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Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs Fortinet FortiMail vs Proofpoint Email Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Barracuda Email Security Gateway prioritizes email safety, providing fewer disruptions despite potential ROI concerns for businesses and service providers.
Sentiment score
7.1
Fortinet FortiMail enhances email safety, reduces costs, and improves efficiency, earning user trust with its cost-effective features.
Sentiment score
6.5
Proofpoint Email Protection effectively reduced threats and costs, excelling in phishing defense, leading to significant efficiency improvements.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
Barracuda Email Security Gateway customer support is praised for responsiveness and efficiency, though limited by time zones and language.
Sentiment score
6.3
Fortinet FortiMail's technical support is highly rated for quick, expert assistance, though some entry-level issues exist.
Sentiment score
7.1
Proofpoint Email Protection's customer service is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though some report slow responses or portal issues.
From the vendor, I would give the technical support an eight out of ten.
I have direct communication with Kenyan system engineers and local support in Ethiopia, enabling good support.
Fortinet's technical support offers high-quality support.
I am familiar with the granular policy control feature of Proofpoint Email Protection, and I find their support excellent for modifying those policies.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Barracuda Email Security Gateway is scalable for SMBs but may not suit very large enterprises, with varied user opinions.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiMail is scalable, effective for medium to enterprise businesses, but faces hardware and licensing limitations.
Sentiment score
7.5
Proofpoint Email Protection excels in adaptability and scalability, serving both small and large enterprises with ease and flexibility.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Barracuda Email Security Gateway is reliable and stable, with quick resolutions for minor issues and high user ratings.
Sentiment score
8.3
Fortinet FortiMail is stable and reliable, offering strong performance, seamless integration, and high user satisfaction with minimal issues.
Sentiment score
8.2
Users rate Proofpoint Email Protection highly for reliability and performance, with minor UI challenges and rare stability issues.
This stability is consistent across Fortinet products, including FortiGate firewall.
 

Room For Improvement

Barracuda Email Security Gateway needs upgrades in usability, integration, scalability, support, spam filtering accuracy, and anti-phishing measures.
Fortinet FortiMail requires improvements in management, cost, integration, reporting, setup, documentation, content security, and user interface.
Proofpoint Email Protection struggles with setup complexity, feature enhancements, pricing issues, and requires improved support and interface design.
Sometimes there are false positive emails coming through, so they should improve further on detection technologies and techniques.
If it's considered a phishing email, it should be blocked for all users, not just some.
Some mails pass while others are dropped without any apparent logic, despite having the policy set for specific recipients or senders.
The transition from on-premises devices to virtual appliances may be necessary as more organizations migrate email services to the cloud.
Providing comprehensive documentation on how to deploy and configure would improve the solution.
The area that could use some improvement in Fortinet FortiMail is the integration process.
Proofpoint could expand its phishing detection capabilities to improve its efficiency.
More security could be implemented.
I believe they still need to improve by consolidating some portals, as currently, you have to log in separately to a few of them.
 

Setup Cost

The Barracuda Email Security Gateway is competitively priced, scalable, with varied user opinions and crucial regional market considerations.
Fortinet FortiMail pricing is capacity-based, seen as cost-effective by some, yet expensive due to features and stability.
Proofpoint Email Protection is considered costly, with pricing starting at $8 per user and varying by features.
Compared with others, Barracuda Email Security Gateway is cheaper.
Fortinet FortiMail is considered overpriced by Indian rupee standards.
Customers pay around $90,000 yearly for a 1,000-user organization, with the subscription license being the main expense, apart from implementation fees.
Additional costs do come in, but it enhances security.
 

Valuable Features

Barracuda Email Security Gateway offers robust spam filtering, advanced threat protection, and user-friendly features for comprehensive email security management.
Fortinet FortiMail offers user-friendly, scalable email security with anti-spam, antivirus, phishing protection, and seamless Fortinet product integration.
Proofpoint Email Protection offers advanced threat defense, user-friendly interface, and seamless Office 365 integration for comprehensive email security.
The real-time threat intelligence feature is particularly useful as it detects all kinds of threats identified by incoming mails.
The main benefit from Barracuda Email Security Gateway is better security for the email flow.
Its threat detection capabilities have been beneficial.
The most valuable features are Fortinet FortiMail's ability to protect from advanced features of email-based attacks, including protection against ransomware and malware attacks.
Fortinet FortiMail offers capabilities like settings for mail delivery, mail filtering, spam controls, and email bursting prevention.
The most beneficial feature of Proofpoint Email Protection is mostly spam filtering; it was very efficient, and we were very happy with the functionality as only relevant emails were allowed for mailboxes.
I appreciate that it's the industry leader, and its firewalling is very easy to manage and implement.
The main feature I find most effective is that Proofpoint Email Protection scans emails and quarantines the doubtful ones.
 

Mindshare comparison

Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Barracuda Email Security Gateway6.5%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36527.6%
Proofpoint Email Protection21.0%
Other44.9%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
Email Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiMail4.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36511.4%
Proofpoint Email Protection8.2%
Other76.4%
Email Security
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Proofpoint Email Protection21.0%
Microsoft Defender for Office 36527.6%
Mimecast Email Security12.5%
Other38.9%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

WalidChowdhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust email protection with advanced features such as effective spam filtering, virus and malware defense, phishing protection and high scalability
Our customer faced a significant challenge with spam, leading to increased expenses. The complexity of their email infrastructure added to the issue, with some clients using Microsoft Exchange, others relying on different systems, and some operating on Linux platforms. To address this, we…
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.
AhmedRamadan - PeerSpot reviewer
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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870,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Barracuda Sentinel?
It not only tackles spam effectively but also incorporates advanced features like ATP and active features which ensu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Sentinel?
I would suggest that pricing for Barracuda Email Security Gateway rates around seven. It is not too expensive, but it...
What needs improvement with Barracuda Sentinel?
Regarding real-time intelligent features of the Barracuda Email Security Gateway, some spam emails are still being re...
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?
It can be somewhat difficult to prepare precise or very deep rules to improve security, though the product is very good.
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 enh...
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 ...
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
FortiMail
Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Cofense PhishMe, Proofpoint Digital Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Evolution Recruitment Solutions, Evans Delivery Company, Osoyoos Credit Union, Synovis Life Technologies, Camden County Technical Schools, DEK, Evans Delivery Company, Colgate Rochester Crozer, Hemmera, South Carolina Heart Center, Ferma Corporation, Major League Baseball (MLB), Healy Brothers Automotive Group
Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A.
Blocket, University of Waterloo, Lincoln Memorial University, WellSpan Health, U-Haul, Carestream Health, Westinghouse
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Abnormal AI, Proofpoint and others in Secure Email Gateway (SEG). Updated: September 2025.
870,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.