Barracuda Email Protection vs Trend Micro Email Security comparison

Barracuda Networks and Trend Micro are both solutions in the Email Security category. Barracuda Networks is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.8, while Trend Micro is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.1. Barracuda Networks holds a 2.9% mindshare in Email Security, compared to Trend Micro’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Barracuda Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Trend Micro users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Barracuda Email Protection and Trend Micro Email Security are competing products in the advanced email protection solutions category. Trend Micro Email Security seems to have the upper hand in overall performance due to its robust features and comprehensive protection.

Features: Barracuda Email Protection offers strong phishing and ransomware defense, link protection, and data loss prevention tools, while Trend Micro Email Security provides advanced threat protection, machine learning capabilities, and cloud-based architecture. Trend Micro stands out for its sophisticated threat detection technologies, and Barracuda is valued for its straightforward email management tools.

Room for Improvement: Barracuda could improve in offering more precise reporting, better integration with other security platforms, and advanced threat analytics. Trend Micro might enhance its deployment simplicity, user interface customization options, and lower initial investment costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda Email Protection is praised for its intuitive deployment process and responsive customer service, providing a smooth experience for IT administrators. Trend Micro Email Security offers a slightly more complex deployment model but compensates with comprehensive customer support resources.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda Email Protection is competitive in initial setup costs, offering solid ROI for budget-conscious organizations. Trend Micro Email Security may require a higher initial investment but is perceived to deliver greater long-term value due to its rich feature set and continuing protection capabilities. Barracuda has an edge in cost-effectiveness, while Trend Micro is favored for its enhanced protection and beneficial long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Email Protection vs. Trend Micro Email Security Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection vs. Trend Micro Email Security

June 2025

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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...

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 Trend Micro Email Security is 2.6%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Security

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja

Head of Department of Network Communications at Eko electricity

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.

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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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Nadeem Syed

CEO at Haniya Technologies

Offers comprehensive security, easy integration, and good support

It integrated easily. About 99% of the time, we do not face any challenges in integrating any product of Trend Micro with the existing network. It is usually compatible with all kinds of networks. They have recently added AI to all Trend Micro products. It makes life a little bit easier by catching viruses, providing solutions, and helping out whenever you are stuck somewhere. It is one of the very good features they have right now. For example, one of our clients experienced a network attack and became confused about resolving the issues. The AI was helpful by suggesting initial steps to solve the problem.

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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

"The most valuable feature is protection against malicious links, fishing, and impersonation. You can train people to be aware of these threats, but they're not always careful. When they're using their phones between meetings, they click on a link, and it's game over."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."

"There are several features that I consider valuable."

"The ability to respond to threats if very important."

"Defender enables us to secure all 365-related activity from a single place. It gives us visibility into everything happening in Outlook, protecting us against phishing and other email-based threats. Defender helps us detect any suspicious behaviors."

"The benefit that stands out to me is the ability for multiple individuals to collaborate simultaneously within the same document. Additionally, there is the option to save the document directly in the integrated OneDrive or SharePoint."

"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a stable solution."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pros

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

"The best feature of Barracuda Email Protection is that it provides protection for Microsoft 365."

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

"I'm quite satisfied with the graphical user interface for Barracuda products."

"The most valuable aspect includes attempts to spoof or compromise domains from external sources."

"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 are security and ease of use."

"Barracuda email protection is stable. I would give it a nine because of its strong cybersecurity features."

More Barracuda Email Protection pros

"I find the anti-phishing and anti-spam features most valuable because they reduce false positives and enhance security."

"Trend Micro is better than any of its competitors."

"Trend Micro Email Security has a feature for secure protection of OneDrive, Google Drive, and CloudApp security."

"The email and the signature based protection is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable features of the solution are spam protection and email continuity."

"The best features are that it is very convenient to configure new rules onto it and it gives very good insight on what has entered my system and what the email security solution has taken action upon."

"It is mostly stable."

"Trend Micro Email Security’s most valuable feature is spam filtering."

More Trend Micro Email Security pros

Cons

"You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."

"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."

"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 GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."

"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."

"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."

"We need a separate license and we don't know how to get the license that is required."

"Too many false positives and lacks an accurate capability to detect malicious SharePoint sites."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cons

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

"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."

