Trust the Hype - Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series are Everything Now
October 25, 2025

Trust the Hype - Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series are Everything Now

Matt Rathbun | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

PA-3000 Series

Overall Satisfaction with Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series

We use Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series as the frontline defense for our business. Not only do they perform traditional firewall duties, we use them to validate user access over VPN and ensure their machines are compliant with our security best-practices before they are granted access. The core of our business is Intellectual Property. Because of this, one of the biggest advantages that Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series gives us is their application ID along with SSL Decryption. We are able to inspect traffic for content but also for discrepancies with the application's standard port. If Palo detects that SSL is happening over a non-standard port, it blocks the access. Palo is incredibly easy to setup and manage according to security best-practices. By default, it has many of the features already configured and no additional licensing is required. These firewalls are the best around and give us the peace of mind we need for our frontline defense.

Pros

  • Edge Security
  • VPN Security and Traffic Inspection
  • SSL Decrypt
  • Zone Based Firewall
  • Ease of Administration
  • Application ID

Cons

  • Reporting
  • Logging Configuration
  • Certificate Management
  • We were able to completely eliminate our SD-WAN costs by switching to Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series and increase security. Our SD-WAN solution was approximately 5% of our infrastructure budget which was significant.
  • We were able to scale back licensing on our security stack for end-user devices. This resulted in better endpoint performance as well.
  • We reduced the cost of compliance for cyber-insurance by consolidating infrastructure devices/licensing to the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series from three separate devices.
The firewalls are easy to use/learn by someone who has previously managed firewalls. Some of the terminology is different, but the overall architecture and data path is similar to other NGFW vendors. What sets Palo apart is that any additional features (Wildfire) are already baked into the OS. Licensing simply turns the features on and the product becomes more useful right away.
The Palo platform is MUCH more stable than the Cisco ASA. The Cisco ASA platform has been assembled from many different software/security components and they don't work together seamlessly. Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series are stable because everything was developed within the same ecosystem. Not mergers and acquisitions. Since moving from Cisco ASAs to Palo our uptime has increased dramatically and we are moving away from HA pairs and the associated costs.

Do you think Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series's feature set?

Yes

Did Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series again?

Yes

It is well-suited for a company needing strong edge security with ease of administration. It comes standard with many features such as VPN, Application ID and "Day-1 Config" that make the networks it protects secure from the very start. Palo is definitely a premium product and is much more expensive than other firewalls, but the value is realized immediately. The robust options for firewall rules/policies allow the administrator to apply security in new and creative ways to hit the sweet spot between security and usability.

Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series Feature Ratings

Firewall
9.0
Identification Technologies
8
Visualization Tools
6
Content Inspection
10
Policy-based Controls
10
Active Directory and LDAP
9
Firewall Management Console
10
Reporting and Logging
10
VPN
10
High Availability
9
Stateful Inspection
9
Proxy Server
8

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