Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs NetScaler comparison

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

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91% willing to recommend

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC and NetScaler compete in the load balancing market. NetScaler has the upper hand with its extensive features, making it preferable for those prioritizing functionality.

Features: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC provides an intuitive management interface, application security, and server load balancing, offering straightforward functionality. NetScaler comes with advanced traffic management, application acceleration, and integrated analytics, making it a stronger option for those looking for enhanced performance capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is recognized for its straightforward deployment and efficient customer service, aiding in quick setup and troubleshooting. NetScaler, with potentially more complexity in its initial setup due to its extensive features, is backed by robust customer service, ensuring smooth transition and management.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC often has lower initial setup costs, offering a cost-effective solution with respectable ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. NetScaler requires a higher upfront investment but provides significant ROI through its capabilities and long-term benefits, justifying its expense for feature-rich needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. NetScaler Report (Updated: January 2025).

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. NetScaler

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

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

13th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetScaler

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (4th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetScaler is 15.5%, up from 14.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Roni Wijaya

Vice President of It Operations at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

A simple and powerful solution with WAF feature

The solution is simple and powerful. I find the Barracuda Load Balancer ADC's load balancing function most valuable. It balances the traffic well. The security features, like the Web Application Firewall, are also very helpful. I use the SSL offloading feature too. It's very helpful because it prevents overload. Our application runs on HTTP, but we upload HTTPS on the load balancer. This means there are no performance issues. I think it's very helpful.

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DEMİRHAN ÇAVUŞOĞLU

Cloud Consultant at Migros Ticaret A.Ş.

A tool for centralized management including inventory and sales tracking

Citrix ADM has the ability to implement policies to tighten security. For instance, you can restrict access to your network from outsiders or lack necessary security measures such as antivirus programs. Additionally, there's the Delivery Controller, which allows for comprehensive monitoring and management tasks such as remote restarts, maintenance, and registration. Another essential component is the Director, which provides detailed insights into sessions, including identifying session failures, connection issues, user lockouts, etc. It presents a list of problems to address, enabling you to click on them and resolve them efficiently.

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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

"The solution is simple and powerful. I find the Barracuda Load Balancer ADC's load balancing function most valuable. It balances the traffic well. The security features, like the Web Application Firewall, are also very helpful."

"The most useful features in Barracuda Load Balancer are its security capabilities, load balancing efficiency, and scalability."

"I would rate the stability of Barracuda Load Balancer as a ten out of ten; it has high stability."

"The price is very good, and it's not very expensive."

"Barracuda's technical support is good - whenever we have an issue, they immediately connect and resolve it."

"NetScaler Gateway: Why? Availability/Security: We delivered more than 200 applications thru Xenapp. This feature give us the possibility to deliver the applications anywhere. Currently, 30% of access is made through our NetScaler Gateway (Internet connections)."

"I found that the GUI was very easy to to navigate. If you were looking for something, it was fairly easy to find. There's a lot of third-party documentation and information available online as well."

"It is simple for both IT specialists and customers."

"I like app flows and custom flows. They integrate with multiple flows."

"My customers have told me that the performance of this solution is good."

"The web application firewall is one feature I found valuable in the solution."

"Provides resiliency for applications that reside on servers, as well as connectivity to remote applications."

"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN."

More NetScaler pros

Cons

"The Barracuda Load Balancer ADC could be improved with more customization features. For example, F5 uses iRules for custom configurations. I haven't found something similar in Barracuda yet. The load balancer and WAF's basic and common features are enough, but we need more customization options."

"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."

"The quality of the solution's performance could be improved."

"Load Balancer ADC is competitively priced, but it's not feature-rich, and its technology is not that advanced."

"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."

"Too many bugs in the software and it's always difficult when you need to update."

"The solution should be able to scale more effectively than it does."

"The only thing customers told me that could be improved is that they would like to be able to purchase and receive the products in one box, rather than two boxes. This is something related to marketing, though."

"Maybe creating policies with simple regular expressions."

"We are looking for some in-depth monitoring and analytics and more information that Citrix Director doesn't provide. ControlUp has insights that not only give you an overview but also allow you to do some drill-down troubleshooting for what's going on in your environment. We are looking for some more analytical and monitoring data to be able to monitor the environment better, not only from an application standpoint but also from the standpoint of the infrastructure to everything it sits on. They can provide more data to the administrators about what's going on within the application. They can provide data not only on the application side but also about what the application sits on. They're making strides with Citrix Analytics in regards to that."

"The solution is a bit more expensive than some of the available solutions in this region. One solution in particular that I noticed was cheaper was Kemp."

"When a new version comes out, sometimes, my existing configuration gets wiped out. They should work on this so that my existing configuration doesn't get impacted with an upgrade to a newer version. There could also reduce frequent firmware upgrade activities and have a stable version so that once we upgrade it, we don't have to upgrade it for two to three years."

"The vendor provides frequent patches, however, the security of the website has room for improvement."

More NetScaler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."

"Load Balancer ADC is cost-effective and is about half the price of F5."

"The licensing costs for this solution vary depending on which model is being used."

"The pricing for Citrix Web App and API Protection is unreasonable. I don't know the exact price, but I heard it's tens of thousands and it's a bit too much for the small country I live in."

"The licenses for this product are payable as a yearly subscription, and carry a high price-point. The subscription scheme is quite complicated, and costs will increase with each additional feature that is required, outside of the basic setup."

"The solution is undoubtedly very good, but it is expensive."

"The pricing could be lower."

"Licensing is adequate. I wanted to have a more prominent license, but until I do they don't give enough support. The additional cost would be too much."

"The license for Citrix NetScaler is on an annual basis and it is reasonably priced."

"For partners, NetScaler is not as expensive price-wise versus F5."

More NetScaler pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Retailer

11%

Educational Organization

10%

Construction Company

Educational Organization

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?

Pricing for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC can be a consideration. However, it offers good value with its cost-saving benefits and efficient operation, balancing the initial financial outlay.

What needs improvement with Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?

There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic. Also, more could be done to enhance the initial setup, as it can be c...

What is your primary use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?

The typical use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC involves managing and distributing network traffic efficiently to maintain system performance. Clients use Barracuda Load Balancer ADC for its a...

What do you like most about Citrix ADC?

The most valuable feature for us is the application firewalling in Citrix NetScaler, ensuring only valid traffic enters our environment.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Citrix ADC?

After deployment, Citrix Netscaler shifted to a subscription-based license scheme for support, which is slightly more expensive.

What needs improvement with Citrix ADC?

Citrix NetScaler is a robust product, but mastering it requires significant learning and training due to its complexity. While it could be easier to manage, it is like transitioning from driving a ...

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Product Reports

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

December 2024

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December 2024

Also Known As

Barracuda Load Balancer

Citrix ADC, Citrix NetScaler VPX, NetScaler Console, NetScaler Web Application Firewall

Learn More

Barracuda Networks

Overview

Barracuda Load Balancer is ideal for organizations looking for a high-performance, yet cost-effective application delivery and security solution. With the broadest range of hardware and virtual models, Barracuda Load Balancer provides maximum flexibility for organizations looking to build highly secure and scalable application infrastructure, whether it's deployed on-premises or in the cloud.

One platform for a consistent application delivery and security experience because nobody has time to learn multiple systems to manage ADC deployments. NetScaler is built with a single code base using a software-based architecture, so no matter which ADC form factor you choose — hardware, virtual machine, bare metal, or container — the behavior will be the same.

Sample Customers

Fenwal Blood Technologies

ABB Schweiz, Aer Lingus, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amnet Technology Solutions, Aramex International, Ascenty, Atos, Autodesk