No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs MetaDefender Email Security Solutions comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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

Barracuda Email Security Ga...
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
DMARC Authentication Software (2nd)
MetaDefender Email Security...
Ranking in Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (32nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Secure Email Gateway (SEG) category, the mindshare of Barracuda Email Security Gateway is 9.6%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MetaDefender Email Security Solutions is 3.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Barracuda Email Security Gateway9.6%
MetaDefender Email Security Solutions3.4%
Other87.0%
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
 

Featured Reviews

MM
Graduate Student at ain shams
Secures email by identifying threats and managing email policies effectively
The intuitive management interface feature makes email security policies very easy to implement as it's all about features that need to be enabled or disabled. Our investigation in any incident or mail is very useful as it provides all details about incoming mails, enabling thorough review and detection. The real-time threat intelligence feature is particularly useful as it detects all kinds of threats identified by incoming mails. The Impersonation license utilizes AI tools. Sometimes some phishing mails are reported as phishing, but they are not actually phishing mails. They are detected due to certain words and languages that appear suspicious but were generated by AI tools. Everyone or an advisor may use it for their own purpose or learning, even though it indicates that the mail detected is phishing when it's not.
RM
Senior Information Systems Engineer at Liberty Pumps, Inc.
Helpful support, and useful dashboards
They offer a feature called SmartLink neutralization. I have tried it before. It seemed to work most of the time; however, I had a few users for whom it just wouldn't work. Whenever they click on a link, it stays on the MetaDefender page, saying that it's scanning it and never moves forward. I haven't tried it in a while since then. Since I can't turn it off on a per-user basis, I had to turn it off globally. I have certain exceptions for not doing the sanitization, and how to set those up is not intuitive. It would be useful if there were a better way of doing that. Using digital certificates is hard. It would be better if it used Windows Servers' built-in certificate management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Barracuda Email Security Gateway has a good feature of email spooling, which acts as a first line of security."
"The solution's anti-spam features are its most valuable aspect."
"The solution is largely stable, it can scale, and overall it has been working fine without issue, while the message tracking and messaging logs have proven to be quite useful."
"The link protection and anti-phishing features are great."
"The intuitive management interface feature makes email security policies very easy to implement as it's all about features that need to be enabled or disabled."
"The security protection is the best and it's GUI is user-friendly."
"For the moment the solution is good."
"My current company had no product before Barracuda, and we get a lot of added value from the various things it does, ranging from advanced threat protection and spam filtering to protection from viruses and email spoofing, plus cloud-to-cloud backup."
"The most valuable feature of MetaDefender Email Security is the CDR. Customers purchase this solution specifically for data communication, as the other features can be obtained through other technologies that most customers already possess. Therefore, data communication serves as the foundation for the platform."
"The most valuable feature is called summary reconstruction which is used to deliver encrypted files to users."
"The sanitization is very good."
 

Cons

"We had a case where right before a link was redirected and there was no chance to ignore it."
"Solution requires regular checking to ensure it's 'keeping up' with spam."
"Regarding real-time intelligent features of the Barracuda Email Security Gateway, some spam emails are still being released by the ESG to the end users, so the functionality is not working appropriately."
"Artificial intelligence improvement could be used to help block spam and phishing mail that is directly delivered to users."
"The technical support is not available globally 24/7 and this is the biggest problem with the product."
"Two improvements that are needed include an enhancement in the proxy feature, as well as the ability to more fully automate patches and updates."
"There are some times when legit emails are trapped on Barracuda and we are unable to get that information unless we actually log on to the network to find out."
"The deep scanning feature needs to be improved."
"Although the number of AV engines is good, it could be better."
"They offer a feature called SmartLink neutralization. I have tried it before. It seemed to work most of the time; however, I had a few users for whom it just wouldn't work. Whenever they click on a link, it stays on the MetaDefender page, saying that it's scanning it and never moves forward."
"The DLP should be upgraded and has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Barracuda Email Security Gateway is an affordable solution that caters to small, midsize, and high-end businesses with great revenue."
"We find the solution's pricing okay."
"It is a cost-effective and relatively cheap solution as compared to others. Our customers have a yearly subscription. We do have a few customers with monthly subscriptions, but they have cloud-based Email protection, which is a different type of solution. Both solutions are very good."
"It is an expensive solution and I would rate it 5 out of 10."
"The solution is priced low. We have received a good price discount here in Sri Lanka. There are additional licenses we have to purchase a license for the ATP."
"Our licensing fees are approximately $4,000 per year, and this includes updates for the antivirus and spam signatures."
"The licensing fees are part of a bundled support package that we pay for."
"Compared to other products, this solution is quite affordable."
"According to our customers, the price of MetaDefender is high and it continues to increase by almost 15 percent each year."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Secure Email Gateway (SEG) solutions are best for your needs.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Pharma/Biotech Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise13
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Sentinel?
Compared to the features and stability, Barracuda Email Security Gateway is affordable in terms of pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Sentinel?
On technical aspects, I think Barracuda needs to provide a fast response to any vulnerability on the system and enhance Barracuda support. Customer support for Barracuda Email Security Gateway need...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Sentinel?
My main use case for Barracuda Email Security Gateway is to protect our email and our email users, protecting our business from most of the sophisticated attacks like phishing attacks and spam. We ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall, Barracuda Sentinel
OPSWAT MetaDefender Email Security, MetaDefender Email Gateway Security, MetaDefender Email Security
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Security Gateway vs. MetaDefender Email Security Solutions and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.