Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series vs. Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Palo Alto next-generation firewalls classify all traffic, including encrypted and internal traffic, based on application, application function, user and content. Users can create security policies to enable only authorized users to run sanctioned applications.N/A
Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
The VM-Series is a virtualized form of Palo Alto next-generation firewall that can be deployed in a range of cloud environments. The VM-Series natively analyzes all traffic in a single pass to determine the application identity, the content within, and the user identity.N/A
Pricing
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesVirtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Considered Both Products
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Chose Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Biggest reason to select Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series over these products is for the performance during traffic inspection via various engines like UID, AppID, and ContentID. Another factor was both the other products were not very capable of …
Chose Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
I've been really happy with our Palo Alto [solutions] and we're replacing a good chunk of our ASAs with Palo Alto. As far as firewalls go the Palo Alto firewalls are significantly better in my opinion, but we still use ASAs as VPN devices in a few scenarios and they work just …
Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
9.4
21 Ratings
10% above category average
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
9.5
6 Ratings
11% above category average
Identification Technologies9.921 Ratings9.76 Ratings
Visualization Tools9.021 Ratings9.56 Ratings
Content Inspection9.921 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Policy-based Controls10.021 Ratings9.56 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP9.920 Ratings9.56 Ratings
Firewall Management Console10.021 Ratings9.46 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.621 Ratings9.36 Ratings
VPN8.421 Ratings9.26 Ratings
High Availability10.020 Ratings8.85 Ratings
Stateful Inspection10.020 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Proxy Server8.810 Ratings9.44 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Score 8.9 out of 10
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(37 ratings)
9.5
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(9 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA SeriesPalo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Likelihood to Recommend
Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto firewall only affords by Large level infrastructure having a budget for Security Prospect. I will recommend it for the Card information industry & Confidential data solutions. Because it provides a bucket of security features that are not easily vulnerable.
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Palo Alto Networks
PaloAlto VM-200 is a virtualized firewall with high processing power and network edge protection. The great advantage is being able to implement in a VMware environment without worrying about hardware, rack space, physical network connections and others. It can be easily managed via the web and remotely to create protection, access and reporting rules. The VM-200 firewall can be used by any company, small or large because it has several models available according to the real needs of each one.
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Pros
Palo Alto Networks
  • The PA handles VPN connectivity without missing a beat. We have multiple VPN tunnels in use for redundancy to cloud-based services.
  • The PA has great functionality in supporting failover internet connections, again with the ability to have multiple paths out to our cloud-based services.
  • The PA is updated on the regular with various security updates, we are not concerned with the firewall's ability to see what packets are really flowing across the network. Being able to see beyond just IP and port requests lets you know things are locked down better than traditional firewalls.
  • It is a great overall kit, with URL filtering and other services that fill in the gaps between other solutions without breaking the bank.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • Decrypt internet traffic
  • daily reporting of top internet users
  • classify internet traffic in real-time to allow us to understand the organization needs.
  • Strong AI capabilities
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Cons
Palo Alto Networks
  • Our specific model is a bit slow and outdated and takes up to 10 minutes to commit a configuration change.
  • Nested security rules would be helpful instead of a linear approach. But rule creation in general is very simple.
  • Documentation gives a very straight forward answer to some items but is very vague in others.
  • Support could be a little better. An issue we had a tech was insistent it was the "other guy" and it ended up being the very latest PAN OS upgrade.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • High Availability can be improved to allow active-active deployment
  • All command line documentation to provide and support automation
  • It will be nice to have link aggregation just like in the hardware firewall models.
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Likelihood to Renew
Palo Alto Networks
The PA5220s have far exceeded what we have expected out of them. It was a bit of a learning curve coming from another vendor, but everything falls into place now with ease. The capabilities of the solution still surprise us, allowing us to remove other costly hardware and providing a single point of management needed
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Palo Alto Networks
No answers on this topic
Usability
Palo Alto Networks
In my opinion, the Palo Alto Firewall is the simplest firewall in terms of management interfaces; though it has more advanced options that apply to more advanced use cases. Configuring basic features on the firewall is nearly self-explanatory; configuring more advanced features can be met with very thorough vendor documentation.
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Palo Alto Networks
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Palo Alto Networks
We've run into a couple undocumented bugs, but that seems to happen with every brand and technology. Any time we've had to engage Palo Alto support they've always been professional, knowledgeable and prompt. In almost all cases we've been able to resolve our issues without having to escalate our tickets.
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Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto VM series are best selling and industry's top-selling security product which customers prefer while securing their public cloud environment
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Alternatives Considered
Palo Alto Networks
No one can say any other companies in this time is better than Palo Alto Networks Next-Generatoin Firewalls. Palo Alto offers very advanced features which protect you[r] organization. Advanced malware protection, anti spam, lots of other threats.
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Palo Alto Networks
palo alto firewalls are application-oriented systems. They can beat other product which are based on layer 3/4 inspection. Vm series are also quickly available and could be useful in urgent deployment needs . other vendors like Fortinet and cisco could take much more time to provide the VM and in some cases installation and license validation are complicated
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Return on Investment
Palo Alto Networks
  • Overall, even though the device is very expensive (both hardware and licensing), the product does produce a decent ROI, given that one (or HA pair) of devices can do so many things, such as anti-virus, anti-malware, URL filtering, SSL decryption, SSL VPN, routing, etc.
  • There will definitely be sticker shock when you're renewal comes up annually (or after 3 years), so be sure to look very carefully at the recurring costs of this product, with respect to licensing and hardware/software maintenance.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • ROI has been achieved quickly through lack of security incidents.
  • Inline filtering happens at line rate, unline Sourcefire from Cisco.
  • Great incentives from PAN to switch made a difference in the choice to change.
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