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Barracuda Email Protection vs Fortinet FortiMail comparison

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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)
Fortinet FortiMail
Ranking in Email Security
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
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 Fortinet FortiMail is 4.8%, down from 6.0% 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.
MOHAN SUKUMAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure email management improves through advanced filtering and dynamic virus scanning
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention. It also allows for email forwarding, dynamic filtering, and scanning based on virus signatures. I can set varying levels of security. The tool is flexible and provides essential features for mail security and management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use."
"It’s easy to handle integrations, and we don't need a lot of people in our IT team."
"Defender is a SaaS platform, so it offers more flexibility. Managing the permissions is easier. The solution's automated detection and response features are scalable."
"Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning."
"The deployment capability is a great feature."
"We use Microsoft Defender for its ability to integrate with existing business technologies, which is beneficial for protecting business areas."
"I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products."
"We check the reports sometimes to see that frequent attacks and malicious emails are being blocked by the solution."
"The most valuable aspect includes attempts to spoof or compromise domains from external sources."
"The archiving and search features are very good."
"The solution is straightforward to set up."
"The most valuable features are security and ease of use."
"I would rate the solution nine out of ten."
"Barracuda email protection is stable. I would give it a nine because of its strong cybersecurity features."
"The solution has a user-friendly interface. It is easy to deploy and handle. You can easily troubleshoot the issues of the solution."
"The solution can scale."
"The integration with FortiSandbox is good, and something that we utilize often."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the tool's ability to prevent phishing attacks."
"Fortinet utilizes specialized processing units, which network faster and sample more efficiently compared to others."
"Troubleshooting is very simple because you can see where the email was not delivered and why it would be considered as spam."
"They have a feature called CDR, Content Disarm, Reconstruction, click protection, and DLP for encryption purposes."
"The deployment is simple and once up and running it is easy to manage."
 

Cons

"I'd like some additional features any product can give me to protect our environment in a better way."
"One area for improvement is integration. For example, when it comes to external SaaS platforms, we were not able to get a lot of information on integrations with such apps for security and authentication."
"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."
"Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."
"The changes to customer service, specifically the new model for support agreements, are not favorable."
"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in terms of reporting."
"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."
"Sometimes it is somewhat laggy, especially on the Archiver side. It should have improved performance on their Message Archiver."
"They could simplify the licensing and the pricing."
"The technology works on a supervised engine, but it would be better if it ran on an unsupervised engine."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in reaching out to technical support during deployment."
"The product must enable bulk user management."
"The solution's reporting mechanism is a little poor and could be improved."
"I would like to see some additional functionality in terms of employee monitoring, as part of a work-from-home security solution."
"Limited ability to upgrade hardware may lead to some performance issues that might otherwise be improved."
"A room for improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is that it only has a hardware version. I also didn't find the solution scalable, so that's another area for improvement."
"Fortinet FortiMail's technical support team has shortcomings and needs improvement."
"It would be nice if we could manage the solution from the cloud so I could handle things off-site if necessary."
"High Availability needs improvement."
"The sandboxing features are not well done in Fortinet FortiMail, making it an area of improvement."
"The solution lacks to provide more visibility when there is a problem, and it needs to be tracked."
"It is not easy to install."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"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."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"Despite a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers to easily buy the solution."
"The product is expensive."
"Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."
"The price of Barracuda Essentials is better than some of the competing products."
"The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."
"Barracuda licensing model is good."
"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."
"We didn't have to pay a lot for the solution because we got it from a good vendor with a good user volume."
"The licensing model for this solution is better because it is based on the box and not the number of users."
"Pricing is straight-forward and renewable without complicated pricing structures."
"In terms of licensing, we are using a virtual machine license for the single virtual server which it runs on. Doing it this way enables us to cut costs by only licensing FortiMail for our exact use case. If you need to expand in future, you can later buy extra licenses per virtual machine."
"In the future I would like it if there's a possibility to lower the price of the bandwidth and UTM. It is quite expensive."
"Fortinet Fortimail has reasonable pricing."
"Fortinet FortiMail is inexpensive."
"Price-wise, you get what you pay for in Fortinet FortiMail. Apart from the licensing costs, no additional expenses are attached to the solution's pricing."
"The pricing is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
University
6%
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
5%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiMail?
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards. My organization is not profit-making, and acad...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiMail?
Fortinet FortiMail should keep pace with features offered by cloud-based services like Google and Microsoft Outlook. ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Barracuda Essentials
FortiMail
 

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
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Fortinet FortiMail and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.