KerioControl Reviews

The solution is user-friendly, has a very easy menu, and is a complete firewall for small or mid-range networks.

We have 100 internet bandwidths, and we want to use these bandwidths, and our Carrier supports 900 bandwidth. However, in the future, we will have problems as we will require a larger bandwidth capacity of a firewall to handle the internet connection. We have 2000 devices in our network that use the internet. We handle users in and outside our network and see the logs of clients, internet connections, HTPs connections and VPN connections. Hence the solution can be improved to create the capability for larger bandwidths that support our business needs. Additionally, logging and reporting could be improved.

We have used this solution for three years.

We do not have experience with customer service and support as we can't access them in Iran, so we search for our questions on the internet and found answers. Online communities are a good resource for answers. Still, there are only a few websites or communities about the Carrier on YouTube and other websites. We find varying answers, so it is time-consuming since there are multiple sources of information.

The solution is easy to implement and can be installed in less than ten minutes.

The pricing is reasonable for the performance of the solution.

I rate the solution a seven out of ten. The solution is good, but the logging and reporting systems can be improved.

We use Kerio Control primarily for site-to-site VPN and client VPNs.

The solution is easy to manage. Kerio Control is unique compared to other firewalls because it has been around since 2000 when we switched and the name it started with was WinRoute, and then later became Kerio Control. It evolved over time and it is more of a proprietary firewall on its own and has been developed through open source.

The Kerio hardware devices look cheap and could be improved. Some of our clients are switching to Sophos because their hardware has a more sleek design.

I have been using Kerio Control for a long time.

Kerio Control stability is extremely stable. On the administration side, you have total control because of MyKerio. Which is a portal that allows you to control all your Kerio Controls and other Kerio solutions. Similar to other firewall vendors nowadays, they have their own portal to centralize the management of your firewalls. 

The solution is scalable. If you are using virtualized machines you can have as much memory and much storage, but you do not need much storage for this solution. It is powerful and fast, although it can slow down the internet because of the filtering. For example, if you have most of your services running, such as antivirus, content filtering, and intrusion prevention. When all of those are all enabled and there is a lot of configuration and it might slow down your internet service to about 70%, instead of a direct simple router.

The technical support is good as a reseller. We have direct connection with the technical support, we can send them an email and they will get back to us. If it requires phone calls, they phone us up or we phone them.

The initial setup is straightforward. You receive a box and then you receive the activation keys. When you receive the activation keys, it will work fine. Without the activation keys, your subscription for firewall, antivirus, and web filter, is not going to work.

If you are doing a fresh installation without the VPN, you have to set up all your routers on each different location to have a site-to-site VPN. However, if you are migrating from a firewall to Kerio Control, you have to migrate the users, DHCPs, and static IPs, that you want to have on the devices to keep you from losing service. For up to a five-site location, it could take approximately one hour for each location to set up the firewalls.

To start out you are going to have to purchase the firewall hardware and the subscription itself which could be approximately $2,000 and for the annual subscription, it will be approximately $400. The subscription entails many aspects, such as you do not lose your antivirus upgrades or your web filtering does not stop.

We are switching from Kerio Control to Sophos because of the sleek design of the devices. If you want a cheaper solution, you can choose Kerio Control, but if you want a much sleeker design, then should consider Sophos.

I rate Kerio Control an eight out of ten.

• Firewall
• Security
• VPN

I use it both within my company and with its clients. I work with Windows Servers, small to medium-sized businesses, and under 100 users.

For product versions, we use the 1100 and 1300 series along with NG100, NG300, and NG500.

Instead of using a cloud-based product for accessing information, and putting my data at risk in the cloud and in someone else's hands, it has allowed me to use a VPN and access my data directly from a laptop when I am out in the field. That has made my life a lot easier, where I'm able to access any information I need to be able access, basically on demand, with an Internet connection. That alone has been great.

The solution has increased the number of VPN clients extended to those outside my environment by 30 percent. 

My clients are pretty lax about the content filter, but it works well. For the most part, they want to keep their employees pretty happy. Therefore, they are not too strict about what they are viewing. Obviously, they don't want them surfing any adult sites or anything like that. But, for the most part, they do allow shopping at work and things like that. They're more relaxed about it, to a certain degree.

The VPN and security are the most valuable features. In the current climate, with people working more remotely, it is nice to have a solution that is flexible and provides multiple features, such as, being a firewall and VPN.

The antivirus works pretty well.

The comprehensiveness of the security features could be improved upon. However, for the most part, it is pretty good. They could add more logs. I would like to see more detailed reporting, custom reporting from the logs, and more of a streamlined interface for certain aspects.

The malware features could be improved. In the large systems, it could use a better alert system, as far as things happening. I get a lot more information from Kerio Connect, as far as alerts, but not so many through the Control products.

It's pretty easy to use. Although, the interface could be improved upon. Certain settings are thin to a certain degree, whereas they should be put more to the forefront and right in front of your face. I would give it a seven out of a 10 for its ease of use.

Almost a decade.

It's pretty stable. I don't have too many complaints about the product.

I'm a sole proprietor. I don't have any employees, so it's just me.

