Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
reviewer2115711 - PeerSpot reviewer
Web Designer at Milestone Technologies, Inc.
User
Good security and policy management with helpful excellent customization capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "It blocks ransomware attacks that can affect performance-enhancing secure work environments with zero-day attacks."
  • "I recommend network upgrades in the next release to meet most company demands and daily changes."

What is our primary use case?

It helps us to discover applications that run across the organization network and admin accounts that are generated within the ecosystem. 

Monitoring the performance of applications has been easy since we deployed this platform. 

Check Point Application Control gives the IT team permission to deploy and assign tasks to various apps. 

It gives us the authority to eliminate unnecessary admin accounts and blacklist applications that are not required anymore. It protects apps from malware attacks with powerful security tools.

How has it helped my organization?

Setting up new applications and testing the suitability of deployed tools has been efficient since we deployed this platform. 

It blocks ransomware attacks that can affect performance-enhancing secure work environments with zero-day attacks. 

We are able to manage workstations and servers across remote offices with a unified control system. Setting up a default system for allowing applications that are useful and blocking untrusted platforms has saved time and cost. 

This product has enabled my web development team to set reliable control policies for managing applications.

What is most valuable?

Policy management features have enabled the organization to set up achievable goals and programs that can be implemented successfully. 

The security systems prevent external attacks from affecting workflows and compromising data. 

Customization has enabled us to create policies that can easily meet our requirements with flexible features. 

The overall cost of deployment and maintenance has been efficient and affordable. Application blacklisting helps us to filter our tedious apps that can negatively affect operations. 

What needs improvement?

The current features have great performance capabilities and have highly boosted production in the organization. I recommend network upgrades in the next release to meet most company demands and daily changes. 

The performance has been stable, and we really appreciate the great results. The security tools and policy enhancement tools perform effectively. The overall productivity of the current features is excellent, and I recommend the use of this product to other companies. 

We have longed for a reliable Application Control platform for a long time, and finally, we have received the best solution.

Buyer's Guide
Check Point Application Control
October 2025
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Application Control. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This tool is highly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I am impressed by the product's great performance.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support staff responds effectively.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not worked with any other similar solution before.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation took place through the vendor.

What was our ROI?

ROI has grown from 40% to 65% from the previous year.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost and licensing terms have been reliable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I settled on this product due to its stable performance after evaluating several products.

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend the use of this product to other organizations for reliable application control services.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Edwin Solano Salmeron - PeerSpot reviewer
Soporte técnico superior at Acobo
Real User
Helps define policies, integrates with third-parties, and offers good threat detection
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the greatest capacities and the benefits it gives us is the ability to control applications based on defining access or denial policies in specific applications, groups, or category profiles."
  • "The guides used today are a bit complex, and we need efficient and simple access to them so that any administrative or technical person can solve, analyze, and configure each of the rules and identities seamlessly."

What is our primary use case?

We needed to allow, control, block, and access specific applications based on the policies that the institution has as a baseline. Given this need, we have tried, analyzed, and tested various solutions that could comply with said internal directive. We have sought solutions that allow us greater visibility and control over applications on the network, improving the protection of applications and the security of the organization in general. We've validated the software's great potential at detecting malicious events on unauthorized applications or resources. 

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Application Control has offered us the possibility of achieving several important organizational pillars that were required to cover. We had application identification, application control, and protection based on known or unknown threats. 

These capabilities have allowed us to discover known or unknown threats by detecting them under the identity of users. We managed to include a malware intrusion detection index based on the identity of the users in order to protect them. 

What is most valuable?

One of the greatest capacities and the benefits it gives us is the ability to control applications based on defining access or denial policies in specific applications, groups, or category profiles. Compared to other products, it has offered us a unique combination by allowing the integration of third-party services or brand-owned services, which gives us a chance to insure, protect ourselves, and generate scalable, comprehensive protection. 

What needs improvement?

One of the improvements that we need is in the manual services. The guides used today are a bit complex, and we need efficient and simple access to them so that any administrative or technical person can solve, analyze, and configure each of the rules and identities seamlessly. We need clear directions to help us configure effectively. It's important to be able to have this documentation available to make the many available features easy to configure and allow us to promote defense tactics in depth against all available threats. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Check Point Application Control
October 2025
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Application Control. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1858884 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
User
Great rate-limiting their uploads with helpful application control and is easy to expand
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to be able to do dynamic rate limiting on specific applications has been a valuable feature."
  • "The one feature that could be improved would be the ability to see implicit rules that are defaulted on the policy."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case for application control in our organization is to provide the ability to restrict users from using unapproved applications and applications that fall under categories that are deemed malicious. 

Application control is enabled on all of our HA firewall clusters globally. Leveraging identity awareness, we can restrict remote access applications from the rest of the organization, allowing it for specific teams that require it, i.e., IT Helpdesk and Technical Support teams.

