loading . . . Top 10 Best Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) Providers – 2026 The firewall is leaving the rack: firewall-as-a-service delivers inspection, intrusion prevention, and policy from the cloud, so every user, branch, and cloud workload gets identical protection without appliances to size, patch, or refresh.
Zscaler is our top FWaaS pick for 2026 on the strength of the industry’s largest dedicated security cloud, with Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access delivering the deepest inspection stack and Cato Networks the smoothest converged experience.
Below, the ten best FWaaS providers ranked, compared, and priced as honestly as this quote-driven market allows.
Quick Verdict
Best overall: Zscaler — 160+ data-center security cloud, mature zero-trust integration
Best inspection depth: Palo Alto Prisma Access — full NGFW brain, delivered as a service
Best converged SASE: Cato Networks — one platform, famously simple operations
Best value entry: Cloudflare — free tier to enterprise on a massive global network
Best price-performance evidence: Versa Networks — CyberRatings-recommended with the receipts
# Provider Best for Standout capability Pricing 1 Zscaler Large distributed enterprises Largest inline security cloud (160+ DCs) Per-user quote 2 Palo Alto Prisma Access Security-mature enterprises NGFW-grade inspection as a service Per-user/site quote 3 Cato Networks Mid-market convergence True single-vendor SASE simplicity Per-site/user quote 4 Cloudflare Entry value at any scale Free tier → published Zero Trust tiers Free/published/quote 5 Fortinet FortiSASE FortiGate estates One FortiOS policy, box to cloud Per-user tiers (partners) 6 Cisco Secure Access Cisco-standardized orgs Talos-fed SSE with Umbrella DNA Per-user tiers (EA) 7 Netskope Data-protection-led programs FWaaS inside elite CASB/DLP stack Per-user quote 8 Versa Networks Branch-heavy value buyers Top CyberRatings marks, lowest cost/Mbps Per-site/user quote 9 Aryaka Global WAN + managed security Managed SASE on a private backbone Per-site/bandwidth quote 10 Twingate SMBs replacing VPNs first ZTNA-first on-ramp, minutes to deploy Free tier + published
How We Evaluated
Research-based ranking, no lab claims. Five criteria: cloud security stack depth (IPS, TLS 1.3 inspection, sandboxing, DNS controls), global footprint and latency posture, convergence (SD-WAN/ZTNA/SWG on one platform versus bolted-on), operational fit from SMB to enterprise, and pricing transparency.
Independent test results (CyberRatings.org) and analyst placements (Gartner’s 2025 SASE and hybrid mesh firewall evaluations) served as external sanity checks. Where vendors don’t publish pricing most don’t we say so rather than invent figures.
The 10 Best FWaaS Providers in 2026
1. Zscaler — Best FWaaS Overall
Zscaler — Best FWaaS Overall
Best for: large, distributed enterprises retiring appliance sprawl for user and branch traffic.
Zscaler’s Cloud Firewall runs on the Zero Trust Exchange — a purpose-built security cloud spanning 160+ data centers that inspects traffic inline at consumer-web scale. Every port and protocol gets firewall and IPS treatment wherever users sit, with policy following identity rather than office walls, and the ZIA/ZPA zero-trust stack wrapping access control around it.
Key features: full port/protocol cloud firewall with IPS; TLS inspection at cloud scale; DNS security controls; unified policy with SWG/ZTNA/CASB; extensive peering for latency.
Pros: unmatched dedicated-cloud scale and maturity; strongest appliance-retirement business case at large headcounts; deep zero-trust integration.
Cons: premium per-user economics; east-west/data-center traffic still needs separate enforcement; platform commitment is real.
Pricing: per-user subscription, custom quotes.
Standout differentiator: the largest inline security cloud in the industry — scale that turns “inspect everything, everywhere” from slogan into architecture.
2. Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access — Best Inspection Depth
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access — Best Inspection Depth
Best for: enterprises that refuse to accept a lighter cloud firewall than their data-center one.
Prisma Access delivers Palo Alto’s full NGFW brain as a service: App-ID application awareness, Advanced Threat Prevention, WildFire sandboxing, and DNS Security applied to user and branch traffic, governed by the same policy plane (Panorama/Strata Cloud Manager) as PA-Series hardware. Gartner recognized Palo Alto as a Leader across its 2025 SASE and hybrid mesh firewall evaluations.
Key features: App-ID/User-ID policy in the cloud; inline ML threat prevention; WildFire sandboxing; unified hybrid policy with PA estates; broad compliance certifications.