I deal mostly with small businesses, so it scales well for that.

When GFI first took over, there were issues. There were issues contacting them. Even recently, there have been some issues with the MyKerio site. I was getting false notifications, and that basically took a month to resolve, which I thought was wrong in today's environment. I rely on notifications, and it was giving me false notifications. I had no idea if systems were down or not, so I was a bit disappointed.

I have used a couple of other brands, like SonicWall, but not in a long time. 

Kerio Control has more flexibility, e.g., VPN with the Kerio Control Boxes. Though, some of the other products do have better reporting.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward and intuitive. I just need to have some of the information of my clients in front of me. The only thing would be to tweak bug filters and content filters a bit, depending upon your client requirements. However, getting it up and running, it's pretty straightforward. 

There are wizards. You can just follow the wizard, pay attention, and be all right.

I haven't used all the features yet, e.g., I still don't integrate Active Directory.

I use the Kerio Control Boxes. So, I receive it, test it, register it, and update it, then take it out to the client, reconfigure it, and tweak it. This takes three hours.

The solution has saved time for me. It saves me five or six hours a month, where I would have to go run back and forth between clients. If I'm out in the field, I would have to run back to the office to get something or check something. Therefore, it has saved time for me while being onsite and having to access information that I need quickly. For the most part, the security has been good. I haven't had too many issues. Though, the reporting could be better, so I can see specific data on their systems.

I've used them for VPN tunnels to connect offices. For one of my clients, the return on investment is rather good, because there are software products out there that charge on a yearly basis for subscriptions. Using the Kerio Control VPN, there are no yearly subscriptions. So, it has saved them money.

It gives us a lot. It does prove to be a very robust product for the cost.

The yearly maintenance fee is a bit high for the Kerio Control Boxes. The end of life for the devices is kind of short. It seems like they're making you upgrade within a short period of time. They should at least allow five years, but it seems like they are changing their end of life to be shorter to generate revenue.

The solution’s firewall and intrusion detection features are average. They're not spectacular, but they do the job. For the price point though, it's very good.

The solution is pretty reliable. It is flexible, e.g., if you have an old workstation, you can turn that into a Kerio Control Box, which is nice. I'll continue using them. However, I believe that their end of life and maintenance fees could be a little more flexible, as far as the cost of the maintenance fee and the length of the lifecycle of these devices. 

I would give the solution an eight out of 10.

It is for local use in our company of about one hundred users. It is also deployed to different clients, which are from twenty to two hundred users.

It provides security to the internal network and implements solutions through VPN to access specific internal services, without the need to open the network completely. The usage capacity of Kerio Control is enormous.

The ease of use and the ability to deliver customized solutions is incredible. When updating from version 9.2.4 to version 9.2.5, support services was able to remove 5 patches from version 9.2.5 in a very short amount of time to normalize the system.

Support responses. The response time was very good, but not excellent, because they were worried about their system normalization solution. They slightly delayed in answering direct queries.

I am evaluating version 9.2.6. I would like for there to be a difference between international and national links, something I can find in other firewalls.

Yes, in version 9.2.5, but we solved it quickly.

None

In general, I have not used it, except in version 9.2.5. The response was very good.

None

Simple initial setup.

An internal team implemented the solution.

In 2 years 80% of the investment was returned.

Initial implementation costs are comparable to a similar product due to the ease of performing basic operations.

The cost of the product has optional additions with very good prices. The product update is 25% of its value which is very good.

Yes, FortiGate.

Setting up a small laboratory is simple and fast, so you can see a small portion of the solution's benefits and what it will do to improve a business's security.

The filtering rules are valuable. The product is easy to use.

There is no protocol for VPN in Android. It would be good if the product added a protocol for VPN. The upgrades make the network slower.

I have been using the solution for four years.

I rate the product’s stability a seven out of ten.

The solution is scalable. Four people in our company are using the solution. We are planning to increase the number of users to five or six.

I have contacted the support team by email. The team's answers are good. They answer quickly.

Positive

The solution was easy to deploy. Documentation was available online so that we could install it easily.

We installed the product in-house in a couple of months.

We have seen an ROI on the product. It is efficient. We are satisfied with it.

The pricing is reasonable. We have to pay approximately EUR 175 for the product.

We are working for some customers. If someone wants to buy the solution, they must check the internet. The internet is full of advice, which would help them with any questions they have. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

We use the tool for hosting and virtualization.

The solution has an app manager and a portal where you can maintain all your Keri products. It is a firewall that includes antivirus and anti-malware, which adds security. The VPNs, both site-to-site and client VPNs, are pretty easy to set up.

The solution's VPNs help us to work from home or other locations. 

The solution's hardware is not that great and could use more improvement. However, the VM software and the virtualized KerioControl itself are pretty good. The software is good; it's just the hardware that needs improvement.

With KerioControl, it's much easier to see what areas to configure. Unlike Sophos and other devices, their security features are harder to navigate. But with KerioControl, it's just easy.

The tool's deployment is very easy. It can be easily accessed via a web browser or GFI web portal. One resource is enough to handle it. 