How has it helped my organization?

Application Control has improved our organization by enabling other network administrators and me to restrict non-corporate applications for specific departments. 

Combined with Check Points URL filtering, this blade provides more granular restriction as if the firewall engine does not detect the application, administrators have the ability to use regular expressions to block URLs that are critical for the application to function. For example, the Windows Quick Assist tool needed URL filtering as it was not being detected and categorized as "Remote Assistance"

What is most valuable?

The ability to be able to do dynamic rate limiting on specific applications has been a valuable feature. 

This has allowed us to prevent our graphics team from saturating our link to the internet by rate-limiting their uploads to third-party cloud providers (i.e., Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.). 

The fact that application control also can stop browser-based extensions/widgets has also been very valuable as it has provided insight to employees installing VPN extensions on their browsers. 

What needs improvement?

This blade is very valuable to any organization, and it is great that it is included in the base firewall licensing bundle. 

It is very easy to set up and configure. The one feature that could be improved would be the ability to see implicit rules that are defaulted on the policy. For example, if the cleanup rule is removed, there is still another toggle in the settings that (in the event the traffic does not match any of the rules) you can either choose to block the traffic or allow it. By default, this setting is configured to drop, which caused issues the first time we configured the policy as this was not shown.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and hasn't increased the load drastically.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is excellent and is easy to add new sites.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is hit or miss. L1 and L2 never seem to be able to solve my issues. We always need to go to L3 support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

The solution should be configured by default with an allow rule that can be changed to drop once implemented to avoid massive disruptions to users.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the solution in-house.

What was our ROI?

The ROI we see is in the added security to block specific applications or categories.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The setup is easy. However if first implemented, it's a good idea to add a "clean up" rule at the bottom rather than denying. This will allow the traffic and you can further tweak rules without impacting users.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options. 

What other advice do I have?

The product is great.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
User
Reliable, reduces management requirements, and lessens manual interventions
Pros and Cons
  • "Being able to choose specific applications in our policy rule base in order to better manage access and bandwidth utilization has had a significantly positive impact on our environment and saved a lot of management time."
  • "One of our continued challenges is having a more accurate, real-time view of how our bandwidth is actually being used at any given moment."

What is our primary use case?

Our K-12 school district is currently leveraging the Check Point 6800 Gateway hardware appliance, which is running version R80.30.   

The management station runs as a virtual machine in our VMWare environment with Cisco UCS & EMC (storage) hardware and Cisco networking architecture. In addition to the exceptional performance of the hardware and extensive Firewall abilities, we manage end-user traffic related to the applications. We use the solution primarily in the social media and entertainment arenas. This feature allows us to reduce unnecessary use of our already limited bandwidth.

How has it helped my organization?

Prior to the newer Application Control tools, from Check Point, we didn't have nearly as much in-depth access to manage traffic in the port 80 and 443 pathways.  

As a result, we were regularly pushing the high end of our already limited bandwidth. Though we did have web/URL filtering technologies deployed, our users still had quite a bit more access to media resources that presented a distraction in our environment. The Application Control, allows us to better manage bandwidth at a more granular level.

What is most valuable?

Being able to choose specific applications in our policy rule base in order to better manage access and bandwidth utilization has had a significantly positive impact on our environment and saved a lot of management time. This feature allows us to apply all the relevant protocols from a single application "package."  

In years past, we used to have to spend a lot of management time manually diagnosing the end-user traffic in an *attempt* to determine what sites, protocols, and ports were being used by the resource. Then, we would have to create specific rules to affect that traffic, before we could regularly monitor the traffic for any unexpected rouge behavior.

What needs improvement?

One of our continued challenges is having a more accurate, real-time view of how our bandwidth is actually being used at any given moment. A feature that could really offer a lot of insight into the live traffic would be a high-quality, real-time traffic graphical monitoring module. Administrators could then "mouse-over"  any point on the graph to reveal additional information at a very granular level. The information that could be presented would include data such as the service/app used, the specific network or IP, the date/time, etc.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used Check Point since the late 1990s. I've used this solution for several years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've had zero issues. It's a solid product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My impression is that with all the recent features and abilities added to the application control section, it should be able to scale very nicely.  I would anticipate that managing traffic at the application level would be far more efficient than in the past, with the option of creating fewer rules to accomplish the same goal.  Being able to group or, "package," together a number of similar applications that contain all the relevant protocols, will be a big benefit over time.

How are customer service and support?

As the product has performed well, we have had little interaction with Check Point's customer support. We have been reasonably satisfied, during the limited times of engagement.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have been using the Check Point firewall suite of products, since the floppy disk installation days.

How was the initial setup?

We had the guidance and aid of a partner vendor and it was not overly complicated.

What about the implementation team?

