Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 5, 2023

We compared Proofpoint Email Protection and Barracuda Email Security Gateway across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

  • Features: Users describe Proofpoint Email Protection as a convenient all-in-one solution that offers effective defense against phishing attempts. Barracuda Email Security Gateway’s stand-out features include sandboxing, diverse customization options, and a cloud environment.

  • Room for Improvement: Proofpoint Email Protection could make its interface clearer and simplify admin management. Barracuda Email Security Gateway users say the solution should add DomainKeys functionality, enhance anti-phishing measures, and introduce the ability to add multiple domains.

  • Service and Support: Proofpoint Email Protection’s customer service is described as responsive, professional, and knowledgeable. However, there are some concerns about availability. Customers have praised the customer service of Barracuda Email Security Gateway for its professionalism, responsiveness, and availability, rating it as good and reliable.

  • Ease of Deployment: Proofpoint Email Protection can be set up in a relatively short amount of time. Some users found it simple, while others mentioned that it requires technical skills. The setup process for Barracuda Email Security Gateway is described as simple and intuitive, requiring a few hours or a day to complete.

  • Pricing: The opinions on the cost of Proofpoint Email Protection vary, with some users finding it costly while others find it reasonable. Users say Barracuda Email Security Gateway is competitively priced.

  • ROI: Proofpoint Email Protection stands out with its robust phishing signature file, surpassing competitors in threat detection. Barracuda Email Security Gateway benefits users by minimizing business disruptions and reducing costs.

Comparison Results: Proofpoint Email Protection provides effective email protection and strong threat-detection features. However, it needs to simplify its user interface and administration. Barracuda offers a wide range of capabilities, customizable options, and excellent customer support. Suggestions for improvement are more prevalent for Barracuda, including better pricing, automation, and user interface. Opinions on pricing vary for both products, with some users considering Barracuda to be more affordable.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Proofpoint Email Protection Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution helps us to block some blacklisted emails.""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.""It not only tackles spam effectively but also incorporates advanced features like ATP and active features which ensures a comprehensive and adaptable email security solution tailored to their heterogeneous environment.""With the cloud service, one of the nice things about Barracuda is the quarantine service. It gives the ability for our users to go in and check what has been quarantined, and then connect with our IT staff to release anything that should be fine so that we can test it before we release.""The most important features of Barracuda Email Security Gateway are the simple and quick configuration, interactive console, and easy-to-understand logs.""The most valuable feature of the Barracuda Email Security Gateway is the ATP.""The anti-spamming, anti-fishing features are great.""It can scale."

More Barracuda Email Security Gateway Pros →

"As a cloud-based product, it can scale well.""The solution offers very good flexibility. You can blacklist or whitelist with ease.""The most valuable feature is the option to edit the inbound security.""It is a very scalable solution.""The stability is very good.""I like all the features with Proofpoint, such as how it filters the spam and marketing mail, lost reality mail, blocks phishing attacks, blocks malicious attachments, and stops phishing links. Also it can defend against the business email compromise impersonation technique. It is a complete solution for all email attacks. It filters for the bad, malicious attachments. If there is any executable file, it can be deleted. It is a good, complete solution.""The archive feature is valuable.""The most valuable feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is the central location dashboard for viewing all the related information for risk."

More Proofpoint Email Protection Pros →

Cons
"The UI could be a little cleaner and require less clicking around in different modules. They give the illusion of a single pane of glass, but as you click around to different products, you're actually being transferred into a different system.""Barracuda Email Security Gateway should add auto-remediation to improve the solution. Additionally, there are times when we have false positives and our general emails get locked, we have mentioned this to Barracuda.""The solution could improve by adding DomainKeys (DKIM) functionality. This is something that is essentially required nowadays for outbound security. They do not have it on their on-premise solution appliance but they have alternate arrangements for their cloud solution.""Few customers require an on-premises fabric ATP box for attack detection and response.""Barracuda's spam database isn't on par with its competitors. Users complain about the spam email they're receiving, and we report the issue. Barracuda said they are going to update their system to block the malicious email we received, but we're still getting the same spam. The signatures are not in their database. They need to update their spam signatures because spam is bypassing Barracuda.""The pricing needs improvement.""Barracuda has shown difficulty in providing us with the solutions we sought.""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."

