Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs Check Point NGFW comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jul 11, 2023

We performed a comparison between Check Point CloudGuard Network Security and Check Point NGFW based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

Features: Check Point CloudGuard Network Security provides essential features like VPN, IPS, URL filtering, and Applications Control. It emphasizes compliance, regulations, cloud security, and advanced threat prevention. Check Point NGFW is commended for its comprehensive security features, including URL filtering, intrusion prevention, identity and access management, and application control capabilities.

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security could benefit from enhancements in the support system, cluster creation on AWS, data protection visibility, DLP feature, user interface, and cost reduction. Check Point NGFW needs enhancements in integration, hardware performance, pricing, load balancing, technical support, reporting capabilities, UI design, VPN solutions, management, licensing model, and memory management.

Service and Support: The opinions on the customer service for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vary, with positive feedback on technical assistance and negative comments on delays in responses. Check Point NGFW has differing reviews, as some users appreciate the helpful and responsive support, while others consider it inferior to Cisco's support.

Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is considered to be straightforward and user-friendly, although some technical expertise and guidance may be needed. The setup for Check Point NGFW can range in difficulty, with opinions differing. Some users find it to be simple, while others perceive it as somewhat complex. Certain configurations and migrations may require expertise and experience.

Pricing: The cost of setting up Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is perceived as pricey by some while others find it justifiable and cost-effective. There are various discount models available for pricing flexibility. Check Point NGFW is generally considered to have a higher cost compared to other products. However, users believe that the enhanced security and reliability make the price worthwhile.

ROI: Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has demonstrated a significant return on investment, with estimated returns ranging from 80% to 85%. Check Point NGFW offers a favorable return on investment, particularly after comprehending the level of protection it provides.

Comparison Results: Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is preferred over Check Point NGFW. Users found CloudGuard's initial setup to be easy, straightforward, and user-friendly. CloudGuard offers valuable features such as VPN, IPS, URL filtering, and an Applications Control Blade, which received high praise.

To learn more, read our detailed Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Check Point NGFW Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls.""It has improved our security capabilities.""The feature I like most is the SD-WAN. It allows you to manage more than one ISP at the same time. And there is a high-availability mode, so if one of your ISPs is down, you still have a backup.""It is quite easy to handle.""Their proxy-based inspection is responsive and secure.""FortiGate Secure SD-WAN includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering.""The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well.""The initial setup is straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"Our clients choose CloudGuard as a natural progression of their solutions. They understand Microsoft and CloudGuard fits.""We have complete visibility of attacks originating from email including spear-phishing, spoofing, etc.""It's possible to sync the Check Point Management with the cloud portal, therefore allowing automated rules to be set in place whenever creating a new VM.""Some retail customers find the scale-up and scale-down features valuable, particularly with scale sets. This is useful for handling increased loads on devices and utilizing firewalls, similar to on-premises setups with active standby configurations.""The IPS, application and URL filtering, as well as Identity Awareness, are all very valuable features.""Security effectiveness is the most valuable feature. Operational efficiency, reporting, and support are also good.""The Identity Awareness blade and dynamic tagging in Azure are valuable because they make access management automatic. Instead of manually setting up access for each new resource, it happens automatically based on the same access policy. This dynamic setup is scalable.""The program is very stable."

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"I love the interface of R.80.30. The R.80 interface is very nicely thought out with everything in one place, which makes Check Point easier to use.""Check Point definitely has a great architecture, where you can just enable the software blades and deploy a secure service. Overall, it provides ease of deployment and ease of use.""I like the Next-Generation Firewall.""It's a lightweight solution, requiring minimal storage, resources, and memory to operate effectively.""All of the features are very valuable, but the most valuable features are the sandboxing and the advanced IPS/IDS.""It is easy to configure and it is a valuable antivirus protection. I especially like the IPS feature of this product.""One ability that Check Point has is that it is the first to provide us with the ability to use identities instead of using the traditional IP-based format, which allows way more flexibility in what we can do with the rule base.""The solution is easy to administer thanks to its dashboards. The monitoring is really useful."

More Check Point NGFW Pros →

Cons
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial.""This product needs to have an analysis feature, rather than having the analysis done through the integration of a different product.""Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved.""The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work.""Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution.""It should provide better visibility over the network and more information in the form of reports for the end users. Its installation should also be easier.""Monitoring and reporting could be better.""If they could extend their fabric towards other vendor environments for integration, that would be great."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"The stability of the solution could be improved, but this is the problem of all the solutions in the market. This isn't just a problem specific to Check Point.""The management console can be simplified because at the moment, it is a bit of a challenge to use.""The relationship between AWS and Check Point could be better. We had issues related to the type of instance and how it interconnects with AWS or cloud-native solutions. We overcame the pain points that we had, and now, AWS is evolving in a way that will facilitate how Check Point works. Our pain points were minimized, but they were there.""The product can still grow.""The costs are high.""The user interface can be improved.""The solution is not that flexible when deploying on-prem.""Micro-Segmentation functionality for EAST-WEST traffic is not native and requires integration with a third-party OEM."

More Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Cons →

"The cost of add-on features is too high.""The firewall can improved to make it more user-friendly.""It requires enhanced automation tools for regulatory compliance to ease the burden of compliance reporting and auditing.""One area for improvement in Check Point NGFW is the support process.""One of the most complicated aspects is the VPN Configuration, which should be simplified in future releases.""The technical support is really poor. We have to wait for approximately 48 hours sometimes for a simple solution.""There is a strong demand for security services that can be effortlessly integrated which would ensure that security measures can seamlessly adapt to the cloud infrastructure.""There is no clear way to report incorrect classification to support and a business is neither happy nor forgiving when they cannot receive mail from a crucial business partner."

More Check Point NGFW Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "On average, it is normally on the lower end, being less expensive than Palo Alto or Cisco."
  • "It is more expensive than other solutions and would be more competetive in the market if it came down in price."
  • "We pay approximately ‎€150,000 ($166,000 USD) per year."
  • "Licensing is simply by the number of hosts that you are looking to protect within your environment. It makes it much easier to ensure that you are covering your environment."
  • "There is flexibility in the different licensing models that are offered."
  • "The pricing is pretty high, not just for your capital, for what you have to pay upfront, but for what you pay for your annual software renewals as well, compared to a lot of other vendors. Check Point is near the top, as far as how much it's going to cost you."
  • "Pricing of CloudGuard is pretty fair when you have a single account. It's comparable with other cloud providers. But for our use case, it got really pricey when we had to deploy multiple CloudGuards on multiple accounts in different regions, because you can't have CloudGuard protecting multiple regions. That's the big thing."
  • "The pricing and licensing have been good. We just had to do a license increase for our portion of it. We had that done within a couple of days. Given the fact that it's purely a software-based license, it ends up being even quicker than doing it for an on-prem firewall."
  • More Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I don't think the product's pricing is a good value. I feel it's very overpriced. I feel a lot of the features for a next gen firewall are there. But I feel it's overpriced, because of the stability issues. As far as support goes, I really can't speak to direct Check Point support, but the third-party was pretty terrible... As far as the licensing goes, it's pretty complex. If anybody was to purchase the Check Point product, definitely make sure they have an account rep come on site, and explain it line by line, what each thing is. It's not straightforward. It's very convoluted. There's no way you could just figure it out by looking at it."
  • "Check Point solutions are very expensive here. They're good, but they're expensive... Check Point is only useful for customers that have a big IT budget."
  • "The price is high in comparison to other solutions."
  • "We pay $5,000-$6,000 a year."
  • "Maybe the pricing is a bit high but you get the durability and the duration."
  • "Licensing issues may be confusing at times."
  • "It is quite an expensive product, although security is a top priority."
  • "This product is not cheap and there are additional costs that depend on what model or package that you buy."
  • More Check Point NGFW Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite… more »
    Top Answer:The tool's most valuable feature is its management console.
    Top Answer:The tool's pricing is been higher than other solutions, but it seems like it's turning downwards.
    Top Answer:Check Point CloudGuard Network Security needs to improve the management of the actual firewalls. Improvement is also… more »
    Top Answer:I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such)… more »
    Top Answer:Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include integration into the overall… more »
    Top Answer:Check Point NGFW provides essential security, featuring no-obligation access for secure connections, strong intrusion… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security
    Check Point NG Firewall, Check Point Next Generation Firewall
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    CloudGuard Network Security is a firewall solution that provides network security for cloud environments. It protects against cyber threats with multi-layered security for public, private, and hybrid clouds. 

    CloudGuard Network Security offers advanced threat prevention, firewall, VPN, and application security services, designed to secure cloud infrastructure, virtual networks, and cloud-based applications and workloads.

    CloudGuard Network Security Features

    CloudGuard Network Security has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Advanced threat prevention: The solution Includes anti-virus, anti-bot, and intrusion prevention to defend against known and unknown threats.
    • Firewall: It has a stateful inspection firewall and network address translation (NAT) to secure traffic flow between cloud resources and the internet.
    • VPN: CloudGuard Network Security offers secure and encrypted connectivity for remote users and between cloud resources.
    • Application security: It includes a web application firewall (WAF) and SSL inspection to secure web applications and protect against cyber attacks.
    • Cloud-native architecture: The solution is designed specifically for cloud environments and integrates with cloud-native services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
    • Compliance and governance: It helps organizations comply with regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR by providing detailed reporting and auditing capabilities.
    • Multi-layered security: CloudGuard Network Security provides a comprehensive security solution with multiple layers of defense for maximum protection.