Pros: deepest inspection available in FWaaS form; seamless hybrid story for PA shops; strong analyst standing.
Cons: premium pricing with module stacking; operational depth suits mature teams.
Pricing: per-user/per-site quotes.
Standout differentiator: no capability haircut — the cloud firewall inspects like your best on-prem firewall.
3. Cato Networks — Best Converged SASE Experience
Cato Networks — Best Converged SASE Experience
Best for: mid-market and lean-enterprise teams that want networking and security as one product.
Cato built a private global backbone and put the entire stack SD-WAN, FWaaS, SWG, ZTNA, CASB on one cloud-native platform with one console. Customers consistently cite deployment speed and day-two simplicity; convergence here is architecture, not acquisition stitching.
This design delivers rapid site onboarding and removes the operational friction of troubleshooting stitched code repositories, offering clean remote workforce security frameworks.
Key features: single-pass cloud engine for all security functions; private backbone with predictable latency; built-in SD-WAN; one console/policy for everything; rapid site onboarding.
Pros: operational simplicity small teams can actually run; genuine platform coherence; strong mid-market economics.
Cons: single-control depth trails specialists in places; best-of-breed layering isn’t the philosophy.
Pricing: per-site/per-user quotes.
Standout differentiator: the closest this market comes to “it just works” — global firewalling your two-person network team can operate.
4. Cloudflare — Best Value Entry Point
Cloudflare — Best Value Entry Point
Best for: organizations of any size that want credible cloud firewalling running this week.
Cloudflare’s Gateway (DNS/HTTP filtering) and Magic Firewall (network-layer FWaaS) ride one of the internet’s largest anycast networks: a genuinely useful free Zero Trust tier, published per-user pricing after it, and enterprise scale that includes running national-grade infrastructure Cloudflare (with Accenture) has delivered the UK NCSC’s protective DNS since 2024.
Combined with their comprehensive cloud access controls platform, it handles huge throughput scales gracefully.
Key features: network-layer firewall rules at the edge (Magic Firewall); Gateway filtering with DoH/DoT; WARP client for roaming; one platform toward full SSE; API-first management.
Pros: unbeatable entry economics; deployment measured in hours; massive network performance.
Cons: deep enterprise integrations (legacy AD attribution, complex egress architectures) take more work than incumbents; advanced analytics gated to higher tiers.
Pricing: free tier; published Zero Trust plans; enterprise quotes. [VERIFY: current tier limits]
Standout differentiator: the lowest-friction serious start in FWaaS — and a ceiling high enough that you may never migrate off.
5. Fortinet FortiSASE — Best for FortiGate Estates
Fortinet FortiSASE — Best for FortiGate Estates
Best for: organizations with FortiGates at sites that want cloud firewalling without a second policy universe.
FortiSASE extends FortiOS into the cloud: the same policy logic, FortiGuard security services, and management your team already runs, unified across hardware and cloud edges.
This allows hybrid operations to easily deploy consistent, cross-boundary security parameters, eliminating the hidden operational tracking risks often associated with patching critical vulnerabilities .
For the vast installed base of FortiGate shops, it’s the migration path with no cliff hybrid by design, with Fortinet’s 2025 Gartner hybrid mesh firewall Leader placement (highest on execution) backing the strategy.
Key features: FortiOS policy continuity box-to-cloud; FortiGuard IPS/web/DNS/sandbox services; SD-WAN integration heritage; unified FortiManager/FortiCloud operations; aggressive per-user tiers via partners.
Pros: smoothest hybrid coexistence in the market; Fortinet price-performance carries over; one skill set for the whole estate.
Cons: PoP footprint and SSE polish trail Zscaler/Cato; keep management planes patched with the urgency Fortinet’s advisory record (January 2026 CISA KEV entry) demands.
Pricing: per-user tiers via partners.
Standout differentiator: policy continuity — the cloud firewall speaks fluent FortiOS from day one.
6. Cisco Secure Access — Best for Cisco-Standardized Organizations
Cisco Secure Access — Best for Cisco-Standardized Organizations
Best for: enterprises that route, switch, and authenticate on Cisco and want FWaaS from the same accountability chain.
Cisco Secure Access folds firewall-as-a-service into its SSE platform: Umbrella’s DNS-layer maturity, Talos threat intelligence feeding detections, and ZTNA/SWG alongside with the identity (Duo/ISE) and networking hooks Cisco estates already run, priced inside enterprise agreements where Cisco discounts hardest.
