Top 10 Best-Selling SMB Network Security Firewall Products
In general, a computer appliance is a computing device with a specific function and limited configuration ability, and a software appliance is a set of computer programs that might be combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) for it to run optimally on industry standard computer hardware or in a virtual machine.
A firewall appliance is a combination of a firewall software and an operating system that is purposely built to run a firewall system on a dedicated hardware or virtual machine. These include:
- embedded firewalls: very limited-capability programs running on a low-power CPU system,
- software-based firewall appliances: a system that can be run in independent hardware or in a virtualised environment as a virtual appliance
- hardware-based firewall appliances: a firewall appliance that runs on a hardware specifically built to install as a network device, providing enough network interfaces and CPU to serve a wide range of purposes. From protecting a small network (a few network ports and few megabits per second throughput) to protecting an enterprise-level network (tens of network ports and gigabits per second throughput).
The following table lists different firewall appliances lists.
Firewall | License | Cost | OS |
---|---|---|---|
Check Point | Proprietary | Included on Check Point security gateways |
Proprietary operating system Check Point IPSO and Gaia (Linux-based) |
FortiGate | Proprietary | Included on all Fortigate devices |
Proprietary, FortiOS |
Palo Alto Networks | Proprietary | Included on Palo Alto Networks firewalls |
Proprietary operating system PANOS |
WatchGuard | Proprietary | Included on all WatchGuard firewalls |
Proprietary operating system |
Sophos | Proprietary | Included on Sophos UTM | Linux-based appliance |
Cisco Asa Firepower | Proprietary | Included on all CISCO ASA devices |
Proprietary operating system |
Cisco PIX | Proprietary | Included on all CISCO PIX devices |
Proprietary operating system |
Mcafee Firewall | Proprietary | Included on Intel Security Appliance | Linux-based appliance |
Juniper SSG | Proprietary | Included on Netscreen security gateways |
Proprietary operating system ScreenOS |
Juniper SRX | Proprietary | Included on SRX security gateways |
Proprietary operating system Junos |
Sonicwall | Proprietary | Included on Dell appliance | Proprietary operating system SonicOs |
Barracuda Firewall | Proprietary | Included Firewall Next Generation appliance | Windows-based appliance embedded firewall distribution |
Cyberoam | Proprietary | Included Firewall Sophos appliance | Windows-based appliance embedded firewall distribution |
D-Link | Proprietary | Included Firewall DFL | Windows-based appliance embedded firewall distribution |
Endian Firewall | Proprietary | Free / Paid | Linux-based appliance |
Opendium Iceni | Proprietary | Free / Paid | Linux-based, with optional web filtering / auditing. |
IPCop | GPL | Free / Paid | Linux-based appliance firewall distribution |
pfSense | ESF/BSD | Free / Paid | FreeBSD-based appliance firewall distribution |
IPFire | GPL | Free / Paid | Linux/NanoBSD-based appliance firewall distribution |
Untangle | GPL | Free / Paid | Linux/NanoBSD-based appliance firewall distribution |
Zeroshell | GPL | Free / Paid | Linux/NanoBSD-based appliance firewall distribution |
SmoothWall | GPL | Free / Paid | Linux-based appliance embedded firewall distribution |
WinGate | GPL | Free / Paid | Windows-based appliance embedded firewall distribution |
Calyptix Security | BSD | Free | OpenBSD-based appliance firewall distribution |
Halon Security | BSD | Free | OpenBSD-based appliance |
Vantronix | BSD | Free | OpenBSD-based appliance |