WatchGuard review: score, privacy and prices

0.91

out of 10not in the main ranking (too little published data)
Business VPN / ZTNA median 2.5

  • Business VPN / ZTNA
  • Jurisdiction:not stated, alliance not disclosed
  • Founded1996 (copyright start)
  • Data completeness40%
  • Checked2026-10-15

In 10 seconds

Strongest against its segment

  • Platforms and support4.3 vs 3.9
  • Security and protocols1.8 vs 1.8
  • Censorship bypass0.0 vs 0.5

Weakest against its segment

  • Network and streaming0.0 vs 2.8
  • Price and fair terms0.8 vs 3.4
  • Privacy and jurisdiction0.0 vs 2.3

Compare WatchGuard side by side with other VPNs

How the score adds up

Six sub-scores, each against the median of Business VPN / ZTNA services in the main ranking (None services). Open a line to see which published facts earned points and which were missing or not disclosed.

WatchGuardsegment median

  • Privacy and jurisdiction30% of the score · segment median 2.30.0
    What earned points
    • No-logs policy +2
    • Independent no-logs audit +3
    • No-logs confirmed in court +1
    • Warrant canary +1
    • Transparency report +1
    • Sign-up without email +1.5
    • Account number sign-up +0.5
    • Stores connection IP (penalty) −3
    • Public incident (penalty) −2
  • Security and protocols20% of the score · segment median 1.81.8
    What earned points
    • Kill switch +2
    • DNS leak protection +1.5
    • RAM-only servers +1
    • Post-quantum encryption +1
    • Perfect forward secrecy +0.5
    • Security audit +2
    • Open-source clients +1.5
    • 2FA +1
    • Multi-hop +1
    • Bug bounty +1
    • Only PPTP / L2TP (penalty) −2
  • Price and fair terms15% of the score · segment median 3.40.8
    What earned points
    • Free plan +1.5
    • Free trial +1
    • Trial without a card +1
    • Crypto payments +1
    • Cash payments +0.5
  • Censorship bypass15% of the score · segment median 0.50.0
    What earned points
    • Stealth / obfuscation +2
    • VLESS / Reality +1.5
    • Trojan +1
    • Hysteria2 +1
    • Shadowsocks +1
    • AmneziaWG +1
    • obfs4 +0.5
    • TUIC +0.5
    • NaiveProxy +0.5
    • Mirrors or Telegram channel +0.5
    • VoIP in the UAE (claimed) +0.5
    • Manual configs +0.5
  • Network and streaming10% of the score · segment median 2.80.0
    What earned points
    • 10 Gbps servers +1
    • Dedicated IP +0.5
    • Port forwarding +0.5
    • MENA locations +0.5
    • Torrenting allowed +1
  • Platforms and support10% of the score · segment median 3.94.3
    What earned points
    • Routers +1
    • Browser extensions +0.5
    • Split tunneling +1
    • Ad / tracker blocker +1
    • 24/7 live chat +2
    • live chat +0.5
    • Support on Telegram +0.5
    • Status page +0.5

WatchGuard pricing

WatchGuard does not publish a paid price we could read. Free plan: No. Market median across the main ranking: €3.13 a month.

Refunds, trial and payment

Refund window
Not stated
Free trial
Yes site
Auto-renewal
Not stated
Payment methods
Not stated
Renewal note
pricing via sales/partners only

Everything WatchGuard publishes

Every fact we collected about WatchGuard, as the provider and reviewers state it. Empty fields are left out; key fields we could not find say “Not stated”. “Partial”: only on some platforms, servers or plans.

Company
Legal entity
WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Registered in
Not stated
Related brands
  • Firebox
  • FireCloud
  • AuthPoint
Founded
1996 (copyright start)
Surveillance alliance (5/9/14 Eyes)
Not stated
Website languages
  • EN
  • FR
  • DE
  • IT
  • PT
  • ES
  • JA
Right-to-left languages
No
Currencies on the site
none

Plans, prices and add-ons
Plans
  • Firebox
  • FireCloud Total Access
  • AuthPoint
Cheapest price a month
Not stated
Monthly plan
Not stated
Lifetime plan
Not stated
Renewal
pricing via sales/partners only
Family plan
Not stated