You can get ROI in months. 

There's a one-time fee. For KerioConnect, it's just a server. With KerioControl, you have an option. You can virtualize it on a VMware system or have the hardware. I think mid-range or desktop KerioControl hardware could cost around 2000 dollars for a 25 user client. You need annual renewal for additional features like antivirus. 

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten. 

We use it for bandwidth management, filtering, routing, and intrusion detection and prevention. It is our main edge firewall.

I am working with the latest version. 

I like intrusion detection and prevention and bandwidth management. The routing part is also awesome. It is a good firewall. We never had a major breach from outside. We've never been impacted by ransomware, and our systems have never been infiltrated.

The user login can be improved because we use the captive portal where users have to register before they access the internet server. That has been a huge challenge. They can improve the user login part and make it more user-friendly. It looks user-friendly, but it doesn't work as it is expected to work. They can also improve the reporting feature.

They don't provide content filtering when it comes to search engine results. We had an incident on the network where a blocked site was showing up in search results. We are in a school environment, so we have blocked a site with some of the explicit content so that kids wouldn't see it. When one of them did a search, the results came on the search engine part. When you try to drill down to the website, it blocks, but when you search by image, it brings up all the images. That's one of the reasons why we are looking at Juniper. 

Its inability to provide content filtering for search results was a high-impact issue. We've been talking to them about this issue. It was a very sensitive issue for us because we had kids in year four who were exposed to images that they were not supposed to see. Because of Kerio Control, we failed to protect kids from such content, and we expected them to respond to it with the urgency it required, but their support was pathetic. The ticket was escalated, but we had to send them a couple of emails to let them know how serious the case was, and then we had a live call with their support team.

We have had issues with its performance and stability. They can do better. We've had situations where we had a terrible performance on the network, and when you restart it, everything goes back to normal.

I have been using this solution for six or seven years.

Its performance is average, and it isn't that stable. I would give it a 50 out of 100. 

It is easy to scale. We have about 600 users.

We've been talking to them about the content filtering issue. The ticket was escalated, but we had to wait for two days for it to be answered. We sent them a couple of emails to let them know how serious the case was, and then we had a live call with their support team. We found their support to be pathetic, and we really expected them to take it seriously.

It is straightforward. It is easy to configure.

We do it internally. On the maintenance part, it requires patching, seeing if we want to block anything from our network, and adding more rules.

Its price is fair. There are no additional costs.

We are evaluating Juniper. In terms of monitoring, the response from Juniper was good. We requested a demo, and we got more than a demo. They went above and beyond to get a specialist in security who sat with the team. He presented not just what the product can do; he also presented what is involved in security. Their support seems good. From what they demonstrated, its monitoring, reporting, and intrusion detection features look pretty good.

It is a good firewall. It does what it is required to do, but it needs improvements. Their support and reporting could improve, and they can also do some work on the user login part.

For a campus, you can't depend on Kerio Control to provide everything. You need to look at some of the other tools if you're dealing with students, but for all other organizations, it is perfect as it is.

I would rate it a seven out of 10. 

The primary use case of this solution is for the security of the entire network. There are more than 10 companies that are distributors in the territory and for this region, we have to manage and to guarantee that all the companies can interchange data between them, but also with the outside in a safe way. Kerio is the right solution to achieve our objectives because each client and each server that is distributed in the different companies can be maintained and can be controlled in the correct way.

The flexibility of the system, the capacity to provide the right level of security, and the ability to be integrated into different kinds of infrastructures are the most valuable features. 

The improvement that we are looking for is for when decide to move some part of our application to the cloud. This is one of the projects that we have in progress. Mainly to distribute some services on the cloud and to make that a possibility not only for our company, but also for the customer to have access to this application. To guarantee a correct level of security, not only for our application but also for all customers that access our system. This is one item that we are now considering.

Stability is good. We are satisfied with the performance of the system.

We have more than 300 users that are distributed in more than 10 different units. There is one production unit that is around 170 people, and the other 130 are distributed in the other nine companies.

Some of the users are administrators, the other users are in the technical department, R&D, sales, and the production department. 

Their technical support is very good. We haven't had any problems with them. 

We have used Sophos in the past. 

The initial setup was complex. The system itself isn't complex in terms of actually using it. It is user-friendly. It is complex in terms of the capacity to control the situation.

We didn't spend a lot of time on the deployment. In the beginning, we did need to dedicate some time to implement the infrastructure internally. In terms of the operations and maintenance, we don't spend a lot of time on it.

It requires two people for maintenance.

At the beginning, we did need a consultant to set up the system but now we have our own resources in our company who manage the system.

The pricing is in-line with our expectations in terms of the quality that we get for it. 

Kerio is user-friendly, it's flexible, and can be used on different kinds of infrastructure. You don't need a high level of skill to use it. It monitors, identifies potential problems and it takes actions on a problem. The system is quite easy to use, and we don't have any kinds of problems with it, compared to other solutions that are not easy to understand and are complex. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. Right now, we are really satisfied with the product. Of course, we are open to seeing other improvements, but from our side, we don't need any other improvements because what we have right now complies with our needs.