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Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs Steelhead comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security improves ROI through cost savings, enhanced security, automation, and reduced personnel needs.
Sentiment score
4.8
Steelhead optimized WAN usage, saving £50,000 in costs, improving bandwidth efficiency, and enhancing user experience without extra investments.
The value lies in maintaining operational integrity with zero downtime or incidents, facilitating secure, ongoing business operations.
Cybersecurity consultant at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Implementing CloudGuard has resulted in an excellent return on investment over one hundred percent ROI.
Android Developer at Droidforge
The unified policy is comprehensive and helps me to create firewall policies that are shared across all our facilities and plants.
System engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Without Steelhead, we would have spent much more on bandwidth costs.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security's customer service is generally praised for expertise and responsiveness, despite regional variations.
Sentiment score
7.0
Steelhead's customer service is efficient and knowledgeable, but local support and handling complex issues need improvement.
They usually respond quite fast, and they are very knowledgeable about what they do.
Network security engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We had an endless loop of emails trying to fix this, and the suggestion was to reinstall the gateway and do it from scratch, which was not an option at that point because it would leave that specific location without access.
System administrator at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
Available twenty-four by seven.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Steelhead's support is generally good for typical issues yet can be time-consuming during complex problem-solving across teams, particularly for Active Directory integration.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
I have no issues with technical support from Riverbed.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Riverbed's customer service and technical support would be rated an eight.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is praised for scalability, seamless cloud integration, and requires careful planning for optimal use.
Sentiment score
6.9
Feedback on Steelhead scaling varies, with easy deployment praised, but licensing and bandwidth limitations noted by some users.
I can deploy it everywhere I need it.
Security & Network Services at a tech company with 201-500 employees
We have transitioned from 1,000 to 500 users without any issue.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at delaware BeLux
We perform minor and major upgrades, and it works seamlessly.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
If a customer has 1 GB traffic, they will only be able to utilize 600 MB of traffic with Steelhead.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It allows us to maximize use from our MPLS providers by handling traffic efficiently across phased deployments.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is praised for its high stability, performance, and smooth operation in demanding environments.
Sentiment score
8.6
Steelhead offers reliable network optimization with stability, smooth upgrades, and effective technical support for seamless traffic flow and high availability.
I have not observed any downtime.
Sales manager/ project manager at Atea
For instance, when we are working on a release and do an upgrade, we start experiencing unexpected issues.
Chief Technology Officer at Chief Security Officers
The solution is stable.
Network administrator at Helios IT Service GmbH
It's quite stable and provides all necessary alerts if something is wrong.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
For instance, even if there is a power failure, Riverbed still works.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Steelhead helps significantly with large data transfers.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Room For Improvement

Users suggest Check Point CloudGuard improve design, compatibility, reports, integrations, pricing, training, policy management, support, scalability, and automation.
Steelhead users desire improved traffic handling, integration, scalability, security features, intuitive setup, and comprehensive monitoring amid cost concerns.
Scalability could be improved as well; needing to purchase a new license each time I want to add a new interface is not ideal.
Security architect at Twinformatics
Better documentation would be welcome.
Network security engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The user interface could be more intuitive, and the initial setup and configuration can be complex, requiring a technical team.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Steelhead is very expensive, and the vendor should work on handling Oracle type of traffic better.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It would help if Riverbed could prevent such drastic impacts during updates.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
It could still be useful in places with satellite communications, such as the south of Chile, or in the mining industry.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Check Point CloudGuard flexible but expensive, with varied pricing and a need for more affordable options.
Steelhead is costly but valued for performance and support, with complex licensing and varied pricing by usage.
The pricing and licensing are expensive, costing between seven thousand to eight thousand dollars.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Check Point is expensive, however, with the features and capabilities, I can justify the cost.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
It is the highest in the market.
System engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Buying the hardware initially is costly, but yearly maintenance and licenses are not as expensive.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
Steelhead is considered an expensive solution in our country.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Valuable Features

