McAfee Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

McAfee and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Application Control category. McAfee is ranked #7, while WatchGuard is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Additionally, 100% of McAfee users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

WatchGuard Firebox and McAfee Application Control compete in the network security category. McAfee Application Control seems to have the upper hand due to its robust control features, despite WatchGuard Firebox being favored for cost-effectiveness and support.

Features: WatchGuard Firebox offers advanced threat detection and VPN capabilities, providing comprehensive network security. It also ensures streamlined setup which is user-friendly. McAfee Application Control emphasizes application control by focusing on whitelisting applications, ensuring that only authenticated applications are permitted to run. Additionally, it provides enhanced protection against unauthorized software and has robust support options available for the user.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard Firebox is praised for its easy deployment and responsive customer service. On the other hand, McAfee Application Control may present a steeper deployment curve but compensates with solid support options.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard Firebox features a competitive pricing structure with a strong perceived ROI, appealing to cost-conscious buyers. Conversely, McAfee Application Control, while possibly higher in initial setup costs, offers a significant return on investment through high-level protection features, reducing long-term security risks.

To learn more, read our detailed McAfee Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

McAfee Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox

December 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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reviewer1437648

IT Security Specialist at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Easy to configure, reliable, secure, and has good support

With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes. There have been problems with the relationship between the parent and child process, from time to time. I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future.

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Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

Makes defining policies simpler but lacks performance and modern features

WatchGuard Firebox is only deployed in one location within my customer's organization, and at the other locations, we are using Meraki and FortiGate. We plan to replace WatchGuard Firebox soon. My impression of the spam blocking capabilities of WatchGuard is not very favorable, as I don't think it is very capable. I haven't noticed effective web ratings or IPS signatures, which may be due to managing an older OS; I'm not certain about the performance of the newer versions. I am not aware of whether the transition to faster ports on WatchGuard Firebox supports maintaining productivity levels during peak usage times. Based on my experience, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox as five out of ten overall.

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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 simpler to configure. It is not like Cisco Firepower, where you go crazy trying to follow the Cisco documentation to figure out how to configure one little thing. Unlike Cisco Firepower, where you can't do everything through the web interface and you have got to do some command line stuff, Fortinet FortiGate SWG is simpler. There are four different things in Cisco to get in, which is not the case with Fortinet FortiGate SWG. It is one of my favorite solutions to work with. I would much rather work with it than Cisco Firepower, for example. Even though I've got 20 years of Cisco experience with different firewalls, I would much prefer this solution."

"The most useful features are application control, web filtering, and SD-WAN."

"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."

"Fortinet FortiGate is good for helping you secure and protect mission-critical data."

"There’s something magical about the way the flavors blend together, creating a dish that is both comforting and exciting."

"This solution has helped our organization by having strong functions and a reliable firewall."

"A strong point of FortiGate is that the graphical interface is complete and easy to use, especially if we think there is a list of operations that we are able to perform inside."

"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by centralizing the way to access all of our network firewalls."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We also like the Change Control. We can control how things get executed. It has signatures for different kinds of protocols."

"This is a basic solution; the policy screen is okay, and it's easy to configure."

"Efficient to setup, run, and maintain. Saving man hours and cost in the process."

"I like WatchGuard's network segmentation features. It's easy to configure user policies."

"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."

"The most valuable features are the VPN and web blocker security."

"The set up of the VPN is pretty straightforward. Being able to build VPNs on the fly for certain users, if need be, is also valuable."

"If you just plan to use WatchGuard Firebox in your office and not publicly, then it is okay to purchase it. With WatchGuard Firebox, you can manage your users and permissions while also taking care of the basic setup phase in your office."

"Zero-trust and threat-hunting services are most valuable."

"The solution simplifies my business. Normally, for administration, we are using NetApp System Manager on Window since it's easy to create new policies. In a short amount of time, you can create new policies based on new requirements. For example, in the last few months, many requirements changed due to the coronavirus, adding the use of new services, like Office 365, and eLearning tools, like Zoom."

