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ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

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

ESET PROTECT Enterprise
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (20th)
WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
27th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus is 0.3%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Cees Van Den Haak - PeerSpot reviewer
A reliable solution that offers enterprise protection
Our primary use case involves approximately 180 workstations, 180 laptops, and office protection in our environment ESET PROTECT Enterprise is reliable.  The tool is complex and expensive.  I have been using the product for 10 years.  The tool is stable.  The product is scalable. My company…
PA
Reasonably priced and simple to use
During the product's installation phase, you just put the tool in the right place, and it works. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The solution can be deployed in a couple of minutes. The installation process is so basic that I don't even remember what you need to do. You just put the tick marks in the tool and ask the tool to use them. In the rules, where you see the files go through is where you can think over what to do with the files. With the tool, you just need to put it on, and then the default rules make sure that there is some indication that something is wrong.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of ESET Protect is the security while accessing any transaction, such as online banking systems. When I access a banking website a new browser opens which is more secure, which I find very useful."
"The solution provides EDR. You can customize how you prepare the endpoint for clients and the dashboard alerts."
"ESET's strong points are that it is an unintrusive, easy-to-maintain, and deploy antivirus solution."
"The solution offers a lot of configuration capabilities."
"The solution provides EDR. You can customize how you prepare the endpoint for clients and the dashboard alerts."
"It's helped us with restrictions and knowing which users we can provide permissions to and which users we need to restrict."
"The solution is easy to use and install, with good pricing."
"I like the dynamic groups feature. They give the ability to filter endpoint machines by any parameter, software, or hardware inventory, and that's a significant advantage when you need to, for example, automate a secondary firewall profile for endpoints outside your network. Or if you want to automatically isolate the computer from the rest of the network if the ransomware is found."
"It is the most effective on non-encrypted traffic and it is able to determine some threats through deep packet inspection."
"WatchGuard is easy to implement and inexpensive. When we get a bulk-off license, we get a very discounted price that is competitive with alternative or competitor solutions."
"The pricing of the solution is okay. It's not the most expensive option."
"It does its job very well, and it is quite easy to put to use."
"I haven't a problem with anti-virus stability using WatchGuard for over two years."
 

Cons

"In terms of management accounts, there's a lot of manuals that seem to be mixed up. Sometimes, it's a little bit confusing."
"When it first starts up, it takes a lot of processing power when the machine is initially booted. Improving the startup side could be beneficial."
"The tool is complex and expensive."
"Sometimes, the connection to the machine requires troubleshooting."
"They need to reduce the number of notifications on the endpoints."
"The availability and sustainability could also be improved."
"When it first starts up, it takes a lot of processing power when the machine is initially booted. Improving the startup side could be beneficial."
"Its automation can be improved."
"The solution isn't what I would consider feature-rich."
"There were a little bit of problems with the tool's updates, making it an area where improvements are needed."
"WatchGuard technical support requires a license."
"Since WatchGuard acquired Panda, there may be synergies in consolidating both solutions under a single name to reduce customer confusion."
"It doesn't offer the best protection and it's incompatible with a lot of China's websites. It makes a lot of mistakes when it is detecting items as it's not recognizing items correctly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license needed to use ESET Protect. The licensing cost is very low, it is approximately $10 per license."
"ESET PROTECT Enterprise is affordable."
"The product is cost-effective compared to one of its competitors."
"For what we use, the tool's price has been reasonable, but it is not the cheapest. The tool has been quite reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ESET Protect?
The product enabled Zero-Day Protection for our environment. We never encountered any issues regarding threats.
What needs improvement with ESET Protect?
ESET PROTECT Enterprise makes the system a little slow sometimes and updates occur at startup. Sometimes unwanted pop-ups appear to users, and they are unable to disable them. The user-friendliness...
What is your primary use case for ESET Protect?
I work with another ESET solution called EDR and XDR. I am working with ESET PROTECT Enterprise and ESET Endpoint Security. I am using ESET Secure Authentication, also called ESET EDR and XDR Enter...
What needs improvement with WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?
It is a basic tool tool, and it does very well for what it is supposed to do. It does simple checks against signatures. I think it is very much what it needs to be, and it is a basic tool that you ...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?
The solution is used when you want to handle policies with the file. There are different ways you can use it, like in the firewall rules and in proxy rules, and to secure emails. The tool was used ...
What advice do you have for others considering WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?
It is the basic starting tool. We used different tools in the company. In our gateway, we used WatchGuard because we used WatchGuard's firewalls. It was very easy to set it up. It was used so that ...
 

Also Known As

ESET Protect, ESET File Security
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Star Cargo
Find out what your peers are saying about ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs. WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.