Discounts and programmes
Student discount
Not stated
Affiliate programme
Yes partner program (WatchGuardONE, MSP Program)

Limits and restrictions
Devices at once
Not stated

Free plan
Free plan
No
Free data
Not stated
Ads in the free plan
Not stated

Payment and subscription
PayPal
Not stated
Cryptocurrency
Not stated
Cash
Not stated
Gift cards
Not stated
Auto-renewal by default
Not stated
Email needed to sign up
Not stated
Account-number login
Not stated
Money-back guarantee, days
Not stated

Free trial terms
Trial length
Yes
Where the trial is offered
site
Card needed for the trial
Not stated

Server locations
Countries
Not stated
Servers
Not stated
Server countries
Not stated
Middle East and North Africa
Not stated
Virtual locations
Not stated
P2P servers
Not stated
Obfuscated servers
Not stated

Network features
RAM-only servers
Not stated
IPv6
Not stated
Dedicated IP
Not stated
Static IP
Not stated
Residential IP
Not stated
Double VPN / multi-hop
Not stated
Tor over VPN
Not stated
SOCKS5 proxy
Not stated
Smart DNS
Not stated

Protocols and encryption
  • WireGuardhelp center: Firebox does not include Mobile VPN with WireGuard✕ No
  • OpenVPNMobile VPN with SSL/TLS; usable with OpenVPN client✓ Yes
  • IKEv2Mobile VPN with IKEv2 on Firebox, Fireware 12.1+; MOBIKE 12.8+✓ Yes
  • L2TP/IPsecNot stated
  • SSTPNot stated
  • SoftEtherNot stated
  • Own protocolWatchGuard Mobile VPN with SSL client (TLS); FireCloud Connection Manager✓ Yes
  • VLESS / RealityNot stated
  • VMessNot stated
  • TrojanNot stated
  • ShadowsocksNot stated
  • Hysteria2Not stated
  • TUICNot stated
  • NaiveProxyNot stated
  • obfs4Not stated
  • AmneziaWGNot stated
Perfect forward secrecy
Not stated
Post-quantum encryption
Not stated
Manual configuration files
Not stated
Open-source apps
Not stated

Censorship and blocking
Obfuscation (stealth mode)
Not stated
Countries it claims to work in
Not stated
Mirror sites or Telegram channel
Not stated
Calls in the UAE
Not stated

Security
Kill switch
Not stated
DNS leak protection
Not stated
Split tunnelling
Yes admin-configured: clear Force all client traffic through tunnel for Mobile VPN with SSL/IPSec/IKEv2; default-route is the alternative
Ad and malware blocker
Not stated
Two-factor sign-in
Yes AuthPoint MFA
Security audits
Not stated
Bug bounty
Not stated
Certifications
Product Certifications page; MITRE ATT&CK Eval 2025, SE Labs AAA 2025 badges

Privacy
No-logs policy
Not stated
Independent no-logs audit
Not stated
Transparency report
Not stated
Warrant canary
Not stated
Anonymous sign-up
Not stated

What the privacy policy says is collected

Yes: collected. No: not collected. Partial: kept briefly or only in part. Not stated: the policy does not say.

  • Connection IPNot stated
  • Session timesNot stated

Apps and devices
  • WindowsMobile VPN with SSL client, IPSec Mobile VPN client, native IKEv2✓ Yes
  • macOSMobile VPN with SSL client, native IKEv2✓ Yes
  • Linuxmanual only (no official WatchGuard Linux VPN client; SSL VPN OpenVPN config file can be imported into OpenVPN; IKEv2 via native/strongSwan) (community)✓ Yes
  • iOSnative IKEv2 client✓ Yes
  • AndroidIKEv2 via third-party strongSwan app✓ Yes
  • Android TVNot stated
  • Fire TVNot stated
  • Apple TVNot stated
  • ChromebookNot stated
  • Smart TVNot stated
  • RoutersNot stated
  • NASNot stated
  • Raspberry PiNot stated
  • Game consolesNot stated
Browser extensions
Not stated

Speed, streaming and gaming
10 Gbps servers
Not stated
Netflix
Not stated
BBC iPlayer
Not stated
Disney+
Not stated
Prime Video
Not stated
Gaming features
Not stated
Torrenting
Not stated

