10 Finest SMB Firewalls for Small & Medium Enterprise Networks [2023]

Small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) are more and more changing into targets for cyber assaults. In line with Verizon, about 61 p.c of SMBs reported not less than one cyber assault in 2021. Worse, Joe Galvin, chief analysis officer at Vistage, reported that about 60 p.c of small companies fold inside six months of a cyber assault.

To guard your community from potential threats, you want a dependable and efficient firewall resolution. This software will act as the primary line of protection towards unauthorized entry and can assist stop malicious assaults from infiltrating a enterprise’s community.

We reviewed the highest SMB firewall options that can assist you decide one of the best one for your online business.

Prime SMB firewall software program comparability

Soar to:

Perimeter 81

Finest total

Based in 2018, Perimeter 81 is a cloud and community safety firm that gives organizations with a safe and unified platform for accessing and managing their functions and knowledge.

It supplies many safety options, together with firewall as a service (FWaaS), safe internet gateway (SWG), zero belief community entry (ZTNA), malware safety, software-defined perimeter, VPN-alternative and safe entry service edge (SASE) capabilities, to make sure that knowledge is safe and accessible to approved personnel. It additionally supplies centralized administration and consumer entry monitoring, enabling organizations to watch and management consumer exercise throughout the community.

Perimeter 81 supplies granular entry management insurance policies that allow organizations to outline and implement entry guidelines for his or her community assets primarily based on the consumer’s identification, machine kind, and different contextual components—making it simple for workers to entry the corporate’s assets with out compromising safety.

Pricing

Options

• Identification-based entry for gadgets and customers.
• Community segmentation.
• OS and application-level safety and mutual TLS encryption.
• Allow site visitors encryption enforcement, 2FA, Single Signal-On, DNS filtering, and authentication.

Professionals

• Supplies visibility into the corporate community.
• Permits worker entry from on-premise.
• Computerized Wi-Fi safety.
• 30-day money-back assure.

Cons

• Low and mid-tiered plans lack cellphone help.
• Restricted help for Important, Premium, and Premium Plus.

pfSense

Finest open-source-driven firewall

pfSense is an open-source firewall/router community safety resolution primarily based on FreeBSD. That includes firewall, router, VPN, and DHCP servers, pfSense is a extremely customizable software that can be utilized in varied community environments, from small house networks to massive enterprise networks.

The software helps a number of WAN connections, failover and cargo balancing, and site visitors shaping, which can assist optimize community efficiency. pfSense can be utilized on computer systems, community home equipment, and embedded programs to supply a variety of networking providers.

Pricing

pfSense pricing varies primarily based in your chosen medium—cloud, software program, or {hardware} home equipment.

For pfSense cloud:

• pfSense on AWS: Pricing begins from $0.01 per hour to $0.40 per hour.
• pfSense on Azure: Pricing begins from $0.08 per hour to $0.24 per hour.

For pfSense software program:

• pfSense CE: Open supply model obtainable to obtain without spending a dime.
• pfSense+ Dwelling or Lab: Obtainable without charge for analysis functions solely.
• pfSense+ W/TAC LITE: At the moment obtainable at no cost, however vendor could improve charge to $129 per yr sooner or later. 
• pfSense+ W/TAC PRO: $399 per yr.
• pfSense+ W/TAC ENT: $799 per yr.

For pfSense home equipment:

Options

• Stateful packet inspection (SPI).
• IP/DNS-based filtering.
• Captive portal visitor community.
• Time-based guidelines.
• NAT mapping (inbound/outbound).

Professionals

• Anti-spoofing functionality.
• Connection limits choice.
• Group help.

Cons

• The software’s open-source model help is proscribed to neighborhood or discussion board. It lacks distant login help, personal login help, a non-public help portal, electronic mail, phone, and tickets.
• Complicated preliminary setup for inexperienced customers.

Comodo Free Firewall

Finest for Home windows PCs

Comodo Firewall is a free firewall software program designed to guard computer systems from unauthorized entry and malicious software program by monitoring all incoming and outgoing community site visitors. 

The firewall options packet filtering, intrusion detection and prevention, and utility management. It additionally features a “sandbox” characteristic that enables customers to run probably dangerous functions in a protected surroundings with out risking injury to the underlying system. 

