Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. ExpressVPN

The firewalls management is made easy through its very good management software. It has a lot of features such as VPN, ATP, IPS, Real-time log views, Active Directory integration, Virus Scanning of traffic / file downloads, High Availability Failover, Qos / Traffic Shaping, and a nice quick glance dashboard.

Incentivized

ExpressVPN is well suited to access APIs or web pages which are restricted to certain locations. This enables teams in other locations to connect using a VPN and access these resources for testing purposes. ExpressVPN is also supported on mobile so you can access these resources from a mobile when you are away from your desk.

Incentivized

• Increased level of network protection against threats.
• Visibility and control of applications that users access.
• URL Filtering to block unauthorized or prohibited websites on the internal corporate network.
• Protection against diverse malware at the edge of the network.
• Firewall redundancy with another backup appliance.

Incentivized

• ExpressVPN was easy to install, and simple to connect to a VPN network.
• ExpressVPN is available for multiple platforms and multiple browsers.
• The price is reasonable for the added level of security it provides.

Incentivized

• 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.

• I would like the disconnect to be instantaneous. It is not.

Incentivized

It's efficient and useful at what it does.

Incentivized

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.

I give it a 5 because it's literally 50/50. I think some years ago, ExpressVPN had a very good product, they were smaller I think and more responsive to the needs of end users. I'm not sure what went wrong, but somewhere along the way it went from amazing to meh. So it's not the worst possible VPN, but it seems like they're running with half their brain tied behind their back.

Incentivized

More or less above average

Incentivized

They are very quick to answer the phone and I think I haven’t waited more than 5 minutes in the queue and if you have to hang up they actually call you back when it’s your turn in line. They have a secure tunnel that you can open for them to get into your device and help you with basically anything. It’s pretty magical if you ask me.

Incentivized

Never used the support

Incentivized

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 the firewall. The Barracuda solved a bunch of issues from both of these devices and allows me to really save time and money with its easy to configure the interface and inexpensive yet quality device and interface allow me to feel like I am getting a great value for my security.

Incentivized

nord was a player, too, but we buy both nord and expressvpn now. we have tried sort of a hodge-podge of all the typical commercial vendors out there. If I Was to compare them all, they'd all be approximately a rating of "meh", 50-50. I'm not a fan of any. We also tried self-hosting vpn's but that requires local tech staff we don't want to have to focus on having.

Incentivized

Excellently well engineered.

Incentivized

• Really neutral given we came from the x series. The move to the x series was a huge positive in terms of time spent managing and the ability to get what needed to be done, well done. The move to the NG was just the next step.
• I will say the one thing, in terms of value, that is given is the firewall admin application. This one program saves a ton of time in configuration versus using the web-based configuration. You can only pick one, and for me, it's a no brainer - turn the web-based config off and use the app.

Incentivized

• My customers are happy that I am using every security measure available. Increased sales.
• Productivity has not decreased, while security level has increased.
• The initial cost was reasonable.

Incentivized