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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
10th
Ranking in WAN Edge
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (28th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (18th), IoT Security (5th)
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
2nd
Ranking in WAN Edge
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jocelyn Wotring - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 19, 2023
Excellent client-to-site VPN stability and great antivirus protection
We have a whole lot more control over the level of protection. Most of my clients are simple manufacturers, and we use the solution to protect them from web bots. They do have an integrated firewall or integrated malware protection and antivirus protection on the firewall. They've solved a lot of service attacks and attacks from simple infection bots that we were experiencing beforehand. The solution has had no downtime since we installed it. As opposed to some other firewalls that tend to lock up occasionally, this solution has never locked up or had any issues. The only issues we've ever encountered have been during an update or a change, which were always solved immediately by me or through a simple call to support. The solution's monitoring and logs are very comprehensive, and I've been able to backtrace hacks. Their history logs are very easy to pull on their unit, and they keep tons of data that is way more than I would ever need as far as that point. I have one client to whom we have provided a higher level of protection. Certain machines based on IP or MAC addresses cannot access the Internet. So that took a little bit of advanced configuration to get that going. The solution has phenomenally helped that business to block internet access for certain IP addresses or MAC addresses and yet allow the antivirus and Windows updates to occur. So the solution is good enough for a simple firewall, but they're also advanced enough to do some interesting things depending on your needs.
VENKATESHREDDY - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 10, 2022
Straightforward to set up and has lowered expenses, but needs to work on controller compatibility
SD-WAN itself is vendor locked in. At one point, Cisco should make it open so that if we have multiple mergers and acquisitions happening, it's easier to consolidate. Right now, if we are running Cisco, and the other organization in an acquisition scenario is deploying some other competitive vendor, the communication, the manageability of running two separate ESD instances, becomes a burden that falls back on us, especially the network administrators. It's better to consolidate and come up with better products, especially targeting AWS as their underlying transport. Traditionally, what Cisco has done, is they have always considered internet gateways or links and the MPLS links as their transport technology. In some devices, they have also used ELTs. Now, since we have 5G in place, they could look at private 5G ELTs, and they could expand that line, again, particularly in the ESD space since AWS has recently released their own SD instance where they are allowing their customers to backhaul. With SD-WAN being a very custom solution and a vendor-specific solution, we would end up having multiple software-defined instances where one is running in Cisco, and one you are running with AWS, and then again tomorrow, another SaaS-based player or a similar player will come up with something else. For example, when two organizations merge with each other, there is likely a scenario where organization X is running (for example) Juniper, and the other organization is running Cisco. The administrators would end up having to separate ESD controllers. You do not have a single ESD controller that is open in nature, where you can manage Cisco and Juniper devices. That is a concern. So if the controllers were made open, with compatibility between the vendors, that would be a very good thing for the industry overall. As a market leader, they are better positioned to go ahead and make that kind of change. If you look at the history of Cisco, before MPLS came into the game, it was Cisco, Juniper, and a few other vendors who came together and created a very good protocol. We need them to start focusing on the SD-WAN compatibility with other environments and not being so vendor locked with Cisco environments. They should get better controllers that can especially talk with AWS and Azure. Right now, I have taken a subscription with AWS Project Gateway. I will have to place a Cisco CSR image if I want to make it a true SD-WAN solution. Instead of using a separate image, if they could make the Cisco's controller open or a transit gateway solution, that would be ideal.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface is very user-friendly and it is quite easy to use."
"We use Barracuda NG Firewall as a border firewall. We trough it to control all in/out Internet traffic."
"Its central management, especially when it comes to distributed environments, is great. I can generate and save a setting and then apply that setting across the network with just one click."
"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."
"They have a very responsive customer service and support team."
"Ability to manage multiple firewalls."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, URL filtering, IPS, and virus scanning."
"Enables us to define user application-level access, so our customers can work anytime from anywhere."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco SD-WAN is its compatibility and integration with the rest of the infrastructure."
"Installation is easy."
"The best feature of this technology that is available to us is the ability to do better load-balancing."
