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we did not use another solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, as we prioritize quality over price for our federal work. Our main concern is protection, as we need to safeguard national assets.
What about the implementation team?
I am the consultant.
What was our ROI?
We have observed a positive return on investment because if a DDoS attack were to occur, it would result in a loss of business and other adverse effects.
By using Palo Alto to protect our data, we can prevent such attacks and ensure that our business runs smoothly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We always aim to reduce the pricing, as it is currently a bit high and needs to be lowered.
Before my organization purchases any product, they must obtain my permission and also conduct an evaluation.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
From the very beginning, we have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, I cannot make a comparison with other firewall solutions.
What other advice do I have?
Palo Alto is the market leader in firewall technology, and we also use their firewall. However, we have been experiencing DDoS attacks and are using Palo Alto to protect against them.
In some cases, we may need to increase the DDoS block list and update patches through Palo Alto.
As someone who works in the national data center, we always strive to use the very best, not the cheapest.
I would rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Security Engineer at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
Effectively protects environment from threats, but the technical support is lacking
Pros and Cons
- "In general, I appreciate the regular firewall function of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls."
- "There is room for improvement in the area of customer service."
What is our primary use case?
We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls with Prisma and cloud environments.
How has it helped my organization?
As a firewall, it effectively protects our environment from threats.
What is most valuable?
In general, I appreciate the regular firewall function of the Palo Alto Networks NG Firewall.
Overall, it is a good networking device product.
From my perspective, having machine learning integrated into the core of the Palo Alto NG Firewalls is very important for enabling real-time attack prevention.
As far as I know, the use of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls has resulted in reduced downtime, but I am not directly involved with that department.
What needs improvement?
One main issue I've encountered is customer service. Occasionally, when I open a request, it gets closed automatically, without any explanation, leaving me unsure of what happened to it. However, overall, the product itself works well. As for Prisma Cloud, it could benefit from some additional functionality, but the main issue is the lack of communication regarding closed requests.
There is room for improvement in the area of customer service.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have had experience working with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for three or more years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is good.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is lacking. I would rate the technical support a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we worked with Cisco Secure Firewall.
We switched to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because it was a good deal for the company.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in the deployment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Another team was responsible for running the proof of concept.
What other advice do I have?
I don't have any knowledge or experience regarding the unified platform and native integration of all security capabilities provided by Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls.
Based on my experience, evaluating the security solution for all workplaces from the smallest office to the largest data centers cannot be assessed by a single path. However, in general, the solution is performing its intended job well.
I would rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls an eight out of ten.
Attending the RSA conference provided me with an enormous amount of knowledge on various topics such as new technologies, and threats in different environments, including cloud and on-premises. Which impacts my purchase throughout the year afterward.
One of our objectives is to search for new solutions, whether to replace current ones with more modern options or to explore new sandboxes, technologies, and vulnerabilities.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Security Specialist at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Easy to configure, reliable, with an appealing syntax
Pros and Cons
- "The most important part of this solution is its reliability, as it just works without any fancy features."
- "Enhancements could potentially be made to the firmware to improve its inspectability."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls as Foundry Network devices, but we also use them to filter internal network traffic.
How has it helped my organization?
I don't believe there is a significant difference. It is similar to any Google firewall product in that it works as long as they are reliable.
What is most valuable?
The most important part of this solution is its reliability, as it just works without any fancy features. Users are mainly concerned about their ability to function consistently and dependably.
I believe that companies could potentially gain an advantage by leveraging their engineers' familiarity with certain interfaces. Typically, the familiarity factor plays a significant role in product selection, and if they have experience using certain interfaces, they are more likely to opt for those products.
In terms of the interface, I don't feel there is any distinction between this vendor and others. I believe that familiarity with the products itself is an important consideration.
What needs improvement?
With the use cases that I am familiar with, I don't believe that additional features would be of any benefit.
Adding more features generally causes more issues. I would prefer they focus on improving reliability rather than adding new features.
My preference would be to exclude machine learning since it must be capable of explanation. This is really important to us, and the performance must also be highly predictable. If it is implemented, at the very least, the option to disable it completely must be available.
In my view, machine learning is often a bothersome addition that can potentially compromise security by allowing unauthorized traffic to pass through undetected.
From my experience, this tends to occur in networks where all the traffic is clearly defined.
Enhancements could potentially be made to the firmware to improve its inspectability.
For how long have I used the solution?
In my current job, I have been using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have been a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It has been as scalable as you would expect.
I have experience working on both small office networks as well as larger ones spanning multiple locations, typically around three to five locations.
I have worked with a range from small office setups with around fifty devices to larger ones with a scale of maybe a thousand, two thousand, or even five thousand devices.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with quite a lot of other vendors.
In my opinion, I find the configuration of this product more appealing than that of Cisco, but ultimately, it comes down to the preference of the organization's administrators. In terms of features, I don't see a significant difference between them; they all seem pretty standard to me.
I find their syntax more appealing, especially for the command line.
How was the initial setup?
I am rarely involved in the deployment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When assessing firewalls for securing data centers consistently and across all workspaces or places, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are suitable products.
From my experience, they have demonstrated excellent performance.
While it may not necessarily decrease downtime, it also doesn't cause any increase in downtime.
What other advice do I have?
Attending events like RSA has proven to be quite beneficial for me in terms of meeting new people and discovering interesting products. These events generated new contacts and partnerships for my organization.
I believe that we will likely evaluate and purchase at least one of the products in the near future.
It's a decent product, I would rate Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: July 2026
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
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