More WatchGuard Firebox pros

Cons

"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."

"In our case, the deployment options of FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) are not scalable, but in terms of connectivity to other companies, that's exactly what we needed, and that's exactly what it does perfectly, what is needed."

"We would like to see an improvement in the consistency of the product's performance levels."

"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."

"The customization is a little bit difficult."

"Fortinet can add some Machine Learning and AI to improve its accuracy and give it an edge on IPS detection and protection."

"Right now, it's not really scalable, but it's okay for us. However, looking ahead to three years from now, we might have a problem with scalability. We foresee a little risk down the road. The stability is okay for now."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future."

"The intrusion detection features should also be improved. It is a very good feature but it should be maximized."

"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."

"The solution is lacking a professional website, they should be updated more often."

"The level of support from WatchGuard is not as good."

"WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention needs to improve its support."

"The reporting is a little on the weak side. I would like to see a better reporting set and easier drill-down options."

"They are working on cloud-based options. However, they do not have the options fully functional in their solution at this time."

"In terms of the reporting and management features — and this isn't necessarily a WatchGuard issue, this seems to be more of an industry-wide issue — you get reports, but a lot of times you don't know what you're looking at. You're so overwhelmed with the data. You're getting a lot of stuff that doesn't matter, so it takes time to parse through it, to actually get what you want to know."

"There were a little bit of problems with the tool's updates, making it an area where improvements are needed."

More WatchGuard Firebox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of FortiGate is good."

"Fortinet FortiGate is cheaper than Palo Alto. It is about 20% cheaper."

"Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay."

"It's one of the more expensive brands. The 100 series costs around $4,000. They are similar in pricing to what you might get from Cisco solutions and probably other similar ones. They're not more expensive than other similar solutions, but they're certainly not cheaper either."

"I rate the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG a seven and a half out of ten since it is not a cheap solution, though I feel it is a good product for the money one pays."

"Its price is reasonable. They have a clear pricing policy. It is not complicated by the number of VPN users at a time. We know what the price is. The yearly subscription for the security license is rather high, but it is all included for whatever number of users you have and the kind of functions you need."

"The license of Fortinet FortiGate should be reduced."

"Fortinet FortiGate is cost-efficient. Palo Alto is expensive, but Fortinet FortiGate is not."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"We pay about $3,500 every three years."

"We don't have any other costs other than the licensing stuff."

"Its cost is okay. It is not too expensive, not too low. I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of pricing."

"The price of the solution is not expensive, it is less than FortiGate."

"They have an annual subscription license. Initially, we had opted for three years. After that, we went for another three years, and after that, we have been doing it yearly. They also have a license for five years."

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

"The cheapest configuration, for maybe five people, is approximately $500."

"We only license our corporate one and the one we have at our DR site, we don't worry about the branches. It doesn't pay for us to license the ones at the branches. What they charge for what they call basic maintenance is extremely high for those little fireboxes."

More WatchGuard Firebox pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Construction Company

10%

Government

Energy/Utilities Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	132
Large Enterprise	188

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	92
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	15

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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Earn 20 points

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

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

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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 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 7% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

VMware Carbon Black App Control vs McAfee Application Control

Compared 45% of the time

Ivanti Application Control vs McAfee Application Control

Compared 31% of the time

ManageEngine Application Control Plus vs McAfee Application Control

Compared 24% of the time

More McAfee Application Control Competitors

OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 7% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

December 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Control

November 2025

Download McAfee Application Control product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Firebox

December 2025

Download WatchGuard Firebox product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

McAfee Application, Change Control

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

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

As a leading-edge cybersecurity company, McAfee provides advanced security solutions to consumers, small and large businesses, enterprises, and governments. Security technologies from McAfee use a unique, predictive capability that is powered by McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, which enables home users and businesses to stay one step ahead of the next wave of viruses, malware, and other online threats.

McAfee

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

Contec

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

Buyer's Guide

McAfee Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox

December 2025

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