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Check Point Power-1 [EOL] vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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 Power-1 [EOL]
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Firebox
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), Firewalls (12th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (10th), Application Control (4th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
 

Featured Reviews

William Cambronero - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at ITQS
Good intrusion prevention, firewall, and VPN capabilities
Check Point Power-1 (EOL) has reached the end of its useful life, yet at the time, they could to make some changes such as: * Integration in the cloud. It is the new trend, however, Check Point has already contemplated this and already has its own cloud device. * Automation. As the automatic creation and application of policies, this would have been very beneficial. * Multi-factor authentication would have been a plus in security at the time. They must also make some improvements in their support departments since they do not comply with the SLAs that they provide.
Abhishek Saini - PeerSpot reviewer
Professional Services Engineer at Next7 IT
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

"The VPN allows users to connect remotely and securely."
"In my opinion it is right product at enterprise level network to protect the user and server from external and internal threats and attacks"
"The policy monitoring and allowing different traffic flows are the most useful features for us; regulating which traffic comes in and out."
"WatchGuard Firebox offers a satisfying VM and hardware"
"WatchGuard is very user-friendly. It provides us with all of the security services we need."
"HostWatch makes it so I can see, in real-time, activity in the event that there is something weird happening on the network. This simplifies my job."
"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."
"From a pure cost standpoint, we cut our fees in half by moving to WatchGuard."
"It helps because malicious attacks coming in are things I don't have to worry about, and so far the WatchGuard has done a good job at blocking all that."
"The set up of the VPN is pretty straightforward. Being able to build VPNs on the fly for certain users, if need be, is also valuable."
 

Cons

"I have to pay Check Point for every new service I integrate in the firewall and it also has license related issue which needs to renew every years."
"Multi-factor authentication would have been a plus in security at the time."
"If they could make the traffic monitoring easier that would be great. I don't use it that frequently, but I would like to see some improvements in the ease of use of that component, so it makes more sense. I know it's a technical component so there's going to be some difficulty trying to make that easier."
"Since WatchGuard acquired Panda, there may be synergies in consolidating both solutions under a single name to reduce customer confusion."
"Last year, I had an issue with one of the Fireboxes going down. It was overheated, because my server room became overheated and this fried it."
"Due to their lack of investment in marketing, channel development, and certifications, WatchGuard faces challenges in gaining visibility and market share, especially in regions like Pakistan."
"The administrative UI/UX could be significantly improved."
"Regarding technical support, they could use more engineers. There is less support from engineers and they give you less time."
"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."
"What could use some significant improvement in WatchGuard Firebox would be its interface and policy management. An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of WatchGuard Firebox is the ability to modify an existing policy instead of having to recreate a policy when changes are necessary. At the moment, there's no possibility to modify the policy. You have to delete the policy and recreate it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Each one, for the primary unit, was $8,600 and the High Availability unit was $2,000. That's with three years of subscription and support and the Total Security Suite."
"The price of the solution is not expensive, it is less than FortiGate."
"It is an entry-level product, so the price is cheap."
"The price of WatchGuard is very good."
"It's fair pricing, but it could always be reduced."
"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."
"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 pricing is competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
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

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

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Independence Care System, Hotel Nikko, Courtagen Life Sciences, Carmel Partners
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
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