WatchGuard Firebox Reviews

Our client deploys WatchGuard Firebox and helps to establish VPN connection between multiple files. 

I find this solution very easy to manage. The web manager and Firebox key features are particularly impressive for cloud applications. That's why I often recommend this solution to our clients. It has good threat management capabilities and works against different types of threats.       

I think one area for improvement in this solution would be enhancing communication with tools like Active Directory. This would make the tool easier to integrate and effective for users.

I have been using WatchGuard Firebox for the past eight years.

The solution has been stable without any noticeable bugs.

I find WatchGuard Firebox to have medium scalability, serving around ten medium-sized clients with approximately five hundred users each. 

I find the service support to be slow at times, especially in terms of response and case resolution. 

Neutral

I would rate the initial setup as ten out of ten, since it is very easy.

The deployment process is quite fast, usually taking just one day. To deploy the solution, we follow the steps outlined in the deployment guide, which are straightforward and easy to follow.

WatchGuard Firebox is typically deployed on-premises in our client's organizations.

I would rate the pricing at seven out of ten. As for the licensing costs, we typically have yearly licenses for our clients, but there are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees.

I always recommend using WatchGuard Firebox in our projects because it's straightforward to manage and deploy.

I would rate this product an eight out of ten. 

I would describe primary use cases as a solid and cost-effective solution, especially when compared to other comparable solutions like Fortinet or different Cisco firewall suppliers and network security providers. However, I must say that it's not so intuitive to install, maintain, and configure. Nevertheless, it remains a solid and cost-effective solution.

We have seen it effectively stop some network security threats. It provides cost-effective protection and is easier to set up compared to other solutions. With other providers, it sometimes takes four to six or even eighteen weeks to deploy or receive the equipment. With WatchGuard, we have solutions that can be quickly deployed.

The most valuable feature, in my opinion, is the dimension logging platform and the network traffic filtering. The VPN feature is also very useful and valuable. Additionally, the remote site connection and VLANs are important.

One area of improvement is the deployment process; it is not intuitive.

The centralized administration and management, as well as the cloud-based interface, specifically the user interface (UI), menus, and module configurations. The administrative UI/UX could be significantly improved.

Compared to other solutions, I would say it's not a complete solution in certain settings. The centralized administration and XDR capabilities need improvement. One aspect that many firewall and network security manufacturers fail to understand or integrate well is the endpoint, XDR, or EDR solutions. For example, Cisco has its own endpoint solution, which is not very good, and other manufacturers like Check Point or Palo Alto have their own EDR solutions. The primary issue is that they haven't effectively integrated these solutions with other manufacturers to create a more comprehensive and cohesive offering. It's important to have a solution that integrates anti-malware and antivirus XDR features. In terms of mobile device management, that's a feature I haven't seen.

I've been using it with some of my clients for about three to five years, depending on different situations. One of them is not selling or reselling it, and another one is in settings where clients decided to switch from our supplier and buy WatchGuard.

We normally use Total Protection.

I would rate the stability of WatchGuard a nine out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability of WatchGuard a seven out of ten. 

There is an area of improvement in customer service and support. 

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward, but there is room for improvement. It's generally straightforward, but there are areas that can be enhanced.

There is an ROI for some time. However, after the first year, it becomes less straightforward to see a return on investment when equipment needs to be changed or licenses need to be renewed.

The price is very good, but the follow-up on the sales channels, especially the local ones, is not so good. Some MSSPs or suppliers do a better job than the brand's direct channel administration.

My advice would be to rely on a reliable partner who understands your operations and has experience in deploying and scaling WatchGuard.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I've used it for network control, and it's been quite helpful.

We have used it to keep our network clean and only allow certain things to work. So, it's useful for network control.

The control software is currently only available for Windows, which can be a little annoying. However, it is painless to use. A future release that is more focused on Linux would be great. Also, it would be helpful if it provided more diagnostic information on the OS side. So, a Java application that works for every other OS would be helpful.

I have been using this solution for more than ten years. We are using the latest version. I have experience working with it.

It is a stable product. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.

It is a scalable product. I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. While there are currently around 50 users, the number of users may vary depending on how the software is used in our particular environment. It's possible that there could be more users in a different environment, but we wouldn't be using the software concurrently. Additionally, some users in our network are currently submitting requests and utilizing the software, which could create a challenge or bottleneck for the software due to the increased demand.

The initial setup was quite simple. We didn't face any bigger issues. For us, it was so simple that we had all we needed. I didn't have any big problems. You just need to decide what you want to have and which programs you want to work with, and then make those configurations work. 

