Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs SonicWall TZ comparison

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117,316 views|85,923 comparisons
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Barracuda Networks Logo
3,435 views|2,512 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
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11,842 views|10,897 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and SonicWall TZ based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall TZ Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: Comparison of Barracuda F800, SonicWall 5600 and Fortinet
Answer: Looks like WatchGuard is doing a really bad job in it's marketing, as it's in many aspects superior to other firewall vendors - when you are really into security and not just to have a box, that you will set up and forget. The biggest mistake in firewalling and security is that everyone just looks to have things as simple as possible, set them up and than never look back at them. Firewalls are not L2 switches! Still many would like to handle them as such. Big mistake. But there is no 'best' firewall. All good ones have advantages and disadvantages. It's pretty much like there is no 'best car'. You just have more and less popular ones and such that spend tons of money for marketing, to give you a fake sense of how good they are. Today it's easy to get demo/eval appliances. Instead of asking what others like, everyone should evaluate the different products out there and find out, what HE likes. Others don't have the same environment as you have, neither they have the same requirements, skills, experience. All this is critical for choosing the right firewall solution for your needs. There is a Gartner MQ released every year and there is the NSS Labs report. Should not be too difficult to find out, what solutions are worth to be evaluated. But please don't others let decide for you, what firewall you should be using!
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls.""We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs.""The solution is very, very easy to use.""The security features that they have are quite good. On top of that, their licensing model is quite nice where they don't charge you anything for the SD-WAN functionality for the firewall.""From the firewall perspective, the rules and policies are very sufficient and easy to use.""The secure web gateway module and the application control module are valuable. HA operations are very easy.""The solution is very user-friendly.""The SD-WAN feature is the most valuable. This feature evolved from link load balancing. It has helped us in terms of our uptime and privatizing applications whenever we experience an outage. The SD-WAN feature has been a plus for us. Two-factor authentication has allowed us to add more users in terms of remote working. We have two-factor authentication for remote workers to authenticate them before they get on the network."

More Fortinet FortiGate Pros →

"If an employee tries to get or move a file that is not permitted to them - for example if he wants to copy it to a USB - he will not have the right to do that, because Barracuda manages who has the right to copy, and what you copy to a USB. The USB is encrypted with a specific code from Barracuda and will only be decrypted into any other laptop in the company if they allow it to see it.""The antivirus protection or malware protection has been great.""Barracuda is very prompt at blocking any new spam which comes out.""The solution is stable.""TINA (Transport Independent Network Architecture) VPN features - Allows automatic VPN configuration with little or no input from the tech. Drag and drop lines between Barracuda units and the VPN is built automatically.""We enjoy the reduction in terms of labor.""The most valuable feature for us is the ability to offer firewall support to our clients.""Easy integration with some other systems like LDAP or Active Directory to manage other permissions and the division of external access and internal access."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Pros →

"Technical support is good.""The most valuable features are security and technical support.""The most valuable feature is the protection available, and then ease of use and flexibility.""Most of the features are useful. It is easy to configure and easy to troubleshoot. I can see the utilization of different networks, and there are also App control features.""We like the unified threat management for defense-in-depth. We can terminate our site-to-site and remote access VPNs with it.""The feature with SonicWall that I have found most valuable is that all the models have the same interface. We don't need to learn different interfaces in the smaller or bigger models.""With the main firewall routing there, we can do connectivity point-to-point. On the low bandwidth we can connect in all the branches with my corporate office.""Ease of management and the VPN integration."

