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VMware Carbon Black App 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

VMware Carbon Black App Con...
Ranking in Application Control
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
8
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 VMware Carbon Black App Control is 9.7%, down from 15.4% 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%
VMware Carbon Black App Control9.7%
Other79.3%
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Security Administrator at EJADA
We can isolate problem machines and limit their access
We use App Control to scan the network for virtual machines that have unauthorized applications. We can isolate the problem VMs and control application access.  More than two years. I rate Carbon Black App Control 10 out of 10 for stability. I rate App Control six out of 10 for scalability.…
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

"Overall, this is a good product and one that I recommend."
"The effectiveness of application whitelisting is very good."
"We have been dealing with VMware Carbon Black App Control for one year, and during this time we have already made sure that this is the best solution to protect our user machines and servers."
"The API integration is good."
"I use the console to check for threats and I find it to be very user-friendly."
"Carbon Black offers a total lockdown solution; it shows us the attacks that are being attempted against our infrastructure and how we are being protected."
"It offers a sense of security where anything that comes in, regardless of what it is, unless you approve it manually, it's not going to run."
"All the functions within VMware Carbon Black App Control are valuable."
"The solution simplifies my business. Normally, for administration, we are using NetApp System Manager on Window since it's easy to create new policies. In a short amount of time, you can create new policies based on new requirements. For example, in the last few months, many requirements changed due to the coronavirus, adding the use of new services, like Office 365, and eLearning tools, like Zoom."
"I find this solution very easy to manage. The web manager and Firebox key features are particularly impressive for cloud applications. That's why I often recommend this solution to our clients. It has good threat management capabilities and works against different types of threats."
"Firebox is 10 out of 10 at what it does."
"The initial setup was straightforward and, because we only need intrusion detection and prevention, we needed only about four hours to deploy it."
"The client is easy to use and stable"
"The most valuable features are the VPN and web blocker security."
"WatchGuard Firebox has made a positive impact for my organization by improving security, saving time, and making my work as IT manager easier."
"WatchGuard Firebox's two-factor authentication feature is particularly useful and provides an added layer of protection."
 

Cons

"Its initial setup is very complex. We got help from their implementation team because if it is not set up properly, you can really hinder the operation of your environment and things won't execute or run."
"Its setup is very complex, and it requires guidance from the support team, but it is well worth the effort."
"The reporting is not good and needs to be improved."
"The solution should have overhead in keeping lists of applications that you want don't want to run."
"I rate App Control six out of 10 for scalability."
"Another issue is that even sometimes if you approve, for example, Adobe as a publisher, you say any product or anything that's from Adobe has to run. It generally runs, but especially in a large environment and with a lot of users, sometimes, due to some certification validation issues or some other issue, it might stop the process from running. Genuine processes like Adobe and Chrome can get blocked. so that needs to be improved."
"The initial setup is somewhat complex."
"Carbon Black does not use the database for identifying the file, the fields, or malware."
"The area where I think this product can be improved is the user interface and the reporting. It can be quite difficult to find the correct logs and to actually find out what is going on. The digging can be time-consuming."
"I'm pretty happy with it, but vulnerability management could improve a little bit in comparison to other parts, such as Cisco and so on."
"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."
"While the management of interfaces is straightforward, certain advanced configurations can become complex in large deployments, as it mainly targets small to mid-cap industries."
"One other shortcoming is that there is no backup for it. We really haven't figured out how we might solve that problem. We may want to put a duplicate in... With WatchGuard, we just have the one box. If that were to fail, we'd probably be really hurting."
"The ease of detecting where an issue is should be improved."
"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."
"While the GUI version we are using is good, it still needs some upgrades compared to leader companies or firewall models like Palo Alto or FortiGate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for this product is competitive and our customers who told us that often, Carbon Back is the cheaper solution."
"We pay a fee for support, which is renewed annually."
"Its price is reasonable and what is expected for these types of products."
"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."
"The price of WatchGuard is very good."
"The licensing can be a one-time purchase unless you need the extra services for example twenty-four seven support."
"The price of the WatchGuard Firebox is reasonable."
"The cost was somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000 to $3,000 for each one..."
"There is an additional cost for support on top of licensing. When I bought my new unit, I received additional time added to my support."
"The cost three years ago was about $800."
"WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention's pricing is expensive. I rate it a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
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

CB Protection, Carbon Black CB Protection
WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kaas Tailored, Core-Mark, Indeed, Hologic, Landmark Credit Union, Project Worldwide
Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Carbon Black App Control vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.