In case you search for the highest next-generation firewalls, each Palo Alto Networks NGFW and Fortinet’s FortiGate rank excessive within the house — and for a great cause.
Palo Alto Networks is taken into account an trade chief within the class, providing robust ML-powered visibility and zero-delay signatures to rapidly handle threats. Fortinet, however, is a well-liked cost-effective NGFW that gives high-quality SSL inspection and AI-based safety companies.
SEE: 10 Myths About Cybersecurity You Shouldn’t Consider (TechRepublic Premium)
As they’re market leaders of NGFWs, we’re curious to see what differentiates one from the opposite.
On this article, we check out how Fortinet FortiGate compares to Palo Alto Networks NGFW and see which one is finest for you and your group.
AppTrana
Workers per Firm Dimension
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Giant (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Any Firm Dimension
Any Firm Dimension
Options
Advance Monitoring, Conduct Based mostly Layer 7 DDoS Safety, Bot Mitigation, and extra
Fortinet vs. Palo Alto: Comparability desk
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Fortinet and Palo Alto pricing
Given the variability of NGFW {hardware} and software program merchandise, I extremely suggest contacting Fortinet and Palo Alto instantly for a correct worth citation. That is the most effective and most easy means for companies to get a grasp of how every product fares by way of pricing. It’s because firewall resolution costs are calculated based mostly on a selected group’s wants and necessities.
SEE: Verify Level vs Palo Alto: Evaluate EDR Software program (TechRepublic)
That being stated, we had been capable of collect some pricing info to offer you an estimate of what to anticipate.
Fortinet FortiGate pricing
Fortinet FortiGate firewall bases its pricing relying on the {hardware} wanted for every kind of enterprise. Right here’s a fast rundown:
- Small companies (1–20 customers): $700 to $1,000.
- Bigger companies (15–100 customers): $1,500 to $4,000.
Per Fortinet, pricing additionally relies on different essential components such because the equipment mannequin chosen, price of any ongoing companies or assist subscriptions, configuration, monitoring and integration.
Fortinet has a free 30-day trial of its cloud NGFW for each AWS and Azure. As well as, it provides a free product demo through its official product web page.
Remember the fact that you’ll have to hand over fundamental info and await Fortinet to get again to you in an effort to entry its demo.
Palo Alto Networks NGFW pricing
In comparison with Fortinet, Palo Alto’s pricing is on the extra premium finish of the spectrum and likewise relies on the precise {hardware} you buy.
SEE: SentinelOne vs Palo Alto: Evaluate EDR Software program (TechRepublic)
Based on my analysis, Palo Alto NGFW {hardware} will begin at round $1,400 and might go as excessive as $4,100 for higher-end home equipment — a a lot larger baseline pricing than Fortinet.
Like Fortinet, Palo Alto provides a free trial of its cloud NGFW for AWS and Azure. Official product demos of Palo Alto’s NGFW may also be requested through its official channels.
Fortinet vs. Palo Alto: Characteristic comparability
Safety features
Each NGFWs supply a wide range of security measures catered towards enterprise and organizational use circumstances. Fortinet boasts its FortiOS working system that simplifies administration and enhances visibility as a singular OS for all its community and safety capabilities.
It additionally natively integrates zero-trust community entry or ZTNA coverage enforcement factors — a significant value-add given the necessity to safe hybrid workforces on this post-pandemic period. Lastly, Fortinet additionally comes with SD-WAN performance, serving to present optimum consumer expertise and connectivity in a corporation with out sacrificing total risk safety.
SEE: High 8 Superior Risk Safety Instruments and Software program for 2024 (TechRepublic)
If we check out Palo Alto, however, it has its Panorama centralized administration platform that unifies safety instruments, firewall guidelines and insurance policies. This offers managers and IT supervisors with a fowl’s-eye-view of their NGFW setup throughout their respective networks.
We additionally get application-aware safety insurance policies with Palo Alto, permitting admins to set granular safety guidelines for various customers in a corporation. Lastly, Palo Alto has its quick malware signature supply that’s capable of match and replace recognized threats rapidly to make sure most risk prevention.
Efficiency and impartial check outcomes
With regard to impartial safety check outcomes, each NGFW fare extremely effectively. For his or her cloud firewall choices, each Palo Alto Networks VM-Sequence NGFW and Fortinet’s FortiGate-VM scored an ideal 100% in safety effectiveness per CyberRatings 2024 findings.
Which means each NGFW exhibited high-quality risk prevention, robust TLS/SSL performance and coverage enforcement whereas sustaining stability and reliability all all through CyberRatings’ checks.
SEE: Finest Safe Entry Service Edge Platforms in 2024 (TechRepublic)
Customers worldwide additionally price each NGFWs very extremely performance-wise. On this side, Fortinet’s extra inexpensive pricing shines for smaller companies. It’s because you may get comparable safety efficiency at a smaller price ticket.
Then again, Palo Alto’s extra intensive suite of security measures could warrant its dearer pricing — particularly if you could safe a bigger group. Both means, you’ll get robust safety efficiency from each NGFW suppliers.
Ease of use
On Gartner Peer Insights, each NGFW suppliers obtained excessive marks for ease of use. Specifically, Fortinet’s FortiGate service obtained a 4.7 out of 5, whereas Palo Alto was rated a 4.6 out of 5.
Just like efficiency, these scores point out that each Fortinet and Palo Alto present polished consumer experiences with their NGFW options.
Whereas Palo Alto’s Panorama central administration characteristic is well-equipped to deal with large-scale organizational constructions, its abundance of choices could also be overwhelming for smaller groups. If user-friendliness is your most important precedence, going smaller scale with Fortinet could also be higher for you.
Consequently, enterprise organizations could discover Fortinet FortiGate’s built-in performance to be missing when in comparison with Palo Alto. On this case, having the scalability of Palo Alto could be extra helpful.
Fortinet FortiGate execs and cons
Execs
- Inexpensive and good worth for cash.
- Presents the identical efficiency as dearer counterparts.
- Decrease barrier to entry {hardware}.
Cons
- Buyer assist might be improved.
Palo Alto Networks NGFW execs and cons
Execs
- Can accommodate massive organizations.
- Characteristic-rich NGFW.
- Granular user-based guidelines and insurance policies.
Cons
- On the costly finish.
- Requires intensive technical experience to configure.
Ought to your group use Fortinet or Palo Alto?
So far as NGFWs go, each Fortinet FortiGate and Palo Alto sit as high tier options. Person consensus is evident that you just’ll be well-served no matter which choice you go along with. That being stated, the deciding issue between the 2 NGFW suppliers boils down to 2 issues: pricing and enterprise measurement.
In case you’re a small enterprise, I extremely suggest Fortinet FortiGate. Its extra inexpensive {hardware} choices whereas offering the identical high quality efficiency and safety effectiveness make it a great match for corporations that don’t essentially have the biggest of budgets.
Then again, enterprises and bigger organizations ought to go for Palo Alto Networks NGFW. That is very true for corporations the place price range isn’t a difficulty, as its Panorama central administration platform and user-based roles are all apt for dealing with extra complicated safety wants.
No matter which supplier you go along with, I discover that almost all organizations will discover nice worth in both Fortinet or Palo Alto’s NGFW options.
Methodology
My comparability of Fortinet and Palo Alto’s NGFW options concerned an in-depth evaluation of their security measures, pricing and total worth to companies.
This head-to-head analysis consisted of in depth analysis of each vendor’s official documentation, product pages and datasheets. As well as, I took under consideration consumer testimonials and suggestions from respected overview websites to complement my findings and embody real-world utilization in my last suggestions.