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security offers auto-scaling, centralized management, threat prevention, cloud integration, and improved security with a user-friendly interface.
Steelhead enhances WAN efficiency with data compression, TCP optimization, and caching, benefiting performance, bandwidth, and cloud migration cost savings.
One of the most valuable features is the automated threat prevention, which helps us detect and block potential cyberattacks in real-time, minimizing data breaches.
Android Developer at Droidforge
Centralized management is the feature I like best, resulting in reduced workload and more continuous policy.
Security & Network Services at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid and cloud as well as on-prem.
Manager, Managed Security Services at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Functions like acting as an NTP server, DNS, DHCP, and auto-optimization mode enhance efficiency.
Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA
My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Steelhead's most valuable feature is its ability to hash and send only the important parts of the information, avoiding the resending of data.
Commercial Manager at IT-Experience
 

Categories and Ranking

Check Point CloudGuard Netw...
Ranking in WAN Edge
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
161
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (8th), Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (3rd), Cloud and Data Center Security (5th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
Steelhead
Ranking in WAN Edge
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the WAN Edge category, the mindshare of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is 3.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Steelhead is 1.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
WAN Edge Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security3.4%
Steelhead1.9%
Other94.7%
WAN Edge
 

Featured Reviews

Devraj Kc - PeerSpot reviewer
network and security engineer at Max international
Cloud security has strengthened compliance and now protects internet access for our workloads
The best features Check Point CloudGuard Network Security offers are its threat emulation and threat extraction blade as well as bring your own license where you can use the on-prem Check Point CloudGuard and decommission it to use in the cloud. I believe Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has impacted our organization positively because it is one of the stable products that I have used till now, and we do not have to upgrade Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for any sort of CVE or bug in its OS and it is very stable. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has decreased the organizational risk because it provides compliance with HIPAA as well as PCI DSS by means of its compliance blade. It makes it easier for us to determine if we are compliant or not. It made me more secure because when you talk about security, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is on top of the list with 99.8 in blocking malware according to the Miercom list. I believe it has had a positive effect and we have not had any incidents.
Chaudhary Muhammad Moez Manzar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reduces operational costs through bandwidth optimization but struggles with high traffic licensing and complex deployments
The logs in Steelhead are fantastic. There is a deep level of logs such as top 10 docker and top 50 docker. I can check from the top 50 docker which type of application is optimizing well and which type of traffic is not optimized. Steelhead provides logs and percentage levels, which is good. I can see any type of log report, report security, different types of report availability, but it is not customizable. Overall, this is a good feature. Steelhead provides real-time optimization with graphs and tables on real-time optimization, informing us packet by packet including port, source IP, destination IP, and destination port number. This reporting and real-time monitoring is fantastic, although I faced a problem in Oracle. Steelhead mainly saves the money that needs to be paid to ISPs. My actual traffic is around 2 GB, but I purchased a link from the ISP for only around 700 to 800 MB. All the prices that need to be paid monthly to the ISP are saved, which is a significant saving for my company after using Riverbed.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Performing Arts
7%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business67
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise76
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
 

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?
Although I do not know much about the pricing or setup costs, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is very cost-effective. If you want to secure your organization completely from all ends agains...
What needs improvement with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security could be improved with faster policy propagation across large multi-cloud environments and more intuitive dashboards for complex rule sets.
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We just did an assessment for our 47 datacenters around North America. The top two enterprise-level network monitoring solutions were ExtraHop first, Riverbed SteelCenter second. Their negotiated c...
What do you like most about Riverbed Steelhead?
One of our most valuable features is Steelhead's cloud migration optimization. Moving to the cloud helped optimize our workflow, improving performance for end-users.
What is your primary use case for Riverbed Steelhead?
I am currently working with Riverbed for replication between PR to DR for synchronization purposes, and for WAN optimization between replication from one data center to another data center. The mai...
 

Also Known As

CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security
RIverbed Steelhead
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
ElAraby, SFK Leblanc, Bobst Group, Northwest Pipe Company, Halkbank, Tradebridge, EFG Hermes
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Steelhead and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.