Barracuda Email Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Barracuda Email Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Email Security solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Barracuda email protection is stable. I would give it a nine because of its strong cybersecurity features.""The solution is straightforward to set up.""The most valuable aspect includes attempts to spoof or compromise domains from external sources.""The best feature of Barracuda Email Protection is that it provides protection for Microsoft 365.""The most valuable features are security and ease of use.""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.""The product is easy to deploy and maintain.""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."

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"Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises.""The product's scalability is good.""I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat.""The email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies.""At the moment we are satisfied with this product. It's a stable, scalable, and resilient solution for us.""I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface.""Threat Explorer is one of the features that I very much like because it is a real-time report that allows you to identify, analyze, and trace security attacks.""The deployment capability is a great feature."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

Cons
"The solution's reporting mechanism is a little poor and could be improved.""The solution's graphical user interface (GUI) could be improved visually.""They could simplify the licensing and the pricing.""There is room for improvement, particularly in reaching out to technical support during deployment.""I would like to see some additional functionality in terms of employee monitoring, as part of a work-from-home security solution.""Barracuda Essentials can improve by continually adding more features.""The platform's pricing needs improvement.""The policies are set up in Barracuda by default; we don't have any control over them."

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"The visibility for the weaknesses in the system and unauthorized access can be improved.""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 phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration.""You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers.""We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend.""The custom alerts have to improve a lot.""We are always looking for others tools to increase automation on tasks. There can be better integration with other solutions, such as PowerPoint and email."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "Price-wise, this product is middle-of-the-road."
  • "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."
  • "The product is expensive."
  • More Barracuda Email Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on 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."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Ranking
    15th
    out of 107 in Email Security
    Views
    1,454
    Comparisons
    1,179
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    358
    Rating
    8.9
    1st
    out of 107 in Email Security
    Views
    13,167
    Comparisons
    10,373
    Reviews
    28
    Average Words per Review
    653
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Barracuda Essentials
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Learn More
    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.

    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.

    Sample Customers
    ACT Government, Acumen Group, AGIP, Delta Dental Plans Association, Desai/Nasr Consulting Engineers, Inc., Equinox Information Systems
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Construction Company25%
    Security Firm25%
    Manufacturing Company25%
    Educational Organization13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Construction Company8%
    Real Estate/Law Firm7%
    Healthcare Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business54%
    Midsize Enterprise38%
    Large Enterprise8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise42%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    Buyer's Guide
    Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Barracuda Email Protection is ranked 15th in Email Security with 12 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is ranked 1st in Email Security with 41 reviews. Barracuda Email Protection is rated 8.8, while Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Barracuda Email Protection writes "Set-it-and-forget-it type of product that doesn't require a lot of management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 writes "Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support". Barracuda Email Protection is most compared with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, TitanHQ SpamTitan, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Abnormal Security and Mimecast Email Security, whereas Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Mimecast Email Security, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Barracuda Email Security Gateway and Cisco Secure Email. See our Barracuda Email Protection vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 report.

    See our list of best Email Security vendors.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.