    CloudGuard Network Security Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing CloudGuard Network Security. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Scalability and flexibility: The solution supports dynamic scaling and flexible deployment options to meet the changing needs of cloud environments.
    • Automated deployment and management: CloudGuard Network Security enables fast and efficient deployment and management of security services through a centralized, cloud-based management console.
    • Future-proof: Designed for the cloud and integrated with cloud-native services, CloudGuard Network Security helps organizations prepare for future cloud requirements and advancements.

    Reviews from Real Users

    CloudGuard Network Security is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has good cloud security, is cost-effective, has no false positives, improves productivity, and much more.

    Bernard O., Technical Engineer at Harnssen Group Limited, says, "Check Point is one of the few solutions that pay attention to cloud security. Many others mostly focus on providing on-premises solutions."

    Another PeerSpot reviewer, Shrinkhala S., Senior Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India appreciates the solution for many reasons: “There are no security lapses and 100% restriction of threat entrants in the system or server. It's a cost-effective solution with no false positive cases. The product helps in bringing productivity and enhanced customer experience for users.

    We have a happy workforce and more workforce retention and increased IT environment sustainability. There is 100% proactive detection of root causes and root sources. It is dynamic and agile, and its features and utilities continuously improve and evolve. It's the best-unified endpoint management solution for IT systems globally. The product is available for all kinds of business users.”

    "One of the main characteristics that CloudGuard Network Security has given us isgranularity and visibility,” explains Adriamcam, Consultant at ITQS.

    Check Point NGFW is a next generation firewall that enables safe usage of internet applications by blocking malicious applications and unblocking safe applications. Check Point NGFW, which uses deep packet inspection to identify and control applications, has features such as application and user control and integrated intrusion prevention (IPS), as well as more advanced malware prevention capabilities like sandboxing.

    Check Point NGFW includes 23 firewall models optimized for running all threat prevention technologies simultaneously, including full SSL traffic inspection, without compromising on security or performance.

    Benefits of Check Point's Next Generation Firewall

    • Robust security: Check Point NGFW delivers the best possible threat prevention with SandBlast Zero Day protection. The SandBlast protection agent constantly inspects passing network traffic for exploits and vulnerabilities. Suspicious files are then emulated in a virtual sandbox in order to detect and report malicious behavior.

    • Security at hyperscale: On-demand hyperscale threat prevention performance provides cloud level expansion and resiliency on premises.

    • Unified management: Check Point's SmartConsole makes it easy to manage and configure network security environments and policies. With the SmartConsole, users can manage all the firewall gateways and access logs and install databases from one location. Unified management control across the network increases the efficiency of security operations and reduces IT costs.
    • Continuous logging: Check Point NGFW’s Threat Management feature detects vulnerabilities and logs them. Using the logged data, users can easily create and implement efficient security policies.

    • Remote access: The remote access VPN provides a seamless connection for remote users.

    Check Point NGFW is suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to larger enterprises.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Check Point NGFW stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its intrusion prevention feature as well as its centralized management, which makes it very easy to deploy firewall policies to many firewalls with one click.

    Shivani J., a network security administrator, writes, "Check Point has a lot of features. The ones I love are the antivirus, intrusion prevention, and data loss prevention."

    G., a network administrator at Secretaría de Finanzas de Aguascalientes, writes, “Within the organization, the inspection of packages has given us great help in detecting traffic that may be a threat to the institution. The configuration of policies has allowed us to maintain control of access and users for each institution that is incorporated into our headquarters.”

    Arun J., a senior network engineer, notes, “The nicest feature is the centralized management of multiple firewalls. With the centralized management, we can easily use and operate multiple firewalls as well as create a diagram of them.”

    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
    Control Southern, Optimal Media
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Security Firm10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Security Firm6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization51%
    Computer Software Company7%
    Financial Services Firm5%
    Government4%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise59%
    Large Enterprise27%
    Buyer's Guide
    Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Check Point NGFW
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Check Point NGFW and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is ranked 8th in Firewalls with 121 reviews while Check Point NGFW is ranked 5th in Firewalls with 279 reviews. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is rated 8.6, while Check Point NGFW is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security writes "Highly reliable, great visibility, and centralized management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Check Point NGFW writes "Good antivirus protection and URL filtering with very good user identification capabilities". Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is most compared with VMware NSX, Azure Firewall, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet FortiGate-VM, whereas Check Point NGFW is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall, Netgate pfSense and Azure Firewall. See our Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Check Point NGFW report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors and best Unified Threat Management (UTM) vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.