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WatchGuard EPDR 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Users find Fortinet FortiGate cost-effective, enhancing security and productivity while reducing operational costs and manpower needs.
Sentiment score
4.0
WatchGuard EPDR offers strong ROI through streamlined endpoint management and quick deployment, despite cost concerns in Latin American markets.
Sentiment score
7.4
WatchGuard Firebox enhances efficiency and security, offering cost savings and improved network control, boosting return on investment.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
I can say that knowing you have a product like WatchGuard EPDR that's working 24/7 to help protect students in a school is good for ROI.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Fortinet FortiGate's customer support is generally positive but varies in responsiveness and expertise, influenced by region and support tier.
Sentiment score
6.1
WatchGuard EPDR's customer service is praised for knowledgeable, responsive support with direct developer access and reliable solutions.
Sentiment score
7.2
WatchGuard Firebox support is praised for quick, knowledgeable service, though some delays occur in different time zones.
They offer very accurate solutions.
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.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
They create a case, tell me to refer to articles, and if not resolved, they take a remote session to solve the issue.
Technical support for Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is provided by the reseller, and they also do preventive maintenance yearly.
On a scale of one to 10, I would rate the technical support of the WatchGuard Firebox a 10.
The technical support is good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Fortinet FortiGate effectively supports scalable deployments, offering adaptability despite potential hardware limits and integration and licensing concerns.
Sentiment score
6.5
WatchGuard EPDR is highly rated for scalability, supporting organizations with up to 800 users effectively and efficiently.
Sentiment score
8.1
WatchGuard Firebox is scalable for various needs, with upgrading options, though choices affect its scalability and performance.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
If we're going for more concurrent users, we need to change the entire box.
I find the WatchGuard Firebox scalable, as it's easy to change configurations from this product to another one.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
FortiGate is praised for stability and performance, with minor challenges managed by updates, proper sizing, and support.
Sentiment score
7.9
WatchGuard EPDR is praised for its stability, reliable performance, and efficiency in threat management, meeting user expectations consistently.
Sentiment score
8.6
WatchGuard Firebox is highly stable and reliable, with few issues, frequent updates, and high user satisfaction ratings.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
It is very stable with no hanging problems.
The stability is approximately a seven to eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate struggles with integration, user complexity, support inefficiencies, high costs, and feature performance, needing improved documentation and security.
WatchGuard EPDR in Latin America is pricey, with limited compatibility and features needing improvement for broader system support.
WatchGuard Firebox needs a modern interface, better integration, enhanced features, and competitive pricing to improve user experience and marketability.
Investing in a solution that can accommodate such growth would be more cost-effective than repeatedly purchasing new hardware.
The constant daily revisions necessitate meticulous identification of the relevant documents to prevent the use of outdated information that could jeopardize our environment.
While Fortinet claims to offer a comprehensive network solution, it falls short in addressing computer application issues, particularly server security.
Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is not compatible with certain network devices like access points, switches, or routers, which would be an area for improvement.
Other firewalls allow adding categories and in-app controls which WatchGuard currently lacks.
The software has performance issues due to its requirements on the processor.
The cost for renewal after three years is 75% of the hardware cost, which is a significant problem.
When implementing a rule using a group of IPs, it is not possible to do that directly.
The WatchGuard Firebox has certain features, but the challenge is that we have some clients who don't have a network or are only mobile users, which leads us to think the future is in SASE products, not in the WatchGuard Firebox.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiGate offers competitive, cost-effective pricing, appealing to small-medium businesses with flexible licensing and valued security solutions.
WatchGuard EPDR is seen as affordable and offers good value, competitively priced against brands like Sophos and Palo Alto XDR.
WatchGuard Firebox offers cost-effective pricing, especially for multi-year plans, with discounts and value for budget-conscious enterprises.
FortiGate is priced lower than Palo Alto.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
It is about 20% cheaper.
It is worth the money and provides good return on investment.
The pricing is slightly high, but the product quality justifies it.
Regarding pricing, I am not sure because I did not compare it with other antivirus; maybe it is pricey.
When we tried to renew the Palo Alto license, the cost was beyond any reasonable range.
It's expensive us here.
I have faced challenges with the WatchGuard Firebox regarding price since we work with customers who use the Stormshield product, which is less expensive and French-made.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly, cost-effective, and offers high-performance comprehensive security with advanced threat protection features.
WatchGuard EPDR offers zero-trust, AI monitoring, ransomware protection, and integration with firewalls, emphasizing real-time insights and patch management.
WatchGuard Firebox offers user-friendly setup, robust security, excellent tech support, and scalable performance with comprehensive management features.
In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable.
FortiGate has helped reduce the risk of cyberattacks that might disrupt our client's production.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
The cloud of WatchGuard lets me see all my devices, updating me to minute levels with detailed information, such as patch status and vulnerabilities.
The detection capabilities for malicious activities are effective.
The EDR has a high accuracy rate with only a few false positives.
The Firebox offers valuable features such as network security, URL filtering, UTM features, intrusion prevention and detection, and authentication.
Basically, we have received a good return on investment.
I utilize AI within the WatchGuard Firebox, as we use the interconnection with threat syncs, and AI is implemented.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
411
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
WatchGuard EPDR
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (11th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (13th)
WatchGuard Firebox
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (11th), Firewalls (14th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (8th), Anti-Malware Tools (12th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (20th), Application Control (7th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

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.
PaolaLamura - PeerSpot reviewer
While being easy to manage and create reports, the tool also offers a good UI
I rate the ease of use and management of Panda Adaptive Defense 360 an eight on a scale of one to ten. The tool's ability to provide information about the vulnerability is the most impactful feature of the product that has an impact on our company's security posture. Speaking about scenarios where the solution effectively prevented the security breach, I would say that our company sees how the tool blocks when our customers accidentally click on some malware, after which it quarantines that file. My company makes a playbook with the SOAR tool that Panda Adaptive Defense 360 uses to block and isolate attacks. In our company's system, if there is a big event that occurs, then to block the endpoint, we use SOAR with Panda Adaptive Defense 360 to block and isolate attacks or threats. The solution's real-time monitoring has improved our company's ability to detect threats if we use it in our company with Panda SIEMFeeder. Only if in my company there is a need to do some research, prepare a report, or if we want to change the policy, so it is not very often that we use the visualization part of the tool in our company. The reporting and analytics part of the tool has helped with the decision-making in our company since we combine different kinds of logs and situations from different ingestion logs, and we can configure a specific alert. In my company, we use the tool's data search functionality if required to check the information we need. Presently, our company uses the configuration alert and SIEMFeeder in our system. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Rajesh  Makwana - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Hospitality Company
6%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 ...
What do you like most about WatchGuard EPDR?
The product's most valuable features are the zero-trust application service and its capability to detect threats and ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WatchGuard EPDR?
I think the pricing is normal because we subscribe for three years. Regarding pricing, I am not sure because I did no...
What needs improvement with WatchGuard EPDR?
I have no idea if I use some automation functions. I can't find any disadvantages; maybe that is because many compani...
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

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Panda Adaptive Defense 360
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
Indra, Valea AB, Fineit, Aemcom, Data Solutions INC., Gloucestershire NHS, Golden Star Resources Ltd, Hispania Racing Team, Instituto Dos Museus e da ConserÊo, Escuelas Pias Provincia Emaus, Axiom Housing Association, Municipality of Bjuv, Lesedi Nuclear, Mullsj_ municipality, Eng. skolan Norr AB, Dalakraft AB, Peter Green Haulage Ltd
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about WatchGuard EPDR vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.