Barracuda Email Protection vs Sophos Email comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Barracuda Email Protection
Ranking in Email Security
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (2nd), Office 365 Protection (3rd)
Sophos Email
Ranking in Email Security
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.8%, down from 20.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda Email Protection is 2.6%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Email is 2.3%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
Unique Categories:
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
13.5%
Microsoft Security Suite
1.9%
Email Archiving
8.3%
Office 365 Protection
22.2%
 

Featured Reviews

Nagendra Nekkala. - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 14, 2023
The automated attack disruption works well if you have a strong policy configuration
365 Defender is a critical tool for mitigating attacks and preventing threats. We use it for email filtering and blocking phishing attacks throughout the entire enterprise. We have around 1,500 users.  365 Defender has improved our security across multiple categories. It's effective against…
Alex Clerici - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 3, 2024
Efficient and easier to manage than other products, especially Microsoft products
We use Barracuda primarily as an email gateway. It also integrates with the Microsoft 365 platform. It provides anti-spam protection and all the various anti-spam aspects of email management. We generally use it with products other than Microsoft, so we're very happy to have Barracuda available…
Adeyemi Adedokun - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 18, 2024
Ensures that there is maximum security enabled for our communication processes
There has been issues when I have interacted with the support in the past, especially regarding technical issues. I have found them responsive for basic queries, but when I have raised issues for complex issues, there is a delay in the response from the support team. During the initial setup, when I faced challenges, the support team took a lot of time to address the issue and escalate it to the required personnel. In another issue raised, I was trying to confirm the status of a domain name. The support team was not able to help me out and provide with the necessary information. I suggest that there should be improvement in the support team towards handling such complex issues and technical concerns.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
"Defender for 365 is a comprehensive cloud-based solution. The value of the cloud is that you aren't alone. Threat intelligence and analytics are shared in the cloud. We don't have to find the solution alone. If you face an unknown threat with traditional solutions like Trend Micro and Symantec, you need to open a case and send your information to them to analyze forensically and identify the source of the attack."
"At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has improved my organization's security. It makes it easier to manage the infrastructure without the help of third-party applications."
"Defender for Office 365 has helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and that is the aspect I like most about it. It is simpler, effective, and convenient. The users like the process efficiency."
"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 the ease of use."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"The product is easy to deploy and maintain."
"We check the reports sometimes to see that frequent attacks and malicious emails are being blocked by the solution."
"The archiving and search features are very good."
"The most valuable features are security and ease of use."
"The most valuable aspect includes attempts to spoof or compromise domains from external sources."
"The solution's most valuable feature is impersonation detection."
"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."
"The most valuable features of Barracuda Email Protection are flexibility and customization."
"Sophos Email provides both inbound and outbound filtering."
"The best thing about it is the logs."
"Our client recently received many emails, and their employees didn't realize these emails were phishing attempts. Consequently, they clicked on them and fell victim to the attack. Therefore, it is important to secure their system with Sophos Email Security."
"The most significant aspect is the response filtering concerning attachments and links."
"The tool is a good solution for protecting against email attacks and monitoring networks. It supports our compliance efforts and is easy to use and stable."
"It's easy to use and the configuration is straightforward."
"The deployment is very easy. It's quite straightforward."
"Sophos Email is in the cloud and integrated with its firewall."
 

Cons

"Microsoft security solutions work as expected. They are constantly updating the solutions to make them better. At the same time, the changes can impact a customer's environment, and we need to adjust settings. Sometimes we aren't aware of the changes, and nothing is pushed from the backend automatically."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."
"Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once."
"They have moved features from one console to another. Things have been moved around in the interface and it takes me time to find where certain features are."
"We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."
"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."
"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved."
"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."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in reaching out to technical support during deployment."
"Sometimes it is somewhat laggy, especially on the Archiver side. It should have improved performance on their Message Archiver."
"The product must enable bulk user management."
"The platform's pricing needs improvement."
"The solution's reporting mechanism is a little poor and could be improved."
"I would like to see better integration with other products."
"They could simplify the licensing and the pricing."
"A lot of legit emails get quarantined."
"Sophos Email can improve mail security."
"Sophos Email could improve DLP features."
"The tool's integration becomes an issue when the internet connection is weak."
"The solution's sandboxing and spam control features could be improved."
"Sophos Email needs to increase the number of promos."
"There have been some issues with compatibility and effectiveness, particularly when integrating it with our firewall. The main challenge has been email protection, especially due to compatibility issues and difficulties with log access and email relay configuration."
"The main drawback is regarding the technical support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"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."
"The solution's pricing is moderate, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."
"The price of Barracuda Essentials is better than some of the competing products."
"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."
"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 product is expensive."
"The price is similar to that of Microsoft 365."
"Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."
"Sophos Email is priced lower than its competitors."
"It is an expensive solution. On a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price, I rate the pricing a seven."
"The product is cheaper compared to other solutions."
"The pricing is quite reasonable, with a fixed cost and no additional charges."
"Licensing is paid on a yearly basis."
"I would rate the pricing of Sophos Email as a six. It is considered affordable as a standalone product, and there are no additional costs besides licensing. The pricing is fixed."
"There is an additional fee for their central managed console."
"The pricing is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Construction Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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?
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offe...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a very good solution that allows you to use a single port or tool to control eve...
What do you like most about Barracuda Email Protection?
I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Email Protection?
We didn't have to pay a lot for the solution because we got it from a good vendor with a good user volume. We would h...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Email Protection?
Two to three months back, we got fraudulent emails in which someone in the organization was being blamed.
What do you like most about Sophos Email?
The solution's identity proxy feature is very good and reliable.
What needs improvement with Sophos Email?
The tool's pricing is expensive. In its future release, the tool should make reporting easier to view.
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Barracuda Essentials
Sophos Email Security
 

Learn More

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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
Del Monte Foods, Terra Verde, spicerhaart, RIVERLITE, Dataprise, SureBridge, Reed's School, Sayfol International School
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Sophos Email and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.