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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs Netgate pfSense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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
5.8
Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective, robust security, reducing expenses, enhancing efficiency, easy implementation, quick ROI, and improved network management.
Sentiment score
6.9
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall provides network protection with minimal upkeep, proactive threat blocking, centralized management, and cost-effective upgrades.
Sentiment score
5.5
Netgate pfSense provides high ROI by reducing hardware and licensing costs, enhancing reliability, and lowering support and maintenance expenses.
Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.
BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks
It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.
Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems
The centralized management and automation features have reduced manual monitoring efforts, saving our IT team several hours per week.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
If they can save their data from attackers then it would save them at least two days of not working plus the cost of recovery, which would be much more than the cost of the system and maintenance.
CEO at In.sist d.o.o.
Since the memory leak fixes, it's been incredibly stable and requires minimal maintenance.
Network Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees
In four years of using it, that payment of 189 dollars per year has already paid off.
L2 Systems Administrator at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is generally praised for responsiveness, though some users experience delays in critical situations.
Sentiment score
7.5
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall's support is praised for availability but criticized for inconsistency and complex interfaces needing frequent help.
Sentiment score
7.9
Netgate pfSense users often rely on forums, yet paid support is praised for its responsiveness and problem-solving expertise.
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.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
The support team is responsive and knowledgeable, assisting us promptly whenever we have faced configuration questions or technical issues.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
Barracuda's partner support is better than the majority, and it stands out as one of their strengths.
Product Manager - Cyber Security at M247 Ltd Miami
The overall security has been satisfactory, with no breaches.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
When I provide detailed information about the problem, they've been able to reply quickly with a solution or go research the problem and get back to us quickly with a fix.
NOC / Network Engineering Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
They are highly responsive.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
I couldn't imagine having better support.
Director of IT at Cutting Edge Hair Salon RSS
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiGate is scalable and popular for SMEs but requires careful design and may incur scaling costs and licensing constraints.
Sentiment score
7.7
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall efficiently scales for various deployments, offering flexibility and cloud features, though may lack some advanced features.
Sentiment score
6.5
Netgate pfSense offers exceptional scalability and performance, efficiently managing various environments with seamless hardware integration and virtualization.
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.
IT Manager at Daltons Limited
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.
Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
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.
General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo
Its flexible licensing and hybrid deployment options allow it to adapt to evolving network requirements, ensuring continuous security and reliable operations.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
When positioning into customers, some larger enterprise customers tend to move towards one of the top three: either Cisco, Fortinet, or Palo Alto.
Product Manager - Cyber Security at M247 Ltd Miami
If I put things into a certain context and say that we have a network that has around 100 people, then you don't put up a device that can manage 100 people. Instead, you need to get a device that can manage 150 to 200 people, and then you can create room for growth.
CTO at Vigon Business Solutions Limited
I don't think Netgate pfSense can offer much scalability for big enterprises.
Director at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Even with a jump from a 50 megabit to a 500 megabit internet connection and approximately 65 active VPN clients, our firewall operates smoothly without any strain.
IT Manager at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability, with effective long-term performance and improvements in newer firmware versions.
Sentiment score
8.2
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is praised for reliability, stability, minimal downtime, and effective technical support despite occasional bugs.
Sentiment score
7.0
Netgate pfSense is highly stable and reliable, with user-reported issues typically tied to hardware or outdated versions.
We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.
Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.
NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd
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.
CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Its robust infrastructure and real-time monitoring give us the confidence that our network remains secure and operational at all times.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
We have very few issues with Barracuda Firewall, even in the case of zero-day vulnerabilities.
Product Manager - Cyber Security at M247 Ltd Miami
Version 8.0 had issues, but the newer version 9.0 seems to have improved performance regarding these issues.
System Engineer for Network & Security at Projekt IP d.o.o.
I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.
Infrastructure and integration Architect at CommunityForce
I've noticed a substantial improvement in stability and ease of use for upgrades and patching over the past year or two.
Technical Sales Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When I replace consumer routers with pfSense for small businesses with two or three employees, they are often amazed to discover the router can run for a year without a reboot.
Partner and Owner at Free Range Geeks
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs enhanced UI, simplified licensing, improved performance, reporting, third-party integration, and expanded automation features.
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall needs improvements in GUI, VPN reliability, analytics, email categorization, support, and user-friendliness for better usability.
Netgate pfSense users seek improvements in interface, management, features, reporting, and third-party integration for enhanced usability.
These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The solution should be able to implement machine learning and analytics of all the logs for threat detection and protection.
Senior Systems Engineer at Caribbean Development Company
It would be better for customers to get immediate replacements even with a standard subscription.
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Integration with AI would be helpful as modern attacks often utilize AI.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
It would be beneficial to merge the existing application policy with the main policy into a single unified policy to improve manageability.
System Engineer for Network & Security at Projekt IP d.o.o.
One area that could be enhanced is the user interface, making it slightly more intuitive for new users.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
There is some trade-off between having a certain level of security and maintaining acceptable performance.
CEO at In.sist d.o.o.
If I need to go between different VLANs, I have VLAN 19.1 and VLAN 19.2, and I strictly use Netgate pfSense, but it doesn't route very efficiently and works quite slowly.
Information Security Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They should support the idea of configuration management as code from source code and provide a more robust API for managing the pfSense configuration.
Co-Owner at Steffi and Tim
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Fortinet FortiGate costly initially, but cheaper overall, despite some high renewal and setup costs.
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall offers reasonable pricing with a flexible, competitive model, plus perks like free hardware upgrades and easy purchasing.
Netgate pfSense offers enterprises cost-effective, open-source security with free software and optional, competitively-priced support subscriptions.
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.
Network & System Admin at Invoke Studios
It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.
IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1
It is about 20% cheaper.
Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX
Our experience with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pricing and licensing has been reasonable and transparent.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
The license price of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is lower than others, and maintenance or support is included.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
It is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive option available.
System Engineer for Network & Security at Projekt IP d.o.o.
The price of setup is approximately €500 to €800, which also includes the initial monitoring.
CEO at In.sist d.o.o.
The product is free of cost.
Director of Information Technology at MASFinancials
Opting for twenty-four-seven support significantly increases the price, reaching around ten thousand to thirteen hundred dollars.
IT Manager at Gandia Consulting Group
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate provides robust, flexible security solutions with key features like web filtering, SSL VPN, SD-WAN, and centralized management.
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall provides robust security, user-friendly management, and enhanced performance with features like VPN, TINA tunnels, and threat protection.
Netgate pfSense is a cost-effective, scalable, customizable firewall offering security, VPNs, traffic management, and strong community support.
These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.
Head IT at Burraq Cyber Security Solutions
The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring.
General Manager Group IT at DART GLOBAL LOGISTICS PTE. LTD.
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.
Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions
This integration helps secure our data and applications from attackers trying to gain access and detect malicious activity.
Product Manager - Cyber Security at M247 Ltd Miami
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.
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
The most valuable features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall include antivirus protection, anti-DDoS, and IPS.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
With pfSense, network configurations adhere to standard practices, facilitating troubleshooting without the need for complex overlays or policies.
IT Manager at Gandia Consulting Group
The price point is the most valuable aspect of the solution.
Director at InfoVale Ltd.
I like the tool's flexibility in the sense that you do not have to buy an appliance. You can put it on your own hardware, and it can be very simplistic hardware with simple configurations.
Information Security Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
580
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
34th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (14th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (24th), IoT Security (7th), WAN Edge (13th)
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
220
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.7%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 9.8%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate18.7%
Netgate pfSense9.8%
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall0.7%
Other70.8%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Muhammad Talha Bashir - PeerSpot reviewer
Offensive Security Analyst at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
Centralized security management has protected our hybrid network and supports secure remote work
Overall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is very effective, but there is always room for improvement. One area that could be enhanced is the user interface, making it slightly more intuitive for new users. Additionally, advanced reporting and analytics could be more customized to provide deeper insights. Despite this, the firewall performs reliably and meets most of our organizational needs. One additional improvement that could enhance the experience is faster troubleshooting support or more detailed guided documentation for complex configurations. While the firewall is reliable, having more step-by-step tutorials or video guidance could help new users set up and optimize. Overall, the enhancement would make the platform even more user-friendly without affecting its current strong performance.
MC
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
Provides visibility that enables users to make data-driven decisions
pfSense flexibility overall is pretty good. They are making some really big improvements. That said, they're a long way from enterprise. They advertise things that they don't have. I've worked for probably 30% of the Corporate 100, and they won't tolerate the high availability and it being as buggy as it is. The fact that if you configure it incorrectly without any visual indications that it's not done in the way Netscape does, then it will not only break the firewall, it will break both firewalls. The only way you can even try to recover is by getting new images from Netgate. You have to open up a tech support case, download the image for, then reimage the firewalls, and reapply your configuration. The fact that you can completely brick your firewalls just by having a configuration that they allow, and they don't even don't tell you there's a problem until they both go down. That's totally unacceptable in an enterprise. As a standalone firewall, they're excellent. As an enterprise, we're not touching it with a ten-foot pole. It’s difficult to configure and use add-on features. It's really easy to add them. On the website, they say “Oh, we do this, this, and this.” However, they do a lot through third-party add-ons. The problem is, if there's any problems at all, the very first thing they want you to do is disable those add-ons. So that's not really supporting anything. There are two ways that firewalls are viewed: talking to the firewall and talking through the firewall. If you're talking about “to the firewall,” then it's a very robust, very secure firewall. However, it doesn't have things that they claim helps with protecting data, most of it's third party. If you want to do all these things that are typically associated with enterprise-level firewalls, most of them are done by a third party. It's not actually cooked into their product. I like their OSPF. I wish it was more current. The only bugs that are in the OSPF are ones that have been known about for almost two years. Maybe they're they're victims of their own success. Their growth curve has outstripped their technical support and has outstripped their ability to develop. They're just growing so fast. They're trying to do everything. Updates from third parties can take too long. For example, if there's a problem with a package and no available update is available, you have to wait. Since it's via a third party, there's no definable schedule, as the update needs to come from a third-party open organization with no financial interest to make the process faster. Sometimes, there's more finger-pointing than resolution. In, OSPF, they give you lots of information. However, when it comes to hardcore troubleshooting of different routing zones or things like that, then you had to keep dropping down to the CLI in order to get it. And that's where your experience can change quite a bit. If you're running OSPF on Cumulus or some of the other big routing or switching solutions, then they're running much newer versions of it, which are all bug-patched and fixed. However, pfSense is running on an operating system that is not theirs. They don't necessarily have full control over it. When you get a real enterprise firewall, and when you hook up the redundancy, you expect redundancy to work and be predictable. And never ever will the redundancy crash your system. If you don't create the interfaces in the exact same order on both firewalls every single time, if so much as one interface is out of order, if the command line is different because of the way the operating system works, you will slowly corrupt your configuration to the point where it'll break.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business357
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise188
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business168
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

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As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
Our experience with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall pricing and licensing has been reasonable and transparent. The setup ...
What needs improvement with Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
Overall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is very effective, but there is always room for improvement. One area that could...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall?
My main use case for Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is for our network security and network traffic management. I rely o...
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I reco...
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What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Barracuda NextGen Firewall, Barracuda CloudGen Firewalls
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,853 professionals have used our research since 2012.