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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
11th
Ranking in WAN Edge
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (27th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (19th), IoT Security (6th)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
2nd
Ranking in WAN Edge
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Ruud Jansen - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a high level of security; have not had any issues with it thus far
I would like to see the connection improved. We now have a one gigabyte connection and the old firewall has 500 MBs. That's not enough, which is why we are also buying a new firewall for at least one gigabit, which will give us a faster line and faster internet. In the next release, I'd like to see more security for viruses and similar things and also block DDOS.
Igor Van Den Ouden - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables secure and flexible branch connectivity with application-aware routing
The valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include its security policies and zone-based firewall that are applied to every site, as well as application-aware routing. Security is standard compliant, eliminating config drift that was prevalent before manual configurations. Application-aware routing offers flexibility in using different lines for traffic, depending on the policy implemented.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is a very stable solution."
"They have a very responsive customer service and support team."
"If you have multiple offices, all inter-connected via the internet, you want a single management console through which you can manage all you firewalls. In that case Barracuda could be a good option."
"Single device, multiple functions - I do not need to purchase a web application firewall, a proxy server, a VPN device and so many others because these are all built in to this one device."
"When you are sending information to an external email address, Barracuda can warn you when you are trying to access a private or personal email, or trying to upload information and not allow you to do that."
"I think Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is one of the most advanced firewall platforms. I also like that it's easy to get top-level support right away. You get that security, and if you make a mistake, it doesn't break."
"The solution is stable."
"I would most definitely recommend this solution to other people."
"The most useful feature is centralized telephony."
"We would recommend this solution to customers looking to implement it on a global scale. We recommend the solution, not only because of the functionality or the technical support, but also because of the delivery of the solution, and the docking and upgrading capabilities."
"It is very simple to deploy. It's a point-and-click type of deployment, so it's fairly simple."
"The most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN include the DIA and its integration with Cisco Umbrella for DNS security."
"The solution is good to use and easy to handle and manage from the centralized location or from the cloud."
"Cisco SD-WAN is a highly stable solution."
"The regular net routing is a good feature."
"The primary advantage we've observed is the simplification of deployment, leading to decreased IT costs and enhanced operational efficiency."
 

Cons

"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."
"There is room for improvement in performance and the support language. The support they're providing right now is from a different country, and in our country, there are people—network admins and IT heads—who don't speak English properly. So Barracuda needs to provide support agents who speak additional languages, such as Bangla."
"The interface should be more user-friendly and it should be easier to configure."
"The administration UI could be better. It should also have better application detection policies."
"Barracuda CloudGen Firewall should work a little bit more with the logs so that, in our company, we can generate a little bit more reports and get a bit more statistics, which would be fine for us."
"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."
"When you login from some sources, there is no feature in this box which can log you out after a certain timeout."
"I would like to see the connection improved."
"The price could be better. From a technical side, and everything's working smoothly. Cisco SD-WAN could be cheaper."
"The initial setup is really complex."
"This solution should include a fully functional firewall at no extra charge."
"The user interface needs improvement. Users should be able to find various features faster without much tweaking."
"Integration with other OEMs and the API part needs improvement to be more user-friendly, especially in terms of GUI."
"They should enhance the reporting because, as it is today, they need more executive-level reports."
"Customers require features that are secure for endpoints, on-premises, and for the cloud."
"It's an expensive solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​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 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."
"The platform is inexpensive compared to other vendors."
"The solution's price is reasonable."
"The pricing is very cheap compared to Cisco ASA, which we used before, and compared to Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet. Barracuda has different solutions for different people. So for my SMB-level infrastructure, Barracuda has given me a proper solution that is half of the price of Palo Alto or Fortinet."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. There is an upfront purchase price, and there is also an annual maintenance fee. There are no additional fees."
"The product is a bit cheaper than some solutions."
"The price of Cisco SD-WAN is expensive. We pay approximately $50 monthly for the use of the solution."
"It is much cheaper than other solutions. Most of our clients are the top 500 companies, and they all have a corporate contract."
"It is expensive. The license limitation is there in terms of bandwidth. Basically, Cisco is always good in terms of performance and related things. However, if you want to have a license, for example, for 100 Mbps, they charge you because of their 100 Mbps. If you want to go without the license of 300 Mbps, it is a bandwidth license as well. This is not happening with other vendors. That is the reason why we moved away from Cisco. The bill gets a little bit high. I do remember that one time we were trying to increase the bandwidth for at least five devices, and the license got as high as 20-grand for five devices, only for the license. It was expensive for us at the time. Our company is not a big company, but it is a solid company. The price was very high, and we moved away from Cisco because of the price."
"The Cisco SD-WAN licensing model needs to be simplified. There are currently three types of licenses: enterprise agreements, individual licenses, and DNA subscriptions. This can confuse customers, requiring a dedicated person to determine which type of license is right for their organization."
"The license model is too complex with too many flavors and options. You might not be able to see it from an end user's point of view, but from a telco point of view, their license model is too complex. They should have a flexible license model. If you want to have good pricing, you need to buy it for a two-year, four-year, or five-year license immediately. Some other vendors have much more flexible license models."
"It's expensive. If you compare Cisco with Fortinet and Juniper, you'll find that Cisco is more expensive than other vendors."
"It's costly. The cost is high compared to competitors."
"Licensing is on a subscription basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
8%
Retailer
6%
Construction Company
6%
Educational Organization
44%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
The encryption and the security standards are valuable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
When the corporation purchases something, it follows a request-for-proposal process and the best price wins. So, I think Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is reasonably priced, though I’m not sure of the...
What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
However, the solution isn’t perfect. It sometimes lets through emails incorrectlycategorized as safe but malicious. I believe the tool could be improved by incorporating artificial intelligence to ...
What do you like most about Cisco SD-WAN?
When considering the most valuable features of Cisco SD-WAN, the decoupling of self-monitoring stands out significantly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco SD-WAN?
The product pricing is high. Fortinet is cheaper than Cisco. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
 

Also Known As

Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls
Cisco SD-WAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Doyle Research, Ashton Metzler & Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
830,726 professionals have used our research since 2012.