So many firewalls and, of course, each one is ‘the best’ one, so how do you choose? This 37-page downloadable report features reviews from hundreds of network security pros who have actually used the products in real-world situations. Credit: MF3d / Getty Images You know you need to protect your company from unauthorized or unwanted access. You need a network-security tool that examines the flow of packets in and out of the enterprise, governed by rules that decide whether that flow is safe, malicious or questionable and in need of inspection. You need a firewall. Recognizing that you need a firewall is the first – and most obvious — step. The next crucial step in the decision-making process is determining which firewall features and policies best-suit your company’s needs. Today’s enterprise firewalls must be able to secure an increasingly complex network that includes traditional on-premises data center deployments, remote offices and a range of cloud environments. Then you have to implement and test the firewall once it’s installed. Perhaps the only element more complex than configuring, testing and managing a next-generation firewall is the decision-making process regarding which product to trust with your enterprise security. IT Central Station Become an Insider member and download this free 37-page report on firewalls. Keeping firewall decisions real For real-world answers, turn to real users. That’s the goal of IT Central Station. It collects hundreds of real-user reviews from a community of enterprise technology professionals. You’ll find comparisons based on pricing, performance, features, stability and more. Download the free PDF report to see how security pros ranked the top firewalls and why. While it’s good news that you have dozens of options, that is also the bad news.The sheer volume of choices can make the decision daunting. To help, IT Central Station in its “Firewalls Buyer’s Guide and Reviews” report identifies 41 enterprise-level firewall vendors, many of whom offer multiple products. Its goal is to arm you with both knowledge of each product and first-hand experiences on how each performs in real-world environments based on hundreds of reviews it collects from a community of enterprise technology professionals. IT Central Station identifies and rates the top 10 products based on these KPIs: number of views, number of times a product is compared to another product, total number of reviews of a particular product on IT Central Station, number of followers on IT Central Station and average rating based on reviews. Listed in alphabetical order, here are the Top 10 Firewalls identified by IT Central Station: Barracuda NextGen Firewall Cisco ASA Fortinet FortiGate Juniper SRX Meraki MX Firewalls pfSense SonicWall TZ Sophos Cyberoam UTM Sophos UTM WatchGuard XTM To read the individual reviews and see how each of these 10 firewalls ranked, download the full 37-page report below: download IT Central Station: Firewalls Buyer’s Guide and Reviews Related content analysis What is a virtual machine, and why are they so useful? Many of today’s IT innovations have their roots in virtual machines (VM) and their ability to separate software from hardware. By Keith Shaw May 03, 2024 9 mins Virtualization Data Center Networking analysis What is DNS and how does it work? The Domain Name System resolves the names of internet sites with their underlying IP addresses, adding efficiency and security in the process. By Josh Fruhlinger and Keith Shaw May 03, 2024 11 mins Internet Networking news Appeal court overturns $1.6bn mainframe software ‘poaching’ ruling against IBM AT&T ‘independently decided” to replace BMC software, the appeals court found. By John Leyden May 03, 2024 1 min Mainframes news Cisco, Red Hat extend networking, AI integrations Cisco and Red Hat will demo new network product integrations and introduce AI validated designs at the upcoming Red Hat Summit 2024. By Michael Cooney May 03, 2024 4 mins Network Virtualization Cloud Computing Networking PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe