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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software vs. Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/ABarracuda CloudGen Firewalls provides a wide range of security and connectivity features, including web filtering, NAC and SSL VPN and other features for remote access, as well as protection as edge devices and IoT security.N/A

    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the core OS for the ASA suite. It provides firewall functionality, as well as integration with context-specific Cisco security modules. It is scaled for enterprise-level traffic and connections.N/A

    Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers wireless LAN.N/A
    Pricing
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Free Trial
    YesNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsBarracuda offers prospective buyers a build and quote tool on their website.——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Considered Multiple Products
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    Chose Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Our Cisco firewall was always difficult to make any changes against. It had no user-friendly GUI interface. We were calling technical support most of the time whenever we needed to make any changes. The Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has a GUI interface which we are looking …
    Incentivized
    Chose Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    There really is no comparison. Juniper and Sonicwall are the closest competitors, however, in terms of features versus price Barracuda wins every time. Cisco does not allow the ASA to do certain things it should be allowed to do, it is design flaws but they have no intention of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    We used a much alder Cisco ASA router that was chocking our bandwidth and it couldn’t really be compared. It was clunky and horrible at best. Our WatchGuard was overly complicated and difficult to manage and required a version matching thick client installed locally to manage …
    Incentivized
    Chose Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    What sold us on Barracuda was the ease of use, the price based on number of features, and their excellent support. We cannot say enough good about the support Barracuda provides.
    Incentivized
    Chose Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Barracuda, much like the others, has a lot to learn in order to master for quick deployment and management. The biggest separation is the level of customization that is possible. Barracuda support definitely goes above and beyond over the competitors.
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Cisco has made it easy to buy, set up, and manage all of our firewalls with the central FirePower Management Center. All licensing is done via one license portal too. Tech support is standardized for all ASA devices and like support engineers who know the different models to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    I am a freelancer consultant so I use lots of firewalls. I recommended Cisco ASA to my client and asked him to replace pfSense because pfSense is not easy firewall. Options are very different and commands are very tricky. Lots of options are not available. But ASA is better …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    The Palo Alto firewalls do a decent job of packet forwarding, but the GUI is slow and cumbersome.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    We actually went with the Palo Alto firewalls in most sites, and are using the Palo Alto to replace the classic ASAs; however, there was one location where cost was a major issue so we decided to go with the X-series ASA. We spent a few thousand dollars (though only the L4 …
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    I have not had any experience with any other type of controller.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    87%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    64 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    42 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    56 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    65 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    57 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
    Features
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Feature
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    9.5
    11 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    8.9
    50 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies9.710 Ratings7.932 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools8.510 Ratings8.031 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection9.49 Ratings8.433 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls9.810 Ratings8.446 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP9.611 Ratings8.448 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.611 Ratings9.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging9.411 Ratings8.949 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN9.710 Ratings10.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability9.99 Ratings9.649 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection9.88 Ratings10.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server9.04 Ratings9.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.9
    (15 ratings)
    9.0
    (88 ratings)
    9.2
    (89 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.1
    (4 ratings)
    8.3
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (26 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.7
    (8 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.5
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallCisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    I would say a small business with a basic firewall and security needs would be a perfect fit for the Barracuda CloudGen firewall. I know that they soon end up leaving the NG models and are moving forward with the F series firewall. I think the F series is a much more difficult to manage device and doesn’t offer simplistic configuration or use and lacks cloud control so I don’t understand the move on Barracuda’s part to nix a great easy to manage the firewall. I do think that the NG line is maybe too simple for bigger businesses and would lack some main features that they would require.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Cisco ASA's are great for internal network connected access between a firewall and the central management server. And, for complex networks where high security requirements with overly strict compliance are necessary. For networks with limited connectivity to the core or for poor network connectivity these are not the best solution. There are other more stand-alone firewall's that do this better. These firewall's are a little more complex to set up to start with so significant knowledge of these devices is required to set them up and ensure they are best practice installed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    I believe that Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are well suited for the enterprise environment for medium sized to very large companies. While there are smaller WLC appliances for smaller sized businesses, a case can be made for simpler or more cost effective wireless licensing solutions (e.g. Cisco Meraki). Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are extremely well suited for dense deployments like stadiums, arenas, hospitals, theaters, and large offices because of their ability to support a large number of APs with a very diverse technology feature set.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • The management software is excellent. It make it much easier to manage the firewalls than some of the other vendors.
    • Watching real-time traffic is easy to do when trying to troubleshoot a users issues getting to a particular service.
    • Support from Barracuda has been excellent. We rate their phone and online remote support as being the best in the business.
    • We like the QoS and Traffic shaping of the NG Firewalls. They help is manage our limited bandwidth, so that business critical resources are available over lesser critical resources.
    • Integration with Active Directory makes it easy to identify users activities in logs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • ASA is our VPN concentrator. The client and server are very stable and very easy to use
    • ASA also offers Intrusion Prevention, to an extent. This is also very useful for an improved security posture for a small company
    • ASA allowed us to scale very quickly. We could onboard clients, partners, and consultants and give them a great onboarding experience as well
    • Administrative costs with ASA are low. It's very easy to administer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • The cisco wireless controller allows for very granular access to internal and external systems.
    • The system allows for allowing special needs uses (medical, security, guest) very easy.
    • The system allows for various levels of bandwidth to a variety of users.
    • The security, flexibility and ease of use is phenomenal.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • Very complex and steep learning curve to get up to speed.
    • Multiple ways to configure for the same service or feature. Takes time to determine "your" customized build.
    • Interface can sometimes be clunky when trying to determine how it's organized or arranged. Again, steep learning curve.
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • The ASDM software is at times a nightmare to install because of different java versions[.]
    • [The firewall] could do with a power button, just to be able to do a hard reboot when needed[.]
    • It would be nice to manage the firewall via the web on port 443[.]
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Configuring wireless settings is very confusing because various settings are scattered all over the interface in different tabs
    • Lots of settings use Cisco's technical verbiage rather than common phrasing, so it's confusing what a lot of settings will do and requires researching the meaning before modifying the setting
    • The interface could be easier to use to do simple tasks such as reboot an access point
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    To be honest there has been now great products out in the market compared to Cisco ASA. I beleieve Cisco has to do a lot of improvement in this area. The other defeiniete factors is the cost when it comes to renewals which is always a premium on Cisco products
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Although it is a very good product, support is easy and can manage by Level 1 support persons and downtime is too much less but still there is a cost factor matters which is consider by each organization. Furthermore, organizations also compare with other competitors so it is hard to pursue and defend the high prices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    Easy enough to use and configure using the management UI. Reporting from the web filter is a little clunky, and not very user friendly. To be perfectly honest, once it's set up and running, there isn't a lot to do from the day-to-day side of things, which is not a bad thing.
    Read full review
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    As I said before, the only thing we miss in our old model is the fact that the management interface never received an improvement in design. It has the same look and feels since it was launched. It's not that it's hard to use. It's just the case of could be modernized.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I generally have not noticed the outages, however since it's a machine it can malfunction, we need to implement the firewall infrastructure in such a way that it is highly available with device failure, region failure etc. Else any solution will be having the issues if they are not build with resiliency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    Downtime fear is the first fear which IT persons look and want to eliminate as much as they can but eventually you have to face it as nothing is perfect. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you can get the best up time. now it also depends on scenario as well as environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you get the better uptime. if your get the uptime then it means its a stable product in your environment. Product performance also depends on the product management and Cisco Wireless Lan controller management is easy so you can get the great output.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    I could go on and on about how good Barracuda's support really is. I have yet to have a problem they didn't help me fix and I always learn something when talking with them. The story that best describes my overall experience with Barracuda's support is this: When I first put in the xSeries they had a problem with a policy route. There was a bug in the code and in the one situation I was it, it just would not work. I went up the levels of support and they couldn't fix it. Well, next thing I know I am on the phone with 2 of the guys that programmed the thing and they work out the solution in no time and get me going. That is support. That is what I have come to expect from Barracuda. If the tech on the phone doesn't know the answer, they do not stop until they find it. Grant it, I also have to admit I do not call support with every problem, I try to work it out on my own first as that is how I learn best, so when I do call support it is going to be complicated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    The support is usually very good and gets back to you very quickly. However I had some instances of when two engineers will give me wildly different answers to what I thought was a simple question. Overall however I do rate the support highly and they are generally always very good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    As usual, the support from Cisco's TAC (Technical Assistance Center) is lacking. Granted, they always get the job done, but the amount of lead time on a non-emergency is enough to make you just handle it yourself. The good news is that if you ask for Cisco's assistance and forget about it, they'll jump on by the time you've forgotten where you were in troubleshooting it and have it fixed for you.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It was quite a good one, how ever requires an expertise to deploy hence the SMB segment would be finding it difficult to implement this product. The one good reason is that there are lot of ASA certified engineers in compared to the other certified engineers. Hence this resembles positively on the deployment as you have quite a lot of experienced engineer on your deployment
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Originally, when we deployed our first controller it was on a very limited basis. We only deployed it to our administration building and our High School. It was pretty straight forward. Because this was new to us we leaned heavily on our Cisco partner to assist us. With our last upgrade, we upgraded the controllers, added redundancy and expanded the building count along with new SSID's and restrictions. It went much easier, but again, we did rely on Cisco TAC and our partner to clarify and assist as needed. Having already been familiar with the product help tremendously.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    Our Cisco firewall was always difficult to make any changes against. It had no user-friendly GUI interface. We were calling technical support most of the time whenever we needed to make any changes. The Barracuda CloudGen Firewall has a GUI interface which we are looking forward to getting better acquainted with as we move off of our old Cisco. Of course, Barracuda's technical support is always there and is top notch!
    Read full review
    Cisco
    We were using [pfSense] before in our environment but we regularly facing difficulties over it due to software bugs & downtime. After implementing Cisco ASA, it resolved our availability issue & provides us a reliable solution with the best security features & easy to understand GUI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    The Aironet access points are used for employee WiFi access, and they integrate well with Meraki. They would offer a separate guest network, too, but the decision was made to physically separate the guest network, so even if a bad actor would gain access to the ethernet port of the AP, they'd still not see any company traffic.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    Cisco is a brand name and people trust on it. if any one thing about the networking then Cisco is among those brand which is count as trusted brand and people rely on it. Also it support is good so people can use it. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are easy to use and manage so it requires less effort.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    • We saved multiple thousands of dollars the first year out with the firewall in maintenance fees. We paid for the firewall and 3 years of service and still saved money.
    • The ease of management allows me to do my job more efficiently. I save a lot of time when doing my day to day job because I can get to my firewall virtually anywhere.
    • I feel a lot safer and my business more secure knowing that I have configured things the way they need to be and it was simple and not overly complicated.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • Most network engineers have worked with ASA, so there is no need for re-training when adding or turning over staff
    • Current configs from older devices plug in easily, and are operational on larger devices if an upgrade is required
    • Many support options available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • We have had our [Cisco Wireless LAN Controller] 5508s for a very long time now and although they are getting dated, they have earned us our money's worth with consistency, stability, and ease of use. Users have minimal wireless complaints and when they do seldom are they WLC-related.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Screenshots

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