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McAfee Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 15, 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

McAfee Application Control
Ranking in Application Control
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Firebox
Ranking in Application Control
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
143
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (12th), Firewalls (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (11th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of McAfee Application Control is 5.9%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 11.2%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
WatchGuard Firebox11.2%
McAfee Application Control5.9%
Other82.9%
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1437648 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Security Specialist at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Easy to configure, reliable, secure, and has good support
With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes. There have been problems with the relationship between the parent and child process, from time to time. I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future.
reviewer2805000 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Administrator at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
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

"It does its job well, and it's not causing a lot of trouble."
"We also like the Change Control. We can control how things get executed. It has signatures for different kinds of protocols."
"This is a basic solution; the policy screen is okay, and it's easy to configure."
"The most valuable feature is the whitelisting; I can test the applications and we can also predefine rules for Windows, rules for the application and control."
"From my experience with their customer service team, I would say that they seem quite knowledgeable and fairly quick to respond."
"I have found the DNS Watch feature for intrusion and prevention response and APT Locker most valuable to me."
"We use the on-premises deployment model. It's a great product."
"WatchGuard Firebox has made a positive impact for my organization by improving security, saving time, and making my work as IT manager easier."
"For the price point, what we do with it, and the time that the last one lived for on our network, we have gotten our money's worth from it."
"As a whole, it has a very low requirement for ongoing interaction. It's very self-sufficient. If properly patched, it has very high reliability. The total cost of ownership once deployed is very low."
"Now, the provisioning goes more toward what types of software are needed, we have it completely unified across locations with a security standard through the WatchGuard systems due to the roles that we've set up for the organization, and productivity, especially within the IT department, has increased due to the time that we used to spend on each machine can now be spent on the network level."
"Because we bought two firewalls... we need a central place to manage the policies and deploy them to both devices. It's good that it provides a system management console that is able to manipulate and manage policies in one place and deploy them to different locations."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is not straightforward, it was complex. The manuals don't have all the information you need to deploy it."
"The intrusion detection features should also be improved. It is a very good feature but it should be maximized."
"I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future."
"With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes."
"There's always room for improvement, especially if the threats are getting more sophisticated and the IT department cannot sufficiently meet this kind of sophistication with their own knowledge and experience."
"Websense gives you detailed information as far as the source, but this one only gives you very basic information and, on top of that, it's a free version for only a few months and then you have to pay for it."
"There is room for improvement in the threat protection, data packet inspection, and performance of the solution. Generally, it's just a lower-end product. It does the job but doesn't do it very well."
"The product can improve in terms of layout to provide easier access and viewing to users, especially for the reports."
"In general, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox around 6-7; it is a good firewall, but they lack good administration tools. We experience many problems with the performance and administration tools on the web, including several issues with VPNs."
"The time they take to classify an application once they find that it is unknown can be better."
"There is a problem with the RAM - it's eating up resources. The RAM utilization sometimes reaches up to 80% - 95%, and what we do is just restart the firewall."
"The reporting is a little on the weak side. I would like to see a better reporting set and easier drill-down options."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Despite the fact that there is always room for improvement, the current pricing of the solution is still lower compared to its competitors."
"The price is so small that I don't pay attention to it anymore. I think we pay a few thousand dollars for two to three years, so about $100 per month. That's for all of our users. There is an additional cost if we want to go with a deeper licensing model, but we just pay for antivirus, IPS, and main product support."
"Its cost is okay. It is not too expensive, not too low. I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of pricing."
"They license it. When we buy it, we buy it with a three-year license. That's the most cost-effective way to do it. So, if you're going to buy it, then buy it with the three-year licensing."
"The pricing is competitive."
"The primary reason that we went with Firebox was its cost. It is very economical and it provided us with all the security functions that we were looking for at the time. And the throughput was more than what we required, so it was a very cost-effective device to deploy on our network."
"They have an annual subscription license. Initially, we had opted for three years. After that, we went for another three years, and after that, we have been doing it yearly. They also have a license for five years."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
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

McAfee Application, Change Control
WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Contec
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about McAfee Application Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.