The primary use for this product is for security as a firewall by a sales engineer for the guest environment.
Enables us to evaluate traffic in the customer environment by providing detailed reporting on the traffic and applications
Pros and Cons
- "One of the best firewalls on the market."
- "The user interface is a bit clumsy and not very user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It allowed us to evaluate traffic in the customer environment by providing detailed reporting on the traffic and applications.
What is most valuable?
The WildFire feature is one of the best features in this firewall. WildFire extends the capabilities of Palo Alto firewalls to block malware. The best feature for the reseller is Service Lifecycle Reviewer, SLR. You deploy Palo Alto Network Firewall to the customer environment and it collects data about customer environment, customer traffic. After a week, Palo Alto generates a report to review the traffic. The report tells what applications were touched and how users used these applications in the environment, as well as additional details. So for resellers, you just go to the customer, deploy the Palo Alto in the basic mode so the customer doesn't need to customize anything in their environment because Palo Alto works to meter traffic out of the box.
Of course, the reports register app ID, user ID, the space of the app IDs, the database of these app IDs and other common data. It is a great feature in the Palo Alto product.
What needs improvement?
The manufacturer can improve the product by improving the configuration. Some of the menus are difficult to navigate when trying to find particular features. It is not entirely intuitive or convenient. You might need to configure a feature in one menu and next you need to go to another tab and configure another part of the feature in another tab. It's not very user-friendly in that way. On the other hand, it's still more user-friendly than using the console. But this is certainly one feature they can improve.
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a great firewall, really one of the best in the market. It is one of few firewalls that can claim to be better than Cisco. It functions well, is very stable, and its reputation is known in the market.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think that the product is very customizable. If you don't need to protect a lot of assets, you can buy a small firewall at a low price for small needs, but if you need you can buy a bigger solution with more features. Scalability is very easy with Palo Alto Networks.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Actually, I have moved away from using this product because of changes in duties.
How was the initial setup?
Installation is really very straightforward. You just need to plug it in and connect to the environment and that's all. Deployment time depends on the size of the environment and customer needs. Some customers just need two or three policies and that's all. But some customers need more policies designed to cover the needs of specific departments. So deployment depends on the size of your environment. If it's a small company, it's not very hard to deploy the main features of Palo Alto, it may take an hour but not more than a day. It depends on the customer needs and size of the environment.
What about the implementation team?
I work as the system integrator, so I install instances of Palo Alto myself. It was the first security product that I learned to work with.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.

System Engineer at IRIS
Good web and application filtering, but the traps needs to be improved
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are web filtering and application filtering."
- "I would like to see better integration with IoT technologies."
What is our primary use case?
We resell products by Palo Alto and Cisco, and this next-generation firewall by Palo Alto is one of the products that we are familiar with.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are web filtering and application filtering.
The IPS functionality is very good.
The performance is good.
What needs improvement?
The price is expensive and should be reduced to make it more competitive.
Information about Palo Alto products is more restricted than some other vendors, such as Cisco, which means that getting training is important.
The traps should be improved.
I would like to see better integration with IoT technologies. Having a unified firewall for OT and IT would be very good.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with Palo Alto for about one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable firewall and you don't have a lot of surprises. The performance, throughput, and decryption are all good. It is important to remember that at the end of the day, it depends on the configuration.
For special functionality, you are going to have some exceptions. However, for the well-known functionality, it is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable in that the performance is good and you don't need a large cluster to operate it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good. The team is responsive and they gave us the right information at the right time to solve the difficulties and complexities that we were experiencing.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also sell products by Cisco and there are some differences between them. Palo Alto is more expensive and the performance is better. With Cisco, the documentation is better and it is easier to install. There is a lot more information available for Cisco products.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive product, which is why some of our customers don't adopt it.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anyone who is implementing the Palo Alto Next-Generation firewall is to take the training that is available. This will allow them to better work with the technology.
This is an ambitious company with a good security roadmap. The product is being continuously developed and they are professionals who are focused in this area of technology. It is the firewall that I personally recommend.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Feature-rich, user-friendly and very stable
Pros and Cons
- "You just need a web browser to manage it, unlike Cisco, which requires another management system."
- "The solution is very expensive. There are cheaper options on the market."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for traditional firewalling. We use it for VPN connections - especially now that people are doing work from home. This solution is our VPN gateway.
What is most valuable?
The solution has a lot more features than other firewall solutions, including Cisco, which we also use. It's very rich. There's so much there and we don't use a lot of it, although it is nice to have the option.
The solution itself is very user-friendly and quite easy to use.
You just need a web browser to manage it, unlike Cisco, which requires another management system.
The solution is quite stable.
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
What needs improvement?
The scalability is limited and depends on the size of the firewall that you will buy.