The software program works seamlessly with different Comodo merchandise, akin to Comodo Antivirus and Comodo Web Safety.

Pricing

Comodo is free to obtain and use. The seller recommends including its paid antivirus product (Comodo Web Safety Professional) to its firewall for added safety. The antivirus prices $29.99 per yr for one PC or $39.99 per yr for 3 PCs. 

Options

• Auto sandbox know-how.
• Cloud-based conduct evaluation. 
• Cloud-based allowlisting. 
• Helps all Home windows OS variations since Home windows XP (Notice: Home windows 11 help forthcoming).
• Web site filtering.
• Digital desktop.

Professionals

• Displays in/out connections.
• Study consumer conduct to ship customized safety.
• Actual-time malware safety.

Cons

• Lacks trendy consumer interface.
• Pop-up notifications—some customers could discover the frequent alerts generated by the software program annoying and intrusive.

ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer

Finest for log, coverage, and firewall configuration administration

ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer is a web-based log analytics and configuration administration software program for firewall gadgets. 

It supplies real-time visibility into community exercise and helps organizations establish community threats, malicious site visitors, and coverage violations. It helps varied firewalls, together with Cisco ASA, Palo Alto, Juniper SRX, Examine Level, SonicWall, and Fortinet. 

Firewall Analyzer helps monitor community safety, analyze the safety posture of the community, and guarantee compliance with safety insurance policies. It additionally supplies reviews, dashboards, and automatic alerting to make sure the community stays safe.

Pricing

The quantity you’ll pay for this software relies on the version you select and the variety of gadgets in your group. 

You’ll be able to obtain the enterprise version’s 30-day free trial to test-run it and study extra about its capabilities. It’s obtainable in two variations: Home windows OS or Linux. You can even obtain it for cell gadgets, together with iPhone gadgets and Android telephones or tablets.

• Normal Version: Begins at $395 per machine, as much as 60 gadgets.
• Skilled Version: Begins at $595 per machine, as much as 60 gadgets.
• Enterprise Version: Begins at $8,395 for 20 gadgets, as much as 1,200 gadgets.

Function

• Firewall guidelines report and firewall machine audit report.
• Regulatory compliance with requirements akin to ISO, PCI-DSS, NERC-CIP, SANS, and NIST.
• Community behavioral anomaly alert.
• Safety reviews for viruses, assaults, spam, denied hosts, and occasion summaries.
• Historic configuration change monitoring.
• Bandwidth report for reside bandwidth, site visitors analyzer, URL monitor, and worker web utilization.
• Suitable with over 70 firewall variations.

Professionals

• Wonderful technical help.
• Customers reward its reporting functionality.
• In-depth auditing with aggregated database entries functionality.
• VPN and safety occasions evaluation.

Cons

• Complicated preliminary setup.
• Customers reported that the software is often gradual.

Fortinet FortiGate

Finest for hybrid workforces

Fortinet FortiGate is a community safety platform that provides a broad vary of safety and networking providers for enterprises of all sizes. It supplies superior risk safety, safe connectivity, and safe entry management. It additionally supplies superior firewall safety, utility management, and internet filtering. 

Enterprise house owners can use Fortinet’s super-handy small enterprise product selector to find out one of the best software for his or her use circumstances. 

Small and mid-sized companies could discover the next FortiGate’s mannequin appropriate for his or her wants:

Fortinet FortiGate is suitable with a number of working programs and may simply be built-in into present networks. 

Pricing

Sadly, Fortinet doesn’t publish their costs. Reseller costs begin round $335 for the FortiGate 40F with no help. Contact Fortinet’s gross sales group for quotes.

Options

• Provides AI-powered safety providers, together with internet, content material, and machine safety, plus superior instruments for SOC/NOC.
• Steady threat evaluation. 
• Risk safety functionality.

Professionals

• Prime-rated firewall by NSS Labs.
• Intrusion prevention.

Cons

• In line with consumer critiques, the CLI is considerably complicated.
• Complicated preliminary setup.

