Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs Fortinet FortiADC comparison

Barracuda Networks and Fortinet are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.0, while Fortinet is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.9. Barracuda Networks holds a 1.3% mindshare in ADC, compared to Fortinet’s 9.9% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Fortinet users who would recommend it.

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Read 5 Barracuda Load Balancer ADC reviews

519 Views
503 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiADC

Read 24 Fortinet FortiADC reviews

4,490 Views
3,188 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Fortinet FortiADC

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC and Fortinet FortiADC are competitors in application delivery and security. Fortinet FortiADC has an edge in features and perceived value, while Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is preferred for support and pricing.

Features: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC provides strong security features, SSL offloading, and traffic optimization. Fortinet FortiADC includes web application firewalls, advanced threat protection, and a broad feature set that often benefits strategic enterprise deployments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiADC allows flexibility and easy integration within multiple environments, paired with responsive customer service. Barracuda Load Balancer ADC offers straightforward deployment with robust technical support for a seamless implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is competitively priced with straightforward ROI calculations. Fortinet FortiADC has a higher initial cost but provides strong ROI through its comprehensive features, making it attractive to businesses valuing extensive features over initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC

July 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

Fortinet FortiADC

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 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 Fortinet FortiADC is 9.9%, up from 8.4% 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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OusaidAbaz

Security Network Architect at Inmac

Integrates load balancing efficiently within existing technology environments

FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms. It allows for the creation of virtual IPs and applying various algorithms for traffic management. Although it offers fewer algorithms than competing platforms like F5, its capability to manage load balancing makes it valuable. The security features depend on the environment, relying on firewalls like FortiGate.

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

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

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

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

"Because ADC is the intermediary between the servers and the end-user application, it gives thorough information about the traffic, what the problem is."

"The most valuable feature is its simplicity."

"I like the solution's load balance with DNS intelligence."

"TSL and SSL offloading are both very good features."

"It helps with defining server load balancing tasks and managing SSL certificates, ensuring the communication flow through the Fortinet gateway."

"Simple to use and easy to integrate."

"The solution provides high-level services such as availability, redundancy, and load balancing between servers."

"The solution enhances performance by efficiently balancing the load across multiple backend servers."

More Fortinet FortiADC 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."

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

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

"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."

"Fortinet has some drawbacks, and it can be a bit challenging to scale."

"I had a terrible experience with Fortinet support. I only used support once when I bought the solution. I got no response for two days. However, I believe that it's no longer the case. Fortinet solutions have problems when they're launched. For example, we had issues with Fortinet's authenticator when it came out. We also had trouble with FortiNAC in the beginning."

"The user interface could be more friendly and CLI could be more like that of Fortigate."

"The solution's WAF needs an upgrade because it is not as good as FortiWeb, VMware, F5, or Imperva."

"I think it would be helpful if Fortinet put more video examples on their cookbook site."

"If I need design help, they do not assist; they say it is a design issue they cannot support, and I must approach the system integrator."

"The solution needs to integrate sFlow. sFlow provides better visualization of the bandwidth and types of traffic passing through the device. When used in the traffic path, this information can be really useful."

"Though FortiADC is useful, I'd appreciate more user-friendly features and in-depth insights into network activity, like detailed logs and AI-driven feedback for optimization."

More Fortinet FortiADC 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."

"Our basic license excludes features such as antivirus and IDS. Due to license limitations, some functionalities are not configured."

"I believe the price is good. It's fair. There are no extra costs."

"The solution could be more cost-effective."

"They offer a perpetual license."

"The product has average pricing. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."

"Compared to F5, FortiADC pricing is better."

"I rate Fortinet FortiADC's pricing one out of ten. It is fixed."

"The solution is less expensive than F5 or Imperva and is the most reasonably priced option available."

More Fortinet FortiADC pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Educational Organization

Retailer

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Educational Organization

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

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Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?

For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.

See all answers

Do you recommend Fortinet FortiADC?

I recommend Fortinet FortiADC. My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. Our company has been using it for around five years. We mainly use FortiADC for the load balancing of application ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiADC?

The user interface is very easy and integrates with Sandbox easily.

