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Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) Reviews

Vendor: Barracuda Networks
4.3 out of 5
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What is Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)?

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) offers comprehensive email security, archiving, and backup solutions. It safeguards businesses from phishing, malware, and spam with effective threat detection.

Get the Cloud Backup Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials), Norton Small Business, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud and more!
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is the #44 ranked solution in top Cloud Backup solutions. PeerSpot users give Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) an average rating of 8.6 out of 10. Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is most commonly compared to Norton Small Business: Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) vs Norton Small Business.
Buyer's Guide
Cloud Backup
February 2026
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Helped 882,594 peers since 2012

Featured Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) reviews

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Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) mindshare

As of February 2026, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) in the Cloud Backup category stands at 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Backup Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)0.4%
Veeam Data Platform8.4%
Commvault Cloud6.1%
Other85.1%
Cloud Backup
 
 
Key learnings from peers
Last updated Feb 20, 2026

Valuable Features

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) features an intuitive interface, robust URL filtering, and strong encryption for data protection. It offers excellent threat protection against spam, phishing, ransomware, and malware. Users appreciate trend analytics, behavior metrics, and security incident handling. The easy deployment and ease of managing whitelists and blacklists enhance its appeal. The dashboard and email continuity scoring system add significant value. Affordable yet highly effective, Barracuda Essentials remains a popular choice for email security.
  • "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially since the pandemic with many remote workers."
  • "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) has positively impacted my organization, increasing email security by 70%, improving compliance and risk management, and providing adequate training, making our staff more aware and alert, as they check more often and report more spam emails."
  • "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) has had a positive impact on our organization, including a reduction in phishing, fewer P1 security escalations, a lower volume of user-reported spam, an improved email authentication posture, and a reduction in SOC triage workload."

Room for Improvement

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) requires enhancements in flexibility for regulation protection and pricing, which are concerns for budget-conscious organizations. The user interface needs improvement for ease of use, especially for non-IT users, while campaign setup can be complex and slow. Improvements in scheduled reporting, integration with security parameters, and enhancements in quarantine and management would be beneficial. Data transmission issues and the need for smoother deployment processes also arise among users.
  • "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) can be improved, especially in terms of documentation."
  • "Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) can be improved because the user interface is not very intuitive, especially for new users, and it is not easy to make my own landing page designs."
  • "The improvement area for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) would be reducing false positives via imported ML transparency and securing logic, along with faster log search and policy sync performance enhancements."

Pricing

Interviews with Barracuda Email Gateway Defense users reveal mixed experiences regarding pricing, licensing, and setup costs. Most find the tool cost-effective and affordable compared to competitors. However, a recent price increase raises concerns for smaller organizations. While it remains cheaper than other solutions like Trend Micro and Cisco, some note the license costs around Rs. 2500-2700 per user. Enterprises should evaluate their budget requirements against these factors.
  • "It is cheaper compared to other products."
  • "The product's price is higher than other vendors."

Popular Use Cases

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is primarily utilized for email protection, providing company-wide filtering and management. Organizations use it for creating awareness among users through phishing training and security campaigns. Employees can manage their own blacklists and whitelists, enhancing workflows and reducing reliance on MSPs. High customization offers extensive possibilities, although new users find it complex. Email scoring helps identify suspicious content, while security reports facilitate troubleshooting.

Service and Support

Customer service and support for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) are described as proactive, responsive, and efficient. Users find the support team helpful and professional in resolving issues, providing 24/7 assistance, and quickly addressing concerns. Tickets are generally replied to within half an hour, and guidance for new users is readily available. While occasional challenges arise due to time zone differences, most issues are handled effectively, particularly administrative ones like license renewals.

Deployment

Users found Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)'s initial setup easy, with custom templates and default libraries facilitating the process. Transitions between products during a trial were smooth. Some domains faced access issues, but proper configuration prevented this. Barracuda engineers provided helpful support during setup, which was straightforward and well-documented. The process varied from moderately complex, requiring some knowledge, to simple, taking a few hours to days, with minimal ongoing support needed.

