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Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs SMX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 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 Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
245
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (8th), Vulnerability Management (5th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (3rd), Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Container Security (6th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (5th), WAN Edge (3rd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (5th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Compliance Management (5th)
SMX
Ranking in Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP)
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) category, the mindshare of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SMX is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security)1.8%
SMX0.8%
Other97.4%
Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP)
 

Featured Reviews

Oscar Nunez - PeerSpot reviewer
Ingeniero en redes y Telecomunicaciones at K-IT
Centralized management has reduced policy time and provides reliable multitenant protection
What I would like, what I think they should improve a little is the management of objects at large scale. When you work with multiple domains, there are thousands of network objects. Detecting duplicates and consistency across domains is a very manual process that should be more automated. Another thing: the SmartConsole interface is very powerful and very good, but the learning curve, compared to other solutions in the market from other manufacturers, could be modernized. I think it does not necessarily have to be done from a client application; it could be done via web, because via web I know that not all the options you have in SmartConsole are available. So it would be good if it could also be done from the web and all the options were available. Another thing that I would really like is more automation with Ansible or Terraform. I know it has improved in recent versions, but I think it is still not mature enough. Compared to other manufacturers that do have a bit more in terms of automation capabilities in integration flows with Ansible or Terraform, Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) could improve. Another thing that could be improved a little would be the TAC response time, because when there are very complex cases, I think there should be more speed initially, more ownership of those urgent cases, and not leave the customer waiting. This has happened to me: when I have cases open with Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) TAC, sometimes they do not respond and I have to keep insisting, and I think that part should improve. I do not know if it depends on who takes the ticket or on the severity of the ticket, but sometimes I have had to insist a lot, and that would be the only problem. Once they attend to me and become involved in the case, the responses they give are very professional and really help directly resolve the problems when there is a bug or troubleshooting to do. As I said, I would like to see a specific improvement in SmartConsole. I think if they improved it—how to say it—gave it a facelift so you could access all the options directly from a browser, that would be great, because sometimes, for one reason or another, you cannot download SmartConsole or, for some reason, the SmartConsole client does not start correctly, and you could do it directly from the browser. I think that would be a good option to improve. Another thing would be that in multidomain environments, I would like a global search function for objects and rules. That is, you could enter and search across all domains at once, because right now you have to go domain by domain, and in environments with many customers, you spend quite a bit of time; you have to exit one domain and enter another. So those would be the improvements I would like to see.
RA
Network Support Technician at Astound Broadband
Centralized view has simplified modem checks and has improved troubleshooting speed
I don't appreciate the way that the alarms show. When there is an alarm, the search functionality for it is a bit awkward. I want to be able to check alarms and have it show me only the alarms for that particular device instead of everything on the network and then having to refilter it. It gets a little finicky sometimes, especially in the moment when I'm trying to troubleshoot.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I found the access control policy through SmartConsole, which was formerly SmartDashboard, to be very valuable. It deeply explores source, destination, and port protocols. Competitors struggle to match this simplicity and effectiveness."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"We were able to seamlessly extend our on-premise protection to Cloud and didn't require any effort."
"The rulesets and the findings are valuable. The actual core functionality of it and the efficacy of events are great."
"The user interface is responsive and quite intuitive; when selecting an object it automatically shows the relevant actions."
"Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid and cloud as well as on-prem."
"It saves time because I can look across the organization. Instead of checking 50 different accounts atomically and spending 15 minutes investigating each, I can spend 15 minutes exploring all 50 accounts. It allows me to quickly look across the org for similar problems when one comes up. That's a huge time saver."
"The solution is very stable. I can honestly say that I trust it."
"Its automation capabilities are beneficial for checking compliance with suppliers and vendors internationally during logistical transitions."
"I appreciate that it displays all the important information on one screen, such as if it's online, light levels of the fiber coming in, and whether they have anything connected to the equipment."
 

Cons

"We have had occasional issues with two gateways that used to break or are broken. We are not sure yet."
"We are trying to replace Check Point CloudGuard with Dome9."
"The core security features of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security work really well, but a few usability areas hold it back: the policy propagation speed and parts of the interface."
"For businesses with varied IT ecosystems, increasing the integration capabilities with additional third-party products and services would increase flexibility and user-friendliness."
"As an administrator, I can say that among all of the Check Point products I have been working with so far, the Virtual Systems solution is one of the most difficult."
"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."
"I think the initial setup of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security can be simpler; onboarding could be more intuitive for new cloud teams, and it could also have more flexible custom reporting and better documentation examples."
"At the beginning the design can be overwhelming, where to start."
"I don't appreciate the way that the alarms show. When there is an alarm, the search functionality for it is a bit awkward."
"There is room for improvement in enhancing AI capabilities for threat detection, especially in tracking different locations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not expensive."
"Although I am not in sales and cannot comment extensively on pricing, it is known that Check Point’s licensing can be complex. However, it is a similar experience to other gateways and not particularly unique for cloud protection."
"CloudGuard is fairly priced."
"I like the flexibility because I am pretty sure you can use the same license on Azure or AWS. I forgot the name of the license, but there is a specific type you can use that lets you interchange them, and that is pretty good. I like that."
"The tool's pricing is good. Customers want it to be cheap. I consider the pricing to be elastic. CloudGuard Network Security is perceived as cost-effective compared to using the built-in tools provided by the cloud."
"The pricing is highly competitive and advantageous, offering great value."
"We have the enterprise-level license and we renew it annually because it is worth the cost."
"It's not very expensive. It isn't very cheap either. Its price is okay. It depends on how much money you have. It might be expensive for some companies. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
16%
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business132
Midsize Enterprise55
Large Enterprise145
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Since we use a unified standard for using policies and modules in Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security), we can clearly plan which modules we need to activate on a parti...
What needs improvement with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
The main limitations of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) are not in Check Point itself but in the cloud platforms on which it is deployed. Because not all clouds ha...
What is your primary use case for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is the main manager that provides network security in different forms in my organization. The primary task that Check Point solves ...
What needs improvement with SMX?
I don't appreciate the way that the alarms show. When there is an alarm, the search functionality for it is a bit awkward. I want to be able to check alarms and have it show me only the alarms for ...
What is your primary use case for SMX?
I use SMX to troubleshoot a specific modem for a market of customers in Texas. They have Calix modems on site, and I access them from SMX to see whether they're up or not and things of that nature.
 

Also Known As

CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security, Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs. SMX and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.