Key features: cloud firewall + IPS within SSE; Umbrella DNS security DNA; Talos intelligence; Duo/ISE identity integration; Catalyst SD-WAN pairing.
Pros: near-zero integration tax in Cisco shops; Talos-backed detection quality; single-vendor accountability.
Cons: platform assembled from acquisitions — console coherence still maturing; licensing spans SKUs.
Pricing: per-user tiers, best negotiated within EAs.
Standout differentiator: FWaaS that inherits twenty years of your Cisco operational muscle memory.
7. Netskope — Best Data-Protection-Led FWaaS
Netskope — Best Data-Protection-Led FWaaS
Best for: enterprises whose security program is organized around data governance.
Netskope’s cloud firewall ships inside an SSE built on category-leading CASB and DLP, running on its private NewEdge network.
When the driving question is “where is our data going?”, Netskope answers it while firewalling one policy engine across firewall, web, SaaS, and private access.
Key features: FWaaS integrated with elite CASB/DLP; NewEdge private network performance; instance-aware SaaS controls; unified client and policy; strong compliance tooling.
Pros: best data-context security in the tier; serious network investment; coherent single-vendor SSE.
Cons: premium pricing band; firewall-first buyers may pay for DLP depth they don’t use.
Pricing: per-user quotes.
Standout differentiator: firewalling that understands the data inside the sessions it inspects.
8. Versa Networks — Best Price-Performance Evidence
Versa Networks — Best Price-Performance Evidence
Best for: branch-heavy enterprises that want top-tier security economics with independent proof.
Versa Networks consistently delivers impressive results in objective third-party testing metrics. Its security architecture handles complex software-defined routing parameters smoothly, achieving standout independently tested efficacy scores in public cloud firewall security evaluations while maintaining highly competitive operational cost-per-throughput balances.
Unified SASE delivers FWaaS, SD-WAN, and security in one OS.
Key features: cloud-delivered NGFW/IPS with unified SASE; single-stack SD-WAN + security; multi-tenant architecture (carrier-friendly); granular policy engine; strong routing pedigree.
Pros: independently tested efficacy at the top of the market; standout cost-per-Mbps; genuine convergence.
Cons: brand recognition trails the giants; enterprise channel thinner than Zscaler/Palo Alto.
Pricing: per-site/per-user quotes.
Standout differentiator: the best public price-performance evidence in the category — force it into your negotiation even if you buy elsewhere.
9. Aryaka — Best Managed FWaaS
Aryaka — Best Managed FWaaS
Best for: global enterprises that want security outcomes delivered, not consoles to operate.
Aryaka anchors its cloud firewall controls on a premium global Layer-2 core network fabric. It delivers its unified SASE services as a fully managed enterprise solution, with the vendor’s operations center executing rule additions, performance balancing, and path configurations under strict, binding service level agreements.
Key features: managed SASE on a private core network; FWaaS with guaranteed application performance; global PoPs optimized for Asia/global routes; co-managed options; per-site consumption.
Pros: performance SLAs rivals can’t match on public transit; genuinely managed service; strong for global manufacturing/enterprise WANs.
Cons: less control-plane flexibility for tinkerers; premium for the managed layer.
Pricing: per-site/bandwidth quotes.
Standout differentiator: FWaaS with a WAN performance guarantee and someone else on pager duty.
10. Twingate — Best FWaaS On-Ramp for SMBs
Twingate — Best FWaaS On-Ramp for SMBs
Best for: small and mid-sized teams whose first cloud-firewall problem is actually the VPN.
Twingate approaches FWaaS from the zero-trust access side: replace the VPN with least-privilege connectivity in an afternoon, then layer DNS filtering and security controls onto the same lightweight fabric. A free starter tier and published pricing make it the gentlest serious on-ramp in this list.
Once its lightweight routing software is operational, teams can layer automated DNS filtering policies across endpoints without re-engineering internal network subnets or managing complex patch management cycles .
Key features: ZTNA-first architecture; DNS-level filtering and security policies; deploys in minutes (no hardware, no subnets re-engineered); IaC/API-friendly; free tier plus published plans.
Pros: minutes-to-value; transparent pricing; developer-friendly; scales from startup upward.
Cons: not a full L7 inspection stack — deep IPS/sandboxing needs a bigger platform later; SMB-first feature set.
