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Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 5, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
411
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Application Control
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Application Control (9th)
WatchGuard Firebox
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (11th), Firewalls (14th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (8th), Anti-Malware Tools (12th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (20th), Application Control (7th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Andre Lourens - PeerSpot reviewer
Stable performance and effective control over user access to specific applications and websites
I'm not sure about its scalability since most of my deployments are for small to medium-sized companies. I haven't faced any scalability issues so far. It runs smoothly. I don't use dedicated appliances; instead, I have it running on existing PCs. And it works fine. I haven't experienced any throughput issues or similar problems. I have around five or six different clients using Untangle Application Control.
Rajesh  Makwana - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient bandwidth management and secure network access with a strong firewall
The primary use case of the Firebox mainly revolves around bandwidth management, unnecessary web blocking, application control, and protection against brute force attacks. It is also implemented for load balancing, SD-WAN, and branch-to-branch connectivity from one location to another. We also use…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate helps improve my organization since it's quick and easy to install, and we don't have to call support frequently."
"We've found the solution to be pretty stable."
"The notable features that I have found most valuable are that it includes the antivirus, and also IPS, and even SD-WAN."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The Fortinet FortiGate local partners were good. I did not have direct contact with Fortinet support."
"Fortinet FortiGate is one of the most solid and secure firewalls as long as you keep it up to date. The price is right; it's not very expensive."
"This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."
"Application filter features are the most valuable for us."
"Content filtering is really easy to use. We have rules for content filtering. One of the rules that we have is that if it is not an SSL site, it should block the site. It scans, and if it finds a bad site, it is not going to allow it. We can also block based on what the company wants us to block. If the company wants us to block porn, we'll block porn. If the company wants to block social media, we're going to block social media."
"The fact that I can limit access to certain apps is the most valuable feature for me. For example, I can restrict access to specific websites or certain functions within websites."
"It is the most effective on non-encrypted traffic and it is able to determine some threats through deep packet inspection."
"The most valuables feature of WatchGuard Firebox are the VPNs, and web filtering where we can stop users from going to malicious sites."
"The most valuable are the VPN and proxy features."
"There are no problems with the technical support. If a problem occurs it gets resolved immediately with our technical support partners."
"​Efficient to setup, run, and maintain. Saving man hours and cost in the process."
"Firebox operates effectively in the background, blocking potential threats without a need for constant monitoring."
"The firewall aspect and the branch office VPNs are the most valuable features... We don't have any issues with it. We don't have to spend a lot of time maintaining it."
"The tool provides automated responses."
 

Cons

"The logging details need to be improved."
"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"The initial setup and configuration are not intuitive and require training."
"The support system could be improved."
"It would be nice if backups could more easily migrate between different models."
"It would be nice if FortiGate incorporated some built-in endpoint protection features. I would also like a built-in SOC dashboard for managing multiple Fortinet firewalls."
"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."
"The only thing that they need to improve is that they drop sessions. Currently, if you see a session come in, such as a DHCP session or a VPN session, you don't have the ability to click on that session, hit drop, and have them re-negotiate. It would be a really nice feature, and they are working on it. This is the only feature that is missing."
"Reporting functionality could be improved to provide more comprehensive insights."
"There is room for improvement in blocking torrents."
"The interface is not the best."
"One area for improvement is the limitation in the product portfolio compared to competitors like Fortinet, which offers a broader portfolio including Authentication, VPNs, FortiMail, Sandbox, and Email Security."
"There are a couple of things I wished that it would do, but I can't think of those off the top of my head."
"Once you start getting into proxy actions and setting up: "Okay, cool. Once this rule gets triggered, what actions have to happen?" I do know a few people who use WatchGuard and they still have to get assistance when they look at that. So I would file that as a con for WatchGuard. Proxy actions can be a little bit complicated."
"There were a little bit of problems with the tool's updates, making it an area where improvements are needed."
"The ease of detecting where an issue is should be improved."
"The solution needs to improve its accessibility."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."
"Here in Brazil, we're going through difficult economic times and the tax on the dollar is high. All the solutions from minor competitors are growing in the market. The prices have come more competitive."
"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."
"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."
"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The Fortinet FortiGate security features cost approximately $1,500 a year. The firewall itself doesn't have a recurring cost. It's the security features on top of that that you pay for."
"Its price could be better."
"Everything is included on the firewall at one price point, and we sell it for $70 a month, which includes the hardware."
"I use the free version of Untangle."
"The licensing can be a one-time purchase unless you need the extra services for example twenty-four seven support."
"The pricing was in line with everyone else; maybe slightly higher."
"The cost was somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000 to $3,000 for each one..."
"I haven't seen the pricing since 2017, but it was competitive. SonicWall, Barracuda, and WatchGuard were all about the same price when we did our last pricing."
"Very competitive pricing regarding throughput compared to other alternatives."
"We only license our corporate one and the one we have at our DR site, we don't worry about the branches. It doesn't pay for us to license the ones at the branches. What they charge for what they call basic maintenance is extremely high for those little fireboxes."
"We paid $4000 in AUD for WatchGuard Firebox per year. There were no additional costs."
"The primary reason that we went with Firebox was its cost. It is very economical and it provided us with all the security functions that we were looking for at the time. And the throughput was more than what we required, so it was a very cost-effective device to deploy on our network."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?
We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Bridger Valley Electric, Rathbone Group, Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), Brown County Schools
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
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