Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Barracuda Email Protection vs Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade comparison

Sponsored
 

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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (10th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Barracuda Email Protection
Ranking in Email Security
14th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (2nd), Office 365 Protection (5th)
Check Point Anti-Spam and E...
Ranking in Email Security
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.6%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda Email Protection is 2.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
LeeMiles - PeerSpot reviewer
Very good threat protection, spam filtering, and cloud backups
Considering it integrates with Azure, I would like to be able to effectively set up policies where people are by default included in certain settings. For instance, for email quarantine, I can't set up a global setting. Users must go through an induction session where I guide them in configuring quarantine alerts rather than having default settings based on group membership. This seems like an oversight since they already use Active Directory details. They should assign policies based on group membership, which configures these settings by default.
NareshKumar9 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers robust threat protection and saves costs significantly
One area for improvement in Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade involves the firmware updates; sometimes, until I update the firmware of the Check Point Quantum Sparks, I cannot access the GUI to see my data usage. If Check Point resolves this issue, everything will be much better.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"One of the best features of the tool is its capability to aggregate insights from different workloads, basically from the Office 365 and endpoints part."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is its spam filter."
"Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 facilitates efficient management and updates through the cloud. We do not have to worry about incompatibilities. It just works."
"It also gives the vulnerability status according to the versions you have selected. Let's say you have Google Chrome. It mentions the versions it has, and it updates. Within two hours of an update, it is reflected in the dashboard. That's really nice to have."
"Scalability-wise, I do not think there are any issues so far."
"At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us."
"We check the reports sometimes to see that frequent attacks and malicious emails are being blocked by the solution."
"When we got the service, it included the email archiver with unlimited storage."
"The solution is straightforward to set up."
"We now have a secondary backup of Office 365 that's much easier to retrieve compared to Microsoft. If someone deletes something in Office 365, we can get it back within Office 365, but it's difficult. Barracuda is much easier. There is a lot less management needed using Barracuda. The management becomes much easier for Office 365 and it's no longer on-prem, so there are fewer hours managing on-prem devices, servers, and things of that nature. We don't have network appliances anymore for the backup of our information."
"Barracuda email protection is stable. I would give it a nine because of its strong cybersecurity features."
"The solution's most valuable feature is impersonation detection."
"The best feature of Barracuda Email Protection is that it provides protection for Microsoft 365."
"I would rate the solution nine out of ten."
"A scalable, stable solution with good technical support."
"Check Point offers us flexibility when it comes to customizing the configurations that we want to manage, thus allowing us to meet the specific needs of our company."
"Check Point Anti-Spam & Email Security software is a modern-day solution for security management and data scrutiny."
"By drastically reducing the volume of spam and unwanted emails, employees can focus more on their work rather than sorting through cluttered inboxes. This leads to improved productivity and efficiency within the organization."
"It is certainly very beneficial for a small business and works best in combination with other Check Point blades, such as the Data Protection Blade that protects against data loss via email."
"The robust Smart Dashboard enables to us fetch important and accurate data insights concerning the blocking of spammers and malware attacks on the system."
"Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade is quite reliable...It is a very stable solution."
"The solution can be monitored on a single dashboard with actionable insights and reporting."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment."
"Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published."
"In one of the reports I can get the exact place where a vulnerable file resides. But for that, I need to explicitly go into the device and check. If they could include that file part in the report, without my having to go to the device itself, that would help."
"It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers."
"Sometimes, phishing emails manage to pass through the filter, so the system needs to enhance its phishing email detection capabilities."
"This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products."
"We still see many false positives from time to time with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, so it would be good if we can reduce those false positives and provide better workflows for our end users, as sometimes they may not know what to do when they encounter a false positive."
"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."
"The product must enable bulk user management."
"The customer service and support could be improved if the support were available directly in Europe. Currently, the support is often managed from India, so we sometimes need to wait due to the time zone difference. It would be quicker and better if the support were provided by European staff."
"Barracuda Email Protection needs better reporting and more robust integration with security awareness training platforms and third-party solutions."
"The solution's reporting mechanism is a little poor and could be improved."
"They could simplify the licensing and the pricing."
"I would like to see some additional functionality in terms of employee monitoring, as part of a work-from-home security solution."
"Barracuda Essentials can improve by continually adding more features."
"The technology works on a supervised engine, but it would be better if it ran on an unsupervised engine."
"They should keep the software up to date with the latest patches and updates to ensure optimal protection."
"If you face any configuration problems, Check Point is the only solution."
"The cost is high when putting through Check Point Blade in your Gateway."
"There's definitely room for improvement when it comes to adapting to different languages in one environment."
"A possible improvement for the solution would be to be able to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to improve the accuracy of detecting spam and malicious emails that are constantly arriving."
"I can say that the solution's price level is a problematic area that needs to be considered for improvement."
"One thing which annoys me with the Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade is its customer support portal which still lags in service even after so many developments."
"A major area for improvement is within some of the heavily discounted software blade add-ons on top of the current Next Generation Threat Prevention and SandBlast and Next Generation Threat Prevention offerings."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."
"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."
"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"The product is expensive."
"We pay annually. They never charged us for anything else. And they were quite a bit under that $20,000 mark. It was $19,074. And they've been pretty good about not skyrocketing the price or anything like that. It has gone up. It's gone up to $24,000 in 2020."
"The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."
"Despite a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers to easily buy the solution."
"Barracuda licensing model is good."
"The solution's pricing is moderate, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The price of Barracuda Essentials is better than some of the competing products."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"The cost is competitive with other security products on the market."
"Reasonably priced solution."
"I rate the pricing as an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"Choosing the correct set of licenses is essential because, without the additional software blade licenses, the Check Point gateways are just a stateful firewall."
"For licensing, my company makes yearly payments, which is expensive."
"This is a simple system with a very low cost and basic functions, which surely is ideal for a small company."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
858,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
Security Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of variou...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS recor...
What do you like most about Barracuda Email Protection?
Barracuda Email Protection is easy to deploy and maintain. It doesn't require a specialized resource to manage this t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Email Protection?
Their list price is too high, but in India, the selling price is affordable at around $10 per user per year. Despite ...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Protection?
Considering it integrates with Azure, I would like to be able to effectively set up policies where people are by defa...
What needs improvement with Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade?
One area for improvement in Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade involves the firmware updates; so...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade?
My main use case for the Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade within the Check Point 1600 applianc...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Barracuda Essentials
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems
SF Police Credit Union (SFPCU)
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
858,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.