Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

Forcepoint and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category. Forcepoint is ranked #34 with an average rating of 7.0, while WatchGuard is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.6. Additionally, 100% of Forcepoint users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 5, 2025

WatchGuard Firebox and Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP compete in the cybersecurity solutions category. WatchGuard Firebox demonstrates an advantage in ease of deployment and customer support, while Forcepoint stands out in feature-rich DLP capabilities, potentially justifying its higher price.

Features: WatchGuard Firebox offers robust firewall capabilities, including network protection, intrusion prevention, and traffic management. Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP distinguishes itself with advanced data loss prevention, adaptive risk-based security measures tailored to data sensitivity, and strong adaptability in dynamic environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard Firebox provides a straightforward deployment process with excellent support, ensuring ease of integration. Forcepoint's deployment process is more complex due to its advanced features but is supplemented by comprehensive and responsive assistance, requiring more initial effort.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard Firebox is seen as cost-effective with a quicker return on investment due to its pricing model and lower setup costs. Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP involves higher upfront costs but aims for significant long-term value through its specialized data protection features. WatchGuard appeals to budget-conscious buyers, while Forcepoint offers potential ROI for organizations prioritizing high-level data security.

To learn more, read our detailed Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

July 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

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Nataraj KS

CISO at V Guard Industries Ltd

Stable product, key part of cybersecurity strategy but country-specific configuration issues requiring manual work

The onboarding process wasn't inherently complex, but it did take some time to open ports and configure the server. We're using three components of DLP: Endpoint DLP, email DLP, and web DLP. Web DLP isn't fully configured yet because we don't have a proxy. Email DLP took some additional coordination with a third party, and our Office 365 API, but those challenges were resolved. We have it installed and deployed on-premises. We have a partner who maintains it. It covers around 3,000 endpoints. It's deployed across our branches, factories, warehouses, and head office. It covers all endpoints in those locations. The deployment took some time due to our different locations.

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Rajesh Makwana

Regional Pre-Sales Engineer at Roundrobin Tech

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."

"It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."

"The ECC management and the GUI that offers single interface management are the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN, filtering testing applications, web filtering, and the new VPN."

"One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is that it's a very powerful equipment that gives many security features in a single box with good performance, and the user interface is friendly to use and configure."

"Fortinet FortiGate has a very simple configuration, is easy to set up, and includes SD-WAN features at no additional cost."

"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."

"We are very happy with the general bandwidth agility we have seen from one website to another website."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We chose Forcepoint as part of our cybersecurity strategy, and one of the key expectations was to prevent data leakage."

"It primarily influences policy enforcement, cloud application access control, and endpoint network coverage."

"Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP is purely a DLP-based solution, which makes it the best option available."

"If there is any conflict, the reporting feature will kick out all types of information, which is great."

"The GUI is easy and intuitive."

"The most valuable feature, in my opinion, is the dimension logging platform and the network traffic filtering."

"The firewall aspect and the branch office VPNs are the most valuable features... We don't have any issues with it. We don't have to spend a lot of time maintaining it."

"Firebox operates effectively in the background, blocking potential threats without a need for constant monitoring."

"Because we bought two firewalls... we need a central place to manage the policies and deploy them to both devices. It's good that it provides a system management console that is able to manipulate and manage policies in one place and deploy them to different locations."

"All of the features have been valuable. There's nothing on my M270 that I'm not using. If you have remote access, you can see how many users are coming from the outside world to be connected to the systems, through the virus systems that we have behind the firewall, in order to gain access to their files and do their work. We can also see how long they stay online and whether these connections are closed forcefully or for any other reasons, such as a glitch or some kind of misbehavior, to see if internet traffic is optimized and if that particular traffic is under company policies, concerning which websites were visited."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the dashboard."

More WatchGuard Firebox pros

Cons

"Bandwidth usage in reporting could be improved for Fortinet FortiGate."

"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."

"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."

"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."

"The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."

"We have an issue with hotel guest vouchers."

"There's always something new that can be added or fixed."

"I would like to see improvements in Fortinet FortiGate regarding the active-active scenario. The active-active scenario is supported but not recommended, whereas other vendors are implementing active-active without issues."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"From an end user's perspective, it's not always clear what's happening with the DLP. It would be beneficial to have more use cases available, perhaps on a countrywide basis."

"The deployment is a little bit difficult. It requires two to three separate servers for databases and the application."

"The SaaS solution needs improvement, especially the malware-centric part, although the CASB is better but mostly data-centric. The after-sale support could also be improved."

"We bought Firebox four or five years ago, and with the first version I had to reboot it every two or three months for no apparent reason. We upgraded last year to the M370 and it's been running, but it is rebooting from time to time. I don't know why."

"The solution needs to improve the interface. I'm not able to easily find things using it."

"The only problem I have with Firebox is the grouping issue. When implementing a rule using a group of IPs, it is not possible to do that directly."

"Firebox would be improved with integration for endpoint protection solutions."

"The main problem that WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response has is that they use several tools to do the same tasks, and they are sometimes very complicated to use and very slow."

"Last year, I had an issue with one of the Fireboxes going down. It was overheated, because my server room became overheated and this fried it."

