Overall, users find CloudGuard Network Security to excel in robust firewall capabilities, user-friendly interface, advanced threat prevention, pricing transparency, and satisfactory ROI. On the other hand, Hillstone E-Series is praised for its quick installation, exceptional performance, robust security features, affordability, positive ROI, and excellent customer support. However, users noted that CloudGuard has better integration, setup process, and user interface, while Hillstone users find the interface navigation challenging with limited customization options and delayed updates.
The summary above is based on 74 interviews we conducted recently with CloudGuard Network Security and Hillstone E-Series users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"It's very fast and easy to configure."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the SD-WAN and their IP4 policy."
"It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."
"The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
"The simplicity of the product is great. It's very easy to use, which is a compliment we get all the time in terms of feedback."
"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."
"Fortinet FortiGate protects against internet-based threats, both internal and external. It is scalable, stable, easy to use, and easy to install."
"We find all the features valuable, particularly the firewall, application control, URL filtering, and HTTPS detection."
"We find Check Point valuable because they are 100% focused on security. It totally closes the potential vulnerability channel. We can check our mail and our attachments and we can scan everything easily. We get an immediate report about the situation of the attachments. We can discover if the target's security attack was started from phishing, etc. We also enjoy using the additional features that protect our internal customer from targeted attacks."
"Advanced check prevention is a great feature that provides threat intelligence at speed."
"The most valuable features are the ease of administration with the cloud management extension and the cloud licensing model."
"I like the firewall and the virtual machine. I also like that it's compatible with Amazon Web Services and Azure."
"Auto Scaling is one of the features that make me want to choose CloudGuard over actual HW."
"The most valuable feature is that we can use the same manager server that we use on our own Check Point firewalls. We integrated CloudGuard on that manager and we can use the same kind of protections that we use on the on-prem firewalls, like the IPS and antivirus policy. We can have the same kind of protection on the Cloud environment that we have on-premise."
"The solution has been quite stable."
"Five out of five ROI."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients a secure connectivity."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."
"Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved."
"The Web-filter in this solution is not very good."
"There are some license issues. Not every feature must have a separate license. There must be some of kind synergy between the license so we don't have to pay for every individual license that we would like to have."
"Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."
"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."
"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."
"Fortinet currently has many products bundled with FortiGate including the basic firewall and load balancer, and I think that that they need to have separate product portfolios for each of these specialized services."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"From the policy optimization point of view, they can do better. This is not just for CloudGuard. CloudGuard is one little piece managed by Check Point. They can also integrate a third-party policy management solution to improve that. For example, Tufin is focused on policy optimization and management."
"People don't know about the tool's features. There's a lack of skill. Users require more knowledge on how to integrate it into the cloud environment and orchestrate routing. So, it's not necessarily a CloudGuard Network Security or Check Point issue but more about integration, knowledge, and understanding."
"As an administrator, I can say that among all of the Check Point products I have been working with so far, the Virtual Systems solution is one of the most difficult."
"The solution is not that flexible when deploying on-prem."
"Micro-Segmentation functionality for EAST-WEST traffic is not native and requires integration with a third-party OEM."
"The product needs to offer multi-tenancy."
"It is somewhat problematic in the area of the cloud."
"I hope that Check Point continues to improve its technical documentation regarding the Check Point CloudGuard IaaS gateway and management system."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."
"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."
"The current usage reporting is very basic."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
More Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Pricing and Cost Advice →
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is ranked 8th in Firewalls with 121 reviews while Hillstone E-Series is ranked 33rd in Firewalls with 9 reviews. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is rated 8.6, while Hillstone E-Series is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Check Point CloudGuard Network Security writes "Highly reliable, great visibility, and centralized management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Hillstone E-Series writes "A user-friendly and marketable solution with a virtual switching capability". Check Point CloudGuard Network Security is most compared with Azure Firewall, VMware NSX, Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet FortiGate-VM, whereas Hillstone E-Series is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Sophos XG, OpenVPN Access Server, Netgate pfSense and Sangfor SSL VPN. See our Check Point CloudGuard Network Security vs. Hillstone E-Series report.
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