Pricing: free tier; published per-user plans. [VERIFY: current plan limits]
Standout differentiator: the fastest credible first step from legacy VPN toward cloud-delivered security.
Full Comparison Table
Provider Full L7 inspection SD-WAN included Private backbone Free tier Ideal buyer Zscaler Yes Partner-led Peering-heavy No 5,000+ users distributed Prisma Access Yes (NGFW-grade) Yes (Prisma SD-WAN) Cloud-provider based No Security-mature enterprise Cato Yes Yes (native) Yes No 200–5,000 users converged Cloudflare Yes (Gateway/Magic) Magic WAN Yes (anycast) Yes Any size, value-first FortiSASE Yes Yes (heritage) Growing PoPs No FortiGate estates Cisco Secure Access Yes Catalyst SD-WAN Cloud-based No Cisco enterprises Netskope Yes Borderless SD-WAN Yes (NewEdge) No Data-governance-led Versa Yes (NGFW-grade) Yes (native) Multi-cloud gateways No Branch-heavy value Aryaka Yes Yes (managed) Yes (L2 core) No Global managed WAN Twingate DNS/access-layer No No Yes SMB VPN replacement
How to Choose a FWaaS Provider
Map your traffic shape first: user-to-internet dominant favors SSE-shaped platforms (Zscaler, Netskope, Cisco), site-heavy estates favor converged SASE (Cato, Versa, FortiSASE, Aryaka), and remember FWaaS protects user and branch edges data centers, OT, and east-west traffic keep local enforcement, which is why hybrid-continuity vendors (Fortinet, Palo Alto) win migrations.
Then test what quotes hide: latency from your real geographies, TLS-inspection throughput at your traffic mix, and policy migration effort from current firewalls.
Benchmark pricing against the market’s ~$15–$25 per user per month list band for full SSE bundles (30–50% enterprise discounts are routine), demand modules itemized, and run a two-week proof-of-value before signing anything. FWaaS decisions are zero trust decisions — align them with your NGFW estate plan and identity roadmap.
FAQ
What is firewall as a service (FWaaS)?
FWaaS delivers firewall capability — traffic filtering, intrusion prevention, TLS inspection, application control — from cloud infrastructure instead of on-site appliances. User, branch, and cloud traffic routes through the provider’s inspection points, giving consistent policy everywhere without hardware lifecycle costs.
How much does FWaaS cost in 2026?
Most providers quote per user per month; full SSE bundles benchmark at roughly $15–$25 at list, with 30–50% enterprise discounts common on multi-year terms. Cloudflare and Twingate publish entry tiers (including free tiers); SASE-shaped vendors (Cato, Versa, Aryaka) often price per site/bandwidth instead.
Does FWaaS replace my hardware firewalls?
For branch and user-edge traffic, largely yes — that’s the business case. Data centers, OT networks, and east-west segmentation still need local enforcement, so most 2026 architectures run hybrid: FWaaS for users and sites, appliances or cloud firewalls for workloads, ideally under one policy model.
Which FWaaS provider is best for small businesses?
Twingate for teams whose real first problem is VPN replacement — free tier, published pricing, minutes to deploy. Cloudflare’s Zero Trust free tier and published plans suit small teams wanting broader filtering. Both avoid enterprise procurement entirely.
Is FWaaS performance worse than local firewalls?
Not inherently — providers with dense PoPs or private backbones (Zscaler’s 160+ DCs, Cato and Aryaka’s private cores, Cloudflare’s anycast) often improve user experience versus backhauling traffic to a data-center firewall. The variable is your geography: always test latency from your actual user locations during evaluation.
What’s the difference between FWaaS, SSE, and SASE?
FWaaS is one control. SSE bundles the cloud-delivered security controls (FWaaS, SWG, ZTNA, CASB). SASE adds networking (SD-WAN) to SSE. In practice you’ll buy FWaaS inside an SSE or SASE platform — standalone cloud firewalls are increasingly rare.
Conclusion
Zscaler leads 2026’s FWaaS market on scale and maturity, Prisma Access on inspection depth, and Cato on converged simplicity — with Cloudflare owning the value on-ramp, FortiSASE and Cisco converting their installed bases, Netskope leading data-first programs, Versa bringing the best public price-performance evidence, Aryaka selling the managed lane, and Twingate proving the category scales down to SMBs.
Shortlist two that match your traffic shape, demand a proof-of-value from your real locations with TLS inspection on, and get multi-year pricing with modules itemized before you sign.
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