Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW
Firewall software
Network security software
Business security software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW
Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW is a next-generation firewall delivered as a cloud-managed service for protecting network traffic in public cloud environments. It is used by security and cloud infrastructure teams to enforce application-aware policies, inspect traffic, and apply threat prevention controls for workloads and virtual networks. The service integrates with major cloud platforms and emphasizes centralized policy management and logging aligned to Palo Alto Networks security operations tooling.
Cloud-native deployment options
The product is designed for public cloud environments and supports deployment patterns that align with cloud networking constructs (for example, protecting ingress/egress and east-west traffic). It reduces the need to manage traditional firewall appliances for cloud-only segments. This fits organizations standardizing security controls across multiple cloud accounts or subscriptions.
Centralized policy and visibility
Cloud NGFW supports centralized policy configuration and consistent rule enforcement across deployments. It provides traffic logs and security events that can be used for investigations and compliance reporting. This is useful for teams that need uniform governance across multiple cloud environments and business units.
Integrated threat prevention stack
The service applies next-generation firewall capabilities such as application identification, intrusion prevention, and URL/DNS-related controls depending on configuration and licensing. It is built to align with Palo Alto Networks’ broader security platform for operations workflows. This can simplify integration when an organization already uses the same vendor for security management and analytics.
Licensing and cost complexity
Capabilities are typically packaged across multiple subscriptions, which can make total cost and feature entitlement harder to forecast. Organizations may need to map required controls (for example, IPS, URL filtering, advanced threat prevention) to specific licenses. This can increase procurement and renewal effort compared with simpler firewall offerings.
Cloud platform dependency
Feature availability and deployment models vary by cloud provider and region, and some integrations depend on specific cloud networking services. Teams may need cloud-specific design work to route traffic through the firewall service without disrupting application connectivity. This can slow rollout in heterogeneous or highly customized cloud networks.
Operational learning curve
Effective use requires familiarity with next-generation firewall policy concepts (application-based rules, security profiles, decryption strategy, and logging). Day-to-day operations often involve multiple consoles and integrations for monitoring and incident response. Smaller teams may find initial setup and tuning time-consuming compared with more basic firewall products.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (hourly + per-GB traffic)
Free tier/trial: 30-day free trial (AWS: up to two NGFW resources and up to 100 GB inspected traffic; Azure: up to two NGFW resources and up to 1 TB inspected traffic).
Example costs (official vendor site):
- AWS (Cloud NGFW for AWS PAYG): Base NGFW usage hour (up to 3 AZs) – $1.50 per hour; Each additional AZ – $0.50 per hour. Traffic secured – $0.065 per GB (first 15 TB/month), $0.045 per GB (next 15 TB/month), $0.030 per GB (above 30 TB/month).
- Threat Prevention add-on: $0.300 per hour + $0.013 per GB (first 15 TB/month); additional AZs add $0.100 per hour.
- Centralized management add-on (Panorama): $0.450 per hour + $0.020 per GB (first 15 TB/month); additional AZs add $0.150 per hour.
- Egress NAT Add-On: Palo Alto-managed EIP $0.01 per hour; Egress data transfer (select AWS regions) $0.090 per GB (other regions $0.120 per GB).
- Azure (Cloud NGFW for Azure PAYG): Base NGFW resource usage – $1.25 per hour. Traffic secured – $0.016 per GB.
- CDN/Add-ons: Traffic Secured (general add-on dimension) – $0.005 per GB (example).
- DNS Security add-on: $0.250 per hour; traffic $0.003 per GB.
- WildFire add-on: $0.250 per hour; traffic $0.003 per GB.
- Centralized management (Panorama): $0.250 per hour; traffic $0.003 per GB.
- Strata Cloud Manager: $0.375 per hour; traffic $0.005 per GB.
Discounts / alternative procurement: Credits (1–5 year contracts) are available for Azure (Cloud NGFW Credits) to lower effective cost; Azure Marketplace consolidated billing and MACC benefits noted. AWS Marketplace provides consolidated billing/EDP benefits.
Notes & limits: Pricing varies by cloud (AWS vs Azure) and region; add-on charges apply when security services or centralized management are enabled. Free trials auto-enroll when subscribing via the cloud marketplace or when first resource is created (see official docs for limits).
Seller details
Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
Santa Clara, CA, USA
2005
Public
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/
https://x.com/PaloAltoNtwks
https://www.linkedin.com/company/palo-alto-networks/
