

They can track the state of each connection that passes through them, allowing them to differentiate between legitimate traffic and malicious attacks. Stateful firewalls are better suited for larger enterprises since they provide more granular control over network traffic. We’ll review the technical definitions below, but first, here is a quick summary of the differences between stateful and stateless firewalls: Stateless Firewallsĥ Differences Between Stateful and Stateless Firewalls Bottom Line: Choosing Between Stateful vs.


They keep track of all the connections that pass through them, ensuring that only authorized traffic is allowed to pass. Stateful firewalls are the experienced bouncer, who knows precisely who is coming and going and can recognize familiar faces. Stateless firewalls check packets individually before deciding whether or not to permit them, while stateful firewalls are able to track movement of packets around the network, building profiles to better recognize safe and unsafe connections at the source.įirewalls are like club bouncers-they decide who gets in and stays out. Firewalls come in two standard types, stateful and stateless.
