Head to head comparison

[proactivens]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post this, but I had an idea. Let's see if the community can do a head to head comparison of Untangle vs. competing products. Free vs. paid, paid vs. paid, it doesn't matter.

Per the following article in 2009, the UTM market is a fast growing market with a few high profile players. Untangle is not listed, but this is to be expected when competing against the likes of Cisco, Checkpoint, Sonicwall, and Juniper.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...ed-threat.html

So my question to you is this: What makes Untangle better/worse than the competition from a feature, installation, configuration, and user experience point of view? Do we like untangle simply for its price tag (free $.99) or do we like untangle because it is one of the best out there? You be the judge.

[fasttech]

Boy this post sure got my thoughts going, but I'm hesitant to post, I'm re-evaluating UT right now at home behind another utm that I think is superior, but is not free to use in smb, smb where, in general, they'll pay for your services but won't drop over a grand on product, "on another damn computer that's not going to make us a dime", but that I still managed to sell two 1 year installs of another utm because of changes UT made, I was close to getting them to fork out for the Kaspersky module too, just because I wanted to ensure something went back to the folks at UT, so frustrating.
Ahhhh, I'm afraid this thread will just turn into another bitch fest, instead of an actual, factual comparison.
I'd like to see the principals here give their thoughts before I invest that kind of time.

[proactivens]

Don't worry, ill start it off the right way.

Astaro Essential Edition vs. Untangle Open Source Edition
By: Proactive Network Solutions


The UTM market is filled with competitors with different offerings of the same features. This review is a comparison of Astaro Essential Software Appliance versus the Untangle Open Source offering. For the purpose of this review, were going to leave hardware specifications out and focus purely on the features.

Let’s start with what Astaro and Untangle give you for free.

Astaro Essential Edition

1. Router – The router mode allows you to use Astaro as an internet NAT router on the edge of your network.
2. Bridging- The bridge mode allows you to install Astaro between an existing firewall/router and the core switch to achieve all the functionality you need without having to replace the existing firewall/router.
3. DNS Server – Astaro has a DNS server built in so small networks without a local DNS server can resolve domain names both internally and on the internet. It also stores DNS records in a proxy so that repeat DNS requests are filled more quickly.
4. Dynamic DNS – Astaro supports the use of dynamic DNS services.
5. DHCP Server – Astaro has an DHCP server built in to assign dynamic IP addresses to the local network. It also provides DHCP relay services to existing DHCP servers on the network.
6. NTP – Astaro supports the use of NTP (network time protocol)
7. QOS – Astaro uses Automatic QOS to determine quality of service rules for VoIP and other popular services.
8. Firewall – Astaro includes a stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall as well as network address translation (NAT).
9. VPN – Astaro supports PPTP and L2TP over IPSEC VPN’s.
10. Reports – Astaro generates logs and reports relating to machine health, network usage, and network security statistics.
11. Interface – Astaro includes an web based GUI with multiple language support for setup, backup and restore, administrative alerts, and SNMP configuration.
12. Management - There is also an Astaro command center, which is a web based GUI that allows you to administer multiple Astaro devices in different locations.

Untangle Open Source

1. Router – Untangle router mode allows you to use Untangle as an internet NAT router on the edge of your network.
2. Bridging – Untangle bridge mode allows you to install untangle between an existing firewall/router and the core switch to achieve all the functionality you need without having to replace the existing firewall/router.
3. DNS Server – Untangle has a DNS server built in so small networks without a local DNS server can resolve domain names both internally and on the internet.
4. Dynamic DNS – Untangle supports dynamic DNS services.
5. DHCP Server – Untangle has a DHCP server built in to assign dynamic IP addresses to the local network.
6. NTP – Untangle supports the use of NTP (network time protocol)
7. QOS – Untangle uses QOS and must be manually setup with QOS rules for VoIP and other services.
8. Firewall – Untangle includes a stateful packet inspection (SPI) firewall and network address translation (NAT).
9. VPN – Untangle has Open VPN built in and can achieve site to site and site to client SSL VPN connections. It cannot however establish VPN connections using IPSEC.
10. Reports – Untangle generates reports and logs for all its modules, and delivers them in a PDF format via email or through the GUI.
11. Interface – Untangle provides a unique web based GUI to display all of its modules. The GUI is in the form of a virtual server rack and is very intuitive and easy to use. There is however no alternative to the Astaro command center, so each device must be administered individually.
12. Web Filter – Untangle includes free of charge a decent web filter. It will filter web traffic as it passes through the device and either pass, log, or block the traffic. The web filter has a list of 15 categories of web sites that allow you to easily stop users from browsing sites that contain pornography, gambling, violence, ect. The web filter also had pass and block lists that allow you to statically pass or block specific sites. The only weak area of the open source web filter is that it does not scan HTTPS traffic and you cannot enforce safe searches through portal sites like Google and yahoo.
13. Spam Blocker – Untangle includes free of charge a spam blocker that filters SMTP, POP, and IMAP traffic for spam messages. You can drop spam over a certain spam score, quarantine suspicious mail, or mark suspicious mail as spam and pass it along to the end user. The spam blocker also includes tar pitting functionality, domain blacklist and white list capability, as well as other helpful features.
14. Virus Blocker – Untangle includes free of charge a virus blocker that filters websites, downloads, and emails for viruses. If it catches a virus it will block it at the gateway preventing it from reaching the network. The virus blocker module includes some basic settings, such as file type categories, white lists, and black lists.
15. Spyware blocker – Untangle includes free of charge a spyware blocker that will filter web traffic for malicious spyware cookies and active X controls. It includes some basic settings, such as white lists, black lists, and file types.
16. Protocol Control – Untangle includes free of charge a protocol control module that allows you to block specific network protocols such as P2P file sharing applications and streaming music from running inside your network. Protocol control includes a large amount of settings and categories that allow you fine grain control over what protocols you do and do not allow to run on your network.
17. Ad Blocker – Untangle includes free of charge an ad blocker module that filters web traffic for banner advertisements and pop ups and strips them out of the web page before it is displayed to the end user.
18. Intrusion prevention – Untangle includes free of charge an intrusion prevention service module (IPS) that allows you to block intrusion prevention attempts from outside your network. It contains a vast list of well known and emerging intrusion prevention techniques and will actively deny entry if one of those techniques are employed by a computer hacker.
19. Attack Blocker – Untangle includes free of charge an attack blocker module that will actively block common denial of service (DOS) and other disruptive network attacks from both inside and outside the network. It scans both internal and external traffic for excessive packets and either passes, limits, drops, or rejects the traffic depending on it’s score.
20. Phish blocker – Untangle includes free of charge an Phishing blocker that filters out phishing (information stealing) emails and web sites before they reach your users.
21. Captive Portal – Untangle includes free of charge a captive portal feature that lets you display terms of service and acceptable use policies to guests and users before they can access the internet. The captive portal also allows you to setup local or radius authentication so that users must sign in before being able to surf the web.


