Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs SonicWall NSv comparison

Barracuda Networks and SonicWall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.3, while SonicWall is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.2. Barracuda Networks holds a 0.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to SonicWall’s 0.1% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SonicWall users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and SonicWall NSv compete in the firewall solutions category. SonicWall NSv has an edge due to its comprehensive features and high performance, despite higher costs and complexity.

Features: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has strong SD-WAN capabilities, diverse integration options, and advanced threat protection. SonicWall NSv excels in virtual firewall features, scalability, and high performance in cloud environments.

Room for Improvement:Barracuda could enhance reporting capabilities, refine its configuration process, and improve user interface design. SonicWall NSv needs better documentation, a simpler setup procedure, and clearer pricing structure transparency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall offers easy deployment and strong customer service, ensuring a reliable setup. In contrast, SonicWall NSv presents a more complex deployment process with varied customer service experiences.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall features competitive setup costs and satisfactory ROI, attracting cost-conscious buyers. SonicWall NSv, despite higher initial investments, delivers a high ROI due to its advanced capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv

April 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 17.7% 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 SonicWall NSv is 0.1%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

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.

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RobertSmith15

Product Manager - Cyber Security at M247 Ltd Miami

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.

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Sumesh Panikkar

Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer at Khansaheb

Provides effective threat prevention and helps improve security

We face some challenges when we upgrade the solution. If I use NSv 400, I can't upgrade to the next generation. We cannot upgrade the VM to the next generation. We have to rebuild a new VM and copy the configurations. We cannot upgrade straightaway. The solution must allow us to upgrade the same machine to a newer version without many changes.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

"This solution has solid UTM features combined with a nice GUI."

"Its stability is the most valuable."

"It has a good UI and overall integration, including FortiGate Manager for controlling all firewalls from a single place."

"The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was straightforward."

"Anti-Spam web content filterinG."

"Fortinet FortiGate is good for helping you secure and protect mission-critical data."

"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"What I like best about this product are the support and the features."

"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."

"Most people are using enterprise applications remotely, and there is no license for SSL VPN, or in other words point-to-site. There is no limit on that. On other devices there is a specific limit and you have to pay per use for SSL VPN."

"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."

"Ability to manage multiple firewalls."

"It is a very stable solution."

"One of the big benefits of the product is that it allows you to manage big environments with fewer resources."

"The most valuable features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall include antivirus protection, anti-DDoS, and IPS."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pros

"For my small NFB banking services, when they are expanding their branches, I could incorporate a little bit easier."

"I would rate the overall product a nine out of ten."

"We purchased the AGSS Bundle (Advanced Gateway Security Suite) for the security services, such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI."

"One of the standout features of SonicWall is its simplicity in creating and managing rules."

"The customization of firewall rules provides great value to our customers as it allows them to lock things up in the way that they desire. When it is used for internal access, with a VPN in place for remote workers, the firewalling services provided by Azure, such as the default services that can be turned on, are applied. However, the use of a software-based virtual firewall gives us greater flexibility in introducing security controls for customers who are publishing applications that are publicly accessible from the public cloud. This virtual firewall provides an additional layer of security and more extensive security control options to ensure the protection of our customers' valuable information and assets."

"SonicWall excelled in threat management, evident in how users handled it effectively."

"The product helps improve our security."

"SonicWall NSV is easy to use, and you can use it to manage the logs easily."

More SonicWall NSv pros

Cons

"The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing."

"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."

"There is room for improvement related to the logging and reporting aspect."

"The configuration part was challenging, especially converting configurations from another OEM to FortiGate."

"I would like to see better pricing in the next release, as well as a simplification of the installation."

"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."

"Quality control on their firmware versions needs improvement. When they introduce new firmware, there tend to be bugs."

"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"If you experience an attack it can take a very long time to find a solution."

"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."

"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."

"A rule for email announcements, when configured hits occur, would be a great improvement for a more efficient experience."

"The interface of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is not as user-friendly as others. It is a bit complicated and could be improved."

"Sometimes we have a need for detailed reports. Barracuda NG Firewall does not have a reports module and uses a satellite application."

"They have a very complicated interface. It's very hard to learn."

"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

"There are limitations to bandwidth management."

"It has been brought to our attention by a few customers that they are dissatisfied with the fact that our virtualized service is only offered as a subscription option on the cloud. However, it is worth noting that many other similar services are also offered through a subscription model on the cloud and not through perpetual licensing. It is unclear why these customers would have an issue with this subscription service when so many others are utilizing similar methods."

"The price is a significant factor."

"The engine provided initially was quite heavy, creating a trade-off between software and hardware-based threat management."

"I would like to see the reporting opened up and have several more opportunities for automatic reports."

"An area that could be improved is the export and import settings functionality."

"The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support."

"SonicWall NSV's SSL VPN could increase its number of users to 100-plus users."

More SonicWall NSv cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced."

"I find it quite reasonable."

"The initial setup is super straight forward and as far as the licensing goes for the small product that we have, the pricing was pretty competitive. It wasn't as simple and as cheap as a SonicWall but for the service we would get it was a good price."

"Pricing is good. They offer a lot of things, the most important is the support. Every time you upgrade your license, you also get insurance for the equipment. If you have any problem with equipment, they send in new equipment."

"It's very affordable."

"The price is okay."

"The price of FortiGate is good."

"No comment."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"In general, it tends to be cheaper than most solutions."

"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 600 series is about USD $10,000 a year and the 80 is USD $400 a year."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"The platform is inexpensive compared to other vendors."

"We evaluated a lot of different options. We concluded that Barracuda NG Firewall provided the most features for an exemplary price. "

"We pay around 150 to 200 Euros per year and there are no additional costs."

"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."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing is good for the technology it offers."

"Our initial purchase, which included a three-year term of support, was about $25,000 USD."

"The solution’s pricing is less compared to other products."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"SonicWall NSV is not very costly."

"We are currently using the trial version."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

23%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Government

Legal Firm

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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What do you like most about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?

The encryption and the security standards are valuable.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about SonicWall NSV?

The product helps improve our security.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall NSV?

The tool is moderately priced. We need to purchase an additional license for NSM. We can manage all the firewalls thr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SonicWall NSV?

The price is a significant factor. Mostly in India, the customer service has many hurdles to get real support. If I w...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

OPNsense vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Competitors

Azure Firewall vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 31% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 25% of the time

Stormshield Network Security vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 20% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate-VM vs SonicWall NSv

Compared 11% of the time

More SonicWall NSv Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

April 2025

Download Barracuda CloudGen Firewall product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

March 2025

Download SonicWall NSv product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls

SonicWall Network Security Virtual

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

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.

Barracuda Networks

SonicWall NSV is a software-based virtual firewall that provides additional security for customers with public-facing servers or services on Microsoft Azure. The AGSS Bundle is considered the most valuable feature, providing security services such as antivirus, intrusion prevention system, and anti-spyware botnet GUI.

Additionally, customization of firewall rules provides great value to customers, allowing them to lock things up in the way they desire. SonicWall NSV offers extensive security control options to protect customers' valuable information and assets.

SonicWall

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

Comlogic, Depaul, Hutt City Council

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. SonicWall NSv

April 2025

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