Your firewall renewal quote just landed. Here's what that money could buy instead.

Updated October 2026 · Pricing from published UK reseller listings, dated where quoted — vendor pricing moves, so treat figures as ballparks and check your own quote.

The quote that arrives every year

If you own a SonicWall, WatchGuard or FortiGate, there's an email that finds you every year: the security services renewal. It's rarely small. The subscription is where those vendors make their real money — the box was just the way in — and when it lapses, the intrusion prevention, content filtering and malware protection you bought the firewall for simply switch off. The box keeps passing traffic; the security stops. Which makes the renewal, in practice, compulsory for as long as you keep the hardware.

That's not a scandal — it's their business model. But it does mean renewal time is the one moment each year when you're genuinely free to ask: is this still the right way to pay for a firewall?

What renewals typically cost (UK, small-business models)

Vendor	Subscription	Typical annual cost	Over 3 years
SonicWall TZ-series	Essential / Advanced Protection	≈ £540–£570	≈ £1,600–£1,700
WatchGuard Firebox T	Total Security Suite	≈ £595	≈ £1,785
FortiGate F/G series	FortiGuard UTP + FortiCare	≈ £450–£600	≈ £1,350–£1,800
Netgate + pfSense® Plus	None — included for life	£0	£0

Published UK reseller pricing, checked September 2026, ex VAT. Mid-range appliances (SonicWall NSa class, larger Fireboxes and FortiGates) scale substantially higher. Full comparison including hardware: our 3-year TCO guide.

The maths your renewal email doesn't show

Put the renewal next to a replacement and the comparison gets uncomfortable — for the renewal. A three-year Total Security renewal on a small Firebox is around £1,785. A brand-new Netgate 4200 MAX — gigabit-class, IDS/IPS, content and threat-feed blocking, unlimited VPN with no per-user licences, software updates for the life of the device — is £675 ex VAT, once. Add our fixed-price migration service (from £399: rules and VPNs re-created, out-of-hours cutover, rollback plan) and you're still comfortably inside what one renewal cycle costs — except this purchase is the last one, and the renewal is forever.

Bigger estate? The gap widens. A 6100 or 8200 replacing a mid-range subscription appliance typically pays for itself against a single renewal cycle, and everything after that is savings. If you'd like the arithmetic done on your actual quote, send it over — we'll give you the honest comparison even if the answer is "your renewal is fair, keep it."

Switching at renewal time — how it actually works

Renewal time is the natural switching moment because your existing firewall keeps working while you move: nothing expires mid-migration. The sequence is simple. We size the right Netgate against your current unit (our sizing guide, or just ask), supply it with pfSense+ licensed for life, and our migration service re-creates your rules, port forwards and VPNs, runs the new unit in parallel, then cuts over out-of-hours with a rollback plan — so the worst case is the old firewall carries on as if nothing happened. If your renewal deadline is tight, tell us the date and we work backwards from it.

And afterwards there's nothing to renew — optional Netgate TAC support and our own UK managed service from £49/month exist if you want a safety net, but they're choices, never conditions of the firewall working.

Got a renewal quote in your inbox?

Send it over — we'll show you what the same money buys with nothing to renew, or tell you honestly if staying put makes sense.

Compare my renewal → See the full TCO maths

Renewal questions, answered honestly

How much does a SonicWall or WatchGuard renewal cost in the UK?+

For small-business models, published UK reseller pricing (checked September 2026) puts SonicWall's Essential/Advanced Protection suites at roughly £540–£570 per year and WatchGuard's Total Security Suite around £595 per year; FortiGate UTP bundles typically run £450–£600. Mid-range appliances scale considerably higher. Prices move — treat these as dated ballparks and check your own quote.

What happens if I don't renew my firewall subscription?+

The box keeps passing traffic, but the security services you bought it for — intrusion prevention, content filtering, anti-malware, and usually software updates — stop. An unpatched firewall with disabled security services is a liability, which is why lapsing is rarely a real option: the renewal is effectively compulsory for as long as you keep the hardware.

Can one renewal really pay for a whole replacement firewall?+

Often, yes. A three-year Total Security renewal on a small WatchGuard runs around £1,785 at published pricing; a brand-new Netgate 4200 MAX is £675 ex VAT with IDS/IPS, content blocking, unlimited VPN and lifetime software updates included — no subscription ever. Even adding fixed-price professional migration (from £399), the switch frequently costs less than one renewal cycle and removes every future one.

Is switching away at renewal time risky?+

It's the natural switching moment — your existing firewall keeps working during the transition. Our migration service re-creates your rules, VPNs and port forwards on the Netgate, tests them in parallel, and cuts over out-of-hours with a rollback plan. If your renewal deadline is close, tell us the date and we plan around it.