Scalability

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is considered highly scalable. Many organizations note its ability to grow with their requirements efficiently, handling large volumes of emails and offering valuable features like training seamlessly. Users appreciate its reliability, rating its scalability capabilities highly. Companies with hundreds of users find it effective for continuous use. It is particularly well-suited for medium-sized businesses.

Stability

Users consistently describe Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) as very stable, frequently rating it nine or ten out of ten for stability. They report no performance issues and commend its ability to provide dependable service. This consistent feedback highlights a reliable experience with no significant problems reported.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
Download our Cloud Backup Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

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Learn more about Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense uses cloud-based technology to provide robust protection against email threats. Its extensive features cover encryption, archiving, and continuity, making it ideal for businesses seeking to bolster email defenses. The system is user-friendly and offers seamless integration with existing IT infrastructures, enhancing security without adding complexity to the workflow. While highly effective, some users suggest improvements in reporting capabilities and customization options to maximize its efficiency.

What are the key features of Barracuda Email Gateway Defense?
  • Advanced Threat Protection: Scans all incoming emails for malware and phishing attempts.
  • Data Loss Prevention: Prevents data breaches through automatic email scanning.
  • Email Continuity Service: Ensures email service is uninterrupted during outages.
  • Cloud-based Archiving: Provides secure archiving and retrieval for compliance.
  • Encryption: Secures sensitive emails through automatic encryption features.
What benefits or ROI should users consider?
  • Enhanced Security: Reduces the risk of cyber threats with real-time protection.
  • Compliance Assurance: Aids in meeting industry regulations with archival solutions.
  • Operational Efficiency: Simplifies management through automated processes.
  • Cost-effectiveness: Minimizes the need for additional security hardware.

Barracuda Email Gateway Defense is especially beneficial in industries handling sensitive information such as healthcare and finance, providing the necessary security and compliance measures. It integrates seamlessly into these industries' IT environments, offering reliable data protection and continuity assurance.

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Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) Reviews Summary
Author infoRatingReview Summary
Senior Software Engineer at Procter & Gamble4.5I’ve used Barracuda Email Gateway Defense for six years to secure inbound/outbound Exchange email with strong spam filtering, sandboxing, and link protection, improving visibility and reducing risk. It’s stable, scalable, affordable, and well supported, but needs better documentation, reports, and UI.
Senior Software Engineer at GE4.0I’ve used Barracuda Email Gateway Defense for five years to run semi-monthly phishing and USB-drop training using a strong library, analytics, and reporting, improving awareness and email security. It scales well and offers ROI, but the UI, support responsiveness, and cost could improve.
Account Executive at Hilton Worldwide4.5I use Barracuda Essentials for security awareness and phishing simulations, leveraging strong templates, analytics, and scalable, stable delivery. It reduced phishing risk about 60% and costs, with great support, but the UI and campaign setup have a steep learning curve.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger4.5I've used Barracuda Email Gateway Defense for three years to improve email security and user control, reducing phishing by 80%. It’s user-friendly, affordable, and effective, though its DLP feature lacks customization and pricing recently increased.
Manager, Account Services Delivery at Softcell Technologies Limited4.0I use Barracuda Email Gateway Defense for Microsoft 365 to filter mail, stop phishing/impersonation, and add ATP sandboxing, URL defense, continuity, and multi-tenant management. It’s stable, scalable, and supportive, cutting phishing and SOC workload, but needs fewer false positives, faster logs, and better integrations.
Marketing Director at Unisys4.5I’ve used Barracuda Essentials for five years to run phishing training for ~1,000 users, boosting awareness and reducing phishing/malware risks. It’s easy to deploy, stable, scalable, affordable, and well supported, but the UI can be slow and hard to customize.
System Admin at Softcell Technologies Limited4.0I implemented Barracuda Email Gateway Defense at a customer's site, finding it user-friendly and widely renewed. While it occasionally has minor issues, its robust features like e-Discovery make it preferable over simpler alternatives like Fortinet.
System Integrator IT Manager at Tecnimex S.r.l.4.0I find Barracuda Email Gateway Defense highly valuable due to its comprehensive dashboard that provides all necessary information at a glance. However, improvements in the quarantine and user interface, specifically in management ease and deployment, would enhance its usability.