We performed a comparison between Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and SonicWall NSa 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.
"A strong point of FortiGate is that the graphical interface is complete and easy to use, especially if we think there is a list of operations that we are able to perform inside."
"It is a safe product."
"FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use."
"I like several features that this product has, such as antivirus and internet navigation inspection. It is also simple to use."
"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."
"The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
"It is simple to manage, and there are a lot of functionalities in the same box."
"I appreciate FortiGate's flexibility, which allows for centralized management through FortiManager."
"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."
"I would most definitely recommend this solution to other people."
"The antivirus protection or malware protection has been great."
"The ability to be deployed and supported remotely is valuable."
"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."
"Ability to manage multiple firewalls."
"They have a very responsive customer service and support team."
"It is a very stable solution."
"This product is user-friendly and easy to configure."
"The most valuable features are the VPN, SSL VPN, and IPSec VPN."
"SonicWall NSA is easy to deploy, easy to maintain, and easy to configure."
"One of the main features is the built-in storage capacity."
"I really like the performance; there are no delays and no latency, which is a unique quality in firewalls nowadays."
"The functionality is the same whether it is on hardware or a virtual appliance. The interface is the same. It's nice that it's standardized."
"Deep packet inspection and intelligent application control are the most valuable features. It is a very updated solution. It is very current as compared to other brands and vendors."
"SonicWall has USCS and anti-virus at the gateway level. Everything is filtered, and if it detects an intruder, it drops the line."
"In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers."
"Fortinet already improved FortiGate, but in the current market, many brands of security devices have improved together. Fortinet still needs to catch up with market standards. Fortinet is lacking in features in comparison to competitors."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."
"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
"Lacks training for new features."
"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."
"If you have another brand of VPN where you have to put an SSL VPN between two devices, Barracuda doesn't support that at a certain point. You can't actually build the VPN between Barracuda and a different device of a different brand."
"If you experience an attack it can take a very long time to find a solution."
"Can be underpowered if you choose to use all available add-on features. Just be careful when sizing your unit. Make sure you take into account what features you will be turning on, and work with your sales rep to get the model that can handle that load."
"Its interface could be better."
"The biggest issue that I have with this solution is that it is not super intuitive. Once you know what to do, things make sense, but you can't just open the program and start doing things. It would be great if there was a little bit more guided usage inside the program."
"It's a little bit complex in terms of handling. If you implement a change, there is a specific point where you have to commit it. It's not like you just push a button and it's always committed. If you don't know to check whether your commit command has been executed or not... that is something Barracuda needs to work on."
"The technical manuals, at times, have images that don't match the actual screens and are not always as clear as they could be on the configuration."
"The usability for the administrator's experience needs improvement. My system administrator has some questions about its overall connectivity and flexibility."
"Port forwarding could use streamlining."
"The only thing that we would want would be single-pane management, which it has, but the GMS is not very good. It's purely the management of multiple devices for multiple customers, that's the only thing that it's lacking."
"An area for improvement would be SonicWall NSa's integration with antiviruses."
"It doesn't require much improvement. The only improvement area is that cloud reporting, assessment reporting, and other reporting features should be available with the subscription. They should provide reporting features with the subscription base, which is currently not there. We bought the reporting tool, but there are some complications. They have made some changes to the application, and now the reporting management is completely on the cloud."
"We have used other solutions such as pfSense and Linux native firewalls. I prefer SonicWall NSa but if you are going to use something for an enterprise you need another solution."
"It is not scalable. If your enterprise is growing hard then you have to buy another, bigger product. Maybe if you use it virtually it is more scalable."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"The content filter needs to be improved."
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is ranked 25th in Firewalls with 35 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 77 reviews. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is rated 8.2, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. 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 NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, OPNsense, Azure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Cisco Secure Firewall and Netgate pfSense. See our Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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