Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Sophos XG comparison

Barracuda Networks and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #27 with an average rating of 8.3, while Sophos is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Barracuda Networks holds a 0.4% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Sophos’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Sophos XG compete in the cybersecurity market, specifically in firewall solutions. Barracuda has the upper hand in scalability and customer service ratings, but Sophos provides strong integration with endpoint solutions.

Features: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall provides advanced features like TINA tunnels, detailed data handling, and multiple VPN capabilities. Its security transparency and IPS/IDS functions enhance its real-time firewall logs. Sophos XG offers synchronized security by interacting directly with its endpoint solutions, robust application control, and comprehensive web filtering, resulting in a simple and easy integration with its suite products.

Room for Improvement: Barracuda users have concerns regarding the complexity of its GUI, the need for better reporting and configuration tools, and IPv6 integration. User-friendliness and command-line usage also require attention. For Sophos XG, responsiveness and VPN setup complexities are noted. The learning curve and better reporting tools are necessary for improving new user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda supports flexible deployment options, excelling in on-premises, public cloud, and hybrid environments. It is highly praised for its customer service, rated 9/10. Sophos XG also provides deployment flexibility but highlights variable technical support quality, particularly in response times.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda is cost-effective due to transparent licensing and efficient management, featuring an instant replacement contract for hardware every four years at no additional cost. Sophos XG’s competitive pricing and flexible support contracts make it favorable in the UTM market, offering good value for a diverse range of features.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Sophos XG Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Sophos XG

January 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 January 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.3%, up from 17.4% 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 Sophos XG is 11.5%, up from 9.2% 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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Ruud Jansen

Senior technisch consultant at Dycotrade

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.

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SherifFouad

ICT Manager at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Gives us customizable policies, modifiable templates, and customized rules for single users

The major problem that I am facing, and I know that others are facing as well, is with the HTTPS classic, in general, or any classic that works on Secure Socket Layers. Let's say I set up a rule to block users from accessing YouTube or Facebook. The rule will only block the HTTP traffic, which is non-secure traffic. But most websites right now, most of the reputable web services providers, for extra security for their own web servers and for the user's security, provide a connection over Secure Socket Layer. The problem comes when you are trying to block, or allow, similar traffic that uses HTTPS. You have to create a certificate and import it into the users' web browsers, whatever they are using. Now, this is not a problem when you're dealing with users stationed and fixed in a specific site or location. They are using desktops, they will never take the desktops and go home with them, nor will they ever take the desktops and travel to another country, or another site with it. The problem occurs when you're dealing with roaming users who use laptops and have to move between different sites that have different types of policies applied to them. You have to import all sorts of certificates from each site into their browser. Doing so will most probably conflict with something else that is totally irrelevant and cause a problem. A way around this is if you are using authentication with Active Directory. But most of the time, especially if you're operating in a remote site with a very slow internet connection, if it's available in the first place, authentication with Active Directory is impossible. So it needs an easier way to apply HTTPS filters, without importing certificates into users' browsers and without the need for using an Active Directory. There must be a way around it. There are workarounds. But with applied workarounds, it will work out once, it won't work out properly 10 other times. That is my only request. Also, since Sophos took over Cyberoam, the online technical library and support library have become super messy. To get a piece of information is becoming a nightmare. They need to reorganize the online technical support and technical library. The easiest way to overcome this is to look at how the Cyberoam online technical library was structured and to build the Sophos technical library the same way. It is messy, totally unorganized, time-wasting. Instead of getting what you want in five minutes it takes half an hour.

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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

"I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."

"FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."

"I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job."

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."

"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."

"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"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."

"Inbound and outbound traffic analysis, rule creation wizard, and the GUI portal are among the key features."

"Single sign-on is also good. If you are accessing your corporate firewall from your home, during that time there is integration with AD. You can use your AD password to access your SSL VPN. It's not like if you buy an additional SSL VPN... You can directly integrate with your AD. If you change your password on the AD side, your client-to-VPN password also gets changed. You can integrate all your passwords from a single console. It's not like admin has to change your password, it's a single sign-on."

"The most valuable feature for us is the ability to offer firewall support to our clients."

"Their GPS possibilities and the security that it has, especially the SD-WAN functionality, is very good."

"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."

"We use Barracuda NG Firewall as a border firewall. We trough it to control all in/out Internet traffic."

"Scalability is good; the company wants to be able to handle large customers."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pros

"Some of the most valuable features are filtering and application control. The DDoS detection also shows traffic jamming and traffic shaping."

"The security of the solution, thanks to the built-in unified threat management, is one of its most valuable features. Plus, one single pane of glass is all you need to manage the whole solution, and web management can be done from anywhere."

"The stability has been excellent."

"One of the standout features of Sophos XG is its proprietary VPN technology known as RID (Remote Internet Device). This unique technology provides efficient branch connectivity without the need to invest in additional firewalls for each branch. By utilizing an affordable device called RED, users can effectively control and establish connections in a cost-effective manner. Additionally, the solution is feature-rich."

"Definitely, its usability is very good, and it's a very robust firewall."

"The firewall functionality and unified threat management are the most useful features."

"The SD-WAN feature stands out as the most valuable aspect."

