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Barracuda Backup vs Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Barracuda Backup enhances data protection, reduces downtime, lowers costs, and boosts ROI with efficient, user-friendly, and reliable features.
Sentiment score
9.0
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense boosts security, reduces costs, and decreases incidents by up to 60%, enhancing operational stability.
It not only saves time but also protects data.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If your staff can become aware and trained to have minimal incidents, that is a huge return on investment for any organization.
Account Executive at Hilton Worldwide
We have seen a return on investment evidenced by fewer breaching incidents and less workload for our security team.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger
I have seen a return on investment with Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) as it has protected our customers against targeted phishing emails, set up training campaigns easily, and trained the human firewall.
Marketing Director at Unisys
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Barracuda Backup support's efficiency varies; it resolves issues quickly or slowly depending on staff experience and timezone availability.
Sentiment score
8.5
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense support is highly rated for its 24/7 proactive, efficient service, and effective issue resolution.
Other times I may have to wait longer for solutions if the technical support is less familiar with the product.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
From my experience, the technical support from Barracuda receives an eight out of ten.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sometimes the engineers allocated to our cases appear to be inexperienced as they ask about basic queries we have already tested.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
The customer support for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very responsive and supportive 24/7.
Marketing Director at Unisys
The customer support for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very proactive and responsive.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger
The customer support for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very proactive and supportive.
Account Executive at Hilton Worldwide
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
Barracuda Backup offers scalable solutions for businesses, with unlimited space and flexible options, though provider limitations may occur.
Sentiment score
9.1
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense is scalable and reliable, ideal for medium businesses, handling growth and heavy email traffic efficiently.
Opting for a virtual appliance model provides easier scalability without requiring much licensing or configuration work.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
The scalability is sufficient for my clients' use cases.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very scalable and grows with my organization's needs.
Account Executive at Hilton Worldwide
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very scalable, with no downtime noticed, and it is really fast.
Senior Software Engineer at GE
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) has been very scalable, adapting to my organization's needs effectively.
Senior Software Engineer at Procter & Gamble
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.9
Barracuda Backup is rated highly for stability, though connectivity issues can affect virtual machines and cause isolated problems.
Sentiment score
9.1
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense is highly rated for its stability, with users experiencing no performance or reliability issues.
Latency issues only occur due to physical connectivity problems, but with good connectivity, it works well.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
In using Barracuda Backup, sometimes the VM has issues and becomes non-functional, requiring support tickets to resolve.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is very stable; I have not experienced any downtime or reliability issues.
Senior Software Engineer at Procter & Gamble
 

Room For Improvement

Barracuda Backup requires better integration, UI updates, improved support, more device compatibility, and AI-driven security features.
Barracuda Essentials requires UI improvements, enhanced customization, better documentation, and strengthened automation for improved usability and flexibility.
The main area for improvement is integration and support for databases.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Integration with vendors other than VMware and Hyper-V would make it more competitive.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Adding AI features for security would also be beneficial as artificial intelligence is always helpful from a security perspective.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The cost could be more affordable, especially for smaller organizations working on a tight budget.
Senior Software Engineer at GE
The price increased about two years ago, which is a big concern, especially for small organizations working on a tight budget.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger
The user interface could be a little easier to use, and the campaigns could be easier to create.
Account Executive at Hilton Worldwide
 

Setup Cost

Barracuda Backup offers budget-friendly pricing with per-terabyte licensing and free device replacement after three years.
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense provides cost-effective pricing, though some small organizations find it challenging due to recent price increases.
Makes it cheaper compared to other solutions.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
Barracuda even provides replacements after three years if a device reaches end of life, without any extra charges.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that this tool is very cost-effective, but the price was increased around two years ago.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the cost is very effective and affordable.
Marketing Director at Unisys
I find the price to be cost-effective.
Senior Software Engineer at GE
 

Valuable Features

Barracuda Backup excels with cloud functionality, fast restoration, effective email security, and reliable support, surpassing competitors in data protection.
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense enhances threat protection, reduces phishing, and improves compliance with advanced features and customizable security solutions.
The most valuable feature of Barracuda Backup is that it's on the cloud, so there is no need for hardware.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Barracuda email security works effectively with O365, and we have been able to achieve many use cases that other competitive products such as Micro, Fortinet, Trellix, or Forcepoint could not accomplish.
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
One valuable feature of Barracuda Backup is that it can be used as thin VMware storage.
Director Of Technology at PT Exa Teknologi Indonesia
The URL filtering is excellent, as it reviews every link sent in an email and rewrites it to open in a sandbox first if clicked on.
Senior Software Engineer at Kroger
I value their ability to protect against various online threats such as spam, phishing, ransomware, and malware.
Marketing Director at Unisys
It has been a very good tool, 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.
Senior Software Engineer at GE
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Backup
Ranking in Cloud Backup
49th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (53rd)
Barracuda Email Gateway Def...
Ranking in Cloud Backup
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud Backup category, the mindshare of Barracuda Backup is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Backup Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)0.5%
Barracuda Backup1.1%
Other98.4%
Cloud Backup
 

Featured Reviews

GANESAN K - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Rating shows fast restoration and reliable support with scope for improved integration and database backup options
The product needs improvement to become better. For example, we attempted to integrate with Postgres SQL server to backup the database alone, which was not supported. For this reason, we required a separate solution for database backups. While other SQL servers are supported, Barracuda Backup has limitations with database backups. The main area for improvement is integration and support for databases.
Kelly  Perry - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Procter & Gamble
Email defenses have reduced phishing risk and now protect our remote workforce every day
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) has had a very positive impact on our organization, especially since the pandemic with many remote workers. Our IT objective is 99.9% uptime with many redundant fail-safes in place. Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) helps to meet that objective by protecting the vast amount of email we receive on a daily basis. I can share specific metrics or results: we've reduced risk by 60% and increased visibility by 70%. Now we have peace of mind in our organization since we know our email is protected. Email protection has dramatically reduced attacks via spam, phishing, and malware in all sectors, enhancing protection and encryption of input and output and preventing data from being leaked from the internal network.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Media Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Backup?
The pricing is very competitive. Licensing is on a yearly basis, and Barracuda even provides replacements after three years if a device reaches end of life, without any extra charges.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Backup?
The product needs improvement to become better. For example, we attempted to integrate with Postgres SQL server to backup the database alone, which was not supported. For this reason, we required a...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Backup?
We are partners with Trellix Move Antivirus and we have sold it previously. That particular bundle has changed as Trellix has moved to Complete Protection and the DLP comes under another bundle. We...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that this tool is very cost-effective, but the price was increased around two years ago, which worries me for small organizations using Bar...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)?
Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) can be improved since the DLP is a bit inflexible and cannot handle custom additions. It is either you turn on the group of regulations you wa...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials)?
My main use case for Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) is for email protection company-wide for email filtering and email management. It is important for our organization becau...
 

Also Known As

LiveVault, Barracuda Virtual Backup, Barracuda Backup Appliance
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ochsner Health System
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Backup vs. Barracuda Email Gateway Defense (Barracuda Essentials) and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.