We have worked with a vendor for years and have been very pleased.

What was our ROI?

ROI is difficult to quantify in terms of money.  However,, we can easily say that our management time has decreased and end-user activities have been more on-task.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is a bit high for our K12 organization. The setup is not painful. That said, planning is crucial - as well as a thorough understanding of your network architecture and desired outcomes. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

I'd advise users to go with Check Point.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
William Cambronero - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at ITQS
Reseller
Top 5Leaderboard
Issue-free with good granularity and is easy-to-use
Pros and Cons
  • "It also helps us implement changes very quickly and make people more focused on work."
  • "At the moment I don't see the need to add new features. That said, you always have to be one step ahead."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case for Check Point Application Control is to be able to filter and control all the categories of applications that we want to allow in our organization so that users have the necessary access and permissions and have security in using an application. 

We only allow members of the organization access secure applications, another benefit is that bandwidth can be limited by restricting applications and unnecessary downloads of applications that are not for business use by controlling the access of gateway apps

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Application Control has provided us as an organization with the ability to prevent users from entering web pages that are not allowed or that can lead to many vulnerabilities that could result in the loss of sensitive information.

With this friendly, simple, and easy-to-use tool, we have been able to control all these inappropriate accesses. Most users cannot enter sites or applications that are not for work and with this, we have been able to monitor all these pages.

It also helps us implement changes very quickly and make people more focused on work.

What is most valuable?

All Check Point Application Control features are very granular and important. The most important depends on the need of the company this feature is used.

It also has flexibility where you can restrict certain areas of each page. For example, you can enter but not download or use a chat like in social networks. I can see them, however, not chat. This is a good thing as you can be flexible with your employees to have everything without access and allows us to be flexible with certain categories. I think that with this we can achieve a better tool

What needs improvement?

The tool has a number of features necessary for good business security. However, it is always good to add several features and maintain an open and adequate performance for the machines where said software is installed since it will be able to present high performance. However, so far, Check Point Application Control satisfactorily meets the needs of a company in security. At the moment I don't see the need to add new features. That said, you always have to be one step ahead.
They should focus on improving the guides since they are not very friendly or concrete to make a configuration in the interface.

For how long have I used the solution?

This tool has been used for 2 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. No problem has been presented.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution provides important scalability features

How are customer service and support?

Since the product has worked well, we have had little interaction with Check Point's customer service.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we did not use another tool.

How was the initial setup?

The implementation, like all Check Point products, is very interactive and easy to install and configure.

What about the implementation team?

It was done with a vendor and it was very good in its work until now.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI is that our entire platform meets the necessary security requirements. Nothing happens in the company's infrastructure and this helps us avoid more expenses if not for having implemented a tool like this.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is in line with the competition. They maintain an accessible and competitive price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Options were not evaluated since our infrastructure always used Check Point.

What other advice do I have?

They continue to innovate. Check Point is an excellent tool in many areas.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Cloud Support at a tech company with 1-10 employees
User
Offers easy access and granular security, Safe, modern and easy to manage from the portal.
Pros and Cons
  • "Its implementation is simple."
  • "Something important to mention is the improvement at the support level. It could be more advanced."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, when acquiring CKPOINT products to be able to have perimeter protection for our teams, both cloud and on-premise.

we are able to carry out greater protection with Check Point's gateway, integrated with access control. It is a great help.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Application Control has been of great help in being able to provide access and granular security improvements for different departments with different profiles within the company. It is important to be able to do this in environments that deserve greater control in different areas.

We gained a lot in control, however, also through the reports it was possible to determine what was happening, and subsequently, make security improvements in the application control blade. Its use is really simple and intuitive, and when we have had doubts we have relied on the public documentation.

What is most valuable?

One of the advantages of Check Point Application Control is the large number of profiles included within the tool to be able to generate granular policies, in addition to permissions between servers or even web access.

Its implementation is simple. It is another great advantage. In our case, we use it with our R81 Check Point Gateway. It was implemented in Microsoft Azure, being a virtual device.

On the other hand, the log reports are very good for making validations and decisions.

What needs improvement?

Something important to mention is the improvement at the support level. It could be more advanced. Sometimes the responses are somewhat slow or based on a schedule that is not always the same as the companies. It's difficult to generate a session with them to better explain your needs.

We would also like the costs to be more comfortable. Although they are not different from other security tools, they could have improvements to provide greater interest to customers who are interested or loyal to Check Point's products.

For how long have I used the solution?

