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Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Users find Fortinet FortiGate cost-effective, enhancing security and productivity while reducing operational costs and manpower needs.
Sentiment score
7.7
Check Point Harmony Email improves ROI by reducing breaches, enhancing productivity, and lowering costs through efficient, secure email management.
Sentiment score
7.4
WatchGuard Firebox enhances efficiency and security, offering cost savings and improved network control, boosting return on investment.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
The time saved during investigations is significant due to the neat dashboard that organizes everything related to alerts.
There has been a 70% decrease in phishing emails and data breaches since implementing Check Point Harmony Email Security.
I have seen a return on investment, as I can share relevant metrics like money saved, time saved, and fewer employees needed, all of them.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiGate's customer support is generally positive but varies in responsiveness and expertise, influenced by region and support tier.
Sentiment score
7.3
Customer service is reliable and professional, but some report slower response times and room for speed improvement.
Sentiment score
7.2
WatchGuard Firebox support is praised for quick, knowledgeable service, though some delays occur in different time zones.
They offer very accurate solutions.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
We opted for the 24/7 premium support, which is very responsive and quick whenever we have configuration challenges or other inquiries.
We understand that with respect to SLA, but we expect they can go beyond SLA and provide quick support for the client.
Customer support is of high quality.
On a scale of one to 10, I would rate the technical support of the WatchGuard Firebox a 10.
The technical support is good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiGate effectively supports scalable deployments, offering adaptability despite potential hardware limits and integration and licensing concerns.
Sentiment score
7.9
Check Point Harmony Email showcases high scalability, seamless SaaS integration, resource efficiency, and minimal administration for diverse business needs.
Sentiment score
8.1
WatchGuard Firebox is scalable for various needs, with upgrading options, though choices affect its scalability and performance.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
I would rate the scalability of Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration as nine out of ten, indicating high scalability.
Scalability is limited, being only integrated with Microsoft Office 365 and G Suite at present.
If we're going for more concurrent users, we need to change the entire box.
I find the WatchGuard Firebox scalable, as it's easy to change configurations from this product to another one.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
FortiGate is praised for stability and performance, with minor challenges managed by updates, proper sizing, and support.
Sentiment score
8.1
<p>Check Point Harmony Email &amp; Collaboration is praised for stability, reliability, and effective threat blocking, with quick issue resolution.</p>
Sentiment score
8.6
WatchGuard Firebox is highly stable and reliable, with few issues, frequent updates, and high user satisfaction ratings.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate struggles with integration, user complexity, support inefficiencies, high costs, and feature performance, needing improved documentation and security.
<p>Check Point Harmony Email &amp; Collaboration needs improved flexibility, integration, collaboration tools, support responsiveness, and pricing for better user satisfaction.</p>
WatchGuard Firebox needs a modern interface, better integration, enhanced features, and competitive pricing to improve user experience and marketability.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
The constant daily revisions necessitate meticulous identification of the relevant documents to prevent the use of outdated information that could jeopardize our environment.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security.
Updates based on AI and reduced administrative overhead by adding or bulk adding new users, along with graphical enhancements to the GUI, would also be beneficial.
Enhancing reporting capabilities with customizable and advanced analytics features would greatly improve our ability to detect trends and proactively address emerging threats.
It would be better if HEC also provides support for third-party email service solutions, such as IBM HCL Notes, creating more opportunities.
The cost for renewal after three years is 75% of the hardware cost, which is a significant problem.
When implementing a rule using a group of IPs, it is not possible to do that directly.
The WatchGuard Firebox has certain features, but the challenge is that we have some clients who don't have a network or are only mobile users, which leads us to think the future is in SASE products, not in the WatchGuard Firebox.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive, cost-effective pricing, appealing to small-medium businesses with flexible licensing and valued security solutions.
<p>Check Point Harmony Email &amp; Collaboration offers per-user licensing, competitive pricing, and low setup costs, suitable for medium to large enterprises.</p>
WatchGuard Firebox offers cost-effective pricing, especially for multi-year plans, with discounts and value for budget-conscious enterprises.
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
It is about 20% cheaper.
Pricing is a bit expensive, but it is worth it considering the features that Check Point provides.
I consider the pricing to be a bit expensive, similar to other solutions.
The pricing is lower compared to what I used before.
When we tried to renew the Palo Alto license, the cost was beyond any reasonable range.
It's expensive us here.
I have faced challenges with the WatchGuard Firebox regarding price since we work with customers who use the Stormshield product, which is less expensive and French-made.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly, cost-effective, and offers high-performance comprehensive security with advanced threat protection features.
Check Point Harmony Email excels in security, threat detection, and user behavior analysis, enhancing productivity and collaboration tool protection.
WatchGuard Firebox offers user-friendly setup, robust security, excellent tech support, and scalable performance with comprehensive management features.
In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable.
FortiGate has helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that might disrupt our client's production.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
The most valuable feature is spam detection and phishing site prevention, which Microsoft couldn't catch, yet Check Point does.
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration offers online support and has tight integration with Microsoft.
The protection and scanning of emails are also appreciated, as they secure everything in the email spectrum.
The Firebox offers valuable features such as network security, URL filtering, UTM features, intrusion prevention and detection, and authentication.
Basically, we have received a good return on investment.
I utilize AI within the WatchGuard Firebox, as we use the interconnection with threat syncs, and AI is implemented.
 

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)
Check Point Harmony Email &...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (4th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (5th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (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.
Nasseer Qureshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Email security effectively detects a wide range of threats and improves productivity
Since we have been using Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration for a year, we haven't encountered significant challenges. However, it would be beneficial if it could support other email security services beyond Microsoft and Google. Integration with other platforms would enhance its appeal since the features are commendable. While the analytics are commendable, they don't provide deep dive insights. They show the overall counts of malware, phishing, and business compromise emails, but there isn't a robust ability to dive deeper into those categories to see specifics. Analytics should allow us to explore which users received malware emails the most or trends among departments. Currently, we have to sift through manually, which is not ideal. A more profound analytical capability would elevate the tool to become the complete email security solution for any user.
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…
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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%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Check Point Harmony Email &amp; Collaboration shows it was ...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
My main use case for Check Point Harmony Email &amp; Collaboration is email protection against spam, phishing, and ma...
What do you like most about Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The product offers good and easy integration capabilities with other products.
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
Check Point CloudGuard, Check Point CloudGuard SaaS , Check Point Harmony Email & Office
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
Helvetia, Denham Capital, Daymark Solutions, Neopharm Group
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Zscaler, Broadcom and others in Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.