The solution is very expensive. There are cheaper options on the market.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for three years at this point. It's been a while. I have some good experience with it at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has proven itself to be quite stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable in terms of performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can only scale according to the sizing that a company has purchased. It depends on the size of the firewall that you will buy. For example, right now, we have this firewall with 24, which means our scalability is limited to 24.
They do have higher-end models for companies that have planned for bigger deployments.
At this point, we have about 200 users and three admins.
We're happy to use it for our perimeter firewall and so we are not planning to change it anytime soon.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is okay. We have local vendor support. Whenever we have an issue, we contact them and they help us open a ticket with Palo Alto.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use both Palo Alto and Cisco as our firewalls. We use them both at the same time.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup has the same amount of difficulty as, for example, a Cisco setup. Regardless of if it's Cisco or Palo Alto, it will all the same level of effort. However, the use cases will be different from one another.
That said, the whole process is pretty straightforward.
We have three admins on our team that can handle setup and maintenance responsibilities.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution is quite high, especially if you compare it to Cisco or Juniper.
The solution is subscription-based. Users can pay monthly or yearly. We pay on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
We are Palo Alto customers and end-users. We don't have a business relationship with the company.
We work with the 3000-series and tend to use the latest version of the product.
I would recommend the solution to other organizations if their budget supported buying it. Cost-wise, they are on the high side.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at an eight. We've largely been satisfied with its capabilities.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Chief of IT security department at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The DPI ability to understand web applications and build access rules on web application categories are great features
Pros and Cons
- "We have found the DPI ability to understand web applications and build access rules on web application categories first to be a great feature."
- "They could improve their support and pricing and maybe integration. It's a little more expensive that Check Point but the quality is better. Integration with firewall endpoints could be better. Palo Alto does have very good malware or antivirus protection. I think they could improve on that front."
What is our primary use case?
We use these firewalls on-premise. We use them as a central gateway for internet security. We also use them for organizing access to the internet from organizations, and security access rules.
What is most valuable?
We have found the DPI ability to understand web applications and build access rules on web application categories first to be a great feature. The firewalls have good integration and good log journals' integration with Qradar. This is how the system produces user logs, how they build, how they structure the logs is stable to integrate with SIEM. For example, Check Point is not so good in this category.
What needs improvement?
They could improve their support and pricing and maybe integration. It's a little more expensive than Check Point but the quality is better. Integration with firewall endpoints could be better. Palo Alto does have very good malware or antivirus protection. I think they could improve on that front.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls for about 12 months. We are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls to be a very stable solution and very convenient solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We don't have any problems with the performance. It works very good. We have not had any problems. If we compare with Check Point, Check Point is not really good in stability, not for monitoring. That is why we didn't choose Check Point to move to Palo Alto.
How are customer service and technical support?
We are satisfied with Palo Alto's support. We don't need to contact them frequently but when we do it is a good experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
If we compare with Check Point, Check Point is not really good in stability, not for monitoring. That is why we didn't choose Check Point to move to Palo Alto. Compared with Check Point, it's excellent. It's very good. It's even better than Cisco also. So for this kind of usage scenario, it's very good. We don't use it as a regular firewall or perimeter firewall. We use it only as an internet gateway. But for an internet gateway, it's very good.
How was the initial setup?
It was a very straightforward install and we were able to perform it from the Palo Alto books available. It only took one or two days for the installation. No problem with SIEM integrations or with the security policies. It's just worked as expected.
What about the implementation team?
We performed the installation in house from the Palo Alto books available.
What other advice do I have?
I would give Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls a rating of nine on a scale of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at Vibs
Stable, good technical support, and there are helpful use case description on the website
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability is very good."
- "This is a difficult product to manage, so the administrator needs to have a good knowledge of it, otherwise, they will not be able to handle it properly."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and this is one of the firewalls that we implement for our clients.
What needs improvement?
This is a difficult product to manage, so the administrator needs to have a good knowledge of it, otherwise, they will not be able to handle it properly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good.
We have a small number of clients with this solution in place.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with multiple firewall vendors and I have seen that products from other vendors have bugs. My feeling is that Palo Alto does not have this problem.
Some of the vendors that I have worked with are Fortinet and Sophos. The setup and management of these products are easy compared to Palo Alto.
How was the initial setup?
Implementing this product can be a little bit difficult. The configuration is difficult compared to other products, so it would be nice if there were videos are other instructions available. It can be very time consuming for the network administrator.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very high.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is implementing this firewall is to follow the guide or instructions that are available. There are multiple resources and examples of use cases available on the Palo Alto website, and you can directly follow them.
