TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Lightspeed Filter vs. WatchGuard DNSWatchGO

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Lightspeed Filter

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/ALightspeed Filter (formerly Relay), from Lightspeed Systems in Austin, offers insights to help understand and maximize the use of 1:1 classroom devices, keep users safe and increase the educational return on technology investments. Lightspeed Systems aims to help users make decisions to enhance technology use, report up administrators, present to your board, reassure concerned parents, empower teachers, and direct students on appropriate use. According to the vendor, Lightspeed Filter powers…N/A

    WatchGuard DNSWatchGO

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AWatchGuard DNSWatchGO provides DNS-level protection and content filtering that keeps the user's business safe from phishing, ransomware, and other attacks even when a user is outside of the network, without requiring a VPN.N/A
    Pricing
    Lightspeed FilterWatchGuard DNSWatchGO
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Lightspeed FilterWatchGuard DNSWatchGO
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPriced per student device. Quote available upon request.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Lightspeed FilterWatchGuard DNSWatchGO
    Considered Both Products
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answer on this topic
    WatchGuard Technologies
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    67%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    67%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    User Ratings
    Lightspeed FilterWatchGuard DNSWatchGO
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Lightspeed FilterWatchGuard DNSWatchGO
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Lightspeed Systems
    Lightspeed web filtering using the Chromebook Relay agent is amazing and does a great job for a cloud filtering solution. The reports that are available are great and can be customized and retains data for 90 days. Reports are easily shared with staff and/or parents for transparency and disciplinary reasons. The agent for Lightspeed (Relay) does not work well with OSX and works okay in Windows, but doesn't allow you to access local IP addresses in the web browser. There needs to be a way to bypass filtering for local network access. This can make it unusable in some cases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    While DNSWatchgo offers the same categories as Application Control offers on the Watchguard firewalls, the WebBlocker categories are not offered. This is really a disappointment and Watchgurad should really consider adding the extra WebBlocker categories to DMSWatchGo. In my opinion, reporting in DNSWatchGo is minimal to say the least and could use drastic additions. as it is today it does offer very little info to the admins. The identification of registered clients is flawed. It seems that the same clients are registered multiple times on the management platform, thus unnecessarily consuming licenses. In my experience, it is really annoying to have to remove the duplicate clients every time again and again. On the positive side, when one already has Watchguard firewalls seting up DNSWatchGo is really easy, as it shares the same categories with Watchguard firewall Application Control. So easily one can almost the firewall functionality on laptops. And we say almost, because DNSWatchGo is missing the WebBlocker categories / blocking capabilities to be considered a full firewall replacement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Lightspeed Systems
    • Reduces bandwidth consumption.
    • Improves network performance.
    • It is compatible with a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
    • It can be implemented in both wired and wireless networks.
    • It can be installed in minutes and you can configure its settings with a few clicks.
    • Learning environments work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    • protect from phishing, ransomware
    • content filtering
    • no vpn needed
    • cloud based
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Lightspeed Systems
    • It sometimes takes longer than expected for new filtering rules to apply.
    • Sometimes a site is blocked due to sub-sites or links, but it does not easily identify the source of the block if it is buried in the site.
    • They have several reports included, but it would be nice to create custom reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    • While DNSWatchgo offers the same categories as Application Control offers on the Watchguard firewalls, the WebBlocker categories are not offered.
    • Reporting is minimal and could use massive upgrades.
    • The identification of registered clients is flawed. It seems that the same clients are registered multiple times on the management platform, thus unnecessarily consuming licenses.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Lightspeed Systems
    No answers on this topic
    WatchGuard Technologies
    We really need an extra layer of protection for our laptops. Choosing the DNSWatchGo makes sense as we have Watchguard firewall. If we had another brand of firewalls we would probably use anther product instead!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Lightspeed Systems
    It is unreliable and does not function as it is supposed to do so. As previously mentioned, there is a glitch when creating a block list.
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Lightspeed Systems
    We were already a [Lightspeed] customer so the transition was seamless to Relay. Their support and team at [Lightspeed] are top-notch. We have been with Lightspeed for over 20 years and have evaluated on occasions other options and [ended] up back with [Lightspeed] each time. Their price point, ease of use, great team of engineers, and overall customer focus keep them on top in my eyes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    At the time we were looking for a DNS based protection solution we had also tried "Blue Shield Umbrella". Both programs had similar behavior, but the main reason we eventually decided to go with DNSWatchGo was the fact the we have WatchGurd firewalls. So deploying DNSWatchGo was easy as we just copied the Application Control settings from our firewalls to the DNSWatchGo setup. Also Watchguard firewalls already have the DNSWatch service for the PCs that are connected to them while inside the company network, so it makes sense to equip them with the same shield while outside the company network.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Lightspeed Systems
    • Very costly per year
    • Does a great job with 1:1 filtering on Chromebooks
    • Safety Check checks student for possible self harm and alerts staff
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WatchGuard Technologies
    • easy to mange
    • you can have control over external pc or cellphone
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightspeed Filter Screenshots

    Screenshot of Relay dashboardScreenshot of Relay apps reportScreenshot of Relay blocked contentScreenshot of Sample Relay parent reportScreenshot of Screenshot of Classroom, free with Relay for a limited timeScreenshot of Screenshot of Classroom, free with Relay for a limited time