Palo Alto Networks PA-545-PoE vs Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max: Specs & Price Comparison

Palo Alto Networks PA-545-PoE

★ 3.5 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 5.1 Gbps App-ID (appmix). Reseller listings also show 5.0 Gbps; the official PA-500 datasheet was not retrievable to confirm
Threat Prevention Throughput: 3.6 Gbps (reseller listings also show 3.0 Gbps; unverified)
IPsec VPN Throughput: 2.5 Gbps (one reseller lists 3.0 Gbps; unverified)
Max Sessions: 400K concurrent (one reseller lists 298K; unverified)
New Sessions/sec: 72K (one reseller lists 55K; unverified)
Interfaces: 8x RJ-45 10M/100M/1G copper (ports 1-8, ports 3-4 fail-open, port 1 ZTP); 4x RJ-45 mGig 1G/2.5G PoE+ (ports 9-12); 4x SFP 1G (ports 13-16, no 10G support); 1x RJ-45 1G management; 1x USB-C and 1x RJ-45 console; 1x USB admin/bootstrap port
Form Factor: 1U rack-mountable (one reseller lists Desktop/1U; optional 1RU 4-post rack kit)
PoE Budget: 181W total across ports 9-12, up to 90W per port (official Palo Alto electrical spec)
Max Power Consumption: 336W (official Palo Alto electrical spec); 100-240V AC input, 54VDC adapter output, 6A @ 54VDC
Layer: L2/L3 security appliance (Layer 7 NGFW)
Power Redundancy: 2 DC inputs; one PSU required, second optional
Virtual Systems: 1 base / 7 max (one listing shows 1/2)
Price Source Note: Single reseller listing (Newegg, $5,475.00, marked out of stock). CDW shows a quote-only price. No official Palo Alto list price found

✔ Pros: Four mGig 2.5G PoE+ ports suit Wi-Fi 6/6E APs and cameras without a separate injector; Four SFP 1G ports allow fiber uplinks or fiber-to-copper flexibility; Dual DC power inputs with optional second PSU add power redundancy; Fail-open ports 3-4 keep pass-through connectivity during power or OS failure; Zero Touch Provisioning on port 1 simplifies branch deployment; Compact 1U footprint with full Palo Alto Networks NGFW feature set and PAN-OS
✘ Cons: No 10G port support; SFP ports are 1G only, which limits high-speed uplinks; Only four PoE ports and a 181W total PoE budget, versus 332W on the PA-555-POE; Performance figures conflict across reseller sources and the official datasheet could not be retrieved to confirm them; Pricing is quote-based at many resellers, with the one listed price showing out of stock; Licensing (Threat Prevention, URL, support subscriptions) adds recurring cost beyond the hardware price
Est. Price: $5,475

Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max

★ 4.9 Value Score

Firewall Throughput: 2.5 Gbps (routing, IDS/IPS off)
Threat Prevention Throughput: 1.5 Gbps (IDS/IPS on)
IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; WireGuard/Site-Magic VPN up to 500 Mbps (third-party review, untested method)
Max Sessions: Not published
New Sessions/sec: Not published
Interfaces: 5x 2.5GbE RJ45 (1 WAN + 4 LAN, one LAN port can be remapped to a second WAN)
Form Factor: Compact desktop, 142 x 127 x 30 mm, USB-C 5V/5A power (max 16.1 W)

✔ Pros: 2.5GbE WAN and LAN ports on a compact, low-power chassis (max 16.1 W); 512GB built-in NVMe storage on the standard SKU for local UniFi data; Integrated UniFi controller with IDS/IPS and no license or subscription fees; Supports 300+ clients and 30+ UniFi devices; Multi-WAN capable through the remappable LAN port
✘ Cons: Only 1.5 Gbps with IDS/IPS enabled, well below the 2.5 Gbps routing figure; IPsec VPN throughput, session counts and new sessions per second are not published; No PoE output and no built-in Wi-Fi access point; No LAG/LACP support; 500 Mbps VPN throughput is limiting for high-volume site-to-site tunnels
Est. Price: $240 - $279

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