Top Features for Firewall Software
A firewall program, when deployed on a single endpoint such as a PC or server, functions as a security guard for that system. It inspects inbound and outbound traffic, applying rule sets to block malicious activity, restrict application behavior, and prevent unauthorized data transfers. Unlike hardware firewalls, which secure entire networks, software firewalls operate at the device level, based on the built-in features designed to protect the system from malicious attacks or threats. This article brings you the top features for firewall software that make a system function seamlessly without facing any risks from unidentified sites.
Top Firewall Software Features
Identification Technologies
In firewall software, identification technologies extend visibility beyond IP addresses by associating traffic with individual users and devices. This functionality allows administrators to enforce granular, role-based policies and tailor access controls. Such identity-driven enforcement is a defining feature of Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs).
Benefits:
- With the integration of user identification, firewalls strengthen security through multifactor authentication and proactive detection of risky behaviors, such as credential submission to unverified sites.
- Mitigates credential-driven threats while delivering unmatched visibility into network activity.
- Helps organizations gain the ability to monitor usage patterns, assess bandwidth consumption by application, and attribute security events to individual users, empowering faster, more accurate incident response and forensic investigations.
WatchGuard Network Security
WatchGuard network security delivers comprehensive network security for organizations of every size. From compact tabletop to cloud-based and virtual firewalls, WatchGuard’s security solutions offer protection through identification technology and essential protections (including IPS, URL filtering, gateway antivirus, application control, and antispam) alongside advanced defenses such as file sandboxing and DNS filtering. WatchGuard Firebox users have scored the feature 8.6 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“We use WatchGuard to provide perimeter security for our office network. Having a comprehensive advanced security solution in place allows us to have one place to manage our security and assist us in preventing/reducing spam, phishing, and Ransomware from entering our network. Our firewall is one of multiple layers that we trust to protect our organization and our data.”
Read Todd’s full review here.
Content Inspection
Firewall content inspection technologies go beyond basic packet filtering by analyzing the actual data inside network traffic. Techniques such as deep packet inspection, stateful inspection, proxying, and application control, when combined with modern NGFW features like AI/ML, allow the detection of malware, exploits, and sensitive data hidden in legitimate-looking traffic.
Benefits:
- Firewalls can intercept and validate traffic before it passes through, ensuring thorough content inspection.
- Detect advanced and unknown threats by analyzing traffic behavior rather than relying solely on signatures.
- Control access to risky or non‑compliant content, blocking sites, files, or categories to align with corporate policy.
Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls
Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation firewalls classify and monitor all traffic, including encrypted and internal, by application, user, function, and content. Built on a Zero Trust framework, they allow organizations to enforce policies that permit only authorized users and sanctioned applications, reducing the attack surface across the enterprise. Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls users have scored the feature 9.5 in the TrustRadius review based on their user experience.
“We are using Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls – PA Series as an on prem edge security solution and cloud application security solution. These next gen firewalls are helping to allow traffic based on application classification and limiting the noise in the network…Features like Wildfire are providing the support in mitigating zero day attacks. We are utilizing the User-ID feature to restrict the users to the application and services which they need access to. Overall, Palo Alto Networks firewalls are helping us in getting least privilege access implementation in our corporate network.”
Read Vinayak’s full review here.
VPN
A VPN integrated with firewall technology delivers layered protection. The firewall acts as a gatekeeper, blocking unwanted traffic, while the VPN encrypts data streams and conceals IP addresses to maintain privacy. This combination enables secure tunnels for remote access, ensuring that only authenticated, encrypted traffic passes through. Hardware appliances and software solutions provide organizations with resilient defenses against malware and unauthorized intrusion.
Benefits:
- Enables employees to safely connect to company resources from any location, protecting sensitive data.
- Encrypts all internet traffic to ensure private and confidential browsing.
- Blocks malware and unauthorized access attempts before they can compromise devices or networks.