It's easy to do once you learn the WatchGuard side, but there's also the other side where you need to test the TCP ports, IDB boards, and other things that the program needs to work with. Depending on what you want to work with, it usually takes a bit longer, but it needs to be easy to modify and allow/disallow things in every software you're using. 

If you have the subscription system in the license, it can be included in your hardware subscription. So we usually purchase a big license that includes it. But it's always possible to take smaller subscriptions and then add those. You can choose between subscription plans.

It's user-friendly. And if you are using a WatchGuard device and you want to test that side of the software, it's quite easy to get the license to test it. It's included when you purchase the WatchGuard device. Then there's the possibility to test the bigger software for a while and get the older things to happen. And, of course, if you need more, you can just call your support and ask if you can have a test license to try a little more.

Overall, the product is an eight out of ten because WatchGuard lacks diagnostic information on the OS side.

We primarily use the solution to secure our networks in branch via SSL and VPN. We also use it for our web pages hosted on our servers. This product handled everything UTM.

The solution has benefitted us by offering a secure connection. We don't spend as much time analyzing when traffic goes somewhere. We have clearance capabilities. We see what happens in our network.

The hardware is quite good.

The solution is fast. When we commit and change items in Firebox. It just works and it is simple. When you drop a connection, it gets dropped in a second. The speed is important to us.

It has everything we need in terms of functionality.

The solution is scalable.

It is stable and reliable. 

Pricing is reasonable. 

The UI and web view aren't nice. The fonts are too small, for example. 

I've been using the solution for three years. 

It is very stable. I haven't seen any issues with it. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of stability.

The solution can scale quite well. If a company needs to expand, it can. I'd rate the ability to scale at an eight or a nine out of ten. It's easy.

I've never directly reached out to technical support.

When we need to make something really good, we need to take the time to ensure that's the case. However, the configurations are simple.

We had a business help us implement the solution. 

So far, the solution has been worth the cost.

The product isn't necessarily expensive to acquire. The pricing is reasonable. 

There are no extra costs or hidden fees. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. We've been pleased with the product overall. 

Our primary use cases for WatchGuard Firebox are routing and VPN, including the integrated firewall. We do not use the SSO system or any other router features.

WatchGuard Firebox was able to help our organization during the pandemic as we were obligated to work from home. We were working remotely, so the VPN feature of WatchGuard Firebox allowed remote work.

The most valuable feature of WatchGuard Firebox is the VPN. It's easy to connect to the VPN.

The user interface for WatchGuard Firebox has room for improvement. Right now, it's a bit complex to work with and could be easier. I like Fortigate better because its user interface is nicer and easier to work with than WatchGuard Firebox, so improving the user interface would be great.

I've used WatchGuard Firebox for two to three years and still use it at work.

WatchGuard Firebox is a nine out of ten in terms of stability.

In terms of scalability, WatchGuard Firebox is an eight out of ten.

I didn't have to call the WatchGuard Firebox technical support team, but the support on the website is a six out of ten.

Neutral

The company used Fortinet before using WatchGuard Firebox, though I don't have information on which Fortinet product and why the company switched to WatchGuard Firebox.

I wasn't involved in the deployment of WatchGuard Firebox because I wasn't there when the company chose the product. I just learned to love it.

WatchGuard Firebox was great for remote working, but I have no information on its ROI.

I have no information on WatchGuard Firebox costs.

My company uses WatchGuard Firebox. There's a Watchguard router for the internet and three sites on WatchGuard.

I'm using WatchGuard Firebox M440.

The product is deployed on-site.

I can recommend WatchGuard Firebox to anyone looking into implementing it, but I cannot advise on how to implement the product for your network or environment.

My rating for WatchGuard Firebox is eight out of ten.

We are WatchGuard partners, and we also use it on our own. We are using it for general firewall purposes and vulnerability management. We are also using some of the additional security stacks such as intrusion detection and so on.

We are one version behind the latest version. We have it on-prem at the moment, but some of our customers have private cloud solutions.

I like intrusion detection the most.

I'm pretty happy with it, but vulnerability management could improve a little bit in comparison to other parts, such as Cisco and so on.

There could also be better reporting. For example, there should be more out-of-the-box management reports. These two improvements would be nice.

I have been using this solution for around 10 to 15 years.

It's stable.

It's scalable, but I haven't compared it with others.

There are five people who are using it from an administrative perspective, but everyone is using WatchGuard because of the VPN.

I haven't interacted with them myself, but my colleagues state that their support line is good.

Its setup is of medium complexity. It's not super easy. Everything is in its right place, but it's not as complicated as other vendors. It's in the middle.