"Each user has the ability to manage the solution."

More Sophos XG pros

Cons

"The graphical user interface of Fortinet's FortiGate product does not function well with text-based interfaces."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more storage in the hardware for log data."

"The integration with third-party tools may be something that they should work on."

"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."

"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."

"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."

"The feedback that I have received is that the performance could be better, and the user experience is not as good compared to a previous solution we used. It could be more user-friendly. Of course, it still works fine for our operations."

"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The price 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."

"The administration UI could be better. It should also have better application detection policies."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"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."

"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."

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

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall cons

"One area of improvement is the lack of cross-cluster capability, meaning you need different sets of tasks and pipelines for each Kubernetes cluster."

"The solution’s reporting could be improved."

"The number of ports, especially on the entry-level appliances, should be increased."

"I am using the Azure Active Directory in my company and it was complicated to integrate this solution with Azure."

"Fortinet surpasses Sophos in terms of support, particularly with its comprehensive five-one feature console."

"I would want the level of integration to have another device on your network that is also reliable."

"Could have a more simplified functionality for users."

"There needs to be a way that we can distinguish between educational institutions on Youtube and other Youtube videos. You can do this on Fortinet. Basically, they can block all other Youtube videos besides those that are from educational institutions. With Sophos, you either allow for all Youtube videos or none at all. They need to allow for more specification on different websites."

More Sophos XG cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."

"Fortinet is reasonable in pricing and licensing. Overall, FortiGate is affordable. The licensing fee can be a little high, depending on the budget for your project."

"The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range."

"We saved a bundle by not needing all the past appliances from an NGFW."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate could improve, it is expensive."

"The pricing is flexible."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"Pricing is good. Licensing is pretty much automatic if using Control Center."

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

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

"It is a product with a very transparent model of licensing. In the sense of hidden expenses, they do not exist with this model. "

"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."

"My advice is to try and evaluate it (Barracuda offers a trial period of one month)."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"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."

More Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable when comparing it to other solutions."

"At first, I thought the price was very high. But when I read about the machine's features, we decided to go with it."

"The price is good for the moment."

"When compared to other products, Sophos licensing is very affordable."

"I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"The price of Sophos is reasonable. It's not too expensive — I think it's worth it."

"I've had schools running different firewalls with subscriptions and different web filters with subscriptions, and I've found that it is less expensive for smaller schools to run the Sophos XG with its unified threat management instead of multiple appliances."

"Sophos XG is not expensive for a firewall, especially when you compare it with Check Point."

More Sophos XG pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Retailer

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services 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.

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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 th...

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What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?

However, the solution isn’t perfect. It sometimes lets through emails incorrectlycategorized as safe but malicious. I...

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Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...

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What are the main differences in features between Sophos XG and FortiGate 80F?

Hi Arvind P , The Sophos XG firewall has a number of models right from XG86 to XG135w under the 1U Desktop Form Fact...

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What Is The Biggest Difference Between Sophos UTM and Sophos XG?

The Sophos UTM is a UTM and Sophos XG is the NGFW. First, you must know about the difference between a UTM and NGFW. ...

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Comparisons

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

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Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

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OPNsense vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 13% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Meraki MX vs Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

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Netgate pfSense vs Sophos XG

Compared 11% of the time

OPNsense vs Sophos XG

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XGS vs Sophos XG

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Sophos XG

Compared 4% of the time

Meraki MX vs Sophos XG

Compared 3% of the time

More Sophos XG Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

January 2025

Download Barracuda CloudGen Firewall product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos XG

December 2024

Download Sophos XG 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

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Fortinet

Barracuda Networks

Sophos

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.

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.

Sophos XG is a versatile network security solution that offers network protection, firewall management, VPN access, web filtering, and intrusion prevention, providing comprehensive security for businesses from small offices to large enterprises.

Sophos XG stands out for its Synchronized Security, easy setup, and robust templates. It manages VPN access, protects against threats, and handles load balancing and traffic monitoring. The cloud-based management, centralized dashboard, and detailed logging make it user-friendly and reliable. Integration of features like email protection, SD-WAN, and unified threat management ensures a broad spectrum of security needs are covered. However, it could benefit from improvements in network security, user portals, technical support, and more scalable SD-WAN features.

What are the key features of Sophos XG?

Synchronized Security: Orchestrates threat intelligence sharing between endpoints and firewall.
Unlimited SSL VPN Clients: Provides extensive VPN client support for secure remote access.
Cloud-Based Management: Facilitates remote administration with a cloud-hosted platform.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and blocks potential threats in real-time.
Centralized Dashboard: Offers a comprehensive view of network security status.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
User-Friendliness: Simplified setup and intuitive management.
Effective Threat Protection: Provides robust security against a wide range of threats.
Comprehensive Reporting: Delivers detailed insights and analytics.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive in pricing with flexible deployment options.

Sophos XG is implemented across industries such as healthcare, education, and finance to secure sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance. It aids in endpoint protection, application control, load balancing, and traffic monitoring essential for these industries. Enhancing network security, simplifying VPN setup, and integrating adaptive security features remain focal points for businesses.

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Sophos XG

January 2025

Free Report: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Sophos XG

Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Sophos XG and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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