Check Point CloudGuard vs Lacework (now FortiCNAPP)
Detailed side-by-side comparison to help you choose the right tool
Check Point CloudGuard
Security Solutions
Check Point CloudGuard is a cloud security platform for protecting cloud environments, workloads, applications, and posture across multi-cloud infrastructure. It helps organizations prevent threats and manage cloud security risk.
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CustomLacework (now FortiCNAPP)
Data Analysis
AI-powered cloud-native application protection platform providing behavioral threat detection, compliance monitoring, and vulnerability management across multi-cloud environments
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Starting Price
$50,000/yearFeature Comparison
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💡 Our Take
Choose CloudGuard for prevention-first protection with active threat blocking, virtual gateways, and broad compliance framework coverage backed by Check Point's 30+ years of security research. Choose Lacework if your priority is anomaly-based behavioral detection (Polygraph), data-driven runtime analysis, and a lighter-weight onboarding experience focused on detection over inline prevention.
Check Point CloudGuard - Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓Comprehensive CNAPP coverage consolidating CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, CDR, and WAAP in one platform reduces tool sprawl
- ✓Backed by Check Point's ThreatCloud AI, which processes billions of indicators across 150,000+ organizations for prevention-first protection
- ✓Strong multi-cloud support spanning AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba, and Kubernetes environments
- ✓Out-of-the-box compliance automation for 20+ frameworks including PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST, GDPR, and SOC 2
- ✓Mature network security capabilities with virtual gateways, leveraging 30+ years of Check Point firewall expertise since 1993
- ✓Native CI/CD integration enables shift-left security scanning of IaC, containers, and source code
Cons
- ✗Enterprise-only pricing model with no transparent public tiers makes budgeting and evaluation difficult for smaller teams
- ✗Steeper learning curve than newer cloud-native competitors due to broad feature set and legacy console patterns
- ✗Best value typically requires commitment to the broader Check Point Infinity ecosystem
- ✗Agent-based workload protection adds operational overhead compared to fully agentless alternatives like Wiz
- ✗User interface and reporting are widely cited as less polished than newer competitors such as Wiz or Orca Security
Lacework (now FortiCNAPP) - Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓Polygraph behavioral engine automatically baselines normal activity and surfaces anomalies without requiring teams to write and maintain detection rules, dramatically reducing tuning overhead
- ✓Unified CNAPP consolidates CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, Kubernetes security, and vulnerability management into a single platform, replacing multiple point tools and their separate licenses
- ✓Agentless cloud scanning provides rapid time-to-value across AWS, Azure, and GCP accounts, with deeper eBPF agent-based runtime protection available for critical workloads
- ✓Strong attack path analysis correlates vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identity risks to prioritize the handful of exposures that actually create exploitable chains
- ✓Post-acquisition integration with the Fortinet Security Fabric enables unified visibility between cloud workload telemetry and network/endpoint security data
- ✓Continuous compliance automation with prebuilt policy packs for PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, NIST, and CIS saves significant audit preparation effort
Cons
- ✗Enterprise-only pricing with no published tiers or self-serve options makes it inaccessible for smaller teams and creates friction for evaluation
- ✗Brand transition from Lacework to FortiCNAPP has created documentation inconsistencies, confusion about product roadmap, and uncertainty for existing customers during integration
- ✗Initial deployment and onboarding across multi-cloud environments can be complex, particularly when tuning Polygraph baselines for noisy or highly dynamic workloads
- ✗Alert quality improves substantially after several weeks of behavioral learning, meaning early-stage detection can produce false positives before baselines stabilize
- ✗UI and query experience, while improved, still lags behind more recent CNAPP entrants like Wiz in terms of intuitive navigation and graph exploration
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