Likelihood to Recommend 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.
Read full review Webroot, an OpenText company
If you already have Webroot AV, it makes sense to continue with the same vendor. It's pretty cheap compared to some solutions, so it might be the case that it's this or nothing, in which case this is a no brainer. If you are an MSP, this is an easy product to sell, and requires very little maintenance. you do need to monitor it but it runs itself most of the time. If you are a customer with >50 users, you should really be looking for a product that is a bit higher up the food chain
Read full review Pros 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. Read full review Webroot, an OpenText company
Enforcing organisational policies regarding internet usage, such as blocking access to certain types of websites (e.g., gambling, social networking, etc.) Prevent malware infections Protection from various phishing attempts Read full review Cons 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 Webroot, an OpenText company
Integration with G-Suite, O365, Active Directory, SIS, etc. Increase the number of third-party integrations. It can be expensive to implement, depending on the size of the network. It does not offer additional features and options beyond basic protection. Read full review Usability 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 Webroot, an OpenText company
Support Rating 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.
Read full review Webroot, an OpenText company
Alternatives Considered 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 Webroot, an OpenText company
Webroot stacks right up with the top vendors in this tier. Priced right and MSP ready.
Read full review Return on Investment 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. Read full review Webroot, an OpenText company
Much reduced time spent on malware issues at small business customers Slightly increased revenue as this fills a space that didn't used to exist in our stack Customers satisfaction went up due to the added ability to block certain content quickly and easily Read full review ScreenShots Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Screenshots