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Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 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
580
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Application Control
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Application Control (10th)
WatchGuard Firebox
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
126
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (11th), Firewalls (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (18th), Application Control (5th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
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
Technical at Gemini Networks
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.
Syed Pasha - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS
Makes defining policies simpler but lacks performance and modern features
WatchGuard Firebox is only deployed in one location within my customer's organization, and at the other locations, we are using Meraki and FortiGate. We plan to replace WatchGuard Firebox soon. My impression of the spam blocking capabilities of WatchGuard is not very favorable, as I don't think it is very capable. I haven't noticed effective web ratings or IPS signatures, which may be due to managing an older OS; I'm not certain about the performance of the newer versions. I am not aware of whether the transition to faster ports on WatchGuard Firebox supports maintaining productivity levels during peak usage times. Based on my experience, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox as five out of ten overall.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are the UTM package which provides internet blocking restrictions and load balancing. Additionally, the solution is easy to use and the security reporting is good. The security fabric which they have launched Fortinet FortiGate IPS, it's very good in terms of giving details."
"The key features include SD-WAN, firewall use, intrusion prevention, intrusion detection, and application control."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"The GUI is good."
"What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."
"The most valuable features are security and vision, and all of the UTM functionality."
"The common valuable feature for FortiGate is its UTM functionality, which includes various features under a license that is commonly implemented."
"I found the upgrades valuable."
"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."
"Application filter features are the most valuable for us."
"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."
"WatchGuard Firebox offers a satisfying VM and hardware"
"The stability of WatchGuard Firebox is good."
"The solution is very easy to use."
"On a scale of one to 10, I would rate the technical support of the WatchGuard Firebox a 10."
"I find that their tech support is excellent. And as a reseller, my relationship with my point of contact is also strong. WatchGuard does a good job of maintaining that."
"It's very easy to use, especially compared to similar products. A lot more users use the WatchGuard appliance now than use the SonicWall appliance because of the ease of usability."
"The most valuable are the VPN and proxy features."
"It is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"FortiGate can only retain logs for 24 hours or 7 days. I'm not sure if it holds them for a longer period, such as for a month."
"In FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW), my concern regarding improvements is the licensing model."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."
"It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."
"Monitoring could be improved."
"Support could be improved."
"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."
"Reporting functionality could be improved to provide more comprehensive insights."
"There is room for improvement in blocking torrents."
"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."
"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."
"We were able to take from an older configuration, build a new one quickly, and get it up and running, which didn't take long, but there was some pain around it."
"The time they take to classify an application once they find that it is unknown can be better."
"The major problem is pricing and licensing loss. In India, the cost for renewal after three years is 75% of the hardware cost, which is a significant problem."
"I would like to see more simplified management of the firewall... It's a complicated system to use."
"The solution needs to improve the interface. I'm not able to easily find things using it."
"The licensing can be a bit expensive."
"It is also difficult to diagnose issues if any devices get compromised; for example, if someone hacks our system, it becomes hard to trace who made changes or accessed the firewall."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license to use this solution. The prices have been increasing over the years."
"The pricing is flexible."
"This is not a cheap solution but it isn't expensive, either. It's a good solution for the right price."
"It is around $50,000 per month."
"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."
"The platform offers a reasonable price point compared to its competitors."
"The pricing is justified. It's a little pricey, but what you pay for is what you get."
"It is an expensive solution."
"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 pricing was in line with everyone else; maybe slightly higher."
"We paid $4000 in AUD for WatchGuard Firebox per year. There were no additional costs."
"The pricing of WatchGuard is probably a little higher than the SonicWall, but it makes up for it in dependability. It's worth it to me, especially since it's not much higher. For just a little bit higher price you get the dependability of the firewall with the WatchGuard brand."
"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."
"The price is very good."
"The cost three years ago was about $800."
"The licensing model for WatchGuard Application Control is based on the number of users. WatchGuard Application Control also has licensing models with several features."
"Their price point worked, which is the reason why we stayed with WatchGuard."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise132
Large Enterprise188
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business92
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise15
 

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

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation 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: December 2025.
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