More SonicWall TZ Pros →

Cons
"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on.""The Wi-Fi controller needs a lot of improvement.""The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better.""Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas.""We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine.""I don't really have anything negative to say as far as Fortinet firewalls are concerned. If anything, they can support a user a little bit better. They can stop being so time-sensitive about how much time the support call has taken, and they can help you do it yourself.""The renewal price and the availability could be improved.""It is very expensive, and their support is not very good. I hope that their technical support will be better in the future."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cons →

"Its interface could be better.""When you login from some sources, there is no feature in this box which can log you out after a certain timeout.""Command line could be more user friendly.""We would like to see a solution that is focused on container deployment, which is very important right now.""When you do any commit, it locks your next access. If you are making a change to the device, from the security standpoint it's fine, but from the admin side it's not good. When you make changes, after each and every one it becomes locked.""The analytics are weak.""The interface should be more user-friendly and it should be easier to configure.""It would be better if they had a trace and trap feature. It's hard for me to say anything bad about Barracuda. This is because we had a firewall go down in the town of Kirkland Lake, and it was a blown-out port, and they had an instant replacement."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Cons →

"The dashboard needs to be improved.""The solution's antivirus checking could be improved so that we can have a deeper inspection of the packets.""Support for SonicWall TZ needs improvement, particularly the time it takes before you're able to speak to a support person, e.g. you have to wait for at least 30 minutes on the phone.""We require centralized monitoring of the network features, which they have but they are not to the level that we require.""The market seems to be going to a cloud-supported, new generation of firewall products. I think that's probably going to be important to us, the next time around.""I would like to see more integration with other platforms.""User interface could be improved.""The interface and technical support are probably the two most important things that I would like SonicWall to improve."

More SonicWall TZ Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Fortinet has one or two license types, and the VPN numbers are only limited by the hardware chassis make."
  • "These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."
  • "Go for long term pricing negotiated at the time of purchase."
  • "Work through partners for the best pricing."
  • "The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."
  • "Easy to understand licensing requirements."
  • "​We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW.​"
  • "The cost is too high... They have to focus on more features with less cost for the customer. If you see the market, where it's going, there are a lot of players offering more features for less cost."
  • More Fortinet FortiGate Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is a product with a very transparent model of licensing. In the sense of hidden expenses, they do not exist with this model. ​"
  • "​We evaluated a lot of different options. We concluded that Barracuda NG Firewall provided the most features for an exemplary price. ​"
  • "My advice is to try and evaluate it (Barracuda offers a trial period of one month)."
  • "Pricing is good. Licensing is pretty much automatic if using Control Center."
  • "Pricing and licensing are fine. It's worth the value because every four years, if I buy any other product, I have to replace my hardware. But with Barracuda I get a free hardware upgrade. Today I'm using Xbox. After four years I can take another Xbox or a Ybox."
  • "It would be nice if the pricing and licensing offered for less."
  • "Purchasing through AWS Marketplace was good. We did it because it was easy."
  • "In general, it tends to be cheaper than most solutions."
  • More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Getting licenses in our country, Ghana, is not easy. Though, once we have them, adding them is quick (about a day)."
  • "SonicWall has authorized distributors in our country. They have about two or three distributors in the country, so it makes it a bit easier. What we do is to request a quotation from these distributors, then we do a value for money analysis and see which one of them is giving us a competitive price."
  • "The pricing was a factor for us, and we felt that the price was good."
  • "The product pricing is relatively good, compared to other products, including the licenses."
  • "Licensing costs have been around $2,000. There are no other costs above the standard licensing fees."
  • "License renewals come in around $35,000 to $45,000."
  • "The price is high compared to some other solutions."
  • "Its pricing is okay as compared to other solutions."
  • More SonicWall TZ Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Anonymous User
    it_user739662 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user739662 (System Engineer with 51-200 employees)
    User

    I strongly recommend you SonicWall 5600. Its having lots of feature for network security and Comparison of price and Support it would be great choice.

    it_user514128 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user514128 (Works at a printing company with 51-200 employees)
    Vendor

    Fortigate firewalls are quite rugged and offer great flexibility in configuring the policies and managing them. For individuals as well as group level user privileges. The antivirus offered is also very effective and not at all resource hungry. The only drawback is, the admin should be very well trained and aware of configuring the firewall. It’s quite complicated that way. Or the support provider (reseller) should have expert level admins to configure and set these firewalls in the infrastructure.

    I would alternatively suggest looking into Sophos firewalls. They are equally rugged and effective. And also have a much user-friendly configuration and management console.