SonicWall TZ400 Safety Firewall

Finest for superior risk safety

The SonicWall TZ400 is a mid-range, enterprise-grade safety firewall designed to guard small to midsize companies. It helps as much as 150,000 most connections, 6,000 new connections per second, and seven×1-Gbe. 

The TZ400 options 1.3 Gbps firewall inspection throughput, 1.2 Gbps utility inspection throughput, 900 Mbps IPS throughput, 900 Mbps VPN throughput, and 600 Mbps risk prevention throughput. 

Pricing

This product’s pricing isn’t obtainable on the Sonicwall web site. Nonetheless, resellers akin to CDW, Staples, and Workplace Depot usually promote it within the $1,000–$1,500 vary. You’ll be able to request a quote to your explicit use case instantly from Sonicwall.

Options

• Deep reminiscence inspection.
• Single-pane-of-glass administration and reporting.
• SSL/TLS decryption and inspection.
• SD-WAN and zero-touch deployment capabilities.

Professionals

• Non-compulsory PoE and Wi-Fi choices.
• DDoS assault safety (UDP/ICMP/SYN flood).
• Quick efficiency with gigabit and multi-gigabit Ethernet interfaces.
• Protects towards intrusion, malware, and ransomware.
• Excessive-performance IPS, VPN, and risk prevention throughput.
• Environment friendly ​​firewall inspection and utility inspection throughput.

Cons

• Help might be improved.
• It may be troublesome to configure for inexperienced customers.

Cisco Meraki MX68

Finest for small branches with as much as 50 customers

The Cisco Meraki MX68 is a safety equipment designed for SMBs. It’s a part of the Cisco Meraki MX collection of cloud-managed safety home equipment that present community safety, content material filtering, intrusion prevention, and utility visibility and management.

The MX68 is supplied with superior security measures akin to a stateful firewall, VPN, and intrusion prevention system (IPS) to guard your community from cyber assaults. The MX68 has a wide range of ports and interfaces, together with LAN and WAN ports and a USB port for 3G/4G failover. It additionally helps a number of WAN uplinks, offering redundancy and failover choices to make sure your community stays on-line and obtainable.

Pricing

The Cisco Meraki MX68 pricing isn’t listed on the corporate’s web site, however resellers usually listing it beginning round $640. You’ll be able to request a demo, free trial, or quotes by contacting the Cisco gross sales group.

Options

• Centralized administration through web-based dashboard or API.
• Intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS).
• Subsequent-generation layer 7 firewalls and content material filtering.
• SSL decryption/inspection, knowledge loss prevention (DLP), and cloud entry safety dealer (CASB).
• Prompt wired failover with added 3G/4G failover through a USB modem.

Professionals

• Distant browser isolation, granular app management, and SaaS tenant restrictions.
• Help for native IPsec or Cisco AnyConnect distant shopper VPN.
• Supplies unified administration for safety, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi, switching, cell machine administration (MDM), and web of issues (IoT)

Cons

• The license price is considerably excessive.
• Help might be improved.

Sophos XGS Sequence

Finest for distant employees

Sophos XGS Sequence Desktop is a spread of community safety home equipment designed to supply complete safety for SMBs. These home equipment mix a number of safety applied sciences, together with firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, internet filtering, electronic mail filtering, and utility management, to supply a sturdy and built-in safety resolution.

Right here’s a comparability desk of the Sophos XGS collection firewalls:

The Sophos XGS Sequence Desktop home equipment can be found in a number of fashions with various efficiency capabilities, starting from entry-level fashions appropriate for small workplaces to high-performance fashions appropriate for big enterprises. They’re designed to be simple to deploy and handle, with a user-friendly internet interface and centralized administration capabilities.

Pricing

Sophos doesn’t promote the pricing for his or her XGS Sequence Desktop home equipment on-line, however they usually retail beginning at about $520 from resellers. 

Potential clients are inspired to request a free trial and pricing data by filling out a type on the “Get Pricing” web page of their web site.

Options

• Centralized administration and reporting.
• Wi-fi, SD-WAN, utility conscious routing, and site visitors shaping functionality.
• SD-WAN orchestration.
• Superior internet and zero-day risk safety.

Professionals

• Zero-touch deployment.
• Lateral motion safety.
• Customers discover the software scalable.

