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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall enhances network security and performance with effective spam blocking, easy maintenance, and free upgrade options.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence offers major ROI by saving 62% on budgets and providing comprehensive threat protection and business value.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall's customer service is accessible and knowledgeable, though support quality varies due to language and documentation issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender support experiences vary; community platforms help, technical support is inconsistent, with level two proving effective.
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.
The technical support from Barracuda is very good.
Level two support is knowledgeable and knows how the product works, which is very good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall offers excellent scalability and management for various business sizes, though future capacity planning is advised.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is highly scalable, serving diverse businesses effectively, though costs may rise with increased users.
For SME and SMB partners, the scalability of the solution is really good.
If there were some customizations available, I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is highly reliable and stable, with effective support and improved performance, despite minor bugs and past issues.
Sentiment score
8.3
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence offers high reliability and performance, with occasional regional outages, comparable to Office 365 stability.
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.
It provides a high level of security and avoids phishing and scam emails.
 

Room For Improvement

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall suffers from complex usability, unclear manuals, limited reporting, challenging licensing, high pricing, and VPN issues.
Improving pricing, integration, stability, and support could enhance Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence's market accessibility and effectiveness.
It would be beneficial to merge the existing application policy with the main policy into a single unified policy to improve manageability.
Integration with AI would be helpful as modern attacks often utilize AI.
Some licensing aspects are challenging; for example, if you're using an active-passive setup, you have to license both firewalls.
Providing code customization would help keep pace with new vulnerabilities and threats.
 

Setup Cost

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is cost-effective with transparent licensing, offering significant savings and includes a four-year replacement program.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence offers cost-effective bundling with E5 licenses, beneficial for enterprises but challenging for SMEs preferring E3.
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.
 

Valuable Features

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall offers robust security and seamless integration, ideal for efficient network management with advanced features and centralized control.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence offers advanced detection, seamless integration, robust security, proactive monitoring, and effective zero-day vulnerability management.
This integration helps secure our data and applications from attackers trying to gain access and detect malicious activity.
The most valuable features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall include antivirus protection, anti-DDoS, and IPS.
The most valuable features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall are its next-generation capabilities such as URL filtering and application control.
One of the best features is that it provides a certain level of customization, allowing us to set our spam confidence levels.
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
19th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (25th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), IoT Security (6th), WAN Edge (11th)
Microsoft Defender Threat I...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Threat Intelligence Platforms (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (18th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is 0.7%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is 1.6%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

RobertSmith15 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Nim Nadarajah - PeerSpot reviewer
A native Microsoft solution the provides great ROI and continuously improves its offering
We have Microsoft bias. We generally don't have any significant negative feedback or improvement points around Defender, EDR and CMDR platforms. It does a good job across the board. The price point is something they can improve slightly for those who don't have an M 365 E5. I believe it's a $2.80 cents add-on. In Canadian, that's expensive. If they can drop it to a dollar, for those who don't have M 365 E5, they're going to open up market share and increase affordability for an entire market segment in the medium business category. Other than that, we have no major negative feedback.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Retailer
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
The encryption and the security standards are valuable.
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.
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 improved. The initial setup can also be complex because it involves navigating d...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
Some of the customization features could be improved by providing a portion of it as open source. This would allow integration with other solutions, enhancing Threat Intelligence. Providing code cu...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We are using Microsoft Defender ATP specifically as an email security solution, as well as for our critical servers as a web security solution. We have almost eleven hundred users utilizing it for ...
 

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. Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.