


Cisco Secure Firewall and Barracuda CloudGen Firewall are both strong competitors in the firewall market, each offering unique advantages. Cisco Secure Firewall has an upper hand in providing extensive security features, while Barracuda CloudGen Firewall excels in user-friendliness and integrated solutions.
Features: Cisco Secure Firewall provides robust security with features like FirePOWER threat management, advanced malware protection, and Modular Policy Framework, making it ideal for businesses focusing on comprehensive security. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, on the other hand, emphasizes ease of use with built-in VPNs, centralized management, and web filtering that cater well to medium-sized enterprises seeking integrated solutions.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Firewall could enhance its user interface and simplify configuration to improve manageability. Also, improvements in logging and pricing structures could boost its usability further. Meanwhile, Barracuda CloudGen Firewall should focus on refining its interface for greater user-friendliness and optimizing performance speed during configuration changes.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Secure Firewall demonstrates versatility across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments, backed by excellent support, though responsiveness varies. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is primarily deployed on-premises, offering straightforward licensing and solid customer service with a transparent and easy-to-navigate support experience.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Firewall is known for its higher pricing, justified by extensive features and leading support, and provides significant ROI through high reliability and security. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall presents a cost-effective option with competitive pricing that includes hardware upgrades over time, making it appealing for enterprises managing multiple locations with beneficial cost management and operational efficiency.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
The centralized management and automation features have reduced manual monitoring efforts, saving our IT team several hours per week.
The biggest return on investment when using Cisco Secure Firewall is that there's no waste in any infrastructure cost and licensing costs for us.
From my point of view, the biggest return on investment when using Cisco Secure Firewall is the single pane of glass, which is a huge plus for us.
The biggest return on investment for me when using Cisco Secure Firewall is reliability and robust network design.
The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
The support team is responsive and knowledgeable, assisting us promptly whenever we have faced configuration questions or technical issues.
Barracuda's partner support is better than the majority, and it stands out as one of their strengths.
The overall security has been satisfactory, with no breaches.
I have to provide many logs, yet problems remain unresolved, often requiring workarounds rather than solutions.
I have been working with them on firewalls, wireless, switching, and routing, and the support is the best.
They have expertise and provide solutions for the most difficult problems.
They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.
The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.
We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.
Its flexible licensing and hybrid deployment options allow it to adapt to evolving network requirements, ensuring continuous security and reliable operations.
When positioning into customers, some larger enterprise customers tend to move towards one of the top three: either Cisco, Fortinet, or Palo Alto.
Scalability presents a challenge.
Compared to FortiGate and Palo Alto, it lags in configuration and other aspects.
Even with the highest one, the 4600, we still face issues, particularly when transitioning between screens; it becomes very slow.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.
Its robust infrastructure and real-time monitoring give us the confidence that our network remains secure and operational at all times.
We have very few issues with Barracuda Firewall, even in the case of zero-day vulnerabilities.
Version 8.0 had issues, but the newer version 9.0 seems to have improved performance regarding these issues.
We have often encountered split-brain scenarios during failover processes and code upgrades, which have been persistent problems for us.
We work with a cluster with high availability, so if something goes wrong, we have it functioning.
Cisco Secure Firewall offers exceptional performance and stability.
When considering Sophos XG, which we also use, the logging and reporting functionality is notably more efficient.
These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.
The solution should be able to implement machine learning and analytics of all the logs for threat detection and protection.
Integration with AI would be helpful as modern attacks often utilize AI.
It would be beneficial to merge the existing application policy with the main policy into a single unified policy to improve manageability.
One area that could be enhanced is the user interface, making it slightly more intuitive for new users.
My ongoing complaint for the last six years has been the lack of CLI functionality, which hinders my ability to work on the firewall, alongside concerns regarding deployment time.
Firepower Management Center is quite out of date compared to other vendors.
The integration between Cisco products themselves presents difficulties, such as SD-WAN configuration.
Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
It is about 20% cheaper.
Our experience with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pricing and licensing has been reasonable and transparent.
The license price of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is lower than others, and maintenance or support is included.
It is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive option available.
It's good to have them, however, it costs us a lot.
It's considered a premium, but people pay that price for Cisco.
There are a lot of in-place contracts for us that provide the benefit of discounts.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring.
We got a firewall and gave an SSL VPN to my client to connect to their servers, after which, such kind of activities involving ransomware attacks stopped.
This integration helps secure our data and applications from attackers trying to gain access and detect malicious activity.
The real-time monitoring helps us quickly identify unusual traffic patterns and potential threats, allowing us to respond immediately and maintain secure and uninterrupted network operations.
The most valuable features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall include antivirus protection, anti-DDoS, and IPS.
What stands out positively about Cisco is their training and support, which has effectively prepared engineers to work with their products.
This is very important to my organization, as we work extensively with security because we are a bank, so we can keep the data safe.
Cisco Secure Firewall allows me to safeguard Layer 7 or Layer 3 and manage the security rules with the business needs of my organization.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiGate | 18.7% |
| Cisco Secure Firewall | 6.9% |
| Barracuda CloudGen Firewall | 0.7% |
| Other | 73.7% |



| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 357 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 133 |
| Large Enterprise | 188 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 30 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 9 |
| Large Enterprise | 6 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 180 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 126 |
| Large Enterprise | 212 |
Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.
Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.
What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.
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.
Cisco Secure Firewall provides comprehensive network security with advanced features such as application visibility, URL filtering, and malware protection. It combines a user-friendly interface with robust VPN capabilities, making it a reliable choice for varying network environments and industry applications.
Cisco Secure Firewall offers exceptional protection with its integration into Cisco's broader ecosystem, ensuring enhanced threat detection and policy unification. Despite its complexity in command-line interfaces and management, Cisco Secure Firewall remains a potent tool for safeguarding data. It is widely adopted for edge security, VPN services, perimeter defense, and traffic segmentation, especially in hybrid settings. Essential sectors like banking and telecom benefit from its stable connectivity and centralized security management. Though there are challenges with costs and support for third-party APIs, the firewall's scalability and high availability provide comprehensive support for protecting network assets.
What are the key features of Cisco Secure Firewall?Cisco Secure Firewall is widely implemented across sectors like banking, education, ISPs, and telecoms. It fortifies data centers and network edge security, delivering strong protection for client access, hybrid environments, and intrusion prevention. In these industries, firewall solutions ensure secure connectivity and manage RTU traffic effectively, leveraging centralized management and integration with Cisco's security tools.
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