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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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 CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (21st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (19th), IoT Security (6th), WAN Edge (10th)
Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms
Ranking in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is 2.6%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is 0.5%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall2.6%
Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms0.5%
Other96.9%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
 

Featured Reviews

Jennifer  Bernice - PeerSpot reviewer
Dotnet Developer at Kohl's
Centralized firewall management has saved time and improved network security across locations
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall could be improved as it has a very high learning curve. It is definitely not a one and done firewall, as a one and done firewall requires a lot of dedicated time to get the machine running the way you want. To improve Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, there should be a lot of tutorials and videos online to help new users. Multiple ways to configure for the same service or feature takes time to determine your customized build. In addition to previous points, the interface can sometimes be clunky when trying to determine how it is organized or arranged.
IgnitiusMolepo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IP Network Defense at MTN
Network operations have become intelligent, secure, and efficient for large-scale growth
The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities. It will be important to embed some agencies within that technology and ensure that the technology is able to manage the traffic coming from the agent and also from the robots. Nowadays, companies are starting to adopt new technology with robot agents. I believe that there will be a lot of traffic coming from those agencies. We need to understand the capabilities on how we can onboard them on our technology, on our network on Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has offered improved network monitoring and intrusion prevention which we otherwise had none of, and the office was under constant spamming by Chinese and Russian IP sub-nets and at one time the exchange server was covertly hijacked as an SMTP relay, and the NG gateways helped mitigate these issues."
"The solution is stable."
"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."
"I would recommend Barracuda CloudGen Firewall to almost everybody, and I couldn't foresee anyone to whom I wouldn't recommend unless they are very price sensitive."
"This is a very stable solution; once you have deployed it following the criteria, you almost never have to touch it."
"The most valuable feature for us is the ability to offer firewall support to our clients."
"It has a full-feature license, it is easy to adapt the solution to the customer's needs, and it's great to have an unlimited VPN, advanced threat protection, many other features inside the proxy server, and so on."
"Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms positively impacts my organization because, although we were using Meraki MX for a long time with no new model from them, we were concerned about supporting the increasing bandwidth requirement for our sites, and Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms helps with this, as we understand it is a newer platform with many optimizations under the hood that can be done to make it more powerful and able to support larger bandwidth requirements."
"The flexibility of the models in Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms helps my organization because it is easier to add any Catalyst 8000 series to Catalyst Center for management, and it is also easy to add to the SD-WAN manager if needed, which makes operations very easy from both an intuitive and operational handling perspective."
"Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is a very good product, and with this, we can do so many things, including integrating with the firewall, URL filtering, VPN, IPsec segmentation, and other capabilities."
"As a customer, the biggest advantage of Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms that I think of is its reliability, which makes me really confident to use it."
"Everything is good, and I very much enjoy this product."
"The great thing about Cisco Catalyst is the performance and how it can handle so much traffic and information at the same time, forwarding using CEF technology compared with other brands."
"Overall, it is a solid platform that ensures reliability and scalability for network edge connectivity."
"Compared to other vendors, such as Huawei and others, Cisco switches are more powerful and very intelligent."
 

Cons

"While using Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, we encounter issues with VPN profiles for Windows."
"I think the command line could be improved. In Cisco, Palo Alto and Juniper, the command line is a little more friendly."
"The analytics are weak."
"However we found the product a little harder to configure than others, and so it´s not a product for unskilled/inexperienced administrators."
"The stability of the solution isn't ideal. There are bugs and issues with updates occasionally."
"Another problem with Barracuda, in my experience, is the appliance lifetime."
"The usability for the administrator's experience needs improvement. My system administrator has some questions about its overall connectivity and flexibility."
"The interface should be more user-friendly and it should be easier to configure."
"The price for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is somewhat higher compared to Chinese brands, though the difference is not huge."
"Sometimes it takes a little bit, and sometimes they do not give a lot of information, so it is better to make calls and have meetings with the support team."
"Additionally, the firewall management requires significant improvement, as the current behavior resembles firewalls from 25 years ago; it lacks central management policies and objects that modern firewalls possess."
"I believe Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms could improve the overall management and troubleshooting experience."
"The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The 600 series is about USD $10,000 a year and the 80 is USD $400 a year."
"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"
"The platform is inexpensive compared to other vendors."
"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."
"We pay around 150 to 200 Euros per year and there are no additional costs."
"The solution's price is reasonable."
"Purchasing through AWS Marketplace was good. We did it because it was easy."
"In general, it tends to be cheaper than most solutions."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
Although I am not directly involved in that particular segment, from what I understood from the pricing information, it is a very cost-effective solution compared with other well-known firewall ven...
What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
When I consider what I dislike about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, there are a lot of competitors in the market. Next-gen firewalls offer a lot of capabilities. From a capability standpoint, competi...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
I use Barracuda CloudGen Firewall for multiple functionalities. One function is an email security gateway. It also acts for network security protection, network security and threat protection, whic...
What needs improvement with Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
The only improvement I can suggest for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms is that in the AI era, it will be important to embed machine learning capabilities. It will be important to embed some agencies w...
What is your primary use case for Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
Currently, we are using the Cisco 5585 and the Firepowers, and the Firepower IPS, which comes as part of the firewall module, and the switching and the routing. For switching, we have the Catalyst ...
What advice do you have for others considering Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?
I still work with the product, specifically with this solution, but I have low hands-on experience myself. However, I am managing the team which is hands-on. 90% of the time, even now, if you call ...
 

Also Known As

Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls
No data available
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.