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: partner
Senior Technical Consultant at Exclusive GRP
Valuable accessibility, antivirus, and stability features with a simple implementation
Pros and Cons
- "The basic configuration will only take 15 minutes to set up"
- "Customers don't want to buy extra things for extra capabilities"
What is our primary use case?
We're customer facing; each customer uses it for a different purpose. Some use NG Firewalls for IPS capability, some for application capabilities, these kinds of things.
What is most valuable?
The accessibility, antivirus, and stability features are the most valuable. It's so stable, the customer can use the decryption features without impacting performance.
What needs improvement?
Most customers ask about the choice of features. It's limited. It's not arranged well for users. Also, customers don't want to buy extra things for extra capabilities. I would like to implement individual profiles for each user. Capability, in general, is limited.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solutions for 2 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a very stable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I am the customer's technical support. If a customer has issues, they would call me.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was basic. It was very simple. The basic configuration will only take 15 minutes. Anyone can set it up. If a person has worked with a firewall before, they can do it themselves. You only need one person for deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing is on a three year basis. Customers prefer one to three years. Licencing is pretty expensive. Check Point is cheaper than Palo Alto. There's also an international license. If a customer wants to control different things, they will need an extra license.
What other advice do I have?
I've helped customers using Fortinet and Check Point. They are compromised. Their firewall is not stable. But for some features, for example, encryption, they want to use this feature, but the firewall feature isn't great. With Palo Alto, there isn't any problem, you can open any feature - IPS feature, data encryption feature - there isn't an issue.
Implementation is simple, the product is stable, but I advise if people get the firewall I strongly recommend the use of the API features. They may not be accustomed to using a next-generation firewall. If they want to use NG Firewalls, they need to use and implement the API features. They need to create uses based on the application.
My understanding is Version 9 will introduce some logic features.
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Works at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Country blocking, URL filtering, reporting, and visibility help to enforce our acceptable use policies
Pros and Cons
- "One of the things I really like about it is that we have the same features and functions available on the entry-level device (PA-220), as do large corporations with much more costly appliances."
- "The initial configuration is complicated to set up."
What is our primary use case?
I use the PA-220 to protect the LAN at my small-ish (about twenty people) office. We have several remote users who use the GlobalProtect VPN. As we move into a data center for hosting, I'll buy a second PA-220 to set up a site-to-site VPN. We also have a VM-50 for internal testing and lab use.
How has it helped my organization?
I'm writing this review because it's a great product and I think it's ranked much too low on the review ratings. One of the things I really like about it is that we have the same features and functions available on the entry-level device (PA-220), as do large corporations with much more costly appliances.
With all the bells and whistles turned on, I can block access to websites based on their location (country), content, or other criteria. The reporting is really useful and shows me the most frequently used applications, and provides me with great visibility as to what my network users are doing on the internet. With this firewall in place, I can finally enforce the variety of acceptable use policies which have existed only on paper.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are blocking traffic by country, and URL filtering to improve policy compliance and our overall cybersecurity posture. The ad blocker is also pretty handy. Moreover, the VPN client has turned out to be more useful than I initially thought, and the users love the 'one-click' connect.
What needs improvement?
The initial configuration is complicated to set up. You really have to know what you're doing. I attribute that to all of the features and functions that are built into the product. Luckily, Palo Alto has a great support site and you can find contractors who are knowledgeable in the technology.
For how long have I used the solution?
One year.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support for this solution is great.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we used a pfSense firewall. I was very unhappy with it, as it had a limited feature set and was not intuitive to configure.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is complex, due to all the features offered. You really have to know what you're doing.
What about the implementation team?
Implemented through a vendor who was knowledgeable with the product. It took at least a few months of tweaking before we got the firewall to the point it's currently at.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It will be worth your time to hire a contractor to set it up and configure it for you, especially if you are not very knowledgeable with PA firewalls.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at Cisco Meraki, but I wasn't really all that happy with it.
What other advice do I have?
I've used it and I'm very happy. Frankly, I think this site under-rates the technology, as it should be in at least the top three.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Manager at Ipenet Solutions
Secure solution that makes it easy to understand your network visibility, control the network, and prevent attacks
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is user-friendly. It's secure and easy to understand your network visibility, control the network, and prevent attacks."
- "The pricing could be improved. They need to work on the setup over the firewall, VLAN, and PPPoE."
What is our primary use case?
I am a reseller of Palo Alto Networks.
What is most valuable?
The solution is user-friendly. It's secure and easy to understand your network visibility, control the network, and prevent attacks.
What needs improvement?
The pricing could be improved. They need to work on the setup over the firewall, VLAN, and PPPoE.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I seldom call technical support because it's easy to understand and configure the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It could be less expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.
If you want to have a secure network, use Palo Alto.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:

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Updated: May 2025
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