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Barracuda Web Security and Filtering vs SonicWall CFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Web Security and ...
Ranking in Web Content Filtering
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (27th)
SonicWall CFS
Ranking in Web Content Filtering
9th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Web Content Filtering category, the mindshare of Barracuda Web Security and Filtering is 8.3%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall CFS is 2.9%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Web Content Filtering
 

Featured Reviews

Wealie Antar - PeerSpot reviewer
It comes with useful policy creation features but needs to improve its outdated tech and poor support
Apart from that, considering other tier-one applications, like Next-Generation Firewall, they also have web security in-built within their appliances or applications. Barracuda is still lagging behind in features like that, so they need to update if they want to be in the top spot. Other features I'd like to see in Barracuda Features are ease-of-use for remote users. If you are a roaming user using an organization laptop, the organization has the right to apply the policy. When you are on-premises, you are opening the policy, not out-of-premises. The application that Barracuda Web Security Gateway provides is pretty clumsy and not very easy to work with, and they need to develop that. Either they provide a test platform that redirects the traffic or vice versa. Moreover, the database is pretty average. Barracuda needs to enhance the database to stop unsolicited traffic. Reporting also needs to be quicker than it is. Barracuda doesn't give you any flexibility to provide reports to higher management. Organizations like us need to do a lot of reporting. When we submit our quarterly report, other appliances allow us to customize or get the reports in a way Barracuda can't because it is rigid with its reporting. Barracuda needs to give users the flexibility to create their reports. The reports offered by the solution are just fine. Finally, acceleration. Right at this moment, most websites are dynamic. For example, organizational websites get updated once a month. If Barracuda can help reduce bandwidth usage and accelerate browsing performance by analyzing these sorts of sites and doing their catching technology work accordingly. Barracuda should also include DNSSEC, which offers strong protection for web security and is offered by competitors. Barracuda should also up their game for scanning and sandboxing. Likewise, their signatures need augmented intelligence or machine learning because you won't always be able to appraise things, and sometimes you have to go beyond that. You need to block it through its behavior.
DS
Reliable content filtering but need more traffic control
To deploy it as a proxy, we use this solution for content filtering, URL filtering, and solution filtering on the user end. When the user is connecting to the internet and should not access some social media website or malware sites, we can block it through SonicWall CFS. CFS is our content…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is very simple to use and implement."
"The ease of use. It's pretty easy to use and navigate the UI... to either block or whitelist a web address."
"I have found the most valuable the ability to have insight into our web traffic and control its flow."
"It is straightforward to deploy and manage."
"The support is fantastic."
"The most valuable features are Barracuda's policies for filtering various websites according to the organization's policies and blocking traffic for any P2P application like torrents."
"Barracuda Web Security and Filtering efficiently blocks phishing emails and provides flexible policy settings."
"I like that it does a lot of malicious content and is easy to manage. There are a lot of checkboxes, and you can add your own URLs or get it preconfigured."
"It is very stable."
 

Cons

"Considering other tier-one applications, like Next-Generation Firewall, they also have web security in-built within their appliances or applications. Barracuda is still lagging behind in features like that, so they need to update if they want to be in the top spot."
"Our problem is that it's a virtual appliance and we're moving to a new platform and, for whatever reason, we can't move it as it is... When we were migrating our virtual machines from the old to the new system, we determined rather quickly that it wouldn't migrate over."
"Considering other tier-one applications, like Next-Generation Firewall, they also have web security in-built within their appliances or applications. Barracuda is still lagging behind in features like that, so they need to update if they want to be in the top spot."
"The price could be better."
"Barracuda products are cheap."
"This solution is substantially more expensive than the competitors out there, including Titan HQ or Limecast."
"They need to provide a Sandbox to safely examine phishing links within emails without infecting our network. Also, I would like more end-to-end email tracing for a clearer understanding of why an email was blocked or not blocked."
"The AD agent is an issue which my customers and I have encountered. Sometimes it refuses to start and, only as time goes by, does it become apparent that things are not working the way they should."
"Malware, scanning, capture, and integration should be included with the content filtering."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The price could be better. Barracuda started adding more features at the end of 2022. There was no price increase if you bought the maintenance package before the end of 2022. If you signed a three-year contract, you are lucky because there won't be a price increase on those features. Their pricing has increased if you wanted to install all of their features. But they are segmenting. You can buy the whole group, or you can get pieces. But it's tedious. The cost is getting higher than it should."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"The pricing and licensing are comparatively reasonable."
"Barracuda products are cheap."
"Licensing is on a yearly basis and the pricing is very reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda Web Security Gateway?
The solution is very simple to use and implement.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Web Security Gateway?
They need to provide a Sandbox to safely examine phishing links within emails without infecting our network. Also, I would like more end-to-end email tracing for a clearer understanding of why an e...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Web Security Gateway?
Mainly, I use it for blocking suspicious emails, such as malware or phishing emails, so they don't pass through our email gateway and reach my colleagues' mailboxes.
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Also Known As

Barracuda Web Security Gateway, Barracuda Web Filter
SonicWall Content Filtering Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Citizen Farmers Finance, Osoyoos Credit Union, Supreme Services, Camden County Technical Schools, Frederick County Schools, Pine Belt Mental Healthcare, Paulsboro Public Schools, Dysart Unified School District, St. Michael's Grammar School, Southfield Schools District, Total Threat Protection - Wade Ford, Alain Pinel Realtors, Southfield Public Schools, Major League Baseball (MLB)
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Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint, TitanHQ, iboss and others in Web Content Filtering. Updated: April 2025.
850,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.