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McAfee Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 15, 2026

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

McAfee Application Control
Ranking in Application Control
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Firebox
Ranking in Application Control
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (12th), Firewalls (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (11th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of McAfee Application Control is 5.9%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 11.2%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
WatchGuard Firebox11.2%
McAfee Application Control5.9%
Other82.9%
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1437648 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2805000 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Administrator at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Centralized security management has improved VPN reliability and simplified daily operations
WatchGuard Firebox is a strong and reliable platform overall, but there are a few areas where improvements could make the experience even better. One area is the user interface and navigation in some management tools. While the platform is powerful, certain configurations and troubleshooting workflows can feel less intuitive compared to some newer cloud-native firewall platforms. Another point is reporting and log analysis. Although the logging features are very useful, deeper analytics and more customizable reporting dashboards would make security monitoring much more effective. Firmware upgrades and policy synchronization can sometimes require careful planning to avoid security interruptions. Overall, the core security and VPN functionality are very solid, but improving usability, reporting, and automation would make the platform even stronger. One area that could be improved is the learning curve for new administrators. While experienced engineers can work with the platform effectively, some advanced networking and security configurations can be a bit complex for junior technicians. More guided configuration workflows, smarter recommendations, and simplified troubleshooting tools would make onboarding easier. Another improvement would be more flexible reporting customization for executive-level and client-facing reports.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It does its job well, and it's not causing a lot of trouble."
"This is a basic solution; the policy screen is okay, and it's easy to configure."
"We also like the Change Control. We can control how things get executed. It has signatures for different kinds of protocols."
"The most valuable feature is the whitelisting; I can test the applications and we can also predefine rules for Windows, rules for the application and control."
"The most valuable feature is the NAT-ing, the IP addresses... We can direct the traffic where it needs to go. We can control the traffic."
"From my experience with their customer service team, I would say that they seem quite knowledgeable and fairly quick to respond."
"The protection that it provides from ransomware is valuable. The awareness that it has is also valuable. It didn't have a central console earlier, but now it has a central console, which is pretty good."
"WatchGuard is very user-friendly. It provides us with all of the security services we need."
"I have far less (50-75%) less admin time trying to figure out why our system is so slow; that's gone."
"For a firewall product, I do think that it's a leader."
"The solution has many security features. We have an intrusion provision system and filtering and block filtering."
"The solution is very stable. We've never had any problems with stability. Once a year we do a reboot just as a precaution. The solution never stops running otherwise."
 

Cons

"With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes."
"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 initial setup is not straightforward, it was complex. The manuals don't have all the information you need to deploy it."
"The usability could be better, but it is definitely manageable. If we have to go to a backup internet connection, that could be a little bit easier."
"The UI is not as user-friendly as the model that I had used before, which was from Check Point. The design of the Firebox UI is restricted and needs an experienced network guy to understand the format and settings."
"The main trouble is the price of the product."
"The reporting is a little on the weak side. I would like to see a better reporting set and easier drill-down options."
"The data loss protection works well, but it could be easier to configure. The complexity of data loss protection makes it a more difficult feature to fully leverage. Better integration with third-party, two-factor authentication would be advantageous."
"The solution is lacking a professional website, they should be updated more often."
"I would like to see more training become available for us."
"I don't think I can get a full-blown DNS client from it. I've been trying to have DNS services. It has forwarding, but I don't get the services of a full DNS client. My main difficulty with it is that I can't run a complete service. I need NTP. I need DNS. I need DHCP for my domain, but I only get forwarding. As far as I can tell, I don't get caching and the kinds of reporting and registration needed to host a DNS for a domain. I have to have a separate solution for that."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Their price point worked, which is the reason why we stayed with WatchGuard."
"WatchGuard had a very competitive price. It was only 10 to 20 percent more than a single instance device but with that extra cost it provided a second load balancing device... unlike other brands whose method of hardware and software licensing would have doubled our cost."
"I spent $600 or $800 on this product and I'm paying a couple of hundred dollars a year in a subscription service to keep the lights on, on it... It works out to $100 or $200 a year if you buy several years at once. It's fair."
"The licensing contract we have is on a three-year basis. There aren't any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees—usually, every three years, we just purchase or renew the same license and we are okay. Every six years, we completely change the firewall, but that's the usual schema. So after three years, we just renew the licenses for another three years, and then after that particular period of time, we just purchase another firewall equivalent to the ones that we currently use."
"The price of WatchGuard is very good."
"The licensing can be a one-time purchase unless you need the extra services for example twenty-four seven support."
"The price is very good."
"The price of the WatchGuard Firebox is reasonable."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business104
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 our employees.
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

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Contec
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about McAfee Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
921,523 professionals have used our research since 2012.