    Ghayur Abbas - PeerSpot reviewerGhayur Abbas
    Real User

    Barracuda: No Presence in the market at all, quite different way to install manage the product. Impossible to find the technical resource. If it is managed by Multinet then it’s a different story.
    UTM control was not good back in the days, not sure about recent improvements.
    Support Generally good feedback of Barracuda support.

    Sonicwall: Very little presence in the local market, will have compatibility issues when establishing VPN with other vendors or any other integration.
    UTM should be good, not experienced it first-hand.
    Support, Have horrible feedback about support. they don’t respond for months.

    Fortinet: Firewall full of features, good market presence with official REPs in the country. It is basically the same Juniper SSG ScreenOS platform with good UTM.
    UTM is good
    Support, Support in the region from India is poor, fright. A good local partner can make your day. If case is escalated to US/Canada teams, the experience is much better. You need in-country REPs support to escalate the cases.
    China effect, the downside of Fortinet is, its QA of new FortiOS release is not good at all. Things running fine on one release fail badly when upgraded to new release. you need to be ready for an alternate solution when faced with such situation.
    But it is better than Barracuda and SonicWall anyways.
    RMA time is not next day.

    Palo Alto: I would recommend Palo Alto, it can do everything typically required from a NGFW/UTM. Price can be expensive. Typically models with high throughput are quoted from most vendors. In reality, the actual required throughput is not that much. PA820 and PA220 can cater 90% of requirement we have in our environments. This way solution will be comparatively competitive cost wise. Compatibility with third-party devices is good.
    Per-user bandwidth limit is missing.
    UTM is best.
    Support is good. The first level is through support partners, but the experience is good.
    No rapid RMA, as no in-country depot exists. But On site spare is best, as the customer owns the spare unit on his premises.

    it_user733791 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user733791 (Account Executive / Business Development with 51-200 employees)
    User

    Fortinet is a good option, the interesting thing with them is all the other bits you can add. Many of these such as email protection, Sandbox, edge device protection (anti-virus, VPN Connector for PCs), tokens (electronic or hardware), switches, Wireless Access Points all talk to each other so the Fortinet security umbrella covers them as well. Fortinet has a SIEM as well.

    Whatever you buy, get training on it. Also, evaluate the reseller's ability to do an install. Some folks just sell the product, other also know how to install - buy from the latter, and get some Pro Services for the installation.

    I have always thought Barracuda's marketing was better than the products (it is very good marketing) and SonicWALL R&D suffered under Dell, and I don't know that it is any better now they are owned by an Investment house.

    reviewer215406 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer215406 (Sr. ISS at a government with 11-50 employees)
    Real User

    Out of these three firewalls I would, and have chosen Fortinet. Checkout NSS Labs for real world comparisons. I have been using Fortigates for 2 years now in HA configurations and have only once had to use the cli. Also updates and firmware upgrades never bring the network or internet down. These firewalls get new features added at no extra cost and the throughput is amazing. Buying the UTM bundles gets you all of the features you need and more. I heard about support issues but evertime i call i get routed to someone who knows how the features work and actually helps. We added a fortianalyzer and now we can see logs from all of the firewalls in one console and hold them for a year. Fortinet doesn't just manage their antivirus products they are the developers. These firewalls decrypt data on the fly and scan for viruses before it gets to your email, desktops or servers. Within the first week it caught ransomware within a yahoo email before it could infect our systems. We replaced our websense URL filtering with the URL filtering within the fortigates and never looked back.
    I could go on and on but the real tilt in Fortinets favor was it was near half the cost of similar features and functions PA had quoted. Write down what you want and then ask if the vendors have these included in their firewalls or if they have separate appliances that can do them. Every appliance has a latency cost associated with it. You might find that all three can do what you want then it will come down to the management of the firewalls and cost.
    Good luck.

    it_user513891 - PeerSpot reviewerit_user513891 (VP, Technology at a tech services company with 51-200 employees)
    Consultant