Cons

• Efficiency limitations.
• Help might be improved.

Protectli Vault – 4 Port

Finest for constructing your personal OPNsense or pfSense router and firewall

The Protectli Vault is a small form-factor community equipment designed to behave as a firewall, router, or different community gateway. The 4-Port model has 4 gigabit Intel Ethernet NIC ports, making it very best for SMB or house networks.

The machine is powered by a low-power Intel processor and may run a wide range of open-source firewall and router working programs, akin to pfSense, OPNsense, or Untangle. It comes with 8GB DDR3 RAM and as much as 32GB DDR4 RAM. 

The Protectli Vault is designed to be fanless, silent, and compact, making it very best to be used within the house or workplace environments the place noise and house could also be a difficulty. It’s additionally designed to be energy-efficient, consuming only some watts of energy, which might save companies appreciable quantities of cash on vitality prices over time.

Pricing

The quantity you’ll pay for this software relies on the mannequin you choose and your required configuration. The charges beneath are beginning costs; your precise charge could fluctuate primarily based in your configuration. Notice that every one this stuff ship free to U.S. addresses.

• VP2410 – 4x 1G Port Intel J4125: Begins at $329.
• VP2420 – 4x 2.5G Port Intel J6412: Begins at $379.
• FW4B – 4x 1G Port Intel J3160: Begins at $269.
• FW4C – 4x 2.5G Port Intel J3710: Begins at $289.

Options

• Stable-state and fanless software.
• Supplies 2.5 GB ports unit.
• AES-NI, VPN, and coreboot choices.

Professionals

• A 30-day money-back assure.
• Clear pricing.
• Coreboot help.
• CPU helps AES-NI.

Cons

OPNSense

Finest for flexibility 

OPNsense is a free and open-source firewall and routing platform primarily based on the FreeBSD OS. It was forked from the favored pfSense and m0n0wall mission in 2014 and was formally launched in January 2015.

OPNsense supplies a modular design that enables customers to simply add or take away performance primarily based on their wants. 

OPNsense is widespread amongst IT professionals and community directors who want a versatile and customizable firewall and routing platform that they will tailor to their particular wants. It’s additionally a good selection for small companies and residential customers who wish to enhance their networks’ safety with out spending some huge cash on industrial options.

Pricing

OPNSense is a free, open supply software. It’s obtainable in two editions: Group version and enterprise version. You’ll be able to obtain the neighborhood model without charge. For the enterprise model, a one-year subscription prices $170.46 per yr.

Options

• Excessive availability and {hardware} failover.
• Intrusion detection and prevention.
• Captive portal.
• VPN (site-to-site and street warrior, IPsec, OpenVPN, and legacy PPTP help).
• Constructed-in reporting and monitoring instruments, together with RRD Graphs.

Professionals

• Free, open supply.
• Site visitors shaper.
• Help for plugins.
• Multi-language help, together with English, Czech, Chinese language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Cons

• Reporting functionality might be improved.
• The interface might be improved.

Key options of SMB firewalls

Firewalls designed for SMBs share lots of the identical traits as their enterprise-grade cousins—akin to firewall rule and coverage configuration, content material filtering, reporting and analytics—whereas putting further emphasis on affordability and ease of use.

Firewall guidelines and insurance policies

Directors ought to be capable to arrange firewall guidelines and insurance policies that management site visitors circulate and block or allow site visitors primarily based on varied standards, akin to supply/vacation spot IP addresses, ports, and protocols. 

These guidelines and insurance policies can be utilized to manage the forms of functions, providers, and knowledge which are allowed to traverse the community, in addition to create restrictions on entry. 

Firewall guidelines and insurance policies are important to the safety of a community, as they supply the primary line of protection towards malicious assaults.

Content material filtering

Content material filtering is the method of blocking or proscribing sure forms of content material from getting into or leaving a community. It may be used to dam web sites, functions, or knowledge that will comprise malicious or undesirable content material, akin to malware, viruses, or pornographic materials. 

Content material filtering is usually applied utilizing a mixture of {hardware} and software program options. {Hardware} options, akin to routers and switches, might be configured to dam sure forms of site visitors or knowledge or to limit entry to sure web sites or functions. Software program options, akin to firewall guidelines and insurance policies, may also be used to dam or prohibit sure forms of content material.