Conclusion
Astaro and Untangle both share some nice and attractive features. If your considering Astaro as a decent SMB firewall you really cant go wrong here. However, if you’re looking for more features and a real open source unified threat management (UTM) solution, then Untangle is the clear winner.

Astaro leaves a lot to be desired in its free open source offering. As a basic firewall router it holds its own against Untangle, however if you look past that you will find a large void of services. There is no web filter, virus blocker, spam blocker, spyware blocker, ad blocker, phish blocker, or captive portal. They have also decided to leave out key pieces on the security side, such as IPS, attack blocking, and protocol control.

Astaro does have its advantages over Untangle. For instance, its native support of IPSEC is very attractive. Another attractive offering is the Astaro command center, which is nice for IT support companies and managed service companies.

These things alone are not enough to set it apart from Untangle however. For most SMB users, Untangle provides better features and value than Astaro, hands down.

[lschafroth]

Have you seen the new Home version with support for 50ips an it does all the features including email, spam, user portals (for email/spam quarantine) and etc. Looks very promising. I'm downloading it now.

Lannie

PS Home Verson supports:

Firewall, VPN, IPS, Web Filter, Antivirus, IMP2P Blocker, Spam Filter, Wan link balancer

[sky-knight]

Wait... "WAN Link balancer" is a feature of "home"

I'm an internet nut... and I live my life online... but redundant internet connections at HOME?!?

[dwasserman]

Read the EULA, y believe you cant use this version in small bussines, its only for home use.

[lschafroth]

Wait... "WAN Link balancer" is a feature of "home"

I'm an internet nut... and I live my life online... but redundant internet connections at HOME?!?

Yeah, its strange how they have given more features to the home version and stripped down the business one. I suppose they think the business people will buy the pro version and home users wont. Not sure.

Lannie

[pirateghost]

i was using dual internet links at home for awhile, mainly because my cox connection was pretty unreliable for quite some time (until i proved to them it was on their end and they fixed it)
i miss it....

[dknyinva]

Astaro was awarded with the Best SMB Security Solution http://www.scmagazineus.com/best-sme...rticle/164147/

Astaro leaves a lot to be desired in its free open source offering. As a basic firewall router it holds its own against Untangle, however if you look past that you will find a large void of services. There is no web filter, virus blocker, spam blocker, spyware blocker, ad blocker, phish blocker, or captive portal. They have also decided to leave out key pieces on the security side, such as IPS, attack blocking, and protocol control.

Astaro does provide web filtering, including https scanning, dual virus scanning (Avira and ClamAV), Anti-Spam (CommTouch), IPS (Snort Inline), etc... Another nice feature that the ops didn't mentioned is the live bandwidth monitoring.

[lschafroth]

Astaro was awarded with the Best SMB Security Solution http://www.scmagazineus.com/best-sme...rticle/164147/

Astaro does provide web filtering, including https scanning, dual virus scanning (Avira and ClamAV), Anti-Spam (CommTouch), IPS (Snort Inline), etc... Another nice feature that the ops didn't mentioned is the live bandwidth monitoring.

The live monitoring is something we dont have now. I also like the user portal for quarantine. You can configure what the user can and cannot see. They can review their own logs to see why an email was quarantined or rejected.

Lannie