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Smoothwall Firewall 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
574
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (2nd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Smoothwall Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
42nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Firebox
Ranking in Firewalls
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
126
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (10th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (9th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (19th), Application Control (6th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.9%, up from 19.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smoothwall Firewall is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 2.8%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate19.9%
WatchGuard Firebox2.8%
Smoothwall Firewall0.3%
Other77.0%
Firewalls
 

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.
Himanshu-Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good scalability and monitoring features
There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages. For example, if we're creating a rule, we should be able to do everything on the same page. Just a drop-down thing or something. This would improve productivity.
Syed Pasha - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place."
"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall's design is good...I am very impressed with the product's stability."
"The usage in general is pretty good."
"It's a user-friendly firewall. Most of the tasks are very simple. It's simple to configure and troubleshoot this firewall."
"A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"The customization potential is quite impressive."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"The configuration possibilities that Fortinet FortiGate provides are extensive, and the task configuration activity is fast and efficient for me."
"It was easy to initially deploy it."
"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."
"It has everything we need in terms of functionality."
"The GUI is easy and intuitive."
"One of my favorite features is the Geolocation service, where you can actually block specific activity or IP addresses registered to certain countries. For example, I don't want any web traffic from Russia or North Korea. I may even lock down certain policies down to 'I only want U.S. IP addresses.' I find that very useful."
"We have received a good return on investment."
"Their support is excellent, and the stability is very good."
"WatchGuard Firebox offers a satisfying VM and hardware"
"I have found the DNS Watch feature for intrusion and prevention response and APT Locker most valuable to me."
 

Cons

"Technical support needs to be improved."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"We can't identify which users are causing challenges when we have issues."
"Fortinet needs to continue to improve network traceability. Other than that, we haven't run into anything that would give me any concern."
"The solution's real-time connection with the cloud could be improved."
"Zero trust could be added. Nowadays, solutions like Zscaler, Netskope, and even SecureWorks combine multiple features into a single product."
"Some of the software stability could improve."
"It needs more available central management."
"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."
"Setup of this solution is complex, it's not plug and play."
"Some of the configuration options are somewhat confusing."
"I'm not really impressed with the reporting side of it. It may be something I just haven't figured out very well, but it's hard to filter down on reporting of the actual valuable information that you would want. There is a lot of information out there so you have to have some kind of tool capture it and then filter through. So far, I haven't found the reporting side of the WatchGuard to be that user-friendly."
"We would like to see granular notification settings and more advanced filtering in traffic monitoring."
"Once you start getting into proxy actions and setting up: "Okay, cool. Once this rule gets triggered, what actions have to happen?" I do know a few people who use WatchGuard and they still have to get assistance when they look at that. So I would file that as a con for WatchGuard. Proxy actions can be a little bit complicated."
"Firebox would be improved with integration for endpoint protection solutions."
"It can have a couple of false positives, but after you add them to your allow list, it works fine. It could have better Mac support. I am pretty sure it doesn't have much support for Mac. It can be installed on a Mac, but it is not that good."
"The administrative UI/UX could be significantly improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is cheaper than Cisco or CheckPoint."
"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
"I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle."
"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."
"​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
"We pay about $4,000 for a yearly license, and there aren't any additional fees."
"It is very cost-effective. You get features similar to other firewalls, such as Palo Alto, but at a lower price."
"The solution is cheap."
Information not available
"WatchGuard offers competitive pricing with attractive margins, benefiting both the company and its partners."
"The cheapest configuration, for maybe five people, is approximately $500."
"The price of WatchGuard is very good."
"We had a trade-in offer at the end of our first three-year term. As a result, we pretty much got a free device by buying the three-year subscription. It was around $3,000 for the three-years."
"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."
"I usually tell people that it's really affordable as well, particularly compared to Cisco."
"It is an entry-level product, so the price is cheap."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
11%
University
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business350
Midsize Enterprise130
Large Enterprise187
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business92
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise15
 

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 ...
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 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

No data available
No data available
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
Information Not Available
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, OPNsense and others in Firewalls. Updated: November 2025.
872,869 professionals have used our research since 2012.