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Cisco ASA delivers secure VPN connectivity while integrating with Cisco Cloud Web Security (CWS) and TrustSec. CWS extends protection across public and private clouds, while TrustSec provides software-defined segmentation to limit the impact of threats and breaches. With support for both IPv4 and IPv6, ASA ensures a smooth transition to modern Internet protocols. Cisco ASA users have scored the feature 9.6 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“Our employee count was growing and we wanted to have a scalable, easy to administer and cost effective solution for a VPN concentrator. We wanted to support concurrent connections that were 2x our employee count. We chose Cisco’s ASA as our VPN concentrator and that allowed us to scale with low administrative cost and a reasonable license/tooling cost. We also wanted to support 4 different entities, which ASA was able to help us achieve.”
Read this Verified User’s full review here.
Proxy Server
A proxy server built into firewall software acts as a secure gateway between the network and the Internet. By inspecting and controlling traffic at the application layer, it blocks outside threats, hides internal IPs, enforces access policies, and accelerates performance through caching, delivering deep inspection and protection against malware and unauthorized access.
Benefits:
- Protects the internal network by masking IP addresses, preventing direct exposure to external threats.
- Enforces policies by blocking access to restricted websites, content, or users (e.g., social media).
- Improves performance by storing frequently accessed content locally, reducing bandwidth usage, and speeding delivery.
Sophos Firewall
Sophos XG Firewall delivers next-generation protection powered by deep learning and Synchronized Security. It provides visibility into hidden user, application, and threat risks, and stands out with its ability to automatically isolate compromised systems using Security Heartbeat, reducing the impact of incidents across the network. Sophos XG Firewall users have scored the feature 9.5 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“We use Sophos XG firewall to safeguard the company network from cyberattacks such as ransomware, malware, phishing, etc. It is a next-generation firewall that provides comprehensive cybersecurity features and advanced threat protection. It offers many advanced features, such as deep packet inspection, automatic response, centralized management, web filtering, application control, bandwidth optimization, etc., in one place.”
Read Baladas’s full review here.
Stateful Inspection
Stateful Inspection (SPI) firewalls maintain a dynamic state table that records connection details, including IP addresses, ports, and session status. By analyzing traffic context, SPI permits valid return traffic (e.g., web responses) while rejecting unsolicited or anomalous packets. This contextual awareness provides superior security compared to stateless filtering, effectively mitigating threats like IP spoofing and unauthorized access attempts.
Benefits:
- Stateful inspection detects anomalies by validating traffic against active session records, preventing spoofed responses.
- Tracks communication states, including TCP handshakes and session progress, to enforce accurate security rules.
- Supports advanced protocols like FTP, which rely on multiple simultaneous connections, ensuring proper inspection and control.
pfSense
pfSense provides advanced firewall capabilities, including stateful packet inspection, intrusion prevention, and concurrent IPv4/IPv6 support. Optional clustering and load balancing enable high availability, while integrated proxy and content filtering services strengthen security. Comprehensive monitoring and reporting tools give administrators granular visibility into traffic flows and system performance. pfSense users have scored the feature 9.8 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“We use pfSense in redundant pairs to service large coworking spaces, and it’s proven reliable and secure for many years. It’s easy to configure, simple, and reliable. We’ve weathered a lot of different events that I’ve seen bring down other firewalls. We apply a significant number of filters to reduce malware C2 and still achieve excellent performance. At this point we’ve deployed these machines to a dozen locations globally and have come to trust it.”
Read Ansley’s full review here.
Firewall Management Console
Firewall Management Console provides a centralized interface for configuring, monitoring, and maintaining multiple firewalls. It enables administrators to enforce security policies, audit rules, and review traffic and threat logs, improving compliance and efficiency across complex networks. With dashboards and reporting features, FMC simplifies oversight and strengthens organizational security posture.
Benefits:
- Set and apply rules that decide which traffic, ports, or users are allowed or blocked.
- Watch network activity in real time, spot malware or intrusions, and collect logs for review.
- Check traffic patterns and rules to keep the firewall running smoothly without slowdowns.
