Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. , a pioneer and global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced its new Firewall-as-a-Subscription program, giving organizations of every size access to its AI security and network threat prevention capabilities. The subscription includes Check Point Force Firewalls with the AI Network Firewall capabilities introduced in R82.20, AI-powered threat prevention, Live Updates, agentic management, premium support and professional services, without a large upfront hardware purchase.
Inflation and rising interest rates are increasing borrowing costs and shrinking capital budgets, and for many organizations, a single rate rise can wipe out the budget for a planned firewall refresh. Security budgets are under similar pressure. According to the IANS Research and Artico Search 2026 Security Budget Benchmark, the median security budget did not grow this year, and 55% of CISOs saw their budgets stay flat or fall. While 64% asked for an increase, only 45% received one. At the same time, AI is increasing the amount of traffic networks must inspect. When budgets are tight, firewall refreshes are often among the first projects to slip, leaving organizations on hardware not designed for today’s AI-driven traffic and attacks.
Firewall-as-a-Subscription builds on R82.20, which introduced the AI Network Firewall in July 2026 to inspect AI traffic, protect AI applications and help govern AI agents at the network layer. The subscription includes Check Point Force Firewalls sized and priced according to the threat prevention throughput required, alongside AI-powered threat prevention, including SandBlast, which has a reported 99.9% block rate against zero-day attacks. Live Updates apply security updates without reboots or downtime.
The package also includes Smart-1 Agentic Management, a cloud-based security management service that does not require additional on-premises infrastructure, and 24×7 premium support with direct or collaborative options. Check Point Global Services Flex Credits cover policy migration from another vendor’s firewall or other Check Point services.
“Organizations of all sizes face the same AI-driven threats, but for many, capital budget cycles often force them to delay firewall refreshes or buy more capacity than they need,” said Pete Finalle, Research Manager, Security and Trust at IDC. “Consumption models that turn on-premises security hardware into a predictable operating expense, and let organizations scale protection as their needs grow, can help close that gap. We expect demand for this kind of flexibility to rise as AI adoption increases the traffic and risk networks must handle.”
“Every organization is adopting AI, and every organization deserves the same level of protection, whatever its size or budget,” said Avi Rembaum, President, Global Technical Sales at Check Point Software Technologies. “With Firewall-as-a-Subscription, we are making our most advanced AI security, threat prevention and agentic management available through one simple subscription, so organizations can secure their AI transformation today.”
Organizations pay one predictable monthly or annual subscription instead of buying hardware upfront. They can upgrade throughput at any time during the three-year term and move to new hardware after 36 months, allowing protection to keep pace with AI adoption and business growth.
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