The deployment duration varies. Depending on your needs, it could take a few hours.

It's in the medium range. Its price is pretty good considering the functions and add-ons that are used.

I would advise having a proper look at the features because there are a lot of different versions, scales, and limits on different Fireboxes. You have to decide in advance which one is good for you in terms of performance, future needs, and so on. You shouldn't have too many changes in your landscape. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

We are a solution provider and WatchGuard is one of the product lines that we implement for our customers. I am the person in the company that is responsible for WatchGuard products.

We do not use this product in my organization. I'm enabling partners and providing training for them on how to use this technology and how to sell it.

I assist customers with implementing PoC installations in different environments.

This product has a dashboard on the cloud that manages logs coming for the WatchGuard Firebox and workstations. It is a good product but it is not a fully integrated EDR or endpoint solution.

This product is one that not many customers request.

The most valuable feature is the correlation of logs from different devices.

If there is a traditional antivirus solution installed on the machine then we can use it with this solution, helping to protect the endpoint from zero-day attacks.

This product needs to be fully integrated with the firewall. Currently, it only sends logs to the cloud and asks the firewall to correlate them. If it were fully integrated with WatchGuard Firebox then it would make sense.

I began working with WatchGuard products approximately two years ago but WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is one that I have not been working with for a long time.

Scalability is very good because it's just an endpoint and therefore, it is managed through the cloud. There are no challenges.

Technical support for this product is perfect. If you open a ticket with them, even with the slowest SLA, they reply to you within four hours. You can also request that they open a remote session with you.

Quite some time ago, I had experience with Sophos products as a distributor in Egypt.

I also have experience with products by Fortinet. I have been evaluating Fortinet because they are one of our competitors.

The initial setup is very straightforward. The length of time required for deployment depends on the number of endpoints that we are dealing with.

For a new setup, we can complete the bulk of the deployment at one time, but it is better to schedule it. This also depends on the number of endpoints because if it is huge then it will take time. A small number of endpoints, such as 20 machines can be completed in perhaps one to two hours.

The number of people required for deployment also depends on the number of endpoints.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We are a solution provider and WatchGuard is one of the product lines that we implement for our customers. I am the person in the company that is responsible for WatchGuard products.

We do not use this product in my organization. I'm enabling partners and providing training for them on how to use this technology and how to sell it.

I assist customers with implementing PoC installations in different environments.

My client that recently implemented WatchGuard Firebox is running an ERP that is used by clients that are in different countries from around the world. They are using Firebox to protect the ERP from outside threats. Essentially, they need to protect the perimeter because users come to the server from different environments.

This solution protects the cloud-based server from incoming and outgoing traffic. In this regard, it acts as a web application filter for the server.

This product offers great protection using the default settings.

The vendor needs to address customer concerns and develop more according to requests, instead of prioritizing based on the existing roadmap. This is a great product and offers great protection but they don't hear the customers' needs. They don't make improvements as per the customers' requests. This is especially true in cases where the feature is common among competitors.

In the future, I would like to see better integration with Active Directory. It should depend on the user's login. This is a feature in big demand and most competitors do not deal with it the right way. Making this change would make sense with customers.

I began using WatchGuard Firebox approximately two years ago.

This is a very stable product.

Scaling this solution requires a migration plan. For an on-premises deployment, there can be challenges related to extending the hardware appliances. A single box is not scalable itself. Rather, you need to migrate to a bigger appliance. But, there is an amazing feature for this called offline configuration.

The offline configuration capability lets you migrate settings from one box to another in minutes. After five minutes, everything will be migrated to the other Firebox and it will scale smoothly without any interruptions.

Technical support for this product is perfect. If you open a ticket with them, even with the slowest SLA, they reply to you within four hours. You can also request that they open a remote session with you.

When it comes to feature requests, however, the vendor takes too long to reply.

Quite some time ago, I had experience with Sophos products as a distributor in Egypt.

I also have experience with products by Fortinet. I have been evaluating Fortinet because they are one of our competitors.

The initial setup is very easy and straightforward. They have a great wizard and it has a great default protection setting. Anyone that is setting it up for the first time, or has not even used a network security product, doesn't need an expert to configure it. The default protection for threats is great.

This is always deployed in a virtual environment, either on-premises or on the cloud. The deployment can be completed in six to ten minutes.

I deploy this product for my customers.

The staff required for deployment and maintenance depends on the project capacity. For a small or medium-sized project, one person is enough. For the smoothest deployment, this should be an engineer or an experienced technician that is aware of network security.

My advice for anybody who is implementing WatchGuard Firebox is to follow the guidelines and best practices that are available on the WatchGuard help center.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.