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services is a next-generation firewall designed to counter sophisticated cyber threats. By combining advanced threat-focused protection with Cisco’s security ecosystem, it empowers organizations to safeguard critical assets and maintain business continuity. It has the capability to manage multiple firewalls from a single point, simplifying administration. Cisco ASA 5500-X users have scored the feature 9.0 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“Network security is one of the pillars of any company. Our organization is highly focused on seeking the best available solutions in the market for this segment. We have acquired 2 units of Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services, model 5545-x, in high availability to meet the demand of a medium-sized site. Cisco’s solution has all the functionalities of next-generation firewall, VPN, threat control, web and layer 7 protection in a single appliance. Its main goal was to create protection for the edge of the network.”
Read this Verified User’s full review here.
Policy-Based Controls
Policy-based control transforms firewall management by replacing static rules with dynamic, centrally managed policies. This enables organizations to enforce security at a granular level based on users, applications, and content while scaling protection across complex networks. The result is smarter, business-aligned security that reduces risk and simplifies compliance.
Benefits:
- Policy-based control inspection enables granular control over applications, permitting or restricting functions regardless of port usage.
- Rules can incorporate dynamic conditions such as geolocation, time-of-day, device classification, and endpoint compliance status.
- Policies extend beyond traffic filtering to apply layered defenses, including intrusion prevention, malware detection, URL categorization, and data loss prevention.
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall is a next-generation solution built for multisite, distributed networks. It delivers core firewall capabilities like application control, intrusion prevention, web filtering, antimalware/antispam, and site-to-site VPN. In addition to these, policy-based control is one of the core features in the Barracuda CloudGen Firewall that brings traffic filtering to provide a seamless workflow. Barracuda CloudGen Firewall users have scored the feature 9.8 in the TrustRadius feedback review based on their user experience.
“Our next-gen Barracuda CloudGen Firewall F380 has been a key part of the company’s protection and security. It was acquired about 2 years ago from a reseller and since then it has been our network edge defense. The appliance is complete and in addition to a firewall, it has other advanced protection features such as URL filtering, application control, VPN and anti-malware. We use a topology with 2 appliances in active-standby, the first one is the main one and the second one is for redundancy. With our scenario, the network is always very safe from attacks and vulnerabilities.”
Read this Verified User’s full review here.
High Availability
High Availability (HA) in firewall software guarantees uninterrupted network security by deploying redundant firewalls in clustered setups. These operate in either primary/backup or load-sharing modes, using heartbeat signals and synchronized configurations to enable seamless failover, minimize downtime, and maintain business continuity.
Benefits:
- Eliminates network outages, ensuring uninterrupted access for operations that demand constant connectivity.
- Preserves consistent security enforcement even during system failures, reducing risk exposure.
- Active deployments distribute traffic across multiple firewalls, boosting throughput and responsiveness.
FortiGate
FortiGate’s core functionality includes intrusion prevention, anti-malware, identification technologies, and web filtering. It maintains security controls anchored to user identity to keep consistency everywhere, independent of device, network, or location. This enables delivering seamless protection for distributed teams and cloud operations. FortiGate users have scored the feature 9.3 in the TrustRadius review feedback based on their experience using the product.
“We are using the Fortinet FortiGate firewall to protect the organization’s network and resources from cyber threats. It not only provides you with a comprehensive cybersecurity solution but also offers you advanced features like load balancing, failover, application control, website filtering, bandwidth optimization, VPN, etc. It comes with a user-friendly interface that simplifies configuration, monitoring, and management of firewall settings.”
Read Vishnu’s full review here.
Choosing the Top Features For Firewall Software
Firewall software functions as a protective layer for networks and devices, continuously inspecting incoming and outgoing traffic. It enforces security policies by filtering data packets, preventing intrusions, and mitigating threats. This ensures secure operation of applications whether deployed on personal computers, enterprise servers, or cloud platforms. It is important to choose suitable software in a workspace that offers the right features required for that workspace.
To continue your research, explore the Firewall Software page on TrustRadius. You can compare products, read verified reviews, and find the solutions that best fit your needs. You may also find value in related categories and resources, including:
