No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

McAfee Application Control vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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) (10th), Firewalls (12th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (7th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (10th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of McAfee Application Control is 5.7%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 11.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
WatchGuard Firebox11.0%
McAfee Application Control5.7%
Other83.3%
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.
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

"We also like the Change Control. We can control how things get executed. It has signatures for different kinds of protocols."
"It does its job well, and it's not causing a lot of trouble."
"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."
"It saves us a lot of money over MPLS connections, about $125,000 per year."
"It provides us with Layer 2 and Layer 3 security."
"Firebox is 10 out of 10 at what it does."
"I find WatchGuard Firebox provides very good value, with configuration migration between boxes, more flexible traffic management, best performance, strong security layers and dependencies, protocol-oriented design, rapid deploy for remote configuration, total protection for inbound and outbound traffic with deep understanding of the traffic, powerful DNS security for both network and mobile users, SD-WAN features that manage line quality, extensive exception handling, and a rich set of integrated security services like Access Portal, Application Control, APT Blocker, Botnet Detection, DLP, Gateway AntiVirus, DNSWatch, Geolocation, IntelligentAV, IPS, Reputation Enabled Defense, spamBlocker, Threat Detection and Response, and WebBlocker."
"I appreciate the interface and the client of WatchGuard Firebox the most, since many firewalls do not have a client to connect and instead rely on CLI only, and I also use the fully managed management server and appreciate the feature to schedule operations."
"This product offers great protection using the default settings."
"The solution is stable; we haven't experienced any bugs or glitches, there haven't been any crashes on it, and our clients seem quite happy with it so far."
"One of my favorite features is the Geolocation service, where you can actually block specific activity or IP addresses registered to certain countries. For example, I don't want any web traffic from Russia or North Korea. I may even lock down certain policies down to 'I only want U.S. IP addresses.' I find that very useful."
 

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."
"With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes."
"I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future."
"Customer support is awful, as there is no customer support in Greece, which is why I changed vendors."
"The usability could be better, but it is definitely manageable. If we have to go to a backup internet connection, that could be a little bit easier."
"The main area for improvement in WatchGuard Firebox is exposing more of the technical configuration in the cloud management, as it would take away the need to do local management on those devices."
"Make WatchGuard Firebox capable of integrating with third-party vendors like FireMon, Splunk, Tenable, etc."
"WatchGuard technical support requires a license."
"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."
"There could also be better reporting. For example, there should be more out-of-the-box management reports."
"Its graphical user interface could be improved because not everybody is technical. There is a lack of knowledge, and they can give some training for this solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It costs me about $800 a year."
"It's in the medium range. Its price is pretty good considering the functions and add-ons that are used."
"Cheap."
"The solution is not expensive and customers pay for a yearly license."
"I spent $600 or $800 on this product and I'm paying a couple of hundred dollars a year in a subscription service to keep the lights on, on it... It works out to $100 or $200 a year if you buy several years at once. It's fair."
"As per my knowledge, the product is more affordable than alternatives."
"It is not expensive. Other products like Fortinet and Check Point are of the same price."
"Over the years, the costs have increased, especially since I cater to very small businesses."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Control solutions are best for your needs.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
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.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.