We performed a comparison between Check Point CloudGuard Network Security and WatchGuard Firebox based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Initial setup is easy to configure."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"Fortinet offers the latest versions to cater to the needs of enterprises."
"The payment function for applications is good."
"The most valuable features are the possibility of having one fabric for switching on security."
"The product is easy to use and is stable. The SV1 functionality is a benefit."
"Virtual Domains (VDOMs) are a feature that we found valuable."
"The performance is good."
"The most valuable feature of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is the increased mail protection including spam."
"We have found the overall functionality of the product to be exactly similar to the physical product. The one good advantage is that it is cloud-based and can be deployed either as a part of a scale set or one can shut down the virtual machine and adjust the physical parameters of the virtual machine easily and bring it right back up."
"The tool's most valuable features are threat prevention and protection mechanisms."
"Auto Scaling is one of the features that make me want to choose CloudGuard over actual HW."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The installation process doesn't take very long."
"The solution is reliable."
"The product has allowed us to develop applications from the cloud - even with large environments and well-segmented security lines."
"Efficient to setup, run, and maintain. Saving man hours and cost in the process."
"The Dimension control, the one-spot reporting and control, has been nice. It's been easy to go in and make sure people are doing what they're supposed to be doing and that only the right stuff is getting in."
"Their support is excellent, and the stability is very good."
"The main reason we went with it was the security protocols. They were more robust on this device."
"I like the High Availability features of the newest ones I'm using because they allow a firewall to fail and still be up and running."
"I have found the DNS Watch feature for intrusion and prevention response and APT Locker most valuable to me."
"The GUI is easy and intuitive."
"The throughput is great. It's perfect. We have no issues whatsoever. The management features are very powerful..."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"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."
"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."
"It would be a benefit if Fortinet would release a one-stop solution that is better integrated with other products and an automated emergency response system."
"The product does need better support in the cloud environment. It's not exactly cloud-native right now."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"Its price could be better."
"MTBF: Hardware failure is more common when compared to SonicWall or Cisco ASA."
"CloudGuard Network Security needs to include new features. One specific feature I would like to see is the ability to protect external resources using single sign-on integration with various identity providers, including custom identity providers. Its pricing could also be cheaper."
"Check Point has a history of moving fast with software release and upgrade cycles which are difficult to keep up with at times."
"The initial setup is complex and could be made simpler."
"It is a very expensive program and there are additional costs despite the standard licensing fees."
"Sometimes, if you aren't familiar with the solution, it can be a bit complex, but it does become easier to use with time. However, every time they launch a new version, it becomes more complex and you need to take time to get familiar with all the changes. For every version that they upgrade, you need to upskill yourself."
"I would like to see a step-by-step initial installation of the firewall. That would be really helpful. Like in Oracle appliances, when you start it asks you, what's your current IP address? An initial setup should be a step by step and intuitive process. You click on "begin," it asks you some simple questions. You fill in the blanks - your current IP address, what you want to do, you want to set up a site to site VPN, for example, that kind of thing. That would be the smartest thing to have."
"This application can be more integrated with web application firewalls. Better integrations would provide more granularity, which would be helpful for focusing on the application itself and preventing attacks. It would be good to include the cross-domain search. If you have multiple firewalls that are managed on the same platform and you want to check who is using some particular objects or where a specific ID is being used, it should provide an option for this kind of search instead of having to check one by one on each firewall."
"New features have been introduced recently, but they have not yet been integrated into CloudGuard Vsec."
"The drawbacks are just sometimes not having the technical information that we need in order to easily make connections with all of our Internet-based clients."
"The solution needs to improve its accessibility."
"The software base, the management piece that goes onto a server, is not as user-friendly as I would like. There are three different pieces that you have to manage, so it's a little bit convoluted, in my opinion."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say their web blocker feature. It is still quite a confusing setup, especially when you want to filter out a particular category for granularity. For example, you do not want to filter Facebook but you do want to filter Facebook games only. It can be done, but the process to do it is very confusing."
"We bought Firebox four or five years ago, and with the first version I had to reboot it every two or three months for no apparent reason. We upgraded last year to the M370 and it's been running, but it is rebooting from time to time. I don't know why."
"Sometimes I would like to copy a rule set from one box to another box in a direct way. This is a feature that is not present at the moment in WatchGuard."
"I don't think I can get a full-blown DNS client from it. I've been trying to have DNS services. It has forwarding, but I don't get the services of a full DNS client. My main difficulty with it is that I can't run a complete service. I need NTP. I need DNS. I need DHCP for my domain, but I only get forwarding. As far as I can tell, I don't get caching and the kinds of reporting and registration needed to host a DNS for a domain. I have to have a separate solution for that."
"Some of the configuration options are somewhat confusing."
More Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Pricing and Cost Advice →
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is ranked 8th in Firewalls with 119 reviews while WatchGuard Firebox is ranked 13th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is rated 8.6, while WatchGuard Firebox is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security writes "The solution has good threat emulation, threat extraction, and reporting features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Firebox writes "Offers a streamlined deployment, intuitive interface and robust security features". Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is most compared with Azure Firewall, VMware NSX, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, whereas WatchGuard Firebox is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, SonicWall TZ and Meraki MX. See our Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.
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