See all answers

Comparisons

NetScaler vs Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Compared 39% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Compared 27% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Compared 12% of the time

HAProxy vs Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

Compared 12% of the time

More Barracuda Load Balancer ADC Competitors

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Fortinet FortiADC

Compared 27% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Fortinet FortiADC

Compared 24% of the time

NetScaler vs Fortinet FortiADC

Compared 12% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs Fortinet FortiADC

Compared 8% of the time

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs Fortinet FortiADC

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiADC Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

June 2025

Download Barracuda Load Balancer ADC product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiADC

April 2025

Download Fortinet FortiADC product report

Also Known As

Barracuda Load Balancer

FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC

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.

Barracuda Networks

Fortinet FortiADC is a robust application delivery controller (ADC) that delivers application optimization, application security, and application availability. FortiADC is a valued offering from Fortinet, which is widely recognized as a trusted supplier of dynamic security solutions worldwide. FortiADC offers dynamic security functions (AV, DDoS, and WAF) in addition to advanced application connectors for a simplified deployment and complete transparency to an organization's networks and applications. FortiADC offers three primary deployment options: physical machine, virtual machine, (VM) and cloud solution options.

Fortinet FortiADC Benefits

FortiADC security protocol: FortiADC integrates with FortiSandbox to improve the overall antivirus security protections where every file is scanned for known and unknown malicious risks. If a file is identified as malicious or problematic, it will be blocked in the future.
SSL protocol: FortiADC securely uses the most up-to-date cryptography to provide exceptional encryption and decryption using a hardware-based SSL ASIC. FortiADC offers complete transparency to inspect all traffic for threats, improves server response time, and reduces backend server load, SSL inspection and SSL offloading. FortiADC integrates seamlessly with Gemalto’s SafeNet Hardware Security Module (HSM).
FortiADC connectors: FortiADC Fabric Connectors offer open API-based integration and coordination with numerous software-defined networks (SDNs), third-party partners, and cloud management providers. Fortinet Fabric Connectors provide deep open and turnkey integration with recognized third-party vendors such as AWS, K8s, OCI, and SAP, in multi-vendor solutions, improving scalability, simplified management, and automation.
Business stability: FortiADC load balancing for on-premise global server load balancing (GSBL) and in the cloud (FortiGSBL Cloud) will ensure users can maintain a reliable and available network by improving the ability of scaling applications throughout numerous data centers to reduce application response times and enhance disaster recovery. Users are able to define protocols based on network latency concerns, overall data performance, and site availability.

Fortinet FortiADC Features

Application availability
- 4-7 application load balancing: DNS, HTTPS, RTMP, RADIUS, MySQL and more
- External fabric connectors: Splunk Integration, AWS/OCI Connector, Kubernetes Service.
- Security fabric connectors: FortiSIEM, Fortigate BanIP Integration, FortiAnalyzer, and more.
- Deployment modes: High availability (AA/AP Failover), Router mode, transparent mode (switch), one-arm mode (proxy with X-forwarded for support.
Web application firewall (WAF)
- Security services: Captcha support, cookie support, HTTP header security, XML/SOAP/JSON validation, CSRF protection, API gateway, and more.
- Application security: Web attack signature, bot detection, web vulnerability scanner, OWASP Top-10 Wizard, API protection and more.

Application enhancement
- HTTP and TCP improvement: TCP buffering, HTTP compressions/decompression, HTTP caching (dynamic and static objects), Bandwidth monitoring using quality of service (QoS), TCP buffering, and more.
- Authentication offloading: Two-factor authentication (Fortitoken/Fortitoken Cloud and Google Authentication), NTLM, AUTH2.0, SAML 2.0 (SP and Idp) RADIUS, LDAP, Kerbos, and local.
- Networking: Integration with Ansible, Cisco ACI, OpenStack and Nutanix, NVGRE and VXLAN support, VLAN and port trunking support, IPv6 Support (SLB, firewall, routing and interfaces), Dynamic NAT, Hide NAT, Static NAT for added scalability and flexibility.
- Management: Syslog support, SNMP using private MIBs with threshold-based traps. REST APIs, VDOMS, data analytics, real-time monitoring graphs, role-based monitoring, intuitive reporting, FortiView integration, and more.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Fenwal Blood Technologies

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC

July 2025

Free Report: Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC

Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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