SEATTLE — May 22, 2025 – WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity for managed service providers (MSPs), announced today it has been named a Champion in the Canalys Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix for the third consecutive year. The annual report identifies and positions vendors in one of four quadrants: Champions, Scalers, Contenders, and Foundations. This recognition is based on partner feedback and Canalys analysis, and highlights WatchGuard’s excellence in channel engagement, market performance, and success in advancing the cybersecurity ecosystem.
“I’ve been a WatchGuard partner for 22 years, and there’s a reason we’ve maintained and grown the relationship,” said Kevin Willette, President of Verus. “Not only are cybersecurity solutions precise, powerful, and scalable, but they match our operational needs. WatchGuard has a partner program designed to help our business grow and marvelous people who support us no matter what. Add all of that together, and it’s easy to see why WatchGuard consistently earns recognition as a leading cybersecurity provider for MSPs.”
Canalys recognized WatchGuard as a Champion as a result of the enhancements made to the WatchGuardONE partner program, which is designed to support and reward WatchGuard’s MSP partners as they expand their businesses. In 2024, WatchGuard introduced a new partner marketing platform within WatchGuardONE to optimize the use of marketing development funds. With the potential to expand for other partner marketing purposes in the future, it achieved a 58% increase in partner engagement within the first month of launch. Additional updates to the program include streamlined funds management tools, improved rebate accessibility, complementary technical certification renewals, and the introduction of free Accelerate Training programs to drive specific cross-selling initiatives.
“We are honored to be named a Canalys Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix Champion for the third year running thanks to our loyal partners,” said Michelle Welch, CMO and senior vice president of business strategy at WatchGuard. “WatchGuard’s mission is to help MSPs purchase, deliver, and manage security easily and profitably. Our partners are at the core of everything we do here, and it’s gratifying to see the resulting trust and relationships we’ve built with the channel community reflected in accolades like this. With all the exciting things we have in store in 2025 to help our partners grow their managed security practices, I’m already looking forward to next year’s report.”
Over the next 12 months, WatchGuard’s key partner program initiatives include enhancing MSP-specific pricing and support within the WatchGuardONE program, expanding its catalog of free technical and sales trainings, introducing new certifications, and launching targeted sales promotions to drive deeper security adoption across its partner community.
WatchGuard’s recognition as a 2025 Canalys Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix Champion builds on the company’s momentum in the cybersecurity market following its acquisition of ActZero earlier this year, which further differentiated its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offering with reporting, cyber hygiene, compliance tracking, and third-party integration support. WatchGuard will also continue rolling out its FireCloud product lineup, a new family of hybrid secure access service edge (SASE) products that address real-world challenges businesses face when managing distributed workforces and Cloud migrations.
The 2025 Canalys Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix assessed 32 vendors based on vision, leadership, competitiveness, partner initiatives, and enablement. Canalys included those that met two thresholds: a minimum annual revenue of USD $200 million from cybersecurity, excluding professional services, and more than 50% of business going through the channel.
To view the full report, click here.
Note: Since WatchGuard’s recognition in 2023, Canalys has shifted its naming to reflect the publication year vs. the evaluation year. As such, WatchGuard’s recognition on the 2025 Canalys Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix reflects the 2024 evaluation period.