WatchGuard Firewalls are robust, secure, and stable
April 10, 2020

WatchGuard Firewalls are robust, secure, and stable

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with WatchGuard Network Security

We are a technology firm with around 20 engineers who have access to client servers, code, and credentials. We use WatchGuard to lockdown our network and ensure that no unauthorized users gain access to our systems. We also use it to provide a VPN connection point for all users on the go to securely connect back to home base and ensure that they are as secure while traveling as they are while in the office.
  • Intrusion Protection Service (IPS)
  • Ease of VPN Setup
  • Robust Firewall Policies
  • Fast Interface
  • Complex UI
  • Hard to visualize where traffic is coming from within the network
  • Hard to apply limit to individual users
  • Complicated initial setup
  • Complicated to make changes
  • Once changes are made, confidence in the security and stability
We worked with SafariMicro for purchasing. They helped us appropriately size the device we needed for our expected network traffic and future growth. I was very happy with them and have purchased from them since for the same reasons.
The product is very easy to get into and modify. The UI is fast, although a little confusing at times. I can get new users created within a few minutes. Knowing how to make new policies or apply requirements can be a little daunting and the in-UI help system for explanations is a little lacking.
The product is very functional and usable. I'm a mid-level person when it comes to firewalls and such so for me it was a challenge to learn how to configure it. I ended up getting help from friends who are in the network security space. It likely would have been even more difficult to do on my own.

However, with that said, once it is set up it works great. It has protected from attacks as shown in the logs and you can do almost anything you'd want to do with it. I have a lot of trust in the product and will definitely purchase another one in the future.
I would have preferred to pick and choose what features I want a license for. We bought a total security suite because it had some of what we needed but a lot that we don't need and I felt like I was paying for features I don't want, use, or need.
We evaluated Ubiquiti security gateways in place of WatchGuard since we use their products for our wifi network. Ultimately, we chose WatchGuard because we felt that each company had its strengths and we wanted to capitalize on those. Ubiquiti makes great wifi products and we felt that was where their strengths were while WatchGuard is all about security. Truthfully, the deciding factor was a friend in network security who secured his organization of about 500 with WatchGuard products and was able to guide me in the configuration.
We use WatchGuard Network Security as our firewall and router to protect our entire network from the outside world as well as provide VPN connectivity. It controls and protects our access to the internet. It would be very good at preventing access to websites we don't want our users visiting as well.

WatchGuard Network Security Feature Ratings

Identification Technologies
7
Visualization Tools
6
Content Inspection
8
Policy-based Controls
8
Active Directory and LDAP
Not Rated
Firewall Management Console
8
Reporting and Logging
2
VPN
8
High Availability
Not Rated
Stateful Inspection
Not Rated
Proxy Server
Not Rated