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Palo Alto Networks Review

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Should I use Palo Alto Networks?

Implement Zero Trust, Secure your Network, Cloud workloads, Hybrid Workforce, Leverage Threat Intelligence & Security Consulting. - paloaltonetworks.com

· 1 month ago

Buy if you run a mid-size or large organization with dedicated security staff and tolerance for quote-based pricing. Small teams and cost-sensitive buyers should pick simpler, cheaper firewalls or managed security instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources; review, pricing, and rating snippets were truncated, so exact star ratings and dollar prices were unavailable.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo ease-of-use evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support-quality evidence found
  • Security posture

Pricing

Contact sales

Enterprise (quote-based)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierNo

Best for

  • Large enterprises with dedicated SOC teams
  • Regulated industries needing deep traffic visibility
  • Zero trust and hybrid cloud rollouts
  • Multi-vendor security consolidation programs

Not for

  • Small businesses — costly overkill
  • Startups wanting self-serve, transparent pricing
  • Teams without dedicated security staff to operate it
  • Orgs unwilling to patch urgently during active CVEs

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Pricing is quote-only; users publicly ask how it even works. Negotiate hard via resellers.

high

CVE-2026-0257 was exploited for weeks; internet-facing firewalls demand urgent, ongoing patching.

medium

Cloud NGFW on Azure bills per-unit usage; costs scale with traffic, not flat fees.

medium

Government pricing is a separate opaque process, per user reports.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Users consistently praise deep traffic visibility in NGFW reviews
  • Granular control highlighted in Panorama and Cloud NGFW reviews
  • Broad platform: network, cloud, SOC, threat intel, consulting
  • 16,046 companies already use it — large installed base
  • Extensive official documentation and support portal

Cons

  • No public pricing; everything is quote-based
  • PAN-OS flaws actively exploited in the wild for weeks
  • Suffered its own customer-data breach in 2025
  • Strong, often cheaper rivals: Cisco, Fortinet, Check Point

Sources & method

- 14 sources - Category leader, but 2025-2026 brought actively exploited PAN-OS CVEs and a confirmed customer-data breach.

official x2review x5security x3news x4
  • PAN-OS CVE-2026-0257 actively exploited, Hackers exploited this PAN-OS vulnerability for weeks; Unit 42 published an active-exploitation threat brief and advisories followed in Canada and Singapore.
  • CVE-2026-0300 buffer overflow, Critical PAN-OS buffer overflow tracked by NVD and flagged by national cyber agencies.
  • 2025 customer-data breach, Company confirmed hackers accessed customer data in 2025; it also investigated a related Salesforce third-party Drift application incident.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Quote-only pricing; users openly question costs
  • Ease of use. No ease-of-use evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Deep visibility and granular control praised
  • Support quality. No support-quality evidence found
  • Security posture: 2/5. Leader pedigree, but exploited CVEs and 2025 breach
  • 1,667 G2 reviews across Palo Alto product listings
  • 16,046 Companies using per Enlyft market data
  • 34.4% Revenue growth reported by Dealroom
  • 3.8/5 Employee rating 100+ AmbitionBox reviews

Pricing

Enterprise (quote-based)

Not disclosed

  • All products priced via sales/reseller quotes
  • Cloud NGFW usage-based billing (e.g. $0.01 per unit on Azure)
  • Government pricing handled separately

Security

Category leader, but 2025-2026 brought actively exploited PAN-OS CVEs and a confirmed customer-data breach.

  • PAN-OS CVE-2026-0257 actively exploitedHackers exploited this PAN-OS vulnerability for weeks; Unit 42 published an active-exploitation threat brief and advisories followed in Canada and Singapore.⁶
  • CVE-2026-0300 buffer overflowCritical PAN-OS buffer overflow tracked by NVD and flagged by national cyber agencies.⁸
  • 2025 customer-data breachCompany confirmed hackers accessed customer data in 2025; it also investigated a related Salesforce third-party Drift application incident.⁹

What users say

Reviewers and Reddit users praise deep visibility and granular control, while frequently debating cost and comparing it against cheaper rivals.

“Palo Alto vs other NGFW. What sets PA Apart?”
Reddit, r/networking
“Been a Cisco fanboy for too long.”
Reddit, r/sysadmin

Companies that use it

  • Schnuck Markets
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources; review, pricing, and rating snippets were truncated, so exact star ratings and dollar prices were unavailable.

Enterprise-grade, enterprise-priced: praised visibility, quote-only costs, actively exploited PAN-OS CVEs. Small teams: look elsewhere.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources; review, pricing, and rating snippets were truncated, so exact star ratings and dollar prices were unavailable.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Palo Alto Networks Products | G2 Reviewsg2.com
    review
  2. Palo Alto Networks NGFW Reviews — G2g2.com
    review
  3. Downside to Palo Alto Firewalls? — Reddit r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  4. Palo Alto pricing — Reddit r/networkingreddit.com
    review
  5. AWS Marketplace: Panorama Reviewsaws.amazon.com
    review
  6. Recent Palo Alto Networks Vulnerability Exploited for Weeks — SecurityWeeksecurityweek.com
    security
  7. Threat Brief: Active Exploitation of PAN-OS CVE-2026-0257 — Unit 42unit42.paloaltonetworks.com
    security
  8. CVE-2026-0300 Detail — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  9. Palo Alto Networks Breach Exposes Customer Datanhimg.org
    news
  10. Palo Alto Networks Pricing 2026 Ultimate Guide — UnderDefenseunderdefense.com
    news
  11. Cloud NGFW for Azure Pricing — Official Docsdocs.paloaltonetworks.com
    official
  12. Companies using Palo Alto Networks — Enlyftenlyft.com
    news
  13. Palo Alto Networks — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  14. Palo Alto Networks Official Sitepaloaltonetworks.com
    official

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