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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs OPNsense comparison

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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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
318
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
26th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (19th), IoT Security (6th), WAN Edge (11th)
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.8%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is 0.4%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 12.8%, down from 17.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable
In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.
RobertSmith15 - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures data security with advanced intrusion prevention and 24/7 monitoring
I rate the initial setup as ten out of ten. It is straightforward to set up a CloudGen file, taking a couple of hours. Once we have the configuration agreed with the customer, the setup and onboarding are completed within a few hours. We receive the box from Barracuda or from our stores, pre-stage it into our network for initial configuration and Soak testing to ensure functionality. The customer can install it at their location, or we do it on their behalf. We run the firewall in simulation mode to observe traffic and ensure service transition is effective. After confirming functionality with the customer, we transition to a live service.
Eddy Ramirez - PeerSpot reviewer
Good interface and firewall capabilities and overall easy to use
The security has improved as we can isolate the network. We can do attrition prevention via a tool that comes with the solution. We can have a VPN solution in place for those that work from home, outside the network, in a secure manner. We also like that it offers good authentication. It offers radius-based authentication, which has been useful for the company. The main platform is under the Open VPN firewall. The solution has high availability. When we have different ISPs, we can actually load balance those links or actually put some priority or even classify the traffic that might go into one ISP or another.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our project needs to link two sides through the internet. One of these was in Cairo and the other in another city. We used FortiGate as the integrating solution between the two locations, i.e. the Fortinet 30E & 100E."
"Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"We have found it to be very reliable and that's why our teams and various users in our company use it as our main firewall every day."
"The product is very stable, easy to troubleshoot, and configure, so it has reduced the time it takes for support."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."
"Fortinet FortiGate is scalable for our users. Right now, we have almost 70 users. We do not have any plan to increase our usage of FortiGate. For maintaining the firewall solution, one staff member is enough."
"The most valuable feature is the bundled subscription, which is IPS, TV and web filtering."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. With FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access."
"I would most definitely recommend this solution to other people."
"Scalability is good; the company wants to be able to handle large customers."
"Its ability to block incoming attacks is valuable. Its logging, traffic monitoring, and VPN capabilities are also valuable."
"The encryption and the security standards are valuable."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, URL filtering, IPS, and virus scanning."
"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."
"I rate the customer service as ten out of ten."
"Since implementing the Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, we've seen significant benefits, particularly in stopping a lot of unnecessary or dangerous emails. One key feature we value is the ability to train the solution with emails categorized as threats, giving it a learning capacity."
"We can open a new VPN connection easily. It's much easier than with Fortinet in our experience."
"The technical support is very good."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"I find the solution to be user-friendly. It has a lot of reports and easy settings."
"The solution has high availability."
"It has firewall and VPN capabilities, which are very valuable features."
"The most valuable features of OPNsense are the GUI and frequent updates."
"The solution is user-friendly and easy to configure."
 

Cons

"I think the only issue that needs improvement is the interface."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"FortiGate support could do some improvements on their IPv6 configuration. Right now it's still in the very early stage for utilizing in an enterprise level network environment."
"Web security solutions can 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."
"The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"Some of the software stability could improve."
"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."
"There could be improvements in licensing. Some licensing aspects are challenging; for example, if you're using an active-passive setup, you have to license both firewalls."
"When you login from some sources, there is no feature in this box which can log you out after a certain timeout."
"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."
"A rule for email announcements, when configured hits occur, would be a great improvement for a more efficient experience."
"​Sometimes we have a need for detailed reports. Barracuda NG Firewall does not have a reports module and uses a satellite application."
"The features are a bit limited compared to other vendors."
"There could be improvements in licensing."
"The interface isn't so friendly user. But we have some technicians here who are quite confident with this tool. OPNSense could maybe add sets of rules so it's simpler to manage different groups with particular needs."
"An area for improvement in OPNsense is the hardware, which needs to be updated more frequently. DNS blocking is another good feature I want to be added to the solution. pfSense has a peer-blocking feature that I also want to see in OPNsense."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"The user interface could be improved, and the DNS section should be more intuitive."
"When using the solution at the beginning was difficult. There was a steep learning curve."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"The solution could be more secure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."
"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."
"The price of FortiGate is good."
"The price is fair compared to the other competitors."
"The price of FortiGate is comparable to that of most other firewall solutions and is more affordable than Cisco."
"If you compare Fortinet FortiGate with Sophos and other firewall products available in the market, this solution is affordable."
"Other firewalls are more expensive than Fortinet FortiGate, such as the Azure firewall."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is affordable. Most of our customers are on a three-year license to use the solution. All the features and support are included in the price."
"​We evaluated a lot of different options. We concluded that Barracuda NG Firewall provided the most features for an exemplary price. ​"
"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."
"Purchasing through AWS Marketplace was good. We did it because it was easy."
"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 pay around 150 to 200 Euros per year and there are no additional costs."
"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 exact amount"
"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 solution's price is reasonable."
"Its pricing is unbeatable in comparison to other firewalls. You can have a small instance that could be €80 a month with the hardware underneath. Azure Firewall and FortiGate are out of the question at this price. If you are on a public cloud, you need the underlying infrastructure. Other than that, there is no additional cost. If you have it on-prem, you have to buy the server or the appliance. The hardware cost is replaced with the infrastructure cost in the cloud. You also have costs for the public IPs and underlying VMs, but that's not related to OPNsense. It would be the same for a FortiGate deployment on Azure. You need a FortiGate license, and you need the underlying infrastructure that scales up depending on your needs."
"It's not expensive."
"It's a free solution."
"There are no licensing costs for OPNsence."
"The solution is not expensive."
"The price of OPNsense is good."
"We are using the paid version."
"I've used the free version. My computer with two network cards at home allows me to try as many different software options as I want. I did pay for the license, but it was for the Zenarmor license, which is the packet inspection tool. They use AI for packet inspection, which integrates with OPNsense and pfSense."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
8%
Retailer
7%
Construction Company
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
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 license price of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is lower than others, and maintenance or support is included.
What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
The interface of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is not as user-friendly as others. It is a bit complicated and could be ...
What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...
What do you like most about OPNsense?
What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?
I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall p...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, 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
1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc.  3. EuroBSDCon  4. Netgate  5. Claranet  6. Voleatech  7. Open Systems AG  8. Securebit AG  9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH  10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH  Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. OPNsense and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,466 professionals have used our research since 2012.