FWaaS Providers Battle for Market Share
Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) has become the new default for network security, moving from an experiment to a mainstream solution. The market offers various providers, each with its strengths and pricing models.
A recent comparison of FWaaS providers by gbhackers.com found that Cloudflare offers the most accessible entry economics, while Cato Networks provides the best converged price-for-simplicity in the mid-market. Prisma Access, on the other hand, has the deepest inspection stack but comes with a higher price tag.
The market prices FWaaS in three ways: per-user Security Service Edge (SSE), published/self-serve pricing, and per-site/bandwidth SASE. Zscaler, Netskope, Prisma Access, Cisco, Forcepoint, and Check Point's SASE lines quote per user per month, with benchmark full bundles at ~$15, $25 list, and 30-50% discounts routine on multi-year enterprise terms.
Other providers like Cloudflare, Harmony SASE (ex-Perimeter 81), Aryaka, Cato Networks, Forcepoint ONE, Fortinet FortiSASE, Check Point (Quantum SASE/CloudGuard), Cisco Secure Access, and Versa Networks also offer FWaaS solutions, each with its unique features and pricing models.
When comparing FWaaS providers on price and fit, it's essential to normalize everything to 3-year cost per protected user (or per site for SASE shapes) with the modules you'll actually enable, TLS inspection, CASB, DLP, itemized. Benchmark quotes against the ~$15, $25/user/month list band and expect 30-50% discounts on multi-year enterprise terms.