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Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall

    Score9.4 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

    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AF5 Networks provides BIG-IP Access Policy Manager as an identity and access solution which can be deployed as a standalone solution or as an add-on to F5 Networks' flagship BIG-IP TLM or F5 Advanced WAF applications.N/A
    Pricing
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level 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 FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Considered Both Products
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    F5
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    20 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    Features
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Feature
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    9.5
    11 Ratings
    10% above category average
    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies9.710 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools8.510 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection9.49 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls9.810 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP9.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging9.411 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN9.710 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability9.99 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection9.88 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Virtual Private Network
    Comparison of Virtual Private Network features of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Feature
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    9.2
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    AES 256-bit Encryption00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Kill Switch00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Multi-Platform Support00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Simultaneous Connections00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Customer Support Services00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
    Score9.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    8.6
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Barracuda CloudGen FirewallF5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
    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
    F5
    I think that the platform is well suited to many Remote Access VPN solutions, but I also think there is a lot of room for improvement on the backend. If you are hoping to deploy your APM solution across many different datacenters or colos, it may not be the best choice for the final solution.
    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
    F5
    • SAML 2.0 identity federation support.
    • Integrates with third-party SSO solutions.
    • Bridging modern authentication and authorization (SAML, OAuth/OIDC) and classic authentication and authorization methods.
    • Policy routing
    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
    F5
    • There's some more advanced configurations within OAuth that I think could be fleshed out and easier to approach.
    • There's a lot of things in F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager policies that I find myself recreating every policy. An easier way to copy objects from one to policy to another.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Barracuda Networks Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    F5
    Integration with F5 BIG-IP systems that we plan to keep using for a while.
    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
    F5
    If F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager usability is fine it's not hard to use if you read the documentation but it does feel dated and could use a responsive design update to modernize user interface to current standards.
    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
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    F5
    No answers on this topic
    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
    F5
    It is open platform so support is not good and than F5 and features visibility as not good as F5. F5 Set up and easy to use to admin console. Also have more feature visibility for load balancing, web server accelerator, application server ddos protection and WAF. F5 more efficient to handle concurrent request.
    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
    F5
    • Simplified our approach to company-wide VPN solutions greatly by allowing us to use a single product instead of multiple products like we had before
    • Can handle 15000-20000 users at once with no issues
    • Was able to configure to support users travelling with 4G connections on their laptops and accommodate constant changing IP addresses
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot