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Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Email Security Ga...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
DMARC Authentication Software (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (3rd)
Microsoft Exchange Online P...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Barracuda Email Security Gateway is designed for Secure Email Gateway (SEG) and holds a mindshare of 10.3%, down 17.0% compared to last year.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), on the other hand, focuses on Anti-Malware Tools, holds 1.6% mindshare, down 2.3% since last year.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Shah Newaj - PeerSpot reviewer
Instantly blocked and reduced our spam emails
The solution has to improve in a very specific way. When we allow our customers to send or scan email through our Barracuda Email Security Gateway, we are permitting their email server IP address, but not any domain. One of our customers has an email server where they are hosting five domains within their server. They are sending and receiving email through that server by using Barracuda Email Security Gateway. Therefore, we allow their IP address to send email through our Barracuda Email Security Gateway, then we declare MX for receiving email on behalf of our customers. After receiving the email, we deliver it to the specific IP address of the customer. Since we are only allowing the IP address, if an incident happens within a customer's email server or an email server gets compromised, then it starts sending spam. That creates a huge problem for the solution as it allows all emails because the customer's IP address is allowed to relay email through our Barracuda Email Security Gateway. Barracuda should add an option where it can add multiple domains, such as abc.com, bbc.com, and cbc.com. Therefore, this domains' emails will be allowed and other domains' emails will not be relayed through Barracuda Email Security Gateway. Whereas, if you allow the IP address, then any of the domain's emails will be relayed through Barracuda Email Security Gateway. That is the drawback that I have observed. So, Barracuda should work on this.
Nur Mohammad - PeerSpot reviewer
An effective email security solution that provides DLP, Safe Attachment, and Safe Links
If you want extensive email security, you need to purchase a Plan 2 license. Plan 1 and Plan 2 are the two plans for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Some customers hesitate to purchase this product because it adds some costs to them, which is necessary for them. It would be helpful for customers if Plan 1 features were included with EOP. However, they still need to purchase Plan 2 for advanced security features. One of our clients recently requested to compare Zimbra's features with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Zimbra is open source, while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is not. When I compare both the products, many free features are available in Zimbra because it is open-source software. It makes no sense to request Microsoft Exchange Online Protection add all the features people get on open-source software like Zimbra. Hence, I would say whatever features Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has are enough. Microsoft has a dedicated research team that should research and add new techniques like phishing and spamming solutions to the product.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Thanks to Barracuda Email Security Gateway, I have seen increases in productivity and functionality in terms of spam reduction and filtering against different threats, which is a benefit by default."
"Its backups are valuable."
"I appreciate that the product provides account takeover protection."
"The spam filtering, in particular, is very important for us. We have a large volume of emails each month, something like 200,000, and Barracuda filters about 85 percent of the spam, malware, and phishing that comes in. It prevents our users from receiving this content on their computers."
"It is a really good product with a lot of features. It is responsive, updated, and modern. It is easy to use and has an easy interface for non-IT users. Its dashboard is also quite fine. It is also quite flexible and has an API at the backend."
"We find the email security to be valuable."
"The link protection and anti-phishing features are great."
"The most valuable feature of Barracuda Email Security Gateway is that it blocks almost 99 percent of threats from users' email inboxes."
"The product protects against malware."
"What I like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is its integration with Windows, so we have one central view for all alerts and incidents."
"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has features like DLP (data loss protection), Safe Attachment, and Safe Links."
"It has a really nice web-based administration console."
"It's definitely scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is the accidental release of information protection capabilities. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"It is scalable."
"The threat management feature includes policies and alerts that are valuable."
 

Cons

"The spam filtering is a little too aggressive. You can not get granular enough to back off on what is considered spam and what is not."
"There's a bit of configuration work that's needed with the DNS service provider, but other than that, everything else should be very smooth."
"The solution should include an improvised anti-phishing feature, since it blocks certain genuine emails."
"Some customers experience issues with integration."
"I have noticed that it takes a little time to get familiar with after deploying and some tweaks need to be done as things come up."
"We still have critical threats coming into our environment and delivered to our users. When we compare it with other solutions, these other solutions can already detect those threats."
"Barracuda should have a sandbox feature in the appliances."
"My customers were sending OPT bulk emails and Barracuda Email Security Gateway was not able to handle it. We have to go with another different solution, such FortiMail for the task. We are implementing these combinations of the Barracuda and FortiGate, for email security. The FortiGate FortiMail security gateway we use to send only the bulk email, not for receiving emails."
"The reporting needs a little bit of improvement."
"Online Protection has an issue in that it doesn't provide an option to stop impersonation."
"It doesn't protect against everything. We do need protection for, for example, endpoints."
"I think the implementation could be more streamlined."
"The product could be more stable. Microsoft products could be more stable because sometimes, even though they are updating some things, we cannot find those updates."
"If a company wants to put in line back-to-back anti-spam solutions, they need to work on that part because Microsoft recommends either you use EOP as a front line or you don't use it."
"Having orchestration features added to Microsoft Exchange Online Protection, particularly automation and remediation, would be quite useful."
"The licensing can be on the expensive side, especially in the cloud space."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As far as advanced email security systems, this product is mid-range on the pricing scale."
"The licensing fees are part of a bundled support package that we pay for."
"This is one of the major points for integrating this solution in any organization. Barracuda Email Security Gateway needs to make it a bit more tolerable for customers because it is increasing every year. They should create a plan for reducing the cost."
"The licensing cost is competitive, it's not too high and not too low."
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
"e solution's pricing is exceedingly high, and it continues to increase."
"We pay between $8 and $10 USD per user per month."
"The solution requires a license and we pay annually."
"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is a good solution at an affordable price. It is a good investment."
"Apart from the license fee for the solution, there are no additional costs."
"The pricing for the solution depends on what you are trying to achieve with the use of the product, but I know that it is not a cheaply priced product. Yearly payments have to be made towards the licensing fees of the solution."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is reasonable."
"It's a high price."
"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection's pricing is a little bit more because its price has recently increased."
"The solution is expensive but is backed by Microsoft's reputation."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing a six. For licensing, we can make monthly or yearly payments. Right now, we pay 5 USD per month to secure a person's license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
53%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
3%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda Email Security Gateway?
Barracuda Email Security Gateway is very simple to use.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Security Gateway?
Barracuda Email Security Gateway should include ATP in the next release.
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
Some of the searchability when looking for specifics in Exchange logs is tedious. Although eventually the information is located, it can be difficult if detailed information is lacking. Improving t...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
I use the tools to protect customers' emails, mostly utilizing Defender products to protect emails and links from SharePoint and email spam protection and links.
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Evolution Recruitment Solutions, Evans Delivery Company, Osoyoos Credit Union, Synovis Life Technologies, Camden County Technical Schools, DEK, Evans Delivery Company, Colgate Rochester Crozer, Hemmera, South Carolina Heart Center, Ferma Corporation, Major League Baseball (MLB), Healy Brothers Automotive Group
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Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: January 2024.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.