Barracuda Email Protection vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

Barracuda Email Protection vs. Proofpoint Email Protection

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Helped 868,787 peers since 2012

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

Barracuda Email Protection

Ranking in Email Security

12th

Ranking in Office 365 Protection

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Archiving (2nd)

Proofpoint Email Protection

Ranking in Email Security

3rd

Ranking in Office 365 Protection

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Awareness Training (2nd), Digital Risk Protection (3rd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Protection is 3.0%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Email Protection is 8.2%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection	8.2%
Barracuda Email Protection	3.0%
Other	88.8%

Email Security

Featured Reviews

LeeMiles

Director, Information Technology at St Albans High School For Girls

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.

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AhmedRamadan

Products and solutions director at ITVikings

Optimize email security with effective sandboxing and auto Pull for quarantine

Proofpoint is used as an email security gateway for big enterprises, primarily for their on-premises servers. Many customers also use it alongside Office 365 Proofpoint offers a complete solution for email security with features like DLP, email archiving, and encryption. The most valuable…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When we got the service, it included the email archiver with unlimited storage."

"The solution's most valuable feature is impersonation detection."

"The product is easy to deploy and maintain."

"The beauty of Barracuda Email Protection is that it is easy to manage and simple to deploy."

"The most valuable features of Barracuda Essentials are it's a trusted name and is rated very high on review sites. It blocks high percentages of spam and junk email and it's in the cloud. They have hardware appliances, but this is in the cloud. The solution is very effective at blocking malware and blocking spam and this is what we are looking for. There's not a whole lot of complexity, you want a solution that is very good at blocking out all of the unwanted emails."

"I would rate the solution nine out of ten."

"The archiving and search features are very good."

"The most helpful aspect for me is the out-of-the-box configuration, which is fairly good."

More Barracuda Email Protection pros

"Proofpoint Email Protection's advantage is that, when it's working properly, it tends to catch more threats as compared to other products."

"Proofpoint Email Protection is the best solution from the perspective of email security."

"The most valuable features are the business email compromise protection and targeted attack prevention."

"From a business perspective, the solution was very helpful as it speeded our business flow and increased email delivery."

"The solution is very user-friendly."

"Proofpoint is the main tool for blocking spam because it denies the connection altogether."

"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 solution scales quite well."

More Proofpoint Email Protection pros

Cons

"Sometimes it is somewhat laggy, especially on the Archiver side. It should have improved performance on their Message Archiver."

"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."

"I would like to see better integration with other products."

"I would like to see some additional functionality in terms of employee monitoring, as part of a work-from-home security solution."

"Barracuda Email Protection needs better reporting and more robust integration with security awareness training platforms and third-party solutions."

"The policies are set up in Barracuda by default; we don't have any control over them."

"The solution's graphical user interface (GUI) could be improved visually."

"Two to three months back, we got fraudulent emails in which someone in the organization was being blamed."

More Barracuda Email Protection cons

"In terms of improvement, the price could be better. Additionally, more security could be implemented."

"We'd like to have the ability to create more customized reports."

"Pricing for the platform could still be cheaper."

"The solution should add post-sales training."

"The initial setup is complex."

"Sometimes it detects false positives."

"The incident reporting on offer needs to be improved. It's lacking right now. It should be on the platform somewhere."

"It's scalable, but the devil's in the details — you have to know your email volumes."

More Proofpoint Email Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."

"Despite a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers to easily buy the solution."

"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 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."

"Barracuda licensing model is good."

"The price of Barracuda Essentials is better than some of the competing products."

"The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."

More Barracuda Email Protection pricing and cost advice

"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"We sell annual licenses for this solution."

"The solution charges per user per month to use it. There are not any additional fees in addition to the standard living fees."

"It is expensive."

"It is multiple times more expensive, which made it very much less attractive."

"Proofpoint Email Protection has comparable pricing."

"The solution is expensive."

"The solution uses a licensing model that is reasonable compared to other products."

More Proofpoint Email Protection pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	17

Questions from the Community

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 tool.

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 a list price possibly around $40 per user, their market price allows customers t...

What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Protection?

What do you like most about Proofpoint Email Protection?

It is a very scalable solution.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Proofpoint Email Protection?

In terms of pricing, it is okay compared to others. I would say it is normal. Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.

What needs improvement with Proofpoint Email Protection?

I believe they still need to improve by consolidating some portals, as currently, you have to log in separately to a few of them.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Barracuda Email Protection

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Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Proofpoint Email Protection

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Abnormal Security vs Proofpoint Email Protection

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Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Proofpoint Email Protection

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Product Reports

Barracuda Email Protection

Download Barracuda Email Protection product report

Proofpoint Email Protection

Download Proofpoint Email Protection product report

Also Known As

Barracuda Essentials

Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe, Proofpoint Digital Protection

Overview

The popularity of Microsoft 365 means criminals test and design their attacks to bypass its native security features. And that means you need additional layers of defense. With Advanced Threat Protection enabled, Barracuda uses multiple layers of detection, including signature, static, and behavioral analysis, along with CPU-emulation sandboxing to accurately detect and block zero-hour targeted attacks and ransomware.

Traditional email gateways use static rules and policies—reputation analysis, block lists, and malicious payloads—to determine if an email is malicious.

Barracuda protects your Microsoft 365 inbox against evasive threats with a powerful AI engine that learns the unique communication patterns within your organization through access to internal and historical emails. Once it understands what legitimate emails looks like for each user, it can detect anomalies that signal malicious intent. This context-based detection is more effective at blocking targeted attacks, which are designed to bypass traditional rule-based email security.

Barracuda Networks

Proofpoint Email Protection provides powerful filtering against spam, phishing, and malware, leveraging effective threat detection and blocking capabilities. This solution integrates smoothly with platforms like Office 365, offering a user-friendly dashboard for seamless operations.

Proofpoint Email Protection focuses on email security, ensuring protection against phishing, malware, and spam. It includes features like URL scanning, anti-phishing, anti-virus protection, and sandboxing for comprehensive threat analysis. Its advanced analytics through TAP and TRAP, along with strong integration abilities, make it appealing for handling email threats. While scalability and ease of deployment are advantages, challenges such as integration in complex environments, the cost, and limited local support require attention. Enhancements in search functionality, email encryption, and improved phishing detection are also needed.

What are the key features of Proofpoint Email Protection?

Effective Filtering: Blocks spam, phishing, and malware with high accuracy.
URL Scanning: Protects against malicious links.
Advanced Analytics: Provides insights through TAP and TRAP.
Seamless Integration: Compatible with platforms like Office 365.
User-friendly Dashboard: Simplifies email management and monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Scalability: Adaptable to organizational growth without losing performance.
Strong Threat Protection: Comprehensive defense against email threats.
Easy Deployment: Streamlined setup process for smooth integration.
Advanced Threat Analysis: Identifies and neutralizes threats efficiently.

Industries adopting Proofpoint Email Protection include finance, healthcare, and education sectors, which benefit from its robust email security measures. Educational institutions prioritize safe communication for staff and students, while healthcare organizations focus on protecting sensitive patient data. Financial services benefit from preventing data breaches and fraud through advanced threats management.

Proofpoint

Sample Customers

ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems

Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse

Barracuda Email Protection vs. Proofpoint Email Protection