Reporting and analytics 

Reporting and analytics are important for any enterprise community, as they supply vital insights into the well being and safety of the community. Firewall reporting and analytics options enable community directors to establish tendencies, detect potential threats, and analyze the efficiency of the community over time.

Reporting and analytics may also be used to establish any areas of the community which may be weak to assault, in addition to establish any areas the place the community will not be performing optimally.

Affordability

For SMBs, affordability is a key issue on the subject of buying a firewall. SMB firewalls are usually extra reasonably priced than enterprise firewalls and might be bought for as little as a couple of hundred {dollars}, so you will need to take into account your funds when choosing a firewall.

Some SMB firewalls supply further options for a charge, so take into account what options are obligatory to your community and those you are able to do with out, as this may provide help to determine on probably the most cost-effective firewall resolution. On the identical time, watch out to not lower corners—your online business’s knowledge is just too vital to be insufficiently protected.

Ease of use and help

For SMBs, discovering a firewall resolution that’s simple to make use of and has good help is crucial. Firewalls must be simple to configure and handle so the community administrator can rapidly and simply make adjustments as wanted.

Moreover, good help must be obtainable for any points or questions that come up. This help ought to embrace an internet information base and entry to technical help employees that may help with any questions or issues, ideally 24/7.

How to decide on one of the best SMB firewall software program for your online business

When looking for one of the best SMB firewall software program for your online business, search for software program that provides the options you want, simple set up and administration, scalability to develop with your online business, minimal affect on community efficiency, and an reasonably priced worth.

It’s additionally vital to decide on a vendor with an excellent popularity within the trade, backed up by constructive critiques and buyer suggestions.

Continuously requested questions (FAQs)

What’s an SMB firewall?

An SMB firewall is a sort of community safety machine that’s designed particularly for small and medium-sized companies. It’s used to guard networks from unauthorized entry, malicious assaults, and different safety threats.

What options ought to I search for in an SMB firewall?

Above all you want an answer with a robust safety profile. Search for particular safety measures akin to:

• Intrusion prevention
• Content material filtering
• Malware safety
• Software management
• Site visitors shaper 

Different components to think about embrace ease of administration, scalability, and value.

Do small companies want a firewall?

Sure, small companies want a firewall. It supplies a necessary layer of community safety that helps shield towards unauthorized entry, malware, and different safety threats. With no firewall, small companies are weak to assaults that might compromise delicate knowledge, trigger community downtime, and injury their popularity.

How a lot does a firewall price for SMBs?

The price of an SMB firewall can fluctuate extensively relying on the options, capabilities, and model of the firewall. Typically, SMB firewalls can vary in worth from a couple of hundred to a number of thousand {dollars}.

What number of firewalls do you want for a small enterprise?

The variety of firewalls wanted for a small enterprise will rely upon the dimensions and complexity of the community. In lots of circumstances, a single firewall could also be adequate to guard your complete community. Nonetheless, in bigger networks, it could be essential to deploy a number of firewalls to supply satisfactory safety.

Elements akin to community segmentation, geographic location, and compliance necessities may additionally affect the variety of firewalls wanted. It’s greatest to seek the advice of with a community safety knowledgeable to find out the suitable variety of firewalls to your small enterprise.

Methodology

We analyzed dozens of SMB firewall software program and narrowed down our listing to the highest ten. We gathered main knowledge—together with pricing particulars, options, help, and extra—from every software supplier’s web site, in addition to third-party critiques. We chosen every software program primarily based on 5 key knowledge factors: safety, ease of use, affordability, high quality of service, and consumer satisfaction.

Backside line: Selecting an SMB firewall

The options we evaluated are a few of the greatest SMB firewalls at present obtainable in the marketplace. They’re designed to supply SMBs with superior security measures, simple administration, and scalability at reasonably priced charges.

If your online business is rising quick and also you want an enterprise-grade community firewall resolution, we additionally reviewed the greatest firewall software program for enterprise networks.

Learn our full information to designing and configuring a firewall coverage to your group, full with a free, downloadable template.