Support
Live chat
Not stated
Live chat 24/7
Not stated
Email / tickets
Yes support portal, contact form
Phone
Not stated
Telegram
Not stated
WhatsApp
Not stated
Discord or forum
Yes community forum
Help articles
Yes technical docs, Learning Center
Server status page
Yes status dashboard

For teams and business
SSO / SAML
Not stated
Admin panel
Yes WatchGuard Cloud
Dedicated gateway
Yes Firebox appliances
Zero-trust access (ZTNA)
Yes FireCloud Total Access: ZTNA + SWG + FWaaS, identity & device posture per session

What users say

Reviews never change our score. Ratings are smoothed: a source’s average across all VPNs counts as 50 extra reviews, so a few five-star reviews cannot outrank thousands.

  • Trustpilot

    3.47 of 5, smoothed

    From 4 collected reviews (raw average 1.00; all VPNs 3.66).

    The company replied to 0 of 4 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

  • App Store

    3.62 of 5, smoothed

    From 14 collected reviews (raw average 3.93; all VPNs 3.54).

  • Google Play

    3.77 of 5, smoothed

    From 20 collected reviews (raw average 3.45; all VPNs 3.90).

    The company replied to 2 of 7 negative reviews (1–2 stars).

Ratings shown on the platforms themselves: Trustpilot TrustScore 2.6 (4 reviews); App Store (US) 4.30 (44 ratings); Google Play 3.8 (196 ratings).

Reviews per month, last 12 months

  1. Jan ’261 reviews, average 1.0
Bar height: number of reviews collected that month. Full-colour bars: months with an average of 4 stars or more; pale bars: below 4.

50 Reddit and forum threads mention WatchGuard (titles and search snippets only).

Latest reviews and related rankings

Latest reviews

Short excerpts with a link to the original. We do not reproduce reviews in full.

  • App Store · 5★ · 06 Aug 2025 · US

    gud...

  • App Store · 1★ · 27 Jul 2025 · US

    Crashes Immediately on Launch

  • App Store · 4★ · 17 Nov 2023 · US

    Great app needs update

  • Google Play · 5★ · 17 Jul 2025

    doesn't slow down phone

  • Google Play · 5★ · 20 Dec 2024

    Ok

  • Google Play · 4★ · 16 May 2024

    Good App, but would be nice if you could turn off the "WatchGuard is protecting you" notification. Annoying for those who like a clean notification screen.

  • Trustpilot · 1★ · 14 Jan 2026 · IT

    It isn't time yet to release a linux…

    Original review

  • Trustpilot · 1★ · 26 Jun 2023 · GB

    AuthPoint

    Original review

  • Trustpilot · 1★ · 28 Oct 2022 · DE

    completely untrustworthy!!!!!!!!

    Original review

Rankings by user reviews

Reviews of similar VPNs

Show all 13

In our rankings

WatchGuard appears on 3 topic pages. Its place on each:

Similar VPNs

Also similar to WatchGuard

Tools for WatchGuard

Sources and changes

Collected 2026-10-15. No changes recorded since the first import.

Website
https://watchguard.com
Pages checked
https://www.watchguard.com; https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-products/sase/firecloud-total-access
Other sources used
ikev2/platforms: https://www.watchguard.com/help/docs/help-center/en-US/Content/en-US/Fireware/mvpn/ikev2/mvpn_ikev2_about_c.html; openvpn/wireguard/ssl client: https://www.watchguard.com/help/docs/help-center/en-US/Content/en-US/Fireware/mvpn/ssl/mvpn_ssl_about_c.html; product model: https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-products/network-security; linux: https://www.reddit.com/r/WatchGuard/comments/1615t88/connect_ubuntu_linux_client_to_an_ikev2_vpn/ (snippet); https://serverfault.com/questions/103926/is-there-a-real-way-to-connect-to-watchguards-vpn-from-linux (snippet: official clients only Windows and Mac); split_tunneling: https://www.watchguard.com/help/docs/help-center/en-us/content/en-us/Fireware/mvpn/general/mobile_vpn_internet_access_options_c.html; https://www.watchguard.com/help/docs/help-center/en-us/content/en-us/Fireware/mvpn/ssl/mvpn_ssl_internet-access_c.html (snippets)

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