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Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs Juniper Session Smart Router comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 15, 2026

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

Check Point Cloud Firewall ...
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
163
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (8th), Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (6th), WAN Edge (3rd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
Juniper Session Smart Router
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Routers (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is 3.0%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper Session Smart Router is 2.3%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security)3.0%
Juniper Session Smart Router2.3%
Other94.7%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Viral Shaa - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Security Analyst at Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.
Cloud security has unified hybrid policies and now protects critical energy workloads continuously
I would say Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is valuable due to its hybrid cloud security features. It offers granular policy management across the on-premises and cloud environments, giving administrators consistent control for configuration drift. We need to change the policy and the inbound and outbound traffic settings, indicating what traffic must be blocked or allowed, and this capability with Check Point provides significant input into our security strategy. Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) provides unified security management across both hybrid clouds and on-premises environments. Unified security management affects my security operations positively, as we maintain critical systems on the cloud that require strong security and air gap networks. This cloud-native routing and policy installation helps close gaps in protecting critical applications and environments from exposure to the public cloud. From an administrator's perspective, Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) enhances our organization with clearer and more intuitive logging, making decisions easier to understand without deep investigation. In the CloudGuard UI, I can see which threats have triggered alerts, and this information is available on the unified dashboard that provides details of the threat analysis upon alert. As a small team, we log into the console to check specific alerts for high or low network usage or machine shutdowns. If needed, I tune the configuration policy, and the visualizing tools with reporting functionality simplify tracking changes made on the firewall, including the relevant source IP or device names. We ingest logs into our SIEM for detailed oversight, which allows us to monitor any administrative changes. Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) has significantly reduced our organizational risk. We clearly understand our threat landscape and the associated risks. Onboarding the CloudGuard solution directly into our cloud environment has significantly lowered the risks throughout the network and it is easy to launch. When we assess our security posture with third-party assessments, we gain granular visibility into our network pre- and post-CloudGuard installation, showing how we have addressed significant risks and secured vulnerabilities.
worksoft757854 - PeerSpot reviewer
Worksoft Certify Sr.Consultant at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Session-based routing has reduced WAN costs and delivers faster failovers with app-aware paths
The best features of Juniper Session Smart Router that offer me value are the ones I use daily, including session-based routing and core features that route traffic per session instead of tunnels, giving better performance, seamless failovers, and application-aware path selection. It selects the best link, whether MPLS, broadband, or LTE. It also has built-in zero-trust security which means it controls segmentation without needing a separate VPN setup and advanced visibility and analysis, providing strong insight into traffic, session, and performance. This provides simple branch management. Juniper Session Smart Router has positively impacted my organization by achieving a 30% to 40% reduction in WAN cost, which means less reliance on MPLS. There is also a 40% faster failover with near-zero user impact during link issues, and 20% to 30% less time spent on troubleshooting. Additionally, I experience fewer outages due to dynamic path selection, which facilitates fast branch deployment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It gives us all-encompassing security and overview. Previously, we did not have any kind of overview of what was happening with the network."
"The advantage lies in the integration within our existing ecosystem, which is amazing."
"Since deploying Check Point CloudGuard Network Security, I have seen about a 40% drop in cloud network alerts, which has cut down noise and false positives, helping my team save roughly 25% of time previously spent on manual investigation and threat cleanup."
"The 24/7 online customer support services enhance effective operations and provide quick services in case of a system failure."
"There's a whole range of functions that make up prevention against malware and everything. It’s not just one aspect that garners my attention - the whole application is being used to defend."
"Check Point pioneered this product, so don't look anywhere else if you are looking for a stable and scalable product with top-notch security blades."
"Its centralized control, ease of use, and flexibility are the most valuable for our data center security."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that you can start off with a simple firewall and expand it to UTM."
"For telecom companies, I think zero-trust segmentation is the way to go because if you allow anything that you do not understand, then it becomes a problem."
"They provided us with a customized product according to our requirements."
"The solution is especially Session's smart, application-aware, AI-based."
"Because we are talking directly to engineers in the US, the support is usually the best you can possibly get."
"Customer service is very prompt."
"As compared to the other major vendors in the SD-WAN market, such as VeloCloud, Cisco, and others, the tunnel-free and secure vector routing technology is its major USP, which gives plenty of room to discuss with the customer why IPSec from 1998 is a bit outdated."
"The best feature is the easiest way to deploy configuration and also back up them, and also to roll back quickly if there's an incident."
"Juniper Session Smart Router has positively impacted my organization by achieving a 30% to 40% reduction in WAN cost, which means less reliance on MPLS, with a 40% faster failover with near-zero user impact during link issues, and 20% to 30% less time spent on troubleshooting, along with fewer outages due to dynamic path selection, which facilitates fast branch deployment."
 