In the company, we have made security improvements in recent years to be able to solve technological gaps in which vulnerabilities could greatly damage work continuity. Application control is a great help for our gateways.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously we had used Fortinet Gateways, however we liked what Check Point offered better at the level of modern security tools.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is very important before implementing security improvements to have a test environment to evaluate correctly. I recommend taking previous implementations into account.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before opting for Check Point, we validated and verified several demos with other manufacturers, however, we liked it better and it was better adapted to our internal needs.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2104284 - PeerSpot reviewer
Java Application Developer at Oesia
User
Reliable support, great performance, and offers efficient protection of data
Pros and Cons
  • "The central management system provides a reliable platform for application control and URL filtering."
  • "Malware threats can advance attacks when there are no timely measures to curb online phishing attacks."

What is our primary use case?

Check Point Application Control enables my team to customize websites to fit our daily needs. It provides security measures that can be set in place to safeguard our content and internal information. 

It provides reliable tools for setting up HTTPS security policies that prevent security risks related to SSL protocol. The product provides real-time insights into the data traffic from the applications and their performance. 

The security protocols have enabled my team to set restrictions for accessing confidential information.

How has it helped my organization?

There is efficient protection of data and workflows from external interferences. This platform provides basic tools for protecting applications from cyber attacks and building strong websites. 

The SmartView tracker enables my members to monitor data traffic across the applications. It has provided a great opportunity for us to set up basic rules for interacting with applications. 

This product provides reliable data controls that monitor the performance and operational capability of all the applications within the company's networking infrastructure.

What is most valuable?

The central management system provides a reliable platform for application control and URL filtering. 

The security gateways have set comprehensive security tools for protecting data from malware attacks. 

The application library can run many apps and websites at the same time without functional complications. 

The application control system blocks internet sites and cyber attacks that can affect daily operations. 

SmartEvent Analysis provides capabilities for understanding application performance with charts and reporting analytics.

What needs improvement?

The most set features have enhanced the effective management of workflows. 

Malware threats can advance attacks when there are no timely measures to curb online phishing attacks. 

The solution needs an efficient monitoring platform that provides individual employee data, and performance will boost productivity in the organization. 

Most features perform well since there are few complaints. The security tools should be empowered more to fit daily demands and prevent our systems from advanced threats. 

I recommend the use of this platform to other organizations for reliable application performance.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The application security controls and monitoring tools are powerful.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I am impressed by its great performance.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support staff has been reliable and committed to great service delivery.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not worked with a similar solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was done by the vendor team, and their level of expertise is excellent.

What was our ROI?

The recorded ROI has improved from 40% to 65% currently.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The setup cost and licensing terms are efficient.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated other application control products, however, Check Point Application Control was the best.

What other advice do I have?

This is great system for monitoring application performance and I recommend to others.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2008410 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at Doddle
User
Mitigates security risks, has workflow tracking capacity and offers increased workflow performance
Pros and Cons
  • "It ensures that the health of each application can handle the set tasks and projects without any challenges."
  • "The set performance monitoring systems are complex to interpret and scale down their operations."

What is our primary use case?

The company-based applications have benefited from this software in the enhancement of security and performance acceleration. 

Check Point Application Control monitors all tools' performance and operations in all enterprise activities. 

The reported performance metrics help us allocate resources and unlock hidden business potentials. Over the past year, this product has boosted the end output of all applications and promoted efficient teamwork. Each tool can easily link and integrate with others with set task objectives.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Application Control has highly improved business operations with modern data control systems. 

It ensures that the health of each application can handle the set tasks and projects without any challenges. 

We have increased workflow performance and improved the service delivery to our clients. 

Data transfer with preferable security measures has enhanced better collaboration among teams. The connection of applications has enabled members to understand the data flow and set goals with real-time reports.

What is most valuable?

The set security measures integrated with applications help us to identify and set policies that can support our programs. 

It mitigates the security risks that can affect business tools and their implications on the overall production capacity. 

The workflow tracking capacity provides data on all employees working with certain tools and their contributions. 

Check Point Application Control can monitor the operations of many applications at the same time without low-performance experiences. There is increased revenue from the reduced cost of consolidating required security tools.

What needs improvement?

The set security features have increased the production efficiency of all applications. The new IT team monitoring this system requires proper training in order to execute the targeted goals effectively without failure. 

The set performance monitoring systems are complex to interpret and scale down their operations. 

The customer service team works tirelessly to ensure our teams are satisfied. Cloud network security has kept our assets secure since we deployed with a smooth continuation of other enterprise activities.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for one year and four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is stable and with high-performance capabilities.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I like the persistence of improving security across the organization from this application.

How are customer service and support?

I have no words for the support team; I really congratulate them on the excellent job!

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously worked with AppDynamics - although the security models did not meet our targets.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to setup and learn how the product works.

What about the implementation team?

The vendor team did the implementation.

What was our ROI?

The set targeted ROI has been achieved.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The setup procedure is good and the cost is suitable for most enterprises.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated operations and performance of AppDynamics.

What other advice do I have?

Check Point Application Control is the best solution for security and performance controls.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user