More Barracuda Email Security Gateway Cons →

"The flexibility of the solution can be improved.""The solution could be improved with the addition of PLP and email encryption features.""The largest complaint that we hear from our customers is that there is no local support.""Proofpoint Email Protection could improve the Mail Trace feature and make navigation easier.""The Secure Mail aspect should have an Outlook add-in, instead of an external dashboard that outside users have to access.""The solution could lower its price.""Proofpoint has a lot of false alarms.""The false positives are an issue."

More Proofpoint Email Protection Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "For overall value and cost, Barracuda came in as most appropriate, price as well as services provided. In terms of price, it's average . It's not the most expensive, it's not the least expensive but it works well."
  • "The price of this solution is very high, but it's working fine."
  • "Our licensing fees are approximately $4,000 per year, and this includes updates for the antivirus and spam signatures."
  • "As far as advanced email security systems, this product is mid-range on the pricing scale."
  • "The pricing for the product is fine."
  • "The licensing fees are part of a bundled support package that we pay for."
  • "We pay between $8 and $10 USD per user per month."
  • "The licensing cost is competitive, it's not too high and not too low."
  • More Barracuda Email Security Gateway Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Annually, it costs us about $92,000. This is pretty much what it costs us. There is no additional cost."
  • "The price is reasonable."
  • "Proofpoint is fairly expensive."
  • "The licensing is basically $8/user."
  • "It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."
  • "Pricing has recently been increased and the cost is a downside"
  • "The solution charges per user per month to use it. There are not any additional fees in addition to the standard living fees."
  • "Clients pay for an annual subscription of Proofpoint Email Protection. Every client always finds it expensive."
  • More Proofpoint Email Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.
    768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Barracuda Email Security Gateway is very simple to use.
    Top Answer:Barracuda Email Security Gateway is a cost-effective solution.
    Top Answer:Barracuda Email Security Gateway should include ATP in the next release.
    Top Answer:The product is costly. I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price. When you want to change what capabilities you want in the product, you… more »
    Top Answer:The whole configuration management piece of the product requires some work, as it is one of the areas where the tool has certain shortcomings. Though it is an easy-to-install product, it might be… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    1,693
    Comparisons
    1,162
    Reviews
    21
    Average Words per Review
    420
    Rating
    8.0
    Views
    2,085
    Comparisons
    1,560
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    454
    Rating
    8.1
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
    Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe
    Learn More
    Overview

    Barracuda Email Security Gateway is a robust security solution that allows users to protect themselves from external threats as well as from potential data leaks. It can be managed and monitored from a centralized location. Users can efficiently and easily keep track of every aspect of their security suite all at one time. Customized protections can also be set up in a matter of minutes.

    Benefits of Barracuda Email Security Gateway

    Some of the benefits of using Barracuda Email Security Gateway include:

    • Provides users with a comprehensive and robust suite of security features. Barracuda Email Security Gateway employs a suite of security features to keep users safe. It has an email filter that scans outgoing emails to keep sensitive data from being sent to the wrong parties. Additionally, its software allows users to keep an eye on potential threats in real time. Users can stay ahead of malicious actors and preserve the integrity of their systems.
    • Designed for easy deployment. Barracuda Email Security Gateway makes it easy for users to secure themselves. The solution comes pre-configured for quick rollout and use. Users can benefit from it fully without devoting a significant level of resources to deployment.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Barracuda Email Security Gateway is an email security tool that stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the high level of flexibility that it gives to users and the solution’s powerful filtering feature. Barracuda Email Security Gateway offers users the ability to enact customizations that enable them to align the solution with their specific needs. It is highly flexible and allows for the completion of many different tasks. Additionally, it employs a powerful spam filter feature that gives users the ability to stop a large percentage of the threats to their devices before they get anywhere near their machines.

    Mohammed N., the assistant general manager at CoLoCity Data Center, writes, “There are many customizable options:

    • Attachment filtering, where we are filtering attachments according to our requirements.
    • IT-based configurations, where we allow domains. We are blacklisting domains that we do not want to pass through.
    • Rate Control feature, where we have the user license for 10,000 incoming and outgoing emails. Therefore, 10,000 users can use this device.