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

"They could simplify the licensing and the pricing."

"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."

"The product must enable bulk user management."

More Barracuda Email Protection cons

"Trend Micro Email Security could improve by advancing its artificial intelligence in email security. There are rules that have to be configured. There should be less configuring."

"There is a limitation when customers are using their email from a third-party solution that isn't from Trend Micro."

"The solution's configuration policy should be easier."

"In our company, we found out that the solution wasn't well-tested by Trend Micro, resulting in a performance and bandwidth problem."

"The initial setup was straightforward. This is a virtual appliance, it takes a short time to deploy the solution. However, it is not difficult if you understand the technology. You must have good knowledge of the email security area to set up the product correctly. There are many features in this solution and a high risk of having mistakes with the configuration."

"The enterprise security feature needs improvement."

"The company also needs to work on pricing because it is quite costly compared to other products."

"It was crucial because if remediation can be done in one or two clicks, in Trend, we have to do at least eight clicks to achieve the same result."

More Trend Micro Email Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."

"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."

"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."

"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."

"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."

"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."

"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing and cost advice

"The product is expensive."

"Barracuda licensing model is good."

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

"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."

"The solution's pricing is moderate, where it is neither cheap nor expensive."

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

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

More Barracuda Email Protection pricing and cost advice

"The cost is about $6,000 for 300 users for one year."

"The price of Trend Micro Email Security is annual. There are no additional fees."

"The solution is inexpensive so we recommend it to small to mid-sized businesses."

"Trend Micro Email Security's pricing is reasonable."

"The price of Trend Micro Email Security is more than Sophos' similar solution."

"Trend Micro Email Security is not an expensive solution."

"It is expensive. The cost is per box, and it depends on how big your environment is. Prices range from 11 to 12 dollars for licenses and can fluctuate up and down, but for environments with 4,000 to 5,000 users, it can be between 6 to 8 dollars."

"The solution's pricing is very optimum, given its quality, features, and stability."

More Trend Micro Email Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Insurance Company

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?

Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS recor...

See all answers

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...

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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 ...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Trend Micro Email Security?

The tool provides a strong defense against attacks. It is also easy to use. Trend Micro Email Security's integration ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Trend Micro Email Security?

There is room for improvement in mobile device management. The company also needs to work on pricing because it is qu...

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What advice do you have for others considering Trend Micro Email Security?

I would definitely recommend it. Trend Micro is better than any of its competitors. I would rate it a nine out of ten...

See all answers

Comparisons

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 13% of the time

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Abnormal Security vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Secure Email vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Competitors

Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 20% of the time

Abnormal Security vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 9% of the time

Avanan vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 6% of the time

Mimecast Email Security vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 5% of the time

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Barracuda Email Protection

Compared 2% of the time

More Barracuda Email Protection Competitors

Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) vs Trend Micro Email Security

Compared 11% of the time

Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security vs Trend Micro Email Security

Compared 9% of the time

Proofpoint Email Protection vs Trend Micro Email Security

Compared 9% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail vs Trend Micro Email Security

Compared 7% of the time

More Trend Micro Email Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

May 2025

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report

Download Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product report

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection

June 2025

Download Barracuda Email Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

Trend Micro Email Security

May 2025

Download Trend Micro Email Security product report

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365

Barracuda Essentials

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

Microsoft

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

Trend Micro Email Security is a comprehensive solution designed to protect organizations from email-based threats. With advanced threat intelligence and machine learning algorithms, it provides real-time protection against spam, phishing, malware, and other email-borne attacks.

This product offers multi-layered security, including content filtering, URL reputation analysis, and attachment scanning, ensuring that malicious emails are blocked before they reach the users' inbox. It also includes data loss prevention capabilities, preventing sensitive information from being leaked via email.

Trend Micro Email Security is easy to deploy and manage, with a centralized management console that allows administrators to set policies, monitor email traffic, and generate reports.

With its robust security features and user-friendly interface, this product is an essential tool for organizations looking to safeguard their email communications.

Trend Micro

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

MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Air21, Azra Solutions, CBOSS, De Montfort University, Depaeuw, DHR Health, Fukui University Hospital

Buyer's Guide

Barracuda Email Protection vs. Trend Micro Email Security

June 2025

Free Report: Barracuda Email Protection vs. Trend Micro Email Security

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