PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Palo Alto Networks PA-7500
Palo Alto Networks PA-7500
★ 3.2 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 1,500 Gbps (App-ID enabled, Palo Alto spec sheet; resellers agree)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 1,440 Gbps (Palo Alto spec sheet; resellers agree)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 407 Gbps per Palo Alto spec sheet as reported in search summaries; a reseller lists 850 Gbps. Unverified, because the PDF could not be parsed
  • Max Sessions: 440,000,000 concurrent sessions
  • New Sessions/sec: 7,200,000
  • Interfaces: Modular: nine card slots holding MPC/NPC/DPC front-slot cards plus SFC switch fabric cards. Port counts depend on installed cards; not verified
  • Form Factor: 14RU chassis, 24.4 in H x 31.0 in D x 17.4 in W, up to 460 lb depending on configuration; 10 hot-swap AC or DC power supplies

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Very high App-ID and threat prevention throughput in the 1.4 to 1.5 Tbps class, aimed at large data centers and carriers; Modular, field-replaceable card architecture (DPC, NPC, MPC, SFC) allows capacity to be scaled by adding cards; Redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fans suit high-availability deployments; Very high concurrent session capacity (440M) and 7.2M new sessions per second; Part of the ML-powered Palo Alto Networks NGFW platform with the full PAN-OS feature set
  • ✘ Cons: Very high acquisition cost: a single DPC-A card alone is listed around $272,000 to $302,000 at one reseller, and the full chassis is not publicly priced, so price_max is an estimate rather than a quote; Large footprint at 14RU and up to 460 lb, requiring data-center rack space, cooling, and floor loading planning; Heavy power and cooling requirements; Spec figures conflict across sources (IPsec VPN in particular), so verify against the official Palo Alto Networks datasheet before procurement; Official datasheet and docs pages were not reachable in this research, so some figures come from reseller and third-party copies; Port configuration is fully dependent on the cards ordered, which adds complexity to quoting and ordering; Overkill for most enterprise sites compared with smaller PA-Series models
  • Est. Price: $272,250 - $1,500,000

Compare Against

Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max
★ 5.0 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti. Third-party tests: about 3.8-4.7 Gbps internet (WAN) throughput; about 3.0 Gbps inter-VLAN routing
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 5 Gbps IDS/IPS (Ubiquiti spec)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti. Unverified third-party estimate of about 1.8-2.2 Gbps
  • Max Sessions: Not published
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published
  • Interfaces: 2x 10G SFP+ ports; 8x 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports; 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN port (sources conflict on WAN; one lists a 25GbE WAN port)
  • Form Factor: 1U rackmount

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: 5 Gbps IDS/IPS rating from Ubiquiti; 10G SFP+ ports for fast uplinks or LAN; Multi-WAN support with 2.5GbE WAN; Integrated UniFi Network controller and UniFi OS for centralized management; Built-in NVR bay for UniFi Protect cameras; Rackmount 1U form factor suited to server racks
  • ✘ Cons: Ubiquiti does not publish firewall, VPN, or session-rate figures; Real-world WAN throughput in independent tests is about 3-4.7 Gbps, below the 5 Gbps IDS/IPS rating; Port layout and WAN specs differ between sources; Costs about 2x the UDM Pro (about $220 more) for a modest throughput gain; Limited 1GbE LAN port count compared with dedicated switches; Requires UniFi ecosystem for full feature set
  • Est. Price: $599 - $660

Popular Comparisons

Palo Alto Networks PA-7500 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber Palo Alto Networks PA-7500 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max Palo Alto Networks PA-7500 vs Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max Palo Alto Networks PA-7500 vs Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) Palo Alto Networks PA-7500 vs Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG)