✔ Pros:Compact fanless desktop form factor suited to branch offices and small sites; Full Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS feature set including App-ID, User-ID, and Threat Prevention; Centralized management through Panorama and Strata Cloud Manager; Lower entry price than most Palo Alto Networks platforms; Available in a 5G cellular WAN variant (PA-415-5G) for backup connectivity
✘ Cons:Low firewall and Threat Prevention throughput compared with larger PA-400 Series and PA-1400 Series models; Threat Prevention throughput of about 600 Mbps is a bottleneck for sites above roughly 500 Mbps of inspected traffic; IPsec VPN throughput of about 650 Mbps limits site-to-site tunnel capacity; Requires active Threat Prevention, URL, and support subscriptions for full protection, which add recurring cost; Published performance figures differ across datasheet versions and resellers, so verify against the current official datasheet before sizing
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)
Curation Review
✔ 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