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Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs Fortinet FortiADC comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Load Balancer ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Barracuda Load Balancer ADC is 2.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiADC is 9.7%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiADC9.7%
Barracuda Load Balancer ADC2.2%
Other88.1%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

MB
Network and Security Engineer at Malam Engineering PLC
Balances loads efficiently and saves costs but could improve initial setup
The typical use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC involves managing and distributing network traffic efficiently to maintain system performance. Clients use Barracuda Load Balancer ADC for its ability to handle and balance loads across servers I have seen improvements in Barracuda Load…
GANESAN K - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Has supported load balancing for medical applications and could benefit from more custom configuration options
Some customers need custom management for handling their applications across the servers. Instead of having a predefined solution, if we had space for custom-based algorithms to load balance the traffic, it would be better. We have faced such cases with A10, where we can leverage many custom scripts and do much more. Even though A10 primarily focuses on SMBs, they have also ventured into the enterprise market. Fortinet has been a pioneer for enterprise solutions, such as firewalls, SASE, ZTNA, and SD-WAN solutions, and they are in a leader quadrant. Therefore, they should have more options. From a pricing perspective, it is expensive.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The Barracuda solution has improved the way we function by consolidating threat management and network optimization in one standalone appliance."
"The most useful features in Barracuda Load Balancer are its security capabilities, load balancing efficiency, and scalability."
"I would rate the stability of Barracuda Load Balancer as a ten out of ten; it has high stability."
"The price is very good, and it's not very expensive."
"The solution is simple and powerful. I find the Barracuda Load Balancer ADC's load balancing function most valuable. It balances the traffic well. The security features, like the Web Application Firewall, are also very helpful."
"Barracuda's technical support is good - whenever we have an issue, they immediately connect and resolve it."
"The solution provides high-level services such as availability, redundancy, and load balancing between servers."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL offloading capacity."
"FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms."
"The solution enhances performance by efficiently balancing the load across multiple backend servers."
"Ultimately, Fortinet constructs every solution needed for each defense layer, making it comparatively better than Trellix, Trend Micro, or SentinelOne."
"TSL and SSL offloading are both very good features."
"Customer service is excellent."
"Although FortiADC has multiple features that I like, the global DNS is the most helpful. It is primarily useful for customers with huge environments and at least two data centers. FortiADC can act as your DNS server. It can check which data center has the lowest latency, and route traffic to that one. It's an intelligent DNS."
 

Cons

"Load Balancer ADC is competitively priced, but it's not feature-rich, and its technology is not that advanced."
"The Barracuda Load Balancer ADC could be improved with more customization features. For example, F5 uses iRules for custom configurations. I haven't found something similar in Barracuda yet. The load balancer and WAF's basic and common features are enough, but we need more customization options."
"We find with WAN optimization it’s a bit unstable but we don't use it for that."
"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."
"The quality of the solution's performance could be improved."
"There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic."
"The solution should improve finding false positives and false negatives. There are a lot of false positives."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
"FortiADC is complex to configure so the interface should be improved."
"I think it would be helpful if Fortinet put more video examples on their cookbook site."
"Because it is so generic, the documentation requires special attention. A person who has not worked on Fortinet FortiADC or a similar product will struggle to understand what the document is trying to say. The documentation could be more specific, and more detailed."
"The product’s price could be reduced. Also, some of its features need to be more advanced."
"Some customers need custom management for handling their applications across the servers. Instead of having a predefined solution, if we had space for custom-based algorithms to load balance the traffic, it would be better."
"Fortinet has some drawbacks, and it can be a bit challenging to scale."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Load Balancer ADC is cost-effective and is about half the price of F5."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"Our basic license excludes features such as antivirus and IDS. Due to license limitations, some functionalities are not configured."
"I rate Fortinet FortiADC's pricing one out of ten. It is fixed."
"The solution could be more cost-effective."
"Compared to F5, FortiADC pricing is better."
"The price is competitive"
"The product has average pricing. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"I believe the price is good. It's fair. There are no extra costs."
"The solution is less expensive than F5 or Imperva and is the most reasonably priced option available."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Media Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
Pricing for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC can be a consideration. However, it offers good value with its cost-saving benefits and efficient operation, balancing the initial financial outlay.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
There are areas of Barracuda Load Balancer's security that have room for improvement, particularly concerning handling traffic. Also, more could be done to enhance the initial setup, as it can be c...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC?
The typical use case for Barracuda Load Balancer ADC involves managing and distributing network traffic efficiently to maintain system performance. Clients use Barracuda Load Balancer ADC for its a...
Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?
For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.
Do you recommend Fortinet FortiADC?
I recommend Fortinet FortiADC. My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. Our company has been using it for around five years. We mainly use FortiADC for the load balancing of application ...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiADC?
The user interface is very easy and integrates with Sandbox easily.
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Load Balancer
FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fenwal Blood Technologies
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Fortinet FortiADC and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.