    I've utilized both SonicWALL and Fortinet in many implementations over the years. Fortinet does a better job in large, multi-tenant deployments and has excellent stateful packet inspection throughput. If you're planning to do SSL decryption and inspection, SonicWALL is the way to go (and currently, the product we lead with). I've found SonicWALL to be easier to manage and have also found that if you're a GUI-oriented user, all of the features are there in the UI. On the Fortigate you'll often have to dig into the CLI to enable some features.

    reviewer863067 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer863067 (IT at a real estate/law firm with 11-50 employees)
    User

    The Barracuda products are very good and quite pricey, especially since you mentioned you were looking at the Sonicwall TZ series. The Sonicwall TZ series is meant for a smaller environment. The Fortinet firewalls are great but require a little more training. My experience with Sophos is that they have been a little buggy and support is not great. Since Sonicwall was sold by Dell the support has been better. I work with several small companies and I would say go with whatever product you have the most experience with. The learning curve can be a little much when you don't know what you're looking at. Both Sonicwall and Fortinet have pretty good support and a pretty extensive KB. Good Luck!

    MS Alam - PeerSpot reviewerMS Alam
    Real User

    fortinet or baracuda and CISCO ASA 5500 series also good

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at… more »
    Top Answer:From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know… more »
    Top Answer:As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite… more »
    Top Answer:The encryption and the security standards are valuable.
    Top Answer:The product is a bit cheaper than some solutions. It depends on the type of load.
    Top Answer:We need high availability and load balancing. The product does not enable load balancing. We are looking for alternate… more »
    Top Answer:I’ll say it depends on your needs. Fortinet FortiGate and SonicWall TZ are both next-gen firewalls (NGFW) with similar… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of SonicWall TZ is the double authentication, where it asks for one password and again asks… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is moderately priced, where it's neither cheap nor expensive.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
    Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls
    Dell SonicWALL TZ
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is a comprehensive network security solution that provides advanced protection for organizations of all sizes. It offers next-generation firewall capabilities, including application control, intrusion prevention, and web filtering. 

    With its integrated VPN functionality, it ensures secure remote access for employees. CloudGen Firewall also includes advanced threat intelligence, leveraging real-time updates to detect and block emerging threats. Its centralized management console simplifies administration and provides visibility into network traffic. 

    CloudGen Firewall can easily adapt to changing business needs based on its scalable architecture. 

    The secure, sophisticated SonicWALL TZ is widely deployed at small businesses, retail, government, remote sites and branch offices. It combines high-performance intrusion prevention, malware blocking, content/URL filtering and application control.
    Sample Customers
    1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
    ARZ, Bauer, CBCX Technologies, Diamant-groep, Eissmann Group Automotive, European Youth Olympics, Exalo Drilling, FineLine Technologies, Geocell, Grimaldi, Infront Sports & Media, Odlo, Schenker Deutschland AG, Tilak, Verbandsgeneinde Zell, Conservas El Cidacos S.A., Institute for Emergency Medicine and Medicine Management, Erwin Muller GmbH, Info-Tech: NGF is Champion, Schoellerbank, IZB Informatik-Zentrum, RHI AG, Berglandmilch, Antenne Bayern, Sanochemia
    AeroM_xico Delta TechOps, Unimat
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company28%
    Retailer11%
    Government6%
    Construction Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Government7%
    Construction Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Healthcare Company12%
    Construction Company12%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Non Profit7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business48%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise30%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business70%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise49%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise40%
    Buyer's Guide
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall TZ
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall TZ and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 35 reviews while SonicWall TZ is ranked 12th in Firewalls with 78 reviews. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is rated 8.2, while SonicWall TZ is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall writes "Feature-rich, robust, and easy to set up". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SonicWall TZ writes "Has efficient user access control feature and good technical support services ". Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is most compared with Netgate pfSense, OPNsense, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Cisco SD-WAN, whereas SonicWall TZ is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, SonicWall NSa and Sophos UTM. See our Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall TZ report.

    See our list of best Firewalls vendors.

    We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.