"Encryption, which is native to the solution, is a valuable feature. Also, central management, onboarding of devices, QS, and routing applications are all okay."
"It is very simple to deploy. It's a point-and-click type of deployment, so it's fairly simple."
"If I have to give a neutral view of all the SD-WAN platforms that I have known so far, Cisco is good in routing."
"The integration of Layer 3 and application routing is great."
"It's a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"While using Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, we encounter issues with VPN profiles for Windows."
"The analytics are weak."
"The administration UI could be better. It should also have better application detection policies."
"We would like to see a solution that is focused on container deployment, which is very important right now."
"If you experience an attack it can take a very long time to find a solution."
"A rule for email announcements, when configured hits occur, would be a great improvement for a more efficient experience."
"To start working with spam, it takes a while because the product has to see that multiple emails are coming in with all the spam. If it could reduce that amount of time, then we would reduce the amount of users who are receiving spam."
"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 bandwidth limitations would be good to remove, but it is a policy and license situation for Cisco because the cost is very high. It would be good to have OTP implemented with VRF. It can have support for EIGRP Over the Top (OTP) VRF. I saw some limitations in regards to the VRF protocol and the advertisement between VRF configuration. EIGRP Over the Top basically was quite limited with the VRF configuration. If you wanted to do rollback in VRF by using the EIGRP OTP protocol, the formation was not populated across. Cisco got back and confirmed that it is a configuration that I need to wait for until the next release, which is going to happen in one year. Cisco documentation is not the way it used to be before. It just gives an easy way to configure, but it doesn't go into the details of the configuration. The information that you need is there, but sometimes you want to go further and get more information, but the information is quite limited. It would be good to cover a few business cases or configuration cases. They used to be there in the past."
"I would like to see revision cycles to be more stable."
"The user interface needs improvement. Users should be able to find various features faster without much tweaking."
"It's an expensive solution."
"Cisco's router and voice gateway has not been available since the launch of SD-WAN."
"We don't have any issues with this solution other than the price."
"The installation is not easy. If you have experience and it is not your first time doing the installation, it can be easier."
"The product's application delivery feature needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It would be nice if the pricing and licensing offered for less."
"The 600 series is about USD $10,000 a year and the 80 is USD $400 a year."
"​We evaluated a lot of different options. We concluded that Barracuda NG Firewall provided the most features for an exemplary price. ​"
"In general, it tends to be cheaper than most solutions."
"It's not the most expensive, but it's certainly not cheap."
"My advice is to try and evaluate it (Barracuda offers a trial period of one month)."
"Purchasing through AWS Marketplace was good. We did it because it was easy."
"The solution costs more than 800 Euros to purchase an F18, which is an entry model, and then another 500 Euros for instant replacement, and 500 Euros for energized updates. The total package would be around 1,900 Euros for five years license and all updates for an entry model."
"The pricing is fair, and it's on par with the market vendors. But based on the competition, Cisco could work on the pricing, go deep on discounts and provide more commercially viable solutions to customers."
"The solution is quite expensive so it is important to enhance its cost efficiency."
"The costs are a bit on the high side."
"Cloud subscription management must be paid for, although this does not incur a perpetual fee."
"This is not a cheap option but if you move from Capex to Opex, I expect you should have lower costs."
"On a scale of one to five, I would rate Cisco's pricing as a three."
"Cisco SD-WAN is more expensive than its competitors."
"SD-WAN as a service is probably something in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 a month per location."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
7%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
40%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

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?
The product is a bit cheaper than some solutions. It depends on the type of load.
What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
We need high availability and load balancing. The product does not enable load balancing. We are looking for alternate solutions. We have multiple VPN channels with clients and sites. We need to en...
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 needs improvement with Cisco SD-WAN?
Customers collaborate with ISPs and currently work with three ISPs, using options like LSM VPN and MPLS VPN to reduce line costs. They are considering moving from their current setup to an MPLS VPN...
 

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: September 2024.
801,634 professionals have used our research since 2012.