What are the best firewall tools for Windows?

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Sep 1, 2021

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12 Options Considered

Best firewall tools for Windows	Price	Platforms	Last Updated
-- Windows Firewall Control (by Binisoft)	Free	-	Aug 13, 2021
-- Bitdefender	-	-	Jul 16, 2021
-- TinyWall	-	-	Jun 2, 2021
-- Windows Firewall	0	-	Dec 25, 2017
-- NetLimiter	29.95	-	Apr 7, 2021

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score 19 · Answer 1

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score 5 · Answer 2

Bitdefender

Peter J. Mello's Experience

Bitdefender has decisively led the pack in 2016-2017 among Windows security suites. With a reliable "Autopilot mode" that requires almost zero user interaction day-to-day and dedicated banking, password, and spam protection modules, it has you covered from all angles. While it is slightly more resource-heavy and prone to false positives than in years past, in the current security climate where new threat vectors emerge hourly, they can hardly be faulted for an aggressive behavior model since it definitely gets the job done. See More

score 6 · Answer 3

TinyWall

Top Pro

Boot-time filtering

Other free firewalls only start protecting shortly before the desktop is loaded, but TinyWall's filters are active from the very beginning the OS starts booting up. See More

Top Con

Easy to forget that TinyWall is blocking a certain application

When wondering why some application behaves wrong, it's not easy to remember that the TinyWall might be the reason - because there was no rule yet for the specified application. For firewalls that show a notification, this could be connected more easily. See More

EnterprisingVastospati's Experience

Easy-to-use, amazing support from dev. See More

Top Pro

100% free

100% free, no ads whatsoever, no annoying pop-ups. See More

Top Pro

Extremely lightweight on RAM

Uses surprisingly low memory, making it the best choice for systems with little RAM. See More

Top Pro

The user has full control of what it does

Top Pro

Supports Windows Store

Detects and handles all UWP packages automatically. See More

Top Pro

Works on all Windows OS that exist

See All

score 3 · Answer 4

Windows Firewall

Top Con

Not very intuitive

The already included Windows Firewall is not very easy to set up. Although new rules might be set up very fast, it's hard to understand what's going on for normal users. See More

Top Pro

Most other firewalls use the Windows Firewall API anyway.

Most experienced (amateur) users use just a frontend application beside Windows Firewall like TinyWall, Glasswire, Windows Firewall Control. If you don't want to bother and spend a lot of time tweaking: use solely the integrated Windows Firewall. Wilders Security Forums can be used to learn and know about the lastest trends. See More

Top Con

The notifications aren't very helpful

The notifications just pop up once. If you press the wrong button it's hard to go back and change your choice. And not all programs that connect to internet will trigger a notification. See More

Top Pro

Automatic updates for newly installed/ removed programs

See All

score 5 · Answer 5

NetLimiter

Top Pro

Interactive rule-adder

You can set the program to freeze/block any unknown connection, and pop up a dialog letting you choose what to do: allow/block once, allow/block for X time, or allow/block forever. See More

Top Con

Windows-Only

No versions available for Macintosh, Linux or BSD See More

HappyDogoda's Experience

much better than windows firewall See More

Top Pro

Fine-grained rules

Rules can be based on any combination of these components: program path, process ID (replaces program path), TCP/UDP, inbound/outbound, remote address, remote port See More

Top Con

no export options

cant export traffic data for external use See More

ThriftyBathala's Experience

It's been around since 2005 and still works reliably. Also pairs well with WireShark. See More

Top Pro

30 day trial

The paid features are free to try for 30 days. See More

Top Con

Advanced features are not free

Advanced features requires paid version after trial period. See More

Venryx's Experience

Stream-lined and effective firewall; much easier to add and edit rules than the default Windows Firewall. See More

Top Pro

Free/Lite Model Available

Lite includes: monitoring, charts, prioritization, speed limits and filtering. Suitable for most general users and gamers. See More

Top Pro

Theme Customization

User selects accent colors and can opt for Dark Mode. See More

Top Pro

Low Memory Consumption

Generally peaks around 150 MB when running in the background under normal use. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 6

Glasswire

Top Con

Can't create scoped firewall rules

This is more of a high-end network monitor with a simple blanket allow/deny firewall than a full featured firewall where you can create rules of varying complexity such as allow or deny to specific domains or ports. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Android

score 2 · Answer 7

Avira

CourteousFeronia's Experience

Be aware, Last times used, it messed my computer. I was unable to reboot my computer and finally had to restore a backup. And yes I was sure it was Avira which cuase this. See More

score 2 · Answer 8

Kaspersky Internet Security

Top Pro

Can easily blacklist specific apps without having to find the .exe

Saves time when wanting to block specific apps from having network access. See More

score 1 · Answer 9

COMODO

JollyAsterion's Experience

I have been using comodo firewall for 5 years and always when I allowed it to update the version always, the CIS does not work. So I have to go back to the restore point, and every update is worse than the previous one See More

Answer 10

Panda Security

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Answer 11

Symantec

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12 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Windows Firewall Control (by Binisoft)

My Recommendation for Windows Firewall Control (by Binisoft)

Allows notifications of new outgoing connections

Can disable or delete new rules that you did not create

My Recommendation for Bitdefender

My Recommendation for Bitdefender

My Recommendation for TinyWall

My Recommendation for TinyWall

Boot-time filtering

Easy to forget that TinyWall is blocking a certain application

100% free

Extremely lightweight on RAM

The user has full control of what it does

Supports Windows Store

Works on all Windows OS that exist

My Recommendation for Windows Firewall

My Recommendation for Windows Firewall

Not very intuitive

Most other firewalls use the Windows Firewall API anyway.

The notifications aren't very helpful

Automatic updates for newly installed/ removed programs

My Recommendation for NetLimiter

My Recommendation for NetLimiter

Interactive rule-adder

Windows-Only

Fine-grained rules

no export options

30 day trial

Advanced features are not free

Free/Lite Model Available

Theme Customization

Low Memory Consumption

My Recommendation for Glasswire

My Recommendation for Glasswire

Can't create scoped firewall rules

My Recommendation for Avira

My Recommendation for Avira

My Recommendation for Kaspersky Internet Security

My Recommendation for Kaspersky Internet Security

Can easily blacklist specific apps without having to find the .exe

My Recommendation for AVG

My Recommendation for AVG

My Recommendation for COMODO

My Recommendation for COMODO

My Recommendation for Panda Security

My Recommendation for Panda Security

My Recommendation for Symantec

My Recommendation for Symantec

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