Cons

"We are having issues with updatable objects in the Scale Set solution. It needs to be fixed by Check Point."
"Despite using it for a long time, there are always new features. For example, just last week, I discovered a new feature that had been in the software for years yet it was not visible due to its placement behind multiple menus. Teaching sessions would be beneficial, yet it is our responsibility to learn, so we cannot entirely rely on Check Point."
"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."
"Our experience with technical support can be improved in terms of response time."
"I haven't used CloudGuard Network Security in the past couple of years as I moved out of the network security role. However, based on my previous experience, there were improvements, especially in in-place upgrades. Regarding cost, it might be potentially cheaper considering resource utilization in Azure and VM costs, but licensing could be improved, possibly moving towards a simpler model."
"We have a rule that pops up from nowhere which we didn't create; when we restart our Virtual System firewall, it creates a rule which messes up all our internet connection."
"The management console can be simplified because at the moment, it is a bit of a challenge to use."
"The cost is a little high, it doesn't suit every budget."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in several areas such as the steep learning curve because the session-based model is different from traditional networking."
"Regarding improvement, we still need to see what it can do."
"I found some weaknesses on their hardware. They are sometimes breaking very often."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I feel should not be that way."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks."
"The UI of the SSR conductor is the main part where improvements can be done. Today, for every configuration step, you have to do a series of clicks. What we are missing there are wizards. For example, I have two applications, and I want one application to be prioritized against the other. In such a case, a wizard for assigning policies to a service without configuring each step by hand would be very helpful. There should be an overhaul of the GUI of the conductor. The functionality they have got in the Mist portal should be baked into the conductor itself. It would be really great, but as we all know, that won't happen."
"Juniper Session Smart Router can improve the integration for Wi-Fi devices and add additional Sassy deployments."
"Juniper Session Smart Router could be better in terms of software performance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is fairly priced, but it can be a little expensive from time to time."
"Pricing-wise, it is pretty competitive. However, I would like to see more flexible licensing. There should be more of a consume what you need and true-up type of model."
"We got discounts on pricing."
"I do not have too much to compare to, but if I compare it with Azure Firewall, Scale Set is quite good. It has quite a good price."
"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."
"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."
"CloudGuard Network Security's pricing is fine."
"It is not expensive."
"It is a simple bandwidth-based license and the orchestration comes bundled with the solution by default."
"We are currently renegotiating the offer for the licenses and the license bundle model. The license for an ISP has to be different from the license for an end customer. This is something we are currently renegotiating with Juniper, but, of course, the pricing for the licensing is always an issue when you want to get more customers."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
23%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business68
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise78
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
The tool's most valuable feature is its management console.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
We have encountered a few subscription-based licensing models for the virtual gateway and security enablement. We have opted for a three-year contract with fixed pricing for the CloudGuard cost str...
What needs improvement with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
I find troubleshooting a bit challenging with Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security); one area needing improvement is log clarity, as sometimes policy installation takes ...
What needs improvement with Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router could improve its documentation to become more competitive. It has very little documentation, and you have to rely mainly so much on support to do something, which I fe...
What is your primary use case for Juniper Session Smart Router?
I have not tested Sophos on a larger scale, as I use Sophos in a very office environment and Juniper in telecom. Because we have Juniper switches and Juniper firewalls, we have not centralized them...
What advice do you have for others considering Juniper Session Smart Router?
Juniper Session Smart Router is a controller for managing devices. We have real-time analytics through the IBA Probes. For troubleshooting, we have direct access to them. As we use other vendors, w...
 

Also Known As

CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security
128T Networking Platform, 128 Technology SD-WAN, Juniper SSR Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
Revation Systems
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs. Juniper Session Smart Router and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.