Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SSHGuard VS ufw

Compare SSHGuard VS ufw and see what are their differences

SSHGuard logo SSHGuard

SSHGuard monitors services through their logging activity.

ufw logo ufw

Ufw stands for Uncomplicated Firewall, and is program for managing a netfilter firewall.
  • SSHGuard Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-03-06
  • ufw Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

SSHGuard features and specs

  • Log Monitoring
    SSHGuard monitors log files for suspicious activity related to SSH, ensuring that any potential intrusion attempts are detected promptly.
  • Automatic Blocking
    It can automatically block IP addresses that show malicious behavior, reducing the risk of repeated attacks from the same source.
  • Lightweight
    SSHGuard is lightweight and efficient in terms of resource usage, making it suitable for a variety of server environments.
  • Compatibility
    SSHGuard is compatible with multiple log formats and integrates well with existing firewall systems such as iptables and pf.
  • Scalability
    It can handle a large number of log entries and is suitable for both small and large server infrastructures.

Possible disadvantages of SSHGuard

  • Limited Protocol Support
    While SSHGuard is effective for SSH attacks, its support for other protocols is limited compared to more comprehensive security solutions.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Initial setup and configuration may be challenging for users unfamiliar with firewall rules and log formats.
  • Not a Replacement for Comprehensive Security
    SSHGuard should not be relied upon as the sole security measure; it's best used as part of a layered security strategy.
  • False Positives
    There is a potential risk of false positives, which may lead to legitimate IPs being blocked unintentionally.

ufw features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    UFW provides a straightforward, command-line-based interface that simplifies the process of managing firewall rules for less experienced users and administrators.
  • Ease of Configuration
    UFW offers an uncomplicated method to set up and maintain firewall rules, making the process accessible and efficient for users.
  • Pre-configured Profiles
    It comes with pre-defined application profiles for many common services, allowing users to enable or disable services with ease.
  • Integration with GUIs
    UFW integrates well with graphical user interfaces like GUFW, offering a convenient option for users who prefer a GUI-based management.
  • IPv6 Support
    UFW supports IPv6, enabling users to manage both IPv4 and IPv6 firewall rules seamlessly.

Possible disadvantages of ufw

  • Limited Advanced Features
    UFW is designed for simplicity, which means it lacks some advanced features and granular control available in other firewall tools like iptables or firewalld.
  • Less Control over Stateful Filtering
    While UFW simplifies stateful filtering, it offers less detailed control over stateful inspection compared to directly using iptables.
  • Potential Performance Overhead
    For very high-performance and high-security environments, directly managing iptables rules might provide better performance and tighter security control.
  • Limited Logging and Monitoring
    UFW provides basic logging capabilities, but users seeking extensive monitoring and logging features might find it lacking compared to more advanced solutions.

Analysis of ufw

Overall verdict

  • UFW is generally regarded as a good and reliable tool for managing firewalls, especially for users who prefer simplicity and ease of use over the full control provided by iptables. It is well-suited for regular users who need basic firewall functionality without delving into complex command-line operations.

Why this product is good

  • UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is a front-end for iptables, designed to simplify the process of setting up and managing a firewall on Linux systems. It's good because it provides a user-friendly way to handle firewall rules, making it accessible even for those who are not extremely technical. The tool offers an easy interface for basic firewall configurations, allowing for quick enabling and disabling of firewall rules, logging, and managing incoming and outgoing connections.

Recommended for

    UFW is recommended for Linux users, especially beginners or those who prefer a straightforward approach to managing firewall settings. It's ideal for personal users, small businesses, or anyone running Ubuntu or Debian-based systems who need a simple tool to enhance their network security without extensive configuration.

SSHGuard videos

How To install SSHGuard On Centos 7.3

ufw videos

Linux Security - UFW Complete Guide (Uncomplicated Firewall)

More videos:

  • Tutorial - UFW Firewall (Uncomplicated Firewall) - Complete Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SSHGuard and ufw)
Monitoring Tools
41 41%
59% 59
Firewall
0 0%
100% 100
Cyber Security
51 51%
49% 49
Web Application Security
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SSHGuard and ufw

SSHGuard Reviews

We have no reviews of SSHGuard yet.
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ufw Reviews

8 Best Open Source Firewall to Protect Your Network
ufw (uncomplicated firewall) works with Ubuntu. It provides a command-line interface to manage the Linux kernel packet filtering system (netfilter).
Source: geekflare.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ufw should be more popular than SSHGuard. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SSHGuard mentions (1)

  • Whats with all the hacking/attacks?
    There are now better defensive tools (I use https://sshguard.net/); not that there are any accounts on this system that are vulnerable, but it does keep the relevant logfile from growing to astronomical size. Source: about 4 years ago

ufw mentions (5)

  • Securing a linux server.
    You will now install Uncomplicated Firewall.. If you don't want ot add ufw you could follow this post and use IPTables This will only allow traffic on the ports you open. In your original terminal run the following commands. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Cannot install gufw in fedora37
    You may already know this, but gufw is simply a graphical front-end to the Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) service. Fedora uses the Firewalld back-end service instead of ufw. I believe you would need to replace Firewalld with ufw entirely in order to make gufw a plausible solution. Source: about 2 years ago
  • ufw --help is very bad
    I just started using ufw https://launchpad.net/ufw and I found that it only shows --help for the root command. Source: over 3 years ago
  • why UFW is open-source and GUFW is proprietary ?
    Why do you think Gufw is proprietary? It's FOSS, licensed as GPL v3, as documented here. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Huge surge in hits to connectivitycheck.gstatic.com from my phone knocks out my PiHole
    Another option is to use UFW and rate limit incoming packets. Because it's a firewall, it will block the queries even before they hit Pi-hole, but it might be a tad more tricky to set up. I also don't know if you can set it as a limitation per client or only in general (per port/rule). I'll leave that for you to investigate further. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing SSHGuard and ufw, you can also consider the following products

Fail2ban - Intrusion prevention framework

TinyWall - Lightweight and non-intrusive firewall

IPBan - Block hacking attempts on RDP, SSH, SMTP and much more

Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall - Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall is a freemium online firewall protection system by the Emsisoft that is based on the own independent protection technology of the Emsisoft.

RdpGuard - RdpGuard allows you to protect your Remote Desktop (RDP), POP3, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, MSSQL, MySQL, VoIP/SIP from brute-force attacks by blocking attacker's IP address. Fail2Ban for Windows.

Windows 10 Firewall Control - Windows 10 Firewall Control: simple and exhaustive solution for applications network activity controlling and monitoring.