    The client has the option to blacklist or whitelist any email address or domain based on the sender and recipient filters. If they want, they can restrict any IP addresses so email won't be received from those IP addresses. Another interesting feature of Barracuda Email Security is the content filtering. If there is any word or sentence that we or our customers want to block, then we can add that thing in Barracuda Email Security Gateway. The content contained in the email will not be delivered or received by the recipient. Maximum customization options are available.”

    Igor G., the information security officer and data protection officer at a manufacturing company, writes, “The spam filtering feature, 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.”

    Proofpoint Email Protection is a machine learning email gateway that catches both known and unknown threats. Through Target Attack Protection, emails will be analyzed and potentially blocked from advanced threats while users gain visibility around these threats. The technology can also classify various types of email and can be deployed both on premises or as a cloud service. In addition, users can tag suspicious emails to help raise user awareness and track down any email quickly.

    Proofpoint Email Protection offers Advanced BEC Defense, which can precisely detect and block different types of emails, even if they don’t involve a malicious payload, such as business email compromise (BEC). Email Protection, which is powered by NexusAI, is a sophisticated detection technique developed to stop a variety of kinds of email fraud from affecting compromised accounts. It’s specifically designed to analyze message components, such as the sender’s IP address (including reputation and x-originating IP), the message header, and the message body. Using machine learning and AI, it will then determine if that message is a BEC threat.

    Benefits of Proofpoint Email Protection

    Proofpoint Email Protection is a favorite for organizations looking to utilize their cybersecurity budget accurately, and provides the user with incredible visibility. While preventing email fraud, the technology can also detect and block advanced malware as well as identifying possible risks.

    Email Protection offers many benefits, including:

    • Email warning tag - Raise user awareness and reduce the risk of possible compromises by automatically tagging suspicious emails.

    • Gain granular control of unwanted email - Gain control over low-priority emails through granular email filtering, which can pinpoint gray mail, like newsletters and bulk mail.

    • Multi-layered detection - Defend against continuous evolving threats with reputation and content analysis. Email Protection offers a dynamic classification of various emails, including malware, spam, phishing, imposter threats, and bulk email.

    • Smart search - Track down an email based on dozens of search criteria in seconds. Smart search also provides the ability to trace where emails came from.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Proofpoint Email Protection enables business continuity capabilities through their machine learning, AI-powered email gateway. With its innovative approach toward detecting, analyzing, identifying, and blocking advanced threats, users can gain unique visibility into their business data environments. Users especially like the ability to block spam, as well as the business email compromise protection.

    An anonymous reviewer who is a principal consultant at a tech company, notes, "Proofpoint is the main tool for blocking spam because it denies the connection altogether."

    Sridhar R., a security professional at Qatar Computer Services WLL, writes, "The most valuable features are the business email compromise protection and targeted attack prevention."

    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
    Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Comms Service Provider14%
    Construction Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization43%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government5%
    Financial Services Firm4%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Healthcare Company12%
    Retailer12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization25%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business58%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise22%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise53%
    Large Enterprise25%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise32%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise34%
    Large Enterprise46%
    Buyer's Guide
    Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Proofpoint Email Protection
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Proofpoint Email Protection and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Barracuda Email Security Gateway is ranked 2nd in Secure Email Gateway (SEG) with 51 reviews while Proofpoint Email Protection is ranked 1st in Secure Email Gateway (SEG) with 44 reviews. Barracuda Email Security Gateway is rated 8.0, while Proofpoint Email Protection is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Barracuda Email Security Gateway writes "Robust email protection with advanced features such as effective spam filtering, virus and malware defense, phishing protection and high scalability". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Proofpoint Email Protection writes "A reasonably priced product that offers protection to emails, along with spam filters". Barracuda Email Security Gateway is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Fortinet FortiMail, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Cisco Secure Email and Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade, whereas Proofpoint Email Protection is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Cisco Secure Email and Perception Point Advanced Email Security. See our Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. Proofpoint Email Protection report.

    See our list of best Secure Email Gateway (SEG) vendors.

    We monitor all Secure Email Gateway (SEG) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.