"What could use some significant improvement in WatchGuard Firebox would be its interface and policy management. An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of WatchGuard Firebox is the ability to modify an existing policy instead of having to recreate a policy when changes are necessary. At the moment, there's no possibility to modify the policy. You have to delete the policy and recreate it."

"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."

More WatchGuard Firebox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is really low. It's cheap in comparison to the cost of Cisco or CheckPoint, for example."

"The pricing or licensing of Fortinet FortiGate is quite effective as it offers different bundles that aggregate most required features, while also allowing clients the option to select specific components alone."

"I find it quite reasonable."

"The Indian market is different than the European and American markets. When you compare they need to be a bit more aggressive on pricing."

"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."

"Fortinet's pricing is more straightforward than other solutions. If Fortinet doesn't stick out when you're searching for a solution, you are a glutton for punishment. You only need to know two things when purchasing a Fortinet solution: your total bandwidth and bandwidth at the site. You need to estimate the future bandwidth with other solutions if your customer plans to upgrade."

"Its licenses cost the same for different subscription plans."

"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The licensing cost is roughly 90 US dollars per year, per license."

"WatchGuard Firebox has good quality, but it is expensive."

"The solution is a bit more expensive than other options."

"The primary reason that we went with Firebox was its cost. It is very economical and it provided us with all the security functions that we were looking for at the time. And the throughput was more than what we required, so it was a very cost-effective device to deploy on our network."

"Over the years, the costs have increased, especially since I cater to very small businesses."

"The pricing of WatchGuard is probably a little higher than the SonicWall, but it makes up for it in dependability. It's worth it to me, especially since it's not much higher. For just a little bit higher price you get the dependability of the firewall with the WatchGuard brand."

"The cost was somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000 to $3,000 for each one..."

"It costs me about $800 a year."

"The solution is cheap."

More WatchGuard Firebox pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP?

It primarily influences policy enforcement, cloud application access control, and endpoint network coverage.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP?

Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP is very costly, especially in Sri Lanka, but the compliance ROI justifies...

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What needs improvement with Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP?

The SaaS solution needs improvement, especially the malware-centric part, although the CASB ( /products/casb-reviews ...

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.

See all answers

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...

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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.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

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Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform vs Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP

Compared 100% of the time

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OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 6% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos XG vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

July 2025

Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP report

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Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Firebox

July 2025

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Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

No data available

WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP offers dynamic security measures tailored to data protection needs, ensuring sensitive information is safeguarded efficiently.

Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP is designed to provide a balanced approach to data loss prevention by adapting security measures based on real-time risk assessment. This innovative system prioritizes protecting sensitive information while allowing for seamless workflow integration, making it a suitable choice for organizations looking to enhance their data protection strategies.

What are the key features of Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP?

Dynamic Policy Enforcement: Automatically adjusts security policies in real-time based on risk analysis.
User Behavior Analysis: Monitors and analyzes user actions to identify potential threats.
Comprehensive Data Coverage: Offers protection for data across various environments and platforms.
Risk-Adaptive Responses: Provides threat mitigation options based on the assessed level of risk.

What benefits and ROI can be expected?

Reduced Data Breach Risks: By dynamically adjusting security measures, threats are mitigated proactively.
Operational Efficiency: Allows seamless integration of security with daily operations, minimizing disruptions.
Scalable Protection: Easily adapts to organizational growth and evolving security needs.
Cost-Effective Security: Optimizes resource allocation by focusing on high-risk areas.

Forcepoint Risk Adaptive Protection for DLP is particularly effective in industries with stringent data protection requirements such as healthcare, finance, and government. It adapts its security posture to the specific risks faced in these sectors, addressing compliance mandates and safeguarding sensitive information efficiently.

Forcepoint

WatchGuard Firebox is a high-performance firewall known for its ease of setup, offering robust security with layered protection and centralized management capabilities.

WatchGuard Firebox stands out for its intuitive management and high throughput, addressing security needs with features like VPN, web filtering, and threat detection. Its centralized control and reporting abilities, along with Active Directory integration, make it popular among varied organizations. Its user-friendly interface and ongoing updates enhance usability and reliability. However, there's a call for better cloud-based administration, scalability, and improved integration with third-party vendors.

What are the key features of WatchGuard Firebox?

Ease of Setup: Quick and straightforward installation process.
GUI: User-friendly graphical interface for simplified navigation.
VPN Features: Secure and efficient virtual private network management.
Web Filtering: Advanced filtering for safer browsing experiences.
Threat Detection: Proactive monitoring and detection of cyber threats.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Centralized Control: Streamlined management from a single point.
High Throughput: Efficient data handling and processing capacity.
Stable Performance: Consistent and reliable operational functionality.
Active Directory Integration: Seamless connection with user directories.
Customer Service: Strong support service for customer inquiries.

WatchGuard Firebox is implemented across industries to secure internet gateways and protect data in multi-site businesses. Its applications span from Unified Threat Management (UTM) and intrusion prevention to compliance support in business environments requiring secure connectivity through VPNs.

WatchGuard

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

Information Not Available

Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence

Buyer's Guide

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July 2025

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