In case you lookup the highest next-generation firewalls, each Palo Alto Networks NGFW and Fortinet’s FortiGate rank excessive within the house — and for motive.
Palo Alto Networks is taken into account an trade chief within the class, providing sturdy ML-powered visibility and zero-delay signatures to shortly deal with threats. Fortinet, then again, is a well-liked cost-effective NGFW that gives high-quality SSL inspection and AI-based safety providers.
SEE: 10 Myths About Cybersecurity You Shouldn’t Imagine (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
Staff per Firm Measurement
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Giant (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Any Firm Measurement
Any Firm Measurement
Options
Advance Monitoring, Conduct Primarily based 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 value citation. That is the most effective and most simple manner for companies to get a grasp of how every product fares by way of pricing. It is because firewall resolution costs are calculated primarily based on a selected group’s wants and necessities.
SEE: Verify Level vs Palo Alto: Examine EDR Software program (TechRepublic)
That being stated, we had been in a position to collect some pricing info to present you an estimate of what to anticipate.
Fortinet FortiGate pricing
Fortinet FortiGate firewall bases its pricing relying on the {hardware} wanted for every sort 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 is determined by different necessary components such because the equipment mannequin chosen, price of any ongoing providers or help 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 gives a free product demo by way of its official product web page.
Take into account that you’ll have to hand over primary info and look forward to Fortinet to get again to you with the intention 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 is determined by the particular {hardware} you buy.
SEE: SentinelOne vs Palo Alto: Examine EDR Software program (TechRepublic)
Based on my analysis, Palo Alto NGFW {hardware} will begin at round $1,400 and may go as excessive as $4,100 for higher-end home equipment — a a lot larger baseline pricing than Fortinet.
Like Fortinet, Palo Alto gives a free trial of its cloud NGFW for AWS and Azure. Official product demos of Palo Alto’s NGFW can be requested by way of its official channels.
Fortinet vs. Palo Alto: Function comparability
Safety features
Each NGFWs supply quite a lot of safety features catered towards enterprise and organizational use instances. 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 general menace safety.
SEE: Prime 8 Superior Menace Safety Instruments and Software program for 2024 (TechRepublic)
If we check out Palo Alto, then again, it has its Panorama centralized administration platform that unifies safety instruments, firewall guidelines and insurance policies. This gives managers and IT supervisors with a chicken’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 in a position to match and replace identified threats shortly to make sure most menace prevention.
Efficiency and unbiased check outcomes
With regard to unbiased safety check outcomes, each NGFW fare extremely nicely. 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 that each NGFW exhibited high-quality menace prevention, sturdy TLS/SSL performance and coverage enforcement whereas sustaining stability and reliability all all through CyberRatings’ assessments.
SEE: Greatest Safe Entry Service Edge Platforms in 2024 (TechRepublic)
Customers worldwide additionally charge each NGFWs very extremely performance-wise. On this facet, Fortinet’s extra reasonably priced pricing shines for smaller companies. It is because you may get comparable safety efficiency at a smaller price ticket.
Alternatively, Palo Alto’s extra in depth suite of safety features could warrant its costlier pricing — particularly if it’s essential to safe a bigger group. Both manner, you’ll get sturdy safety efficiency from each NGFW suppliers.
Ease of use
On Gartner Peer Insights, each NGFW suppliers acquired excessive marks for ease of use. Particularly, Fortinet’s FortiGate service acquired 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 function is well-equipped to deal with large-scale organizational buildings, its abundance of choices could also be overwhelming for smaller groups. If user-friendliness is your primary 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 might be extra useful.
Fortinet FortiGate professionals and cons
Execs
- Inexpensive and good worth for cash.
- Affords the identical efficiency as costlier counterparts.
- Decrease barrier to entry {hardware}.
Cons
- Buyer help may very well be improved.
Palo Alto Networks NGFW professionals and cons
Execs
- Can accommodate massive organizations.
- Function-rich NGFW.
- Granular user-based guidelines and insurance policies.
Cons
- On the costly finish.
- Requires in depth 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 prime tier options. Consumer consensus is obvious that you simply’ll be well-served no matter which choice you go together 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 reasonably priced {hardware} choices whereas offering the identical high quality efficiency and safety effectiveness make it match for corporations that don’t essentially have the most important of budgets.
Alternatively, enterprises and bigger organizations ought to go for Palo Alto Networks NGFW. That is very true for corporations the place finances 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 together 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 safety features, pricing and general worth to companies.
This head-to-head analysis consisted of intensive analysis of each vendor’s official documentation, product pages and datasheets. As well as, I took under consideration consumer testimonials and suggestions from respected evaluation websites to complement my findings and embody real-world utilization in my ultimate suggestions.