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Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs McAfee StoneGate [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 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

Check Point Quantum Force (...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
346
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (6th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
McAfee StoneGate [EOL]
Average Rating
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

DS
Network Security Engineer at Connecting Cyber Networks
Advanced threat prevention has protected our perimeter and simplifies daily security operations
Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) can be improved in several areas. First, the interface could be a little more intuitive for new users. The Smart Console is powerful, but it has a steep learning curve when you start using it. Some simple functions for common tasks would help. Second, the initial setup and configuration take quite a bit of time and expertise. It would be helpful if there were more guides, wizards, or templates to speed that up. Third, the price model could be more transparent and flexible. The license cost can add up quickly, specifically when you want to add more advanced features. Finally, I would appreciate seeing better integration with some third-party security tools we use. Right now, we have to do a lot of manual work to make everything talk to each other. Overall, these are minor things. The core product is really solid and does what it is supposed to do very well. The documentation could be more comprehensive in some areas. When we run into issues, the documentation does not have clear answers, so we end up contacting support. Speaking of support, the response time could be faster sometimes. We have had cases where we need help with a certain security issue, and it takes longer than we would prefer to get a response. As for features, it would be nice to have more general reporting options so we can customize reports for different teams and stakeholders without having to do manual work afterward. One more thing, better mobile access to the dashboard would be helpful. Sometimes we need to check on security alerts when we are away from the office, and the mobile experience is not as smooth as it could be. Again, these are improvements that would make it even better, not issues with the core product itself.
it_user935460 - PeerSpot reviewer
Computer Framework at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It works well with a highly-active cluster.
It is important for us in case of a disaster, or in case of a failure of one server. This means that the high availability is the most important part for us. It is important for us that the system is available and no connection is going to be lost if the system is restarting one note, or something like that. This is the main request for us for a good firewall protection product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We never had an outage of the appliances or the consoles; stability is very strong and I never had a problem related to stability."
"One of the benefits that we have realized from using this product is that the user interface makes it easier to operate, compared to using the CLI."
"We have found the solution to be scalable."
"We can build the new firewalls with minimum efforts."
"The product has been working very well."
"I like the GUI."
"We and our customers use almost the entire palette of capabilities of the firewall solution from Check Point."
"The Check Point Next Generation Firewall has improved the performance of our network, bringing the IT administrator a lot of information and data to make decisions about security, vulnerability, strengths, and weaknesses in our deployed projects."
"It works well with a highly-active cluster."
"We did not have issues with scalabiliy."
"High availability is very consistent and provides good firewalling and stability."
"It has given us better application control."
"The stability of the product is fantastic; it is a really proven system and I never had any type of problem where the system was unstable or had a software failure."
 

Cons

"Check Point solutions have always been more complex to deploy than their competitors."
"Check Point Smart Dashboard does not support my Apple MacBook Air. It only supports Windows versions."
"Interoperability with other vendors is not the strongest when it comes to setting up VPNs."
"Technical support could be improved."
"Pricing for the gateways is too high as compared to the other vendors."
"Check Point should quickly update and expand its application database to have what Palo Alto has."
"Check Point should add additional management choices."
"Something worth mentioning is the need for Spanish support and better representation for teams in the Latin American area."
"The hardware needs improving as we had a lot of problems with the hard drive reliability, both with the firewall and the intrusion protection system."
"After some experience with the solution, we had to do some redesign, but generally, we were happy with the product."
"HA failover is not stable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Check Point NGFW is much cheaper than other platforms, including Palo Alto. Its scalability, especially with the Maestro solution, is a big advantage. If you're looking for good security at a reasonable price with a good return on investment, I believe Check Point NGFW is the way to go."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing and licensing part is something that could be improved. Check Point license and pricing are a bit higher compared to competing firewalls. I think they can work on that."
"It is more expensive than Cisco ASA but cheaper than Palo Alto."
"The product provides value for pricing in terms of performance and technical features compared to other firewalls."
"It is not a cheap solution, which is why we are looking for another one."
"The product's price is on the higher side but I also feel that it is more secure than the other solutions in the market."
"Check Point NGFW can be expensive compared to other competitors, but the price matches the functionality and efficiency of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
19%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business164
Midsize Enterprise94
Large Enterprise198
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Check Point NGFW compare with Fortinet Fortigate?
I have experience on both from Disti and channel experience. Please find below my comments (nothing new as such). -Check Point GUI is a bit complicated, -Application and Web filtering are better t...
Which would you recommend - Azure Firewall or Check Point NGFW?
Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include integration into the overall cloud platform, autoscaling, and the ability for users to create virtual IP addr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point NGFW?
Our experience with pricing for Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) has been mixed. The initial setup costs were fairly significant because we needed to buy the hardware appliances and then pay for th...
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Also Known As

Check Point NG Firewall, Check Point Next Generation Firewall
McAfee Next Generation Firewall, Stonesoft, Intel Next Generation Firewall, Intel Security StoneGate
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Control Southern, Optimal Media
Avency, R€SLER Oberfl_chentechnik GmbH, MAUSER Group, CEMEX, Cegedim, Fusion Media Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.