FortiGate NGFW vs Palo Alto Networks
FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls consistently outperform competitors like Palo Alto Networks
Network Firewall Comparison
FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) deliver industry-leading AI/ML-powered security and networking convergence thanks to organic innovations in FortiOS that tie critical functions together as a unified system. Our proprietary ASIC architecture provides the industry’s best price-performance for faster security, quicker response, and higher ROI.
| Fortinet | Palo Alto Networks | |
| Innovation | Fortinet is a leader in cybersecurity innovation with over 1,200 patents issued globally and 925 in the U.S. (Q3 2022).
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Palo Alto Networks only has one-third the number of U.S. patents as Fortinet, 335 (Q3 2022).
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| Market Share | Fortinet ships almost 40% of security appliances purchased globally each quarter.
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Palo Alto Networks ships less than 5% of the world’s security appliances.
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| Convergence | FortiGate NGFWs organically converge networking and security with built-in SD-WAN, ZTNA application gateway, 5G Wireless WAN, and more.
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Palo Alto Networks is unable to offer converged networking with NGFW. Their SD-WAN is a third-party product that does not integrate with NGFW. Palo Alto Networks is unable to offer integrated LAN, WLAN, and 5G.
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| Price/Performance - Firewall | Fortinet delivers performance that is on average 5 to 20 times faster than the industry average, including Palo Alto Networks.
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Palo Alto Networks' single-pass architecture is very cumbersome for pure firewalling. It's so slow that the company does not put this KPI on its data sheets, making it hard for customers to compare.
When upgrading from PAN-OS 9.1 to 10.2, the performance degrades approximately 20%. |
| Price/Performance - SSL Inspection | With over 90% of traffic encrypted, high-performance SSL inspection with DPI and TLS 1.3 is critical. Fortinet delivers top performance and publishes the specs on our data sheets.
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Palo Alto Networks SSL inspection is extremely slow and can cause a performance degradation of over 60%. Palo Alto Networks has not published specs for its 4th generation models.
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| Security Services | Fortinet offers a wide range of ML- and AI-powered security services. We receive better security effectiveness results with independent third-party security testing labs, along with BreakingPoint Strikepacks. With best-of-breed security efficacy, there are fewer disruptions and business continuity is assured.
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Palo Alto Networks may market ML-/AI-driven products. However, they do not deliver best-of-breed security effectiveness results.
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| Latency | For firewalling applications, latency can be a big problem. Fortinet's average latency is less than 10 microseconds. We also offer firewalls with an incredible two-microsecond latency.
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Palo Alto Networks uses commercial CPU hardware that cannot match Fortinet SPU performance. Note that Palo Alto Networks does not publish latency figures on its firewall data sheets.
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| Power Consumption | For firewalling and encrypted applications, Fortinet uses an astonishing one-tenth of the power consumption of the industry average, including Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, and Cisco.
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Palo Alto Networks uses 4x more power consumption when compared to Fortinet for firewalling and encryption applications.
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Security Compute Rating
To highlight the difference that a purpose-built ASIC can provide, Fortinet developed the Security Compute Rating benchmark that compares the performance of Fortinet’s ASIC-based NGFW appliance to other NGFW vendors that utilize generic CPUs for networking and security capabilities. The industry average is computed by calculating the average performance of leading solutions, including listed vendors. Security Compute Rating performance numbers are based on each vendor's data sheets.
| Feature | FortiGate 600F | Security Compute Rating | Industry Average | Palo Alto Networks PA-3410 | Palo Alto Networks PA-3420 | Check Point Quantum 6200 | Cisco FPR-2110 | Juniper SRX-380 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firewall | 140 Gbps | 12X | 11.5 Gbps | 14.5 Gbps | 20.8 Gbps | 9 Gbps | 3 Gbps | 10 Gbps |
| IPsec VPN | 55 Gbps | 12X | 4.7 Gbps | 6.8 Gbps | 9.9 Gbps | 2.57 Gbps | 950 Mbps | 3.5 Gbps |
| Threat Protection | 10.5 Gbps | 2X | 4.9 Gbps | 5.2 Gbps | 7.6 Gbps | 1.8 Gbps | N/A | N/A |
| SSL Inspection | 9 Gbps | 25X | 0.365 Gbps | N/A | N/A | N/A | 365 Mbps | N/A |
| Concurrent Sessions | 8M | 6X | 1.4M | 1.4M | 2M | 2M | 1M | 380K |
| Connections per Second | 500K | 5X | 97K | 145K | 205K | 67K | 18K | 50K |
| Feature | FortiGate 600F | Energy Efficiency | Industry Average | Palo Alto Networks PA-3410 | Palo Alto Networks PA-3420 | Check Point Quantum 6200 | Cisco FPR-2110 | Juniper SRX-380 |
| Watts per Gbps Threat Protection | 32.50 | 3X | 85.2 | 37.25 | N/A | 68.33 | N/A | 150 |
| Watts per Gbps IPsec VPN | 5 | 19X | 95.5 | 28 | N/A | 48 | 263 | 43 |
| Watts per Gbps Firewall | 1.86 | 19X | 35.11 | N/A | N/A | 7.01 | 83.33 | 15 |
Why Fortinet
AI/ML-Powered Security
FortiGuard leverages artificial intelligence to protect against known and unknown threats. Machine learning automates defenses and relieves constrained it teams.
Networking and Security Convergence
Natively integrated SD-WAN, LAN, 5G, and universal ZTNA make it easy for you to connect end users to applications, no matter where they are.
Simplified Management
The Fortinet Fabric Management Center simplifies networking and security management in single pane of glass, reducing misconfigurations.
Purpose-Built ASICS
Fortinet NGFW appliances are built using a proprietary SPU architecture with custom ASICs. As a result, you’ll see dramatic improvements in networking and content inspection performance.
Sustainability
Fortinet appliances are powered by a sustainable ASIC architecture that outperforms commercial CPU and FPGA products, while reducing energy consumption by up to 80%.
Hyperscale
Fortinet appliances are built for performance that can serve even the largest data centers. Ultra-low latency (ULL) and hyperscale support scale with your business, no matter its size.
Customer Quotes
“We saw demonstrable throughput value in the FortiGate appliances. After two years of research, we decided that Fortinet would be the best partner for the City of Portland and provide the best alignment for the city’s next generation of services to our community.”
- Christopher Paidhrin, City of Portland
“We were so impressed with Fortinet’s performance that we began replacing our legacy firewalls from another vendor with FortiGate firewalls. Our testing revealed that the performance of the FortiGates is exactly as advertised,” Clark says. “This was a distinct advantage for Fortinet, because if security is hampering your ability to do business, nothing else matters."
- Mike Clark, Director of Security, PTC
“We like FortiGate because it really performs well. It is a leader in the security industry, and many other companies are purchasing Fortinet solutions. And its advanced technology includes an ASIC processor with high-speed throughput, which separates it from other solutions out there today.”
- Mark Dante, CDK Global
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See how FortiGate delivers threat protection such as IPS, web filtering, antimalware, cloud sandbox, and SSL inspection. FortiGate also identifies applications, users, and devices to identify issues quickly and intuitively. Security Fabric features provide an end-to-end topology view, security ratings based on the best practices, and automation.
