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Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs IBM Cloud Pak for Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 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

Check Point Cloud Firewall ...
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
243
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (8th), Managed Security Services Providers (MSSP) (1st), Vulnerability Management (5th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (3rd), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (5th), WAN Edge (3rd), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (5th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Compliance Management (5th)
IBM Cloud Pak for Security
Ranking in Cloud and Data Center Security
22nd
Average Rating
0.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud and Data Center Security category, the mindshare of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is 7.4%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Security is 0.7%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud and Data Center Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security)7.4%
IBM Cloud Pak for Security0.7%
Other91.9%
Cloud and Data Center Security
 

Featured Reviews

Oscar Nunez - PeerSpot reviewer
Ingeniero en redes y Telecomunicaciones at K-IT
Centralized management has reduced policy time and provides reliable multitenant protection
What I would like, what I think they should improve a little is the management of objects at large scale. When you work with multiple domains, there are thousands of network objects. Detecting duplicates and consistency across domains is a very manual process that should be more automated. Another thing: the SmartConsole interface is very powerful and very good, but the learning curve, compared to other solutions in the market from other manufacturers, could be modernized. I think it does not necessarily have to be done from a client application; it could be done via web, because via web I know that not all the options you have in SmartConsole are available. So it would be good if it could also be done from the web and all the options were available. Another thing that I would really like is more automation with Ansible or Terraform. I know it has improved in recent versions, but I think it is still not mature enough. Compared to other manufacturers that do have a bit more in terms of automation capabilities in integration flows with Ansible or Terraform, Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) could improve. Another thing that could be improved a little would be the TAC response time, because when there are very complex cases, I think there should be more speed initially, more ownership of those urgent cases, and not leave the customer waiting. This has happened to me: when I have cases open with Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) TAC, sometimes they do not respond and I have to keep insisting, and I think that part should improve. I do not know if it depends on who takes the ticket or on the severity of the ticket, but sometimes I have had to insist a lot, and that would be the only problem. Once they attend to me and become involved in the case, the responses they give are very professional and really help directly resolve the problems when there is a bug or troubleshooting to do. As I said, I would like to see a specific improvement in SmartConsole. I think if they improved it—how to say it—gave it a facelift so you could access all the options directly from a browser, that would be great, because sometimes, for one reason or another, you cannot download SmartConsole or, for some reason, the SmartConsole client does not start correctly, and you could do it directly from the browser. I think that would be a good option to improve. Another thing would be that in multidomain environments, I would like a global search function for objects and rules. That is, you could enter and search across all domains at once, because right now you have to go domain by domain, and in environments with many customers, you spend quite a bit of time; you have to exit one domain and enter another. So those would be the improvements I would like to see.
reviewer1907040 - PeerSpot reviewer
IBM Security Product Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Great user-friendly interface; provides many functionalities and many free applications
The interface is good and very user-friendly, it's easy for our customers to use. Cloud Pak provides a lot of functionalities and many free applications available from the online shop which can be deployed to your system. It allows for an increase in functionalities even if you've bought the smallest installation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the CloudBots for auto-remediation of security findings."
"Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is easy to implement, easy to use, easy to install, and easy to configure, especially compared to other competitors such as Palo Alto, Fortinet, Sophos, and SonicWall."
"Visibility is a key feature. It helps me to validate my overall network posture."
"Using CloudGuard, I was able to manage a multi-cloud platform based on AWS, Azure, and Google for a multinational company in Europe with only three engineers."
"The overall security of the environment has been greatly improved by implementing the Check Point Virtual Systems solution."
"It provides critical insights that enable the IT team to plan and launch smart investigations when there are security breaches."
"We can ensure that by following and adapting our needs based on these guidelines we will be a great organization with a strong vision and a great security framework established to protect us."
"It has great scalability."
"The interface is good and very user-friendly."
"Cloud Pak provides a lot of functionalities and many free applications available from the online shop which can be deployed to your system, allowing for an increase in functionalities even if you've bought the smallest installation."
 

Cons

"The solution could be improved with a greater analysis of its Microsoft Security score."
"The challenge mainly revolves around the slower functionality of virtual IP switching in Azure Virtual Network compared to on-premise solutions. On-premise, switching between clusters is faster, taking only a few seconds, while in Azure, it can extend up to five minutes. The downtime is a concern for us."
"The product needs to offer multi-tenancy."
"The tool has a lot of potential, but today, it lacks a lot of Scripts/Bots for Azure."
"Check Point CloudGuard Network Security needs to focus more on the VPN side by being more flexible with configuring the VPN with route-based VPN and having a failover with it."
"The solution needs to support more hypervisors."
"Zero touch removes any independence for configuring."
"The cost is a little high, it doesn't suit every budget."
"The customer support is generally quite good but sometimes there are problems with the vendor, tickets get lost, and the response time can be slow."
"Lacks sufficient technical support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a pretty good partnership with Check Point. We have a global subscription and agreement. They give us a pretty good corporate discount."
"Pricing-wise, it is pretty competitive. However, I would like to see more flexible licensing. There should be more of a consume what you need and true-up type of model."
"There is flexibility in the different licensing models that are offered."
"We have the enterprise-level license and we renew it annually because it is worth the cost."
"Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management is expensive."
"I like the flexibility because I am pretty sure you can use the same license on Azure or AWS. I forgot the name of the license, but there is a specific type you can use that lets you interchange them, and that is pretty good. I like that."
"We got discounts on pricing."
"The tool's monthly costs have undergone a significant reduction, dropping from approximately 12,000 euros to around 4,000. This represents a cost reduction of over 60 percent. However, it's essential to note that while costs decreased in some areas, they increased in others due to shifts in our environment. As our overall environment has grown, currently connecting 50 accounts to the cloud, it's challenging to directly compare costs with the state of our setup three years ago."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business132
Midsize Enterprise53
Large Enterprise142
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Since we use a unified standard for using policies and modules in Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security), we can clearly plan which modules we need to activate on a parti...
What needs improvement with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
The main limitations of Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) are not in Check Point itself but in the cloud platforms on which it is deployed. Because not all clouds ha...
What is your primary use case for Check Point CloudGuard Network Security?
Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) is the main manager that provides network security in different forms in my organization. The primary task that Check Point solves ...
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Also Known As

CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point vSEC, CloudGuard IaaS, Check Point Virtual Systems, Check Point CloudGuard Network Security, Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, Helvetica Insurance
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Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, TrendAI, